I’m not sure whether such things do much good, but Dioscorus Boles has started one in defence of Coptic Christians in middle Egypt currently under Moslem attack. You can sign the petition here.
It seems to be taken for granted that Copts in Egypt should live in subjection to the Arab majority. The people who acquiesce in this at the same time get excited about Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland. The Copts are one group who are denied self-determination and self-identity, and are forced to live under legal disadvantages and discrimination. This is not good; direct violence against them even less so.
God bless you, Roger. It is very generous of you posting it in your blog.
I’ve now had one unwanted email and four comments screaming attacks on US policy. If this continues I shall be forced to remove this post.
I will understand if you do.
I bet that they emails were all from Egyptian security who are helping their mobs in Egypt to continue their persecution and oppression of the Copts.
A thought that had not occurred to me, I admit.
Things that happen in Egypt, and from Egyptians, aren’t like things that happen anywhere in the West. Any one who criticises the president – presently Mubarak -, or hosts critical opinion of him, is a target of abuse, if not worse than that.
Hum. That’s not good.
As a foreigner, of course, I can’t know very much about how things really are. Egyptian politics is something that I wouldn’t be competent to comment on.
But Mubarak has been the most successful president Egypt has ever known. It’s only necessary to compare him to Sadat and Nasser. He’s kept his country out of the incessant fruitless warring in the region, and led it in a pro-market direction. He released the Coptic patriarch from the exile that Sadat had imposed.
The problems in Egypt don’t seem to be new, and are mostly ones that have always existed, that Mubarak inherited, and that it is hard to see what he can do much about. The Islamic tendency to attack the Copts has existed for centuries. His role is a balancing act, as with every politician, but I think he has been good for the Copts, and good for Egypt. He hasn’t made things worse, which is always a good start.
None of which means that there are not things going on that should not.
This is exactly what I said: politics in Egypt is different from politics in the civilised world – and the regrettable thing is that citizens of the civilised world tend to use different benchmarking when it comes to Egypt. Some call it recognition of differences in culture, and socio-economic conditions between Egypt and the West; others criticise it for using different benchmarking in matters of human rights.
Mubarak has been good only with Israel, and knowing that this is the West’s primary interest (peace with Israel), he assumed a free hand elsewhere. He has been the President for nearly 30 years; his rule is dictatorial; his record of his human rights is appalling – take the Copts, estimated at 15 million by some, for example: the number of those who have been killed, or attacked, or those whose properties have been looted has not been higher except in Egypt’s dark ages prior to 1800 AD. Up to now, Copts hind it difficult to repair their churches, and it is almost impossible to have a new church built. There is no freedom of religion, and no recognition of the Copts’ cultural and political rights in Egypt.
Dioscorus Boles
‘hind’ should be read ‘find’!