After Alexandria, unity is needed in the face of adversity

On January 1st, 2011, Egyptians awoke to a disaster.  Twenty-one people had been killed after a bomb exploded outside a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria.

The attack was the worst in a decade, and shockwaves continue to be felt across Egypt.  However, discrimination against the Copts is nothing new.  Although no-one claimed responsibility for the bombing, the Egyptian government were quick to blame “foreign terrorist organisations who seek to drive a wedge between Egyptian Muslims and Christians.”  Such emotionally-charged statements do nothing to help the situation.  As Amr Hamzawy noted on al-Jazeera this week, “the governmental rhetoric… is not helping to address the root causes.”

Following the bombing, three days of rioting saw Copts clashing with Egyptian security forces.  Bishop Angaelos, the UK representative of the Egyptian Coptic Church, described the demonstrators as “people who are expressing their anger and disappointment over what they have seen over the last few days, and also over the last few months.”

They would not be unjustified in their frustration at a government that has consistently marginalised the Christian community in Egypt.  In November, the Egyptian authorities ordered a halt to construction of a Coptic church in the al-Omraneya district.  In the protests that followed, one Egyptian Coptic was killed, and dozens left injured, when the police opened fire on the crowd.

Since the New Year’s bombing, Egyptian Muslims have joined the demonstrations to show solidarity with their Christian counterparts, but the government seem intent on doing everything in their power to keep the two communities divided.  On Tuesday 4th January, in the early hours of the morning, eight activists were arrested at a demonstration in Shubra, a predominantly Coptic neighbourhood.  All eight were Muslim.  Reports from the demonstration suggest that the police were checking the identification of protestors attempting to leave the demonstration, permitting Coptics to leave, whilst keeping Muslims trapped within the police cordon.  The activists face a long list of charges, including “shouting”, “gathering” and “contempt of the constitution and law”.

Mubarak’s administration is a classic tin-pot dictatorship, propped up by American aid dollars and recieving 99.9% of the vote at most elections.  For this reason, they are clearly keen to suppress anything along the lines of unity amongst Christians and Muslims.  In Shubra, Mubarak’s henchmen sent a clear message; “if you show solidarity with the Christians, we will arrest you.”

Despite the calls of some commentators, this situation does not call for foreign intervention.  It is foreign leaders that will continue to sow seeds of division, in a desperate attempt to keep a puppet President in power.  What is needed is a united movement of Muslims and Christians in Egypt, to resist against the government that oppresses all of them.

NB:  Egyptians in London have organised a demonstration outside the Egyptian Embassy at 5.30pm on Friday 7th January, the Coptic Christmas, calling for an end to sectarian violence in Egypt.

Sources:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/twentyone-dead-in-egypt-new-years-mass-bombing-2173587.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2i6DzsZTvo
http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/news/132-international/9188-cairo-a-call-for-urgent-action
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=180827715275154/

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