In many ways, the future of Egypt will be shaped by how the government and the majority of Egyptians treat the country’s minority Christian community. Will Egypt be an open, tolerant, and creative society? Or will it be closed and intolerant, looking backward? This is choice that Egyptians must make.
A few months back I accepted an invitation to speak at a mid-June conference organised by Coptic Solidarity, a US organisation. I did so because I was eager to address the challenges facing Egypt, in general, and its Coptic community, in particular. A few days before the event, however, I received the final list of the conference speakers and the topics to be discussed. After reviewing the list, I felt obliged to cancel. What follows is what I had hoped to discuss at the event and why I found it necessary to inform the organisers I would not take part.
While I am not by profession an “Egypt scholar”, I have visited the country dozens of times, conducted extensive polling of Egyptian public opinion, and, on several occasions, lectured at the Al Ahram Center for Political & Strategic Studies. Like any person of Arab descent, I love Egypt and its people, and appreciate the enormous contributions Egyptians have made to Arab culture and world civilisation. I will never forget the expression Jesse Jackson often used to describe Egypt. He called it “an essential hinge on which hangs the future stability of three continents – Europe, Asia, and Africa”.
What concerns me today is that the hinge is rusted and in danger of fracturing. Six years of turmoil following the upheavals of the “Arab Spring” have taken a toll on Egyptian society.
Six years ago, Egyptians told us that their top concerns were jobs, education, health care, and an end to corruption and nepotism. During the brief tenure of the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule, a decisive majority told us that they disapproved of that party’s efforts to transform Egypt. They wanted change, but decisively favoured national dialogue and reconciliation as the way forward. Today, three-quarters of Egyptians say their country is moving in the wrong direction and have little confidence that the future will be better.
All of this unrest, uncertainty, and discontent has had repercussions for Egyptian society. Some supporters of the deposed Brotherhood have struck out at Christians – accusing them of complicity in the military action.
One can hardly fault the Coptic leadership. They were and are in a bind. The intolerant policies of the Brotherhood most certainly put them at risk.
Friends of Egypt are also caught in a bind. Those who understand Egypt’s important role have attempted to buttress the state by providing substantial investment to develop its struggling economy. But they cannot, by themselves, force the government to make the right decisions and change direction.
This was the dilemma I had hoped to discuss at the Coptic Solidarity event and then, just a few days before the conference, I received the final programme and list of speakers. I was troubled to find that the session at which I was to appear had changed. I was prepared to address issues facing the Coptic community in Egypt.
Instead I discovered that the title for my session had been changed to – ”The Indigenous Culture of Violence and Impunity” – implying that there was something endemic in Egyptian or Muslim culture that was at fault.
While I knew and respected some of the event’s invited speakers, I was deeply concerned with others, some of whom represent groups that are on the Southern Poverty Law Center list of hate groups in America. These are individuals and organisations that have made a career out of spreading hurtful anti-Arab and anti-Muslim propaganda. They do not work to promote positive change in Egypt and to help build a more open society that will protect the rights of all. Instead, they are more focused on waging a war on Muslims and Islam, in general.
I, therefore, felt compelled to withdraw from the event.