2:55PM
AJE: Copts
Issandr El Amrani
al-Jazeera English ran some rare incisive coverage of Coptic issues in Egypt a few days ago, good questions from the interviewer (notably on the census and church-building) with interesting interventions by Michael Mounir, the prominent US-based Coptic activist. Also discussion of church-issues etc.
That was part 2, you can find part 1 here.
That was part 2, you can find part 1 here.
Reader Comments (10)
Coptic demands are quite inconsistent. On the one hand they demand a larger representation in th ehouse of parliment- while on the other hand, they press for writing religon off the i.d card. If Egypt is going to be a fully secualr stae, though I doubt there is such a thing in the entire world, then copts have no right to aske for assigning a specific number of seats to them.
Until Egypt does become fully secular, which realistically will not happen in the near future, Copts have to address the reality of the country and demand more representation to at least account for their percentage of Egypt's population. 5 members out of four hundred and something is hardly realistic or fair. I do however agree that Copts need to engage in Egypt's political process for themselves, run for elections, and work within the system to change it, along with the government's help, not just demand rights alone.
[...] prominent US-based Coptic activist,” notes The Arabist, from Egypt, and links to the video here. Share [...]
thank you for the post.
may discrimination against copts be stopped.
i wrote a piece on this subject sometime back as well worth sharing here.
http://mysticsaint.blogspot.com/2007/11/stop-discrimination-against-egyptian.html
peace.
There is no discrimination against copts in egypt
None. None at all.
There is no discrimination against copts in egypt?
And this did not happen, I guess
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4366232.stm
and countless other incidents with Copts and Bahai.
You mean, there is no 'little' discrimination. The fact is that these people are in grave danger from an ever more radicalized Muslim Egypt.
Many Egyptian blogs have focused on this issue (including Muslims and also here at Global Voices). Good for them!
The situation of the Coptic community in Egypt has also been widely reported in the international press.
http://www.nysun.com/article/31121?page_no=2&access=558301
Muslims need to do some real soul-search about how they treat other people, minority religions , women, gays , etc... where they dominate. When it comes to Islam and human rights, I have seen nothing but hypocrisy from Muslims. Everywhere they dominate, Muslim persecute and oppress other religions.
That's it for now
Kactuz
PS: I have even written about this..
http://www.kactuzkid.com/copts.html
go to hell with your anti-muslim garbage website
i've seen nothing but hypocrisy from the world's greatest superpower and the EU
just because you managed to find some random single event doesn't mean that copts are discriminated against
egypt is not a perfect country and you'll never find an egyptian who thinks so, but in general the population is damn proud about its history and its diversity
even the most advanced countries in the world have problems with minorities
however, after taking a look at your website it's clear that you have an agenda that would only cause more problems between people of different religions
"...Not Muslims. Even
when they know something is untrue, they
promote it as truth, because truth is less
important than promoting Islam. Thus, we
have lie after lie, without shame." -- Taken from this moron's website
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMcHqYy4gJU
I am a Coptic Orthodox woman living in Egypt -- I think the most difficult (and futile) endeavor is to try to differentiate between the violation of human rights of Coptic Orthodox Egyptians under the regime, and the violations of human rights in general, which are the norm. Just to cite one among an infinite number of examples, imagine the global outcry if the 1200 innocent people who died horrible deaths by drowning in the "Abbara" case had all been Copts instead of Muslims, most of them returning from pilgrimage to Mecca? The utter callousness of the regime and its refusal to hold the true criminals accountable had nothing to do with the religion of the victims but with the pervasive corruption among the sociopaths who rule Egypt for fun and profit on behalf of their American and Israeli bosses.
Those who are willing to sacrifice their fellow human beings and to devastate their own nation's economic, agricultural, industrial, educational and health infrastructure, all so that they can be allowed to remain in power, are not Muslims, no matter what they choose to call themselves, any more than torturers, liars and killers of women and children are Christians. To blame Islam for the actions of certain cynical abusers and thugs is stupid and ignorant, and plays into the hands of those who would, and indeed are, eagerly doing far, far worse to those over whom Western and Zionist hypocrites shed crocodile tears. All we need to do is look at what has been done to the once proud and prosperous people of Iraq, not to mention the Palestinians, the Lebanese, the Afghanis, and the helpless victims of US unmanned drones in Pakistan, not to mention the more than 5 million slaughtered in the Congo and the millions of victims of Western greed elsewhere in Africa and in Asia, all of whom have direct experience of the superior "respect for human rights" of the West.