By Samih Fawzy (سامح فوزي)
Appeared in the 30 April 2006 issue of Watani (وطني), an independent Coptic newspaper published in Egypt
Original title: ما وراء حادث الإسكندرية؟
(For background on the topic of this article, please see Muslim-Christian Relations in Egypt.)
The question seems superficial, yet it has become important. Why are Egyptian Christians paying the price for the worldwide disruption of Christian-Muslim relations? What have they and their Muslim fellow citizens got to do with what is happening in Iraq or Afghanistan? Why must Christian-Muslim relations in our society carry the burden of a global cultural discourse that pushes people towards a clash of civilisations, religions and cultures?
Clearly, Egyptian society, like other societies, is negatively affected by the global atmosphere of unrest. It is no longer possible to claim that relations between Muslims and Copts remain aloof from these negative effects. It is difficult to say that Egyptian society is impervious to the global changes that are taking place, particularly in light of the efforts of some media outlets and political currents — particularly Islamist ones — to import global conflicts, and to create links between those conflicts and local events.
There is a fundamental issue that merits our attention concerning the attacks on churches in Alexandria.
It has frequently been mentioned that the person who attacked the worshippers was raving: ‘No to defamation of the Prophet!’ This means that in his mind, there was something like a direct link between, on one hand, a Danish newspaper’s recent affronts to Islam and to its religious symbols, and on the other hand, Egyptian Christians, his fellow citizens, who had absolutely nothing to do with those acts, and who indeed condemned them on many levels. The question is, how did this confusion come about in that man’s mind? Is a similar confusion widespread among Egyptian Muslims?
It seems to me that this complex phenomenon is reverberating on many levels in Egyptian society. Many Muslims, as a result of decades of sectarianism and segregation, believe that Egyptian Christians are part of the Christian world at best, and part of the global Christian plot against Islam and Muslims at worst. In this they reflect the incessant talk of certain media outlets about this plot and about the growing power of Copts abroad, as well as illusions and rumours that have been repeated for years about a Coptic plan for political separation.
The average person is confused, and some media outlets are playing a role in increasing this confusion, by promoting stories that deepen the sectarian crisis between Muslims and Christians. The media’s role should be to inform, enlighten and provide information freely, but some media outlets are imitating street culture and the instinctive political thinking that is prevalent among the masses, the lack of a critical attitude towards phenomena, in an attempt to increase the circulation of a newspaper or the number of viewers of a satellite television channel.
Anyone who has read the newspapers in recent months has seen articles provoking Muslims on the pretext that they are being persecuted, even though they are in the majority, and telling them clearly that Christians — even though they are in the minority — are better off in terms of wealth and protection. This discourse, which announces disaster for Muslims, faces an opposing Coptic discourse that continuously talks about the many problems that Copts have been facing for decades. Thus Muslims are suffering from a sham injustice, while Copts are suffering from sectarian tension that creates an obstacle to their participation in society. These two feelings produce a fertile ground for any sectarian incident. Such incidents reveal the depth of frustration, and the lack of clear perceptions of one another, among the children of our single nation.
