Protesters near the Maspero building rally in support of Egyptian unity. Photo courtesy of Gigi Ibrahim, licensed under Creative Commons.
Working for Aslan Media, I have had to read and watch videos of some truly tragic events. At the same time, I managed to see some very uplifting moments, most notably the ousting of Hosni Mubarak as ruler of Egypt after almost three decades of oppressive rule. Since then, news from Egypt has fascinated me, and I’ve tried to keep up with it. Particularly interesting to me was the interaction between the Coptic minority and Egypt’s Muslim majority.
Egypt has a very vibrant Coptic community. Copts, who are Christians in Egypt, make up almost a tenth of the population, the largest Christian minority in the Middle East. While living in Cairo over the summer, I saw how prominent the community is. The Coptic Museum is immensely beautiful. During the revolution, Copts and Muslims joined together to fight against the Mubarak regime. While wandering the streets, I saw many walls filled with graffiti showing the Coptic cross side by side with the Islamic crescent. The revolution was a unified event. And that makes the recent crackdown on the Copts so worrisome.
Sunday night, Copts, joined by some Muslims, marched through Cairo in protest over the burning of a church in the south. They reached the Maspero building, the home of the country’s state television and radio, where thugs attacked them and fighting broke out between the groups. The military intervened, and started attacking protesters. 26 people died, and hundreds were injured.
At the same time, state media started reporting that the Copts were rioting and trying to inflict damage to the city (some cars were burned, but nothing on the scale the media suggested). This brought more thugs out, escalating the conflict.
The fighting died out on Monday, and the government is trying to solve matters. Well, sort of. The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF), the heads of the military, is in charge of the country, holding authority until presidential elections. SCAF ordered a probe into the clashes, but since the military is said to be behind much of the violence, it is likely the soldiers will be protected by the country’s rulers.
And that makes the military’s attempt to paint them as the adversaries concerning for a number of reason. First, it endangers the Coptic minority. Copts have faced persecution in the past, from both extreme Muslim sects and from government policies under the country’s dictators in the 20th century. The government’s media blamed the Copts for the violence, stirring up sectarian conflict. It was intentional and will likely have nasty repercussions for the Coptic community. Considering the relative calm between Christians and Muslims in Egypt after the revolution, this could deal a huge blow to national unity in the post-Mubarak error.
The second major issue to come out of this is that it highlights what tactics SCAF is willing to use. Initially, the military seemed eager to give up power, promising to transfer the country to civilian authority in September. Then it went back on that promise, and has pushed back elections for parliament until the end of the year. Even worse, its latest proposal for presidential elections sets them for the end of next year, meaning the country would be under military control for at least a dozen more months.
Worse yet, the SCAF is starting to adopt some of the policies of the ousted dictator Mubarak. Despite promising press freedom, it is now leaning on the media to protect it. It’s jailed dissident bloggers on tenuous charges. In the face of continued protests against military rule, the reinstated emergency law (which was one of the instigators for the revolution) and military tribunals of civilians, SCAF is trying to distract Egyptians by playing up both fear of outside threats from Israel and internal troubles such as sectarian conflict.
What happened on Sunday night was a tragedy. More than two dozen people were killed, partly due to the military cracking down on civilians in one of the worst nights of violence since the revolution, and partly because false sectarian strife was created. SCAF is playing a deadly game for its continued rule over Egypt, and unfortunately, it looks like things can only get worse.
