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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Kinds of poverty
By Omayma Abdel-Latif
Pope Shenoudah III of the Coptic Orthodox Church had it right. He once pointed out that the best way of rooting out any causes of sectarian tension was to work on "eliminating the bad spirit that might exist among the common people".
Intellectuals could not agree more. However, responding to reported government and businessmen plans to raise money for investment in the villages which witnessed sectarian violence at the turn of the new year, Muslim and Coptic analysts called for radical alterations in both state and societal discourses on issues of communal discord.
Earlier this week, the Businessmen's Association announced that it was pursuing a campaign to raise funds for investment in the form of small projects in the stricken areas. Jumping on the same bandwagon, Prime Minister Atef Ebeid told a ministerial meeting that it was the government's duty to compensate the victims. "The government will defray the cost of reconstruction work in the villages," said Ebeid.
But both the government and businessmen may be missing the point, intellectuals believe. While they concede that underdevelopment, crippling poverty and lack of basic services may be basic reasons behind the outbreak of sectarian conflict, they argue that more important motives should not be ignored. Chief among them is what prominent Islamic thinker and lawyer Selim El-Awwa calls the lack of understanding of the consequences of religious differences. The issue, as El-Awwa views it, is not political, but rather social and cultural.
"The notion that both Muslims and Copts can co-exist peacefully has not been planted in the psyches of the commoners in some areas," said El-Awwa. He pointed out that what is really important is for common people -- who have misgivings about "the other" as a result of religious differences -- to be able to sit down together and communicate, away from the flashes of the cameras. "Now, the Copts are not comfortable dealing with Muslims there and they have the right not to be. But we have to move on from this situation and go beyond the comfort zone of official statements," El-Awwa added.
Observers on both sides argued that if something good was to come out of the Al-Kosheh events, it would be the promotion of understanding of the other's reality and its acceptance. "The state should change its perception of the issue and come up with a new mechanism to deal with it. The problem is not just what happened in Al-Kosheh; it is rather a general atmosphere which is pervaded by intolerance and unwillingness to listen to the other's views and to give him space," said Mounir Fakhri Abdennour, a prominent Coptic businessman and a founding member of the National Unity Committee.
It is precisely this point which many Copts are debating. To some, the Al-Kosheh incident has served as a reminder of similar sectarian incidents which took place in other areas and the fact that very little is being done to prevent their recurrence. Abdennour and Samir Morkos, head of the Coptic Centre for Social Studies, agreed that bridging the cultural gap between Muslims and Copts is a necessity for preventing future tension. Abdennour suggested that one way of doing this is establishing departments of Coptic studies in Egyptian universities and placing a greater emphasis on the Coptic period in history books.
Some Coptic intellectuals also insist that Muslims should learn more about what they call "the culture of the other". To some intellectuals, this argument clearly suggests the notion of "otherisation" of Copts, a view which many vehemently reject on the grounds that "there is no culture that is particularly Coptic". "The Copts never had a secret life of their own. Egyptian Copts are like Egyptian Muslims and, therefore, one cannot speak of a major cultural divide between them," El-Awwa argued.
While many reports on the violence departed from the official line, they agreed that the events in Al-Kosheh should not be dealt with as merely a security issue, but should be placed within a larger political-social framework.
Morkos and El-Awwa suggested an across-the-board approach for promoting tolerance of diversity and plurality through the establishment of a permanent national committee to deal with sectarian tension. The committee, Morkos said, should represent the various segments of society -- religious figures from both sides, intellectuals and social scientists, excluding politicians and security men. This committee should call for a national dialogue on the issue and investigate its historical roots, if any.
Morkos' idea seems to be gaining ground in official circles. Prime Minister Ebeid urged, at a meeting on the situation in Al-Kosheh this week, that a committee comprising both Muslim and Coptic religious figures meet with social scientists on a regular basis and discuss in-depth ways of preventing the recurrence of these incidents and promoting an atmosphere of tolerance.
While many observers may support the move, they nevertheless argue that more should be done by civil society institutions whose main concern should be to rid society of the prejudices and the "bad spirit that might exist among the common people"..
