By Dr. Emad Gad –
A question that calls for a calm answer…
I follow with deep concern what is happening in the form of verbal and physical attacks against some of Egypt’s Christian Copts; restrictions imposed on them by the security services; discrimination against them; the disgraceful way in which executive state institutions deal with them; the deliberately fostered, extremely negative stereotype of them among the general public; the deliberate sidelining of the law; and discrimination against them in public positions. All of this is taking place amid the increasing religionization of the public sphere.
My generation has endured all of this, and suffered from it, since the late 1970s. We endured it out of love for the land of our ancestors, and because there was a national current resisting these trends and demanding a state based on citizenship and the rule of law—but to no avail.
The Copts endured attacks by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafists, and jihadist groups in the belief that an authentically Egyptian Egypt would eventually return. But what has happened is precisely the opposite: we are moving forcefully toward the Afghan model— with the blessing of the authorities.
Our children can no longer bear this. They ask: Why is this happening to us? What have we done? What do state institutions want?
A growing number of them—particularly those who have received a good education—have decided to emigrate to countries of freedom and democracy, where there is no discrimination, and where opportunities are available solely on the basis of merit. Our dear children have left us for America and Europe, and we no longer have an argument or rationale with which to persuade them to stay. Indeed, we have begun encouraging them to leave.
Those Copts who remain will increasingly be the poor and those unable to emigrate, particularly peasants and other vulnerable groups. The time will come when their descendants, too, will flee the country—escaping discrimination that is gradually turning into persecution, and searching for a peaceful life.
The question, then, for everyone participating in this is:
Will you be happy if Egypt becomes devoid of Copts? Will your problems then be solved? Will you prosper and develop?
There have, after all, been experiences in other countries involving population exchanges on the basis of ethnicity, religion, or sect. Would Egypt be happy if that happened here—if there were a mass departure of the Copts to one country or several countries, leaving Egypt the property of Hassan alone, after it had once belonged to Hassan, Marcos, and Cohen?
Then Cohen left, and Hassan and Marcos remained.
Today, Marcos is beginning his journey of departure, leaving Hassan alone.
(I personally refused to meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the period of Muslim Brotherhood rule when I learned that the subject of the meeting would be Coptic rights and their defense. My response was that Copts are Egyptians, and this is an issue to be discussed among Egyptians alone.)
A question filled with pain for our country—once the Pearl of the East and the Crown of Glory, after it has lost its identity…
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