[Dialogue] What Copts fear

[Wayne Nelson]

Harry Wainwright wrote:

> Many Copts, not to mention secularists and liberals, have also expressed fear
> that the group's rise to power will ultimately turn Egypt into a conservative
> Islamic state where Copts will be treated as second-class citizens and women
> would be discriminated against.
> 
One of the difficulties with the  Egyptian elections has been the multitude
of candidates running. So many new parties. Like 20 candidates for each
seat. In a vast majority of constituencies, several ³run-offs² were required
in order to declare winners.  As is common in Egypt, the energy gets pumped
up more every time.  Statements get more and more radical and the
loudspeakers get turned up.

Copts have harboured those fears for a long time. It¹s endemic. You would
not believe some of the outrageous statements ascribed to Copts ­ a lot of
which are true, unfortunately. They surface every time politically
conservative Muslim groups make the newspapers. It happened in the mid 70¹s
when we were there. From my small grasp of things, the Muslim Brotherhood is
not too much more radically conservative than the American Republicans. The
major difference is that they hardly have any money.

Those fears be real, but I suspect it is more of an indicator of the state
of general anxiety around the planet and the ingrained paranoia of a
minority group.  There¹s an unsettled feeling everywhere and, to me pumping
up the anxiety only serves those who prefer to spin the multi-coloured
social complexity into stark black and white contrast to push an ideology.
It¹s irresponsible to spread that sort of fear.  It creates separation. It¹s
an invitation react from the reflective level and a way to prevent real
thinking.

The last time Gamma al Islamia ­ the more radical group - got out of hand,
the government really put their foot down ­ hard ­ very hard - and the
Egyptian boot has a steel toe.  Since then, tourism has been restored, the
economy is growing and, while it¹s pretty easy to see the signs of
conservatism around, I suspect that Egyptians will not shut things down in
the long run.  This is a country that is clearly seeing a way up and they
are not looking toward Baghdad from what I gather.

I was in Bayad on the day of the first round of parliamentary elections. In
fact, I hung out at the polling place with a bunch of Muslim and Coptic
friends. At that level, I sensed no tensions - none.

I also went to Minya to see Mahmoud Abd el Rasheed. He¹s Dr. Mahmoud now and
a Vice Dean at the Univ. of Minya.  Minya is  a former Gamma al Islamia
stronghold ­ and there was no mention of those fears. I¹ll see what reaction
it gets from Mahmoud.




I¹ll write more on this, but you all should know that ICA in Egypt is very
strong and doing some amazing work.  They have 90 people on staff, 4 offices
(Cairo ­ Bayad ­ Fayoum and Aswan), a huge budget and a track record up and
down the Nile. They have done a great deal of organizational restructuring
and have very solid systems in place. Duncan Holmes facilitated their
strategic planning a few years ago and Hala says they are pretty much on
track with it. Larry Philbrook spent some well appreciated time with them
last year. Several staff members mentioned it.

They are beginning urban work in places like Mohandaseen as well as all of
their work in rural communities with Community Development Associations
(CDA) and women¹s groups. Bayad and ICA are well respected throughout the
country. Bayad¹s CDA is one of the pilot locations for a micro-credit
initiative for single mothers. It is going very well according to the CDA
members I talked with there. Those of you who have been there have every
reason to feel pride in the most authentic sense.

2006 is ICA Egypt¹s 30th anniversary. We¹ll host a North American
celebration if there¹s any interest.

Wayne



< >  < >  < >  < >  < > < >  < >  < >
Wayne Nelson - ICA Associates Inc.
655 Queen Street East ­ Toronto, Ontario M4M 1G4
416-691-2316 - http://ica-associates.ca - wnelson at ica-associates.ca


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