06 November 2005

Problems on hold : Racial decrees

Youssef Sidhom

Last weekend, President Hosni Mubarak delivered his customary speech on the holy Muslim occasion of Lailat al-Qadr. The President’s soothing words came right on time to dissipate the tensions which were aggravated by last months’ sectarian violence in Alexandria. Mubarak said: “We are in need of a religious discourse which grasps the problems of this society and deals with them, upholds the values of work and participation, spreads realistic awareness of the values of Islam, and promotes Islam’s tolerance and its rejection of extremism and terrorism. We need a religious discourse that would preserve Egypt’s stability, social peace, and national unity, and block the way before attempts to pit Muslims against Copts.” The President went on to say: “Islam’s tolerant ++sharia++ or legal code deems the bloodshed of innocent civilians and terrorising peaceful citizens a sin.” He called upon Islamic leaders to always remind people that religion is for God and the homeland for all.”

The President’s words embodied reconciliation and rectification. This type of rhetoric has overwhelmed Egypt’s political arena since the Alexandria sectarian events. But words alone can never erase the increasing agony, wariness, and division that have been building up in the Egyptian street as a result of the inequality, erroneous culture, and incorrect attitude which govern relationships between Muslims and Copts. Remedies are many and well-known on the educational, cultural, national, and religious levels. Equally important however is the need to remedy existing legislative flaws and rectify official decrees to achieve justice and full citizenship rights for all Egyptians.

Presidential decrees which throw equality to the wind have constantly been a cause of concern, since such decrees clearly interpret the direction of State policies. Today, again with concern and puzzlement, I present a new collection of presidential decrees which contradict in content and spirit the President’s declarations in the Lailat al-Qadr speech.

On 28 September a presidential decree was issued to approve appointments to posts in the judiciary. Among a total 1754 posts of councillors to the Court of Appeals, heads of primary courts, heads of A and B level courts, heads of A and B level State prosecution, judges at primary courts, Copts were appointed to 56 posts only. This amounts to an average overall proportion of a mere 3.19 per cent of the posts filled, bearing in mind that this proportion was nil in the top posts. So much for equality between Muslims and Copts, and for “upholding the values of work and participation” advocated in President Mubarak’s speech.

On 25 September a presidential decree was issued to license the rebuilding of a fencing wall and the painting of the Baptist Evangelical church building at al-Ezba in Assiut, Upper Egypt. Again, obvious restoration works were licensed by a presidential decree instead of by the local building authorities, in flagrant contradiction to the presidential decree 453 of 1999 which relegated church restoration and renovation works to the building authorities concerned.

Also on 25 September, a presidential decree was issued to license restoration works and repair of toilets at the Brethren’s Evangelical church in Beba, Beni Sweif, Upper Egypt. This not only contradicts the 1999 presidential decree, but also involves the detestable indignity of needing a presidential decree—all the tortuous paper work and endless security approvals included—for something as basic as repairing toilets. Needless to say that no such indignity applies to mosques, since these enjoy absolute freedom where any construction is concerned.

So no matter how rosy, beautiful or comforting the political rhetoric is, the authorities concerned have yet to practice what they preach of equal citizenship rights and active participation. These values should be propagated throughout the community, from the top to the base, until the very grassroots.

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