27 November 2005

When wisdom fails and wrath prevail

Youssef Sidhom

I ended last week’s editorial by wondering whether the second conference on democracy in Egypt and the Middle East which was held in Washington on 16-20 November would come up with a balanced document endorsing citizenship rights in Egypt. I hoped such a document would act as a motivation for national dialogue. As in last year’s conferences in Zurich, the recent Washington conference witnessed resentment at continuing Coptic grievances and shattered hopes for reform in Egypt. The mood swung between anger and complaint on the one hand and wisdom and enlightenment on the other. The day before the conference closed in Washington, participants from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain came up with several constructive proposals, proving that investigating the question of democracy on a broader platform offered a wider perspective and came up with more reasonable proposals for remedies.

Following is the text of the document:

The Second International Conference for Democracy in Egypt for Muslims and Christians and Supporting Democratic Change in the Middle East, held in Washington from 16-20 November, was attended by more than 150 Muslim and Christian figures from Egypt, other Arab countries and the rest of the world. The following resolutions and recommendations were made:

• Stressing the conference’s commitment to the resolutions of the first conference held in Zurich, Switzerland, in September 2004, and including these resolutions among the formal documents of the Washington conference.

• The conference emphasised the necessity for real democratic change in Egypt and called upon the Egyptian government to lay the ground for basic freedoms guaranteed by law and human rights conventions.

• Putting an end to laws and regulations that restrict public freedoms, mainly the state of emergency that has been in force for 25 yeas, as well as related codes and regulations.

• Assuring the right to found civil, non-religious, political parties and the establishment of civil society organisations, and removing all the obstacles impeding their activities. Guaranteeing the freedom to issue newspapers as well as other sorts of video and audio media and removing all restrictions limiting freedom of expression.

• Absolute separation of religion and state, stressing the civic nature of state institutions.

• Issuing laws for enhancing religious freedoms and abolishing the codes that contradict the freedom of belief.

• Issuing a unified law for building places of worship to found full equality between Egyptians in this regard with heavier penalties against those who do violence to places of worship.

• Abolishing all indications of religious identity in official papers, except when deemed necessary by law in civic affairs.

• Putting an end to the security-oriented manner of handling the Coptic file and curtailing the role of the State security apparatus in this regard. This should confirm that all Egyptians are equal under the civil law.

• Incriminating the defamation of religions and exposing faiths with heavier penalties against violators.

• Reviewing curricula at all stages of education and ridding them of different kinds of assault against religions and founding departments for Coptic studies in Egyptian universities, since the Coptic heritage represents an integral part of the national culture.

• Following an interim correctional policy to remedy the marginalisation of women, Copts and other minorities through ways of affirmative action by granting them a proportion of seats in parliament, the municipalities and leadership posts and top positions in the state.

Recommendations:

• Participants in this conference stress that problems in connection with rights of citizenship constitute a domestic Egyptian affair that should be handled through national dialogue and respect of international codes of human rights.

• Participants call on NGOs to revitalise common activities between Muslims and Copts to overcome the alienation and dissociation that separate them.

• Participants call upon the Egyptian government, political parties and civil society organisations to hold a convention on citizenship rights in Egypt.

• Egyptian expatriates participating in this conference call upon the Egyptian parliament to amend the elections law to allow them to vote in presidential and parliamentary elections.

This final document of the Washington conference was telefaxed for approval to the conference executive chairman, Mr Adli Abadeer, in Zurich. On the final day, however, we discovered several changes in the document reviewed by Mr Abadeer concerning its spirit and orientation, while the concluding recommendations had been abolished. The final version dealt a blow to rational and balanced attempts to formulate the resolutions. It was clear that the voices of anger had gained the upper hand.

I would like to stress here—as I did in Washington—my objection to the final document. I refrained from signing it since I am solely committed to the original document.

The following is the text of the amended document:

An élite of intellectuals, secularists and politicians from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Bahrain, Libya, European countries and Australia gathered for this conference. The conference’s discussions, argumentation, papers and testimonies of Egyptian and international fact-finding committees and human rights groups have indicated that Copts’ conditions have worsened throughout the year following the first conference held in September 2004. This situation shows that the Egyptian government purposefully deepened extremism related to the Wahabi doctrine, which harms Muslims as well as Copts.

Serious events took place after the Zurich conference in al-Marg, Abu-Zaabal and most recently Alexandria. Participants have taken steps to activate the resolutions adopted in Zurich and Washington through the UN and its affiliated organisations so as to take the required decisions to guarantee the protection of Copts in accordance with the provisions of international law and human rights conventions signed by the Egyptian government.

The conference rejects the fabricated lies by the Egyptian and Arab media and the false allegation that Copts seek foreign military interference or self-rule.

The second conference held in Washington has decided to pose immediately the following demands:

• Putting an end to laws and regulations that restrict public freedom, mainly the emergency law.

• Assuring the right to found civic non-religious political parties and the establishment of civil society organisations.

• Guaranteeing the freedom to issue newspapers as well as video and audio media and removing all the obstacles in the way of freedom of expression.

• Issuing a unified law for building places of worship.

• Incriminating the defamation of religions and exposing faiths with heavier penalties against violators.

• Founding departments for Coptic studies in Egyptian universities.

• Granting women and Copts 30 and 10 per cent respectively of seats in parliament, the municipalities and leadership posts.

Thus the spirit of tolerance which characterised the first document disappeared and efforts to bridge the gap and prepare for the national dialogue were aborted. It is regrettable that the conference ended in this way, and I am returning home with the original document that could guide us while we sit down for national dialogue.

Your Comments

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 22:22:24 -0800 (PST)

From: "George Elkess" <elkess2003@yahoo.com>

Mr. Seedhom,

You can take the first list of recommendations with “Elroh elsameh” to 3Akef and he will use it as toilet paper. Stop begging and stop the begging attitude. Ask for our rights and ask with determination. Stop kissing asses. Your nose is getting too brown. And if you are scared, just step down. We were trying to be nice for over 50 years

Since 1952 and what we got? Kicked out of our land and country for the Waahabi.

Time to defend ourselves and our rights. If it’s not for you, for the coming generations, for the poor, for the weak, for the needy. Don’t be afraid.

After all, you better say Thanks for Mr. Abadeer of not making you feel like a chicken any more.