Two NGOs emerged in the wake of last month's explosion of sectarian tensions in Alexandria. But are they capable of addressing the root causes of the conflict, asks Magda El-Ghitany The non-governmental organisations, the Egyptian Citizen and Muslims Against Discrimination, have been set up in the aftermath of recent sectarian riots in Alexandria, the first founded by a group of Muslim Arab and Egyptian intellectuals and the second by seven Muslim professors. Both have announced their rejection of all forms of discrimination against Christians. Muslims Against Discrimination further announced in their press release that its members were "tired of false ceremonial televised greetings between the pope and the grand sheikh of Al-Azhar". "We decided to defend the image of our religion," the press release continued, "and we will never allow Egypt's Christians to be treated as a fifth column in their homeland." "Christians are fully-fledged citizens, just like their Muslim compatriots. Yet they have problems in acquiring citizenship rights in the absence of a developed, mature civil society," said former culture minister Mansour Hassan, who hopes that the two new NGOs will contribute to rectifying this by "emphasising Copts' legitimate demands to social justice and political and economic empowerment". The two organisations will also, he added, "nurture positive feelings between Muslims and Christians once again." Hassan's optimism, though, is not shared by many of the commentators approached by Al-Ahram Weekly. "National unity and the citizenship rights of Copts are deep-seated problems that no single organisation can do anything about. They involve issues that the state itself is incapable of resolving," said Cairo University professor of civil engineering Milad Hanna. "What we really need now is to recreate the cultural atmosphere that prevailed during the 1919 Egyptian Revolution." Veteran Al-Ahram columnist Salama Ahmed Salama is equally pessimistic. "Generally organisations such as these are adept at issuing strongly worded press releases and formulating slogans but their influence is limited and they tend to be castles built on sand." Such groups, he points out, emerge out of a particular crisis and when that crisis fades from the public's memory so do the groups, without having done anything to address the roots of the problem of which the immediate crisis is merely a symptom. Youssef Sidhom, editor-in-chief of the Coptic Watani newspaper, adds that the problem of such movements is that they address a limited audience "and not the street". They comprise members who "know nothing about ordinary people which is not what we need now". While Judge Tarek El-Beshri is not as dismissive as some, believing it is too early to write off any initiatives the two NGOs might come up, he argues nonetheless that the problems to be tackled run deep. "But the real dilemma," he says, "is that there are those who have a vested interest in complicating the problem further." El-Beshri believes that instead of focussing on equality in citizenship rights between Muslims and Christians there is a tendency to focus on side-issues such as "building churches, and Muslims converting to Christianity and Christians converting to Islam". He suggests that the Coptic Church must itself shoulder some of the blame for this situation, since it "now seeks to emphasise the religious difference and exceptionalism of Christianity and encourages its followers to identify themselves with their religion and not in terms of their nationalism". The change in Muslim-Christian dialogue from a non-religious to a religious discourse, he argues, "has made it easier foster divisions among the two sides". El-Beshri believes the role expatriate Copts now play further complicates the situation. "They are people who left their homeland a long time ago and they cannot interfere in or judge the status of Copts living in Egypt." Sidhom and writer Samir Morcos both agree that "recent sectarian tensions reveal that Egyptians no longer know each other." Accordingly, civil society must work on re- cementing ties between the different sectors of society through establishing "common ground" between Christians and Muslims. Sidhom offers the staff of Watani as an example. "Christians and Muslims work together to produce the paper and they are very willing to get to know one another. They were only waiting for a chance. If we offer similar chances to young Egyptians then a Christian's thoughts, faith and beliefs will no longer appear mysterious to a Muslim and vice versa." Morcos believes that the two organisations offer an "excellent beginning to demonstrating the pivotal role civil society can play in creating common ground between both sides". They will clarify a simple fact: "Coptic youths are as frustrated as their Muslim compatriots. Muslims and Christians alike yearn for greener pastures overseas. And at home, they confront the same challenges -- poverty, the lack of proper health and educational services. Such challenges do not differentiate between Muslims and Christians, they hit both of them." Observers questioning the efficacy of the possible role of groups such as the Egyptian Citizen and Muslims Against Discrimination point to other possible strategies for containing sectarian tensions. "Establishing a national commission which can genuinely examine the problems faced by Christians and their complaints and formulate solutions," would be a great help, says Salama. Such a committee, he stresses, must include "trustworthy" public figures representing both Christians and Muslims. It should release a comprehensive report of its findings on which the relevant authorities can act. But, he warns, for such a commission to work it must exclude religious figures. Salama also points to the critical role played by the media and the education system. The time allocated to extreme religious programmes on satellite TV should be reduced. "We have had enough programmes providing silly answers to silly and superficial religious questions about every tiny detail of peoples' lives. This is not what religion is about and this is not the role the media should play at this critical time." The primary school curriculum should be amended to include Coptic history and culture so that Muslim youth get to know their Christian counterparts and vice versa and education authorities need to exercise greater discretion in appointing teachers. "The crisis we face now is directly fuelled by the extremist thoughts many school teachers feed young Muslim and Christian students," insists Salama.
