Defending Islam does not mean forcing opinions on others, notes Gamal Nkrumah Six journalists forcibly stopped the convening of Egyptians against Religious Discrimination, a conference planned for Saturday at the Press Syndicate headquarters. Claiming they were defending Islam, they branded the conference organiser, Professor Mohamed Mounir Megahed, a traitor and Israeli agent and said the event was a danger to Islam. "They are thugs and we will not allow our activities to be hijacked by such people," Chairman of the Press Syndicate Makram Mohamed Ahmed told Al-Ahram Weekly. Ahmed was also denounced by the same journalists as a collaborator who liaised with Zionists and Bahaais. Ahmed apologised on behalf of journalists during the opening of the conference which convened instead at the headquarters of the leftist Tagammu Party. "At first they complained that a Bahaai professor was taking part in the conference. As it happened there was no Bahaai professor to my knowledge but if there had been, so what?" says Ahmed. "Then they protested against the presence of Copts, especially Coptic émigrés. Next they barricaded themselves inside the Press Syndicate headquarters which was the original venue for the conference." The following day Ahmed went at the crack of dawn to inspect the situation and to his dismay found one of the six protesting journalists in his pyjamas. Another raised a chair, presumably to hit me. They are fanatical zealots. The organisers of the conference were obliged to relocate to the headquarters of the Tagammu Party. Ahmed identifies the instigator of the protest as Gamal Abdel-Rehim, a member of the press syndicate council. "It is a great pity he behaved in such a manner. He was sacked from Al-Gomhuriya newspaper years ago and I was instrumental in persuading the editor-in-chief of the paper at the time, Samir Ragab, to have him re-instated," reflects Ahmed. "I could have requested the help of the security forces or the police but I thought it better not to do so. It is sad that some journalists behave like this. It is especially galling to have to admit that some of our colleagues, who should be the upholders of freedom of expression, are engaged in this form of skullduggery." Ahmed believes the event could set a dangerous precedent. The organiser of Egyptians against Religious Discrimination, Mohamed Mounir Megahed, is, he says, a leading scientist whose nationalist credentials are impeccable. They accused him, as well as myself, of being Zionist agents. They acted in a hysterical and unprofessional way. Megahed was in charge of the Dabaa Nuclear Plant. How could someone entrusted with such a task be accused of being a traitor? Ahmed warns that in the face of so many conspiracy theories it is up to journalists to act in a responsible manner. It appears that the journalists who stopped the conference from taking place at the Press Syndicate acted to maximise publicity. They took their cause to the satellite television channels and the Internet. Ahmed does not duck the issue. "This is a dangerous situation and we must deal with it head on. I have ordered an enquiry into the affair." One consequence of the incident is that it has confirmed the view of some members of Egypts religious minorities that they will never enjoy full citizenship rights as long as they continue to be regarded with suspicion by fanatics. What is more disturbing for them is that some of those fanatics are firmly ensconced in the media. Some sensational journalists are fanning the flames of sectarian strife, laments Nabil Abdel-Fattah, editor of the Annual State of Religion in Egypt report published by Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. "They are trying to force their opinions on others, sometimes, as this particular incident shows, by physical means." The Egyptian left is known to be vehemently opposed to any normalisation of relations with Israel. The charge that the organisers are Zionist agents does not wash. Nor did the Israeli media participate in the event as the journalists who criticised it claimed, Abdel-Fattah points out. He stresses that the Press Syndicate has in the past played host to leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood and so should open its doors to those who might hold different views. "A minority of journalists cannot dictate who is and who isn't permitted to speak at the syndicate," he says. Participants at the conference concluded that public morality must not be allowed to be hijacked by small groups of fanatics. They also regreted that the rubric of halal and haram has become a mantra for those who cannot accept that the Egyptian constitution grants equal rights to Egyptians regardless of religion, even though in practice this is not always the case. A Copt who participated in the conference told Al-Ahram Weekly, on condition of anonymity, that the entire affair confirms the vulnerability of Copts in todays Egypt. The Islamisation of cultural practices, he says, is causing grave concern among all Coptic Christian communities in Egypt. Gender issues also cropped up. Womens conduct which includes the conduct of Coptic and other non-Muslim women is scrutinised as never before. There is growing demand to remove the religion entry on computerised identity cards, which many claim represents an infringement on the citizenship rights of non-Muslims. Why should a persons religion be stated on his or her ID card? The conference was the product of hopes and aspirations as well as the fears and concerns of both religious minorities and sympathetic Muslims in Egypt today. Our struggle for citizenship rights will continue unabated.
