Amr Hamzawy, senior researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, has announced his intention to form a new political party, named the Egyptian Social Democratic Party. He made the announcement from inside St. Mark's Cathedral in the Cairo district of Abbassiya on Tuesday. In a symposium held by the National Participation Commission at the Youth Archdiocese, in the presence of Bishop Moussa of the youth and Bishop Rufail of downtown Cairo, Hamzawy said his party will include prominent public figures, such Mohamed Abul Ghar, Emad Gad, Fatima Naaot and Dr. Khaled Montasser. Hamzawy seeks to consolidate the principle that this homeland belongs to Egyptian Muslims and Copts alike, and that building it is the responsibility of all citizens. “Post-revolution society is not formed yet,” he said, referring to the suffering of the Egyptians for many decades, particularly the Copts. He pointed out that there are positive images that appear from time to time in the community, such as 12 million people taking to the streets to topple former President Hosni Mubarak's regime, but that there are negative images as well, such as the incident in Qena, where Muslims cut off a Copt's ear to punish him. Hamzawy called on Christian and Muslim civil and religious society to encourage citizens to participate in politics in general, as opposed to joining a certain political party in particular.
