NEW YORK: Last week, the American Coptic Association led by Munir Dawoud held a protest at the United Nations in New York to “demonstrate [against] the impending massacre and ethnic cleansing of our people — the Coptic-Christians of Egypt — by the jihadist Muslim Brotherhood groups helped by the Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak.” The “fear-mongering” campaign, as Egyptian-American university student George Fahim told Bikya Masr, “was a sign of how out of touch with reality the Coptic community living abroad has become.” In a statement to media, Dawoud said that the rally's aim was to “protest the recent attacks against His Holiness Pope Shenouda III and the threats by Muslims to kill him, as well as denounce the bloodshed, murder, abducting and Islamizing of young Christian girls. “Additionally, this rally is aimed at publicizing the murder of six young men while getting out of church after their Christmas mass on January 6, 2010, and the Egyptian court's continued delay in the killers' trial.” Dawoud argued that “Copts are afraid to venture out of their homes in fear of being attacked,” and added, “Ten attacks of this type have taken place in the last five weeks, an average of two such attacks a week.“ But, Egyptians living in the United States, for the most part, on not convinced. They take the statements of Coptic leaders living abroad with a grain of salt, said Fahim. “We are pretty much laughing at this kind of racist and bigoted remarks from these so-called leaders, so why should others take them seriously?” he asked. In Egypt and the US, a major talking point has been the alleged kidnappings of Coptic girls and their “forced conversions.” Despite the nearly constant chatter among Coptic organizations over the so-called kidnappings, little hard evidence has been found to prove they are actually kidnappings. In particular, rights activists say the missing young women draw attention to customs among traditional Copts, particularly the lack of access to divorce and the practice of arranged marriages. “A key reason for the so-called ‘kidnappings' is that Coptic women have no right to divorce,” said Nahed Abul Komsan, head of the Cairo-based Egyptian Center for Women's Rights, which is the leading women's rights group in the country. “This means that if their parents tell them they are going to marry their cousin, they have to submit to this and have no choice… So they turn to Islam, not because of a spiritual belief in the religion but because it gives them more of an opportunity to choose their life's path,” she said. One European foreign correspondent told Bikya Masr earlier this year after interviewing a family that they “didn't believe the mother's story that her daughter was kidnapped.” According to the mother, a group of Muslims had abducted the child and forced her to convert to Islam, but the daughter was regularly seen at university attending her classes. Fahim admits there are some problems that Egypt needs to face up to. “The fact that building a church is difficult, or the sometimes targeting of Coptic houses is wrong and needs to stop.” But, at the same time, he criticized the continued argument that many Coptic leaders abroad, including Dawoud, use when talking of Egypt. They argue that Egypt is an “occupied country and Coptic Christians are the true citizens of Egypt.” Fahim said that this language “only creates more tension and divides people. All Egyptians are Egyptian, whether Christian or Muslim and to say otherwise is to tell the world you are bigoted and hateful.” BM
