Tunisian-style self-immolation is unlikely to cause unrest in Egypt. This is not because the Government of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif consists of angels or because the ruling National Democratic Party is run by saints. The Tunisian experiment is not likely to be repeated in Egypt, because Muslim fundamentalists, who are known for organising big demonstrations, have concerns widely different from the interests of the general public. The owner of a small restaurant named Abdu Abdel-Moneim (the first Egyptian to set himself ablaze in the Tunisian style) must have been disappointed to discover that his self-immolation did not ignite violent unrest. Abdel-Moneim's disappointment prompted a joke, which goes like this: When he came round in hospital, he asked the nurses whether his painful protest had ignited the intended unrest in Egypt. Then, to his great surprise, he was arrested by a police officer for trying to foment sedition. His dismay increased when he discovered that his bed was surrounded by scores of senior officials, led by the Minister of Health and an envoy sent by the Speaker of Parliament. The owner of the restaurant was rebuked by another delegate, sent by the Minister of Environment, for contributing to the Cairo's suffocating smog. The cruel joke adds that the Government is planning to increase the price of fuel to deter others, who may be thinking of buying some petrol and following in Abdel-Moneim's footsteps. According to the joke, many new fire extinguishers have also been distributed around the premises of the People's Assembly, which, for some mysterious reason, appears to be the place where it is most likely acts of self-immolation will take place. Abdel-Moneim and three other people, who have also torched themselves in Cairo and Alexandria, must have wrongfully thought that they would inspire Muslim radicals and fundamentalists to ‘set society on fire'. It seems that women alone can influence these fundamentalists and radicals, prompting them to take to the streets and protest, if the mass demonstrations against the Coptic Orthodox Church, calling on it to set two ‘Muslim sisters' (women who have allegedly converted from Christianity to Islam) free, are anything to go by. When the security authorities decided to hand over the two women to the Church, fundamentalists held mass demonstrations every Friday to show their ‘undivided support' for their ‘sisters'. They condemned the Government for allegedly abusing the rights of women. Sympathisers overseas threatened to attack Coptic churches, if the Church refused to comply with the fundamentalists and hand over the two women to them. If this happens, forgive me for saying that ‘the Muslim sisters' will probably become the third and fourth wives of one of the influential and affluent cheerleaders in these demonstrations. Suspicions that women alone deserve the sympathy of Muslim fundamentalists must have been reinforced, when they outrageously refused to act likewise when a young Egyptian named Mohamed Hegazi converted to Christianity and married his Coptic lover. None of the leaders of Muslim fundamentalists cared a fig about Hegazi's conversion, which came as a new development in the tit-for-tat war between Muslim and Coptic radicals. Nor did any leader of fundamentalists and radical Muslim groups deem it proper to pressurise the Orthodox Church into handing over Hegazi. Fundamentalist groups in society,including the Muslim Brotherhood, are run by wealthy people. Is it surprising the public's economic difficulties do not feature anywhere on their agenda? Fundamentalists did not cry when, prior to the self-immolations, several unemployed men committed suicide because they couldn't pay their debts or support their children. They plan to manipulate the poor to hijack power and set the clock back several centuries. Self-immolation is a matter of concern for the victims' families and detectives. In the meantime, the police have reportedly cordoned off the whole area around the People's Assembly and the Cabinet headquarters, while clergymen have been mobilised to condemn suicidal acts, that violate the teachings of both Islam and Christianity.
