Arab Minorities in Fear of Arab Spring

Last week saw Coptic orthodox Christians in Ireland rallying outside the Dáil seeking to highlight the plight of Christians in Egypt after the killing of 25 people last weekend. They appealed to the Government to urge the Egyptian government to stop the persecution of Egyptian Christians and the burning of churches. Shortly afterwards I was emailed by an anonymous member from the Coptic community to highlight the worries of the Christian community due to recent events in the Middle East.

So I went to out to research the topic to get an unbiased and balanced article. However when I dipped further into the issue what I found was shocking.

The Arab Spring has undoubtedly giving more freedom to the Middle East and inspiration to millions around the world including the “Occupy Protests” but it has also brought hidden sectarianism in Egypt and Syria.

While most presume that Arabs are overwhelmingly adherent to Sunni Islam however actually there is the little known fact that Arabs are more religiously diverse than people expect and are broken down as follows:

• ~70% Sunni Islam
• ~15 – 20% Shi’a Islam
• ~10 – 14% Christianity
• < 1% Other

While most Middle Eastern countries were ruled by autocratic despots for many decades, their leaders did achieve a religious harmony among their people. But with Revolution in the air a small minority have taking it among themselves to commit sectarian violence against the religious minorities.

In Syria sectarian chants by anti-regime protesters have spread fear among Syria’s minorities. During the beginning of the uprising, protesters chanted “Christians to Beirut; Alawites to the coffin”.Christians and other minorities have long been protected under Assad’s rule (the Assad family coming from the Alawite sect of Shi’a Islam), which guaranteed religious freedom, and fear that they will suffer the same consequences as the Christians and other minorities of Iraq if the government is overthrown.

Most of the protests have taken place after Muslim Friday prayer, and the Archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo has told the Daily Star (Lebanon) that “To be honest, everybody’s worried, we don’t want what happened in Iraq to happen in Syria. We don’t want the country to be divided. And we don’t want Christians to leave Syria.”

According to International Christian Concern, Christian Syrians have been attacked by anti-government protesters in recent weeks, for not joining the protests.

Also members of the Alawite sect are afraid of Sunni hegemony, as they have traditionally been oppressed by them.

In an interview with AP, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated that the primarily Sunni protesters “have a lot of work to do internally” toward becoming a truly national opposition movement that also represents the aspirations of Syria’s minorities” and “It is not yet accepted by many groups within Syria that their life will be better without Assad than with Assad. There are a lot of minority groups that are very concerned.”

While in Egypt the protests were not centred around religion-based politics, but nationalism and a broad-based social consciousness.Before the uprising, the most organised and prominent opposition movements throughout the Arab world usually came from Islamist organisations that relied on a conviction of their faith, where members were motivated and ready to sacrifice. However, secular forces emerged from the revolution touting principles that religious groups shared with them: freedom, social justice, and dignity. Islamist organisations also emerged with greater freedom to operate. Although the cooperative, inter-faith revolution itself was no guarantee that partisan politics would not re-emerge in its wake, its success nonetheless represented a change from the intellectual stagnation created by decades of repression which simply pitted modernity and Islam against one another as conflicting and incompatible.

Islamists and secularists both have been faced with new opportunities for dialogue and discourse, on matters such as the role of Islam and Sharia in society and freedom of speech, as well as the impact of secularism on a predominantly Muslim population.

Despite the optimism surrounding the revolution, several commentators have expressed concerns about the risk of increased power and influence for Islamist forces in the country and the region at large, as well as the difficulties of integrating the different groups, ideologies, and visions for the country among the population. Journalist Caroline Glick argued that the Egyptian revolution portends a rise in religious radicalism and support for terrorism, citing a 2010 Pew Opinion poll which found that Egyptians support Islamists over modernizers by a ratio of over 2 to 1.

Since the revolution Islamist parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood have shown unprecedented strength in the new more democratic landscape, taking leading roles in constitutional changes, voter mobilization, and protests. This was a noted concern among the secular and youth movements, who wanted any elections to be held later rather than sooner, so that they might catch up with the already well-organized groups.

However recent clashes with Christians protesting against an attack on a church brought the military police onto the streets in Cairo leaving 25 dead.

Protesters threw rocks and petrol bombs at police, and set fire to vehicles, live television showed, in some of the most violent scenes since an uprising overthrew former President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Hundreds from both sides beat each other with sticks on a Cairo bridge, witnesses said.

The country’s army rulers have imposed a curfew on the Tahrir Square and downtown area of the city.

State television reported 30 soldiers were injured in the fighting. Coptic Christian protesters said they had been attacked by military police.

Tensions between Christians and Muslims have increased since the February uprising. A similar demonstration last Tuesday ended in the violent dispersal of protesters. While Christians who make up 10% of Egypt’s roughly 80 million people, blamed Muslim radicals for partially demolishing a church in Aswan province last week.

They took to the streets demanding the sacking of the province’s governor for failing to protect the building.

While the topic of organised violence against both Christians and Shiites hasn’t been reported widely by most media organisations, it’s right to say that both groups have joined in protests for the Arab Spring hoping in a more democratic secular government while even defying their own Religious leaders.

To highlight the issue more for one of the minorites, nearly 93,000 Coptic Christians have left Egypt since 19 March, a report by an Egypt-based Coptic NGO has said.

The number may increase to 250,000 by the end of 2011, according to Naguib Gabriel, the head of the Egyptian Federation of Human Rights, which released the report.

The current trend of Coptic immigration endangers the structure of Egypt’s population, Gabriel told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Sunday. He urged the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Egyptian cabinet to work on curbing the phenomenon.

Gabriel based the data stated in the report on information from Coptic churches and communities abroad.

“Nearly 16,000 migrated to California, while 10,000 moved to New Jersey, 8000 to New York, and 8000 to other American states,” according to Gabriel. “Around14,000 left to Australia, 17,000 to Canada, and 20,000 settled in the Netherlands, Italy, England, Austria, Germany and France.”

Gabriel attributed the Coptic emigration to hardline Salafi groups seeking to apply Islamic law, deny Copts senior government posts, and reduce incoming tourism. He also blamed attacks on Coptic churches and the government’s failure to bring attackers to justice.

Coptic author Kamal Zakher said the numbers in the report were exaggerated, but that concern over Coptic immigration is justifiable.