The Copts are paying the price of our failure to talk those Anglophile and still basically social democratic creatures of British intelligence, the Muslim Brotherhood, into doing a deal with them, as it would have been, and remains, massively in their international interest to do.
There would have been no audience for the Salafi if that had happened, and it is not yet quite too late. If the Copts were so well off under Mubarak, then why were they so prominent in the demonstrations against him? They want a deal with the Ikwhan. If it has any sense, then it will want, and strike, a deal with them.
One quarter of the Parliament to be elected on a constituency basis, one quarter on a proportional basis, forty-five per cent (an equal number of men and women) to be nominated by the General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and five per cent (an equal number of men and women) to be nominated by the Coptic Patriarch, although not the Catholic one, whose following is so much smaller, in spite of which these appointees ought certainly to include members of the Catholic and other minorities within the Christian community.
No legislation could be introduced unless sponsored by at least one MP from each of those four categories, nor could it be enacted without the approval of all four of the General Guide, the Patriarch, and the first and second-placed candidates in a direct Presidential election, termed the President and the Vice-President but enjoying exactly equal powers.
Why not?
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The official view from Camel Corps Central. Subject the most populous Arab country to rule by the head of the Muslim Brotherhood and the head of the Coptic Church. Pass the port, old chap.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of Bothaina Kamel, running for President as an Independent?
ReplyDeleteA social democrat who wears a crescent and cross necklace, and supports equal treatment for Coptic and Muslim places of worship.
She wants to try those who incite sectarian violence, for which she blames the military, not the religious communities as such.
She has no realistic chance of winning, but she is still worth watching.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. What was the situation of the Copts under Nasser? Arab nationalism seems to be inclusive of Arab Christians, or at least it should be, as Arab Christians were very influential in the development of Arab nationalism and socialism.
ReplyDelete