Global Voices Online » 2007 » May

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India: Bloggers on art, morality, government and freedom of expression

Neha Viswanathan · 18:40

In what looks like more than mild disagreement between the moral police and the artists, a student from a university in Baroda was arrested for displaying “obscene” works of art. The student, Chandramohan at Maharaja Sayajirao University was first assaulted by “goons” and then arrested. Chapati Mystery reminds us that Baroda is in a state that suffered the wrath of communal violence. Zigzackly has an extensive set of links, and has information on the protests through the country, even as news comes in that the student has been released on bail.

By now, you would have read, heard or seen the news of the arrest of a student, Chandra Mohan, and the suspension of the dean of Maharaja Sayajirao University's Fine Arts faculty in Baroda, Prof. Shivaji Panikker. (For those who haven't, please catch up through the press links below.)

More links to the protest in various cities in India.

Every time something like this happens, my first reaction is a mix of disbelief and laughter. It would be easy to brush off these things with an Obelix-like toc, toc, toc and a ‘These Hindutvavadis are crazy', were it not for the fact that these events occur more and more frequently, and people suffer imprisonment, exile, suspension and years of legal battles as a consequence.

Falstaff comments on the political agenda of those who assaulted the artist.

The hooligans attacking the MSU Fine Arts faculty aren't, after all, motivated by any genuine moral outrage. They're motivated by a cynical calculation which tells them that attacking a group of artists in the name of tradition and culture will get them more support in the next elections.

They may, of course, be wrong about this. But assuming they're not, it frightens me to think that there are actually people out there who are MORE likely to vote for a party because its hoodlums attack students and act as if they're above the law.

A blog called the Fine Arts Faculty MSU has updates on the issue, including notes on taking the protest to international academic circles. People find various ways to protest, and India Uncut also raises a fascism alert.

The artist community obviously rises up, and organises an exhibition documenting erotica in Indian and Western art. It is a peaceful way of showing their protest. The pro-vice-chancellor of the university arrives and demands that the exhibition be terminated. The dean of the faculty, Dr Shivaji Panikkar, takes a stand and refuses to do so. He is suspended. As I type these words, he is in hiding, worried about what the ruffians could do to him.

Artconcerns.com has updates on the issue, with details on how the student was arrested without a warrant, and how political parties are involved.

Instead of a response to these demands the Vice-Chancellor wanted an unconditional apology from the staff and the students of the Faculty of Fine Arts, for offending their sentiments tendered to the public. It was rejected by the staff/students body on the grounds that it would be tantamount to accepting that they have committed a wrong, whereas that was patently not the case.

Kafila, with biting sarcasm puts forward what it calls a “modest proposal to end all controversies on Freedom of Expression in India”. The arrest of the student is not an isolated event, and is linked to various cases of freedom of expression in India being seriously compromised because of threats to personal safety and professional security.

Actually, all that people need to do is to insist that only the self appointed guardians of public morality (of all stripes and shades) have the right to appear in any broadcast, exhibition, film or other forms of mediated communication. We need every channel to broadcast morally cleansed reality TV all the time. How else will this nation boldly venture where none other has gone before - into that heaven of bliss and freedom known as ennui for the billions.

Note - The thumbnail image is of the painting Mother India by MF Hussain, which is apparently nude, and has angered the right wing Hindutva forces in India.

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Bolivia: The Work of the Constituent Assembly and Government Regulations

Mario Duran · 14:27

lingua → es · es

[Editor's Note: We welcome Mario Duran, who was featured in this Global Voices interview, as a new author covering the Bolivian blogosphere. This is his first contribution to the site.]

Many things have been happening in the Bolivian blogosphere, such as concerns over the work of the Constituent Assembly. In the nine months since its inauguration, not a single article has been written. The delegates are even demanding a time extension to continue working. Hugo Miranda of Angel Caido [ES] writes:

que se les puede pedir a gente que solo asiste 3 dias a la semana a Sucre (martes, miercoles, jueves), que no tiene ni la minima idea de lo que es una CONSTITUCION, que gana 10 000 palos (sin contar asesores, que son MUY BUENOS), que ni asiste a sus comisiones, gente que lo unico bueno que hizo hasta hoy es apadrinar promociones y unos cuantos campeonatos de Futsal, voly y demas…

What else could you ask for from people that only work three days a week in Sucre (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays), and that do not have the slightest idea of what it is to write a CONSTITUTION. They earn 10,000 Bolivianos - national currency (without counting their EXCELLENT advisors), yet do not even attend committee meetings. They are only good for sponsoring and attending graduations and some indoor football and volleyball tournaments.

The social conflicts in Bolivia motivated Guccio’s Gustavo Machiado to talk about the import of used clothing from the United States and the prohibition established by the Evo Morales administration. He wonders whether Bolivia actually has a national industry and whether the internal market provides sufficient economic capacity. He writes:

Pienso que el problema aquí, mas que ser un problema de oferta es un problema de demanda y de ahí que encuentro absurda la idea de reconversión que postula el gobierno. ¿Realmente habrá una demanda de ropa nueva en Bolivia? ¿No será que la gente compra ropa usada porque su presupuesto no le alcanza para comprar ropa nueva o por ahí aun siendo usada es de mejor calidad que la nueva (made in Bolivia claro)?

I think the problem here, is that it is more than a problem of supply, rather a problem of demand and the absurdity of this change of stance of the government. Is there really a demand of new clothing in Bolivia? Would it be that people purchase used clothing because their budget does not stretch to buy new clothing or that used clothing might be of better quality than the new clothing (made in Bolivia of course)?

Andres Pucci declares his support for the measure adopted by the Forestry Superintendency [ES] that prohibits the export of sawn wood, which foments the processing of this material, and he writes:

Esta medida de sólo exportar ciertas especies (no todas) trabajadas es excelente, de lo mejor que se ha hecho este gobierno, obligará a empresarios a usar la cabeza, a contratar ingenieros, técnicos, obreros, contadores, camioneros, montacarguistas, cargadores y demás, aparte de comprar maquinaria a los excelentes fabricantes de maquinaria para procesar madera que existe en bolivia (ej. Sansetenea en Cbba.)

This restriction of allowing the export of certain types of wood (not all) is excellent, and it is one of the best things that this government has done. It forces the businessmen to use their heads and to hire engineers, technicians, workers, accountants, truckers, loaders and others, in addition to purchase machinery for the excellent factories to process the wood that exists in Bolivia. (i.e. Sansetenea in Cochabamba).

From Palabras Libres, Mario Duran also questions the worker aristocracy (teachers and health care workers) who in addition to having a neverending supply of benefits they continue to ask for more and he proposes that:

El gobierno debería considerar declarar al magisterio, como profesión libre e incluir a los profesionales en salud al estatuto del funcionario público, dicha medida precautelara derechos básicos de las personas, el acceso a la educación y la salud.

The government should consider declaring teaching as a free profession and include the health care workers into the public employee statute, which would protect the basic human rights of the access to education and health.

Translated by Eduardo Avila

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Talking to Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp

Nicholas Laughlin · 14:21

The Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp has published five books of poems, a collection of short stories called Uncle Obadiah and the Alien, and a novel, Benjamin, My Son. He lives in Miami, a member of the great Caribbean diaspora in North America, and he currently teaches at Miami-Dade College. Since December 2005, he has also been a blogger. The plainly named Geoffrey Philp's Blog Spot announced its author's intentions with its very first post, “Why Do I Continue to Write?”:

I continue to write because I am from a marginalized race/culture and I work in an even more marginalized discipline/craft…. I continue to write about my people, my landscape because I think they are important, real and the proper subjects of art.

Over the last year and a half, Geoffrey's blog has become an important meeting place for Caribbean writers and readers. He posts samples of his own work, short literary essays and meditations, interviews with other writers, news about upcoming literary events, and regular birthday celebrations for major Caribbean authors (most recently, Barbadian poet Kamau Brathwaite). I chatted with Geoffrey recently about his blog and Caribbean literary blogs in general. Here is an edited version of that conversation.

Nicholas Laughlin: What made you decide to start a blog back in 2005?

Geoffrey Philp: My daughter, who had been blogging for five years, finally convinced me to try and I liked it.

NL: Had you ever contributed to a blog before that?

GP: I had written an essay, “Voices of the Jamaican Diaspora”, for the now defunct blog Book Coolie. The essay was picked up by Maud Newton, so I began to read a lot of blogs from her links: Moorish Girl, Bookslut, The Valve, the Literary Saloon, and Metaxu Café.

NL: How is writing on your blog different to writing in other media?

GP: I'm not saying that I don't have any standards for my writing on the blog, but I worry more about my poems, short stories, and novels than I do about the blog. Some of my friends have told me that I'm too hard on myself when it comes to my writing, but as many readers of my blog know, I believe in the tradition of Derek Walcott, Kamau Brathwaite, Dennis Scott, Anthony McNeill, A.J. Seymour, and Martin Carter, so I'm not going to even try and publish something that doesn't meet up in my eyes to that standard.

NL: Has the blog pushed your writing in different directions stylistically, or in subject matter?

GP: The focus of my blog is pretty narrow: to promote my work and the work of Caribbean and South Florida writers.

Now, I started off writing as a poet, and I've learned not everything can or should be a poem. As I've often said to my students in my creative writing workshops, a poem is that bok! of when the ball meets the bat and it shakes you up. A short story is about bottom of the ninth, the bases are loaded, both teams are tied, and the pitcher begins his motion. A novel is the whole shebang–what Henry James called the “loose, baggy, monster.” A blog comes closest to the feel of a novel–it can be anything. This is why I've given myself such strict limits about what my blog should be and what it shouldn't be. By setting such narrow parameters, my writing doesn't end up all over the place and I know exactly what my subject matter will be.

NL: Do you consider your blog a literary work in itself?

GP: I don't know what to think of my blog, Nicholas. I write about things that interest me. If someone wants to drop by and leave a comment, fine. If not, that's cool too.

NL: What are the Caribbean literary blogs you read every day?

GP: I have subscriptions in Google Reader to Books of my Numberless Dreams, Guyana-Gyal, Croaking Marley (Jamaican writer Marlon James's blog), the Caribbean Beat blog, Antilles, Jeremy Taylor, and Seawoman's Caribbean Writing Opps. There are some blogs out there, not calling any names, that you can't subscribe to, so I visit them less frequently.

NL: Nalo Hopkinson seems to use her blog to keep in touch with her readers. Marlon James uses his to write short–sometimes not so short–essays on all kinds of literary topics, and he mentioned to me once that he was surprised by the attention his blog has got. What's the value of blogs for writers, in your opinion, especially writers in or from the Caribbean?

GP: A blog is about freedom. And if we can get that idea into our heads, many things will change. For example, publishing in the Caribbean is very incestuous. You go to a party and you worry if you say this or that about so-and-so that he won't publish you in frick-and-frack. I'm not saying this isn't true in Miami. Just sometimes by speaking (and some people think someone like me shouldn't speak) I've managed to anger some very important people here, so you won't see my face in some places. But I tired of the games. I know I'm a good writer, so if I think I've written a good poem or short story, I'll put it up on the blog.

I really meant it when I wrote on my blog that we have to “shoot the sheriff”. And the times that I grew up in had a lot of “sheriffs”–if I had listened to them, I would never have written a thing.

NL: Recently, Kwame Dawes, who's been blogging at Harriet, the Poetry Foundation blog, described his “greatest fear about blogging”: “It will suck up all my creative ideas–topics that really should belong in poems.” Do you ever feel this way yourself, or are the two activities–blogging & literary composition–too far apart?

GP: Writng for me is about discovery, and poetry, fiction, and non-fiction are different modes of discovery. Let me explain what I mean.

The writer is a craftman or should be. I was listening to an NPR interview with a man in China who made bows and arrows, and he said that with each piece of wood, the fashioning of the bow had to be done with intuition and experience. That is how I feel about poetry and writing. An idea comes into your head, and you in that moment have to decide how best to treat it. Are the images and the music of the words that come with the words so intense that they must be rendered in a poem? Or when you begin, do you find other voices creeping in saying, “Him is a dutty liar. Nothing no go so. Doan't listen to that boy! Make me tell you how the story really go”?

Now you have a conflict, so is it going to be a short story? And the more you write, is the inciting incident and the idea that is emerging too big to be contained in a short story? Now you have a novel? Or is it interesting, but none of these things are happening, but still worthy of notice? Then you have a post for a blog. And you bring to bear all the skills you have as a writer to the post.

Does it have an opening that will capture the reader's interest? Do you have to give background information? How are you going to handle the main idea? Do you know any anecdotes, facts, information to support the main idea? How are you going to link the ideas? How are you going to end the piece? Rewrite. Rewrite. Rewrite. Now ask yourself this, does the opening sentence, etc.? Is the writing doing what you think it's supposed to be doing? Can it still be improved or are you finished? Finished? Publish.

NL: A little over a year ago, I wrote a piece called “West Indian literature online” for Global Voices, in which I suggested that in the future the blogosphere could play a role for today's writers similar to that played in the 1940s and 50s by the BBC Caribbean Voices programme–i.e. providing a space where writers scattered across wide geographies can discover what they have in common. Any thoughts on this?

GP: In order to develop his/her talents, a writer needs time (which means money) and support/exposure.

The Caribbean Voices programme provided an important outlet–it was a source of revenue for the writers and gave them support/exposure when no one knew who they were. When listeners (another important factor, because we come from oral cultures) tuned into Caribbean Voices they knew that the writer was important because the BBC had put him on the air. The writer had instant credibilty. The CRB could become that. Antilles could become that, but the digital divide has to be overcome. The stigma attached to blogging has to be overcome, but we know our people are very conservative, very slow to change.

So one of the things that has to be changed in the minds of the people who read is that a blog, especially the blogs that I or Marlon do, are some how frivolous and not worthy of attention. We have to get away from the idea that because someone has self-published in a blog the writing isn't good.

Writers will always need support/exposure in one way or another. This is why the recognized writers have an army of publicists etc, and are given huge advances so that they can continue with their work. But merely because a writer is not recognized by the literati does not make him any less competent. Good writers, whether they are recognized or not, are going through the same processes of writing: inspiration, selection, distillation, revision (except for the last part, I sound like a winemaker, don't I?).

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Outrage as Zimbabwe assumes helm of key global organization

Zimpundit · 13:25

As if all the troubles bedeviling Zimbabweans were not enough, Zimbabweans were aghast last week as it emerged their beleaguered nation is going to lead the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in yet another cruel twist in the nightmare that is Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's ascendancy occurred in spite of the fact that it is the nation with both the fastest shrinking economy and one of the highest inflation rates in the world.

Enraged Sokwanele offers this observation:

One of the practical considerations will be how will Zimbabwe manage to attend meetings in the EU given the number of travel restrictions against Mugabe’s government because of his government’s disregard for human rights. And how did Zimbabwe’s UN ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku respond to this problem? Like this: “What has sustainable development to do with human rights?”

Frustrated that the Australian cricket team has succumbed to political pressure and cancelled their September trip to Zimbabwe Bev at Kubatana contemplates the good that could have come out of the tour:

Australians might not care about this, but it’s important to review what is the best overall strategy rather than fall back on the knee-jerk call for a boycott.

So then, what to do?

If the Australian cricket team is considering a boycott, then they have agreed that politics and sport can and do mix. So perhaps it would be more worthwhile for the Australian cricket team to tour Zimbabwe: and Do Good whilst they are here rather than their usual cricket, huntin’ and fishin’ fun.

Maybe individual players can meet with activists who have been abused as a show of support and respect? Or they can visit Harare’s government hospitals and check out the conditions that Zimbabweans seeking medical treatment have to experience. Or they can deliver a petition to the Minister of Sport & Culture asking for the rights of Zimbabweans to be respected.

Meanwhile The Bearded Man is furious about the hardly surprising reality that while the rest of the country goes with out electricity due to recently introduced loadshedding, the president and other high ranking officials in government never have to go without electricity.

The sooner that politicians realise that they were selected by the voting public and therefore are servants of the people, and not the other way around - the better.

Why should Mugabe live in a false environment? Why not endure the daily problems that the normal people of Zimbabwe have to face? Why be given the special treatment?

If he doesn't have to go through the same experiences, how can he relate to his people?

Oh. Sorry. That's right - he cares not one iota for his people, preferring to live in luxury and have people falling over themselves to sate him. He is a self-obsessed, egoist with some serious paranoia coupled together with a self-importance that is absurd in its manifestation.

Finally, Zimbabwe: Outpost of Tyranny in a post titled “Western Journalists, Whether Traveling Undercover, or Observing from their Johannesburg Perches, Are Missing the Story in Zimbabwe, as they Perpetuate Myths, and Carry Water for Mugabe. (Sub-title: ‘Majoring on the Minors and Minoring on the Majors.')” offers this sharp critique of Western journalist's pseudo reporting on Zimbabwe from the comfort of South Africa:

these reporters are missing the big story, that of the Mugabe regime's meticulously calculated and brutally (and sadistically) executed campaign, underway since March 11th, to wipe out the pro-democracy civil society and political movement, they are also contributing to perpetuating the myth–a myth promulgated by Mugabe and the ZANU-PF thugs themselves–that the “real story” is the supposed disunion within the opposition MDC, and their supposed propensity for violence.

In his last missive from Zimbabwe, on which we did not blog last week, the illicit reporter from the Economist carries Mugabe's water for him when he subtitles his series “our online reporter finds the opposition in disarray,” without pointing out that that opposition has been the object since March 11th of a savage Mugabe-orchestrated reign of terror that has resulted in thousands of persons being beaten, hundreds being arrested and hospitalized following torture, and at least 2 being killed.

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Morocco: How to Best Represent One's Country

Jillian York · 12:47

lingua → es

With the increasing popularity of blogging comes a debate about how to represent one's country, or in many cases, the country in which one is currently living. Many of the English-language blogs based in Morocco are written by foreigners, who call the country their home. Still others are written by Moroccans, many of whom live abroad. The result is a discussion of how to portray Morocco which crosses borders and nationality.

Everything Morocco introduced a new blog from Fez, saying: “…Slip off those sepia-tinted specs for a minute and take a look at 21st century Morocco through the eyes of someone who lives there.”

The blog in question was Fes: The Fake Blurry View, whose author introduced the blog by saying:

I think that it’s difficult for foreigners living in Morocco to see the real picture of life in Morocco Fes in this case. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of foreign “experts” in Morocco who try to represent what is authentically Moroccan… the other. The outcome is so weird. You end up thinking, reading their b!@#s@#$ that in Morocco, it’s all about being a “sufi” (whatever that means) and it’s all about history, tradition and medieval practices…

These fellas wouldn’t admit that in Morocco people drive cars, take trains and planes… that Moroccans … are just as modern as they are. They insist that Moroccan culture should be as they see it, as if lived out through a series of postcards.

Also on the subject of slipping off “sepia-tinted specs,” The View From Fez had a guest blogger, Australian television journalist David Margan, who wrote of Fes:

It is mysterious place only because of our ignorance and the pleasures of myth and imagination; to read its history and watch its ways is to discover it is simply a living city like any other. Simply watch the gaggle of school kids running, laughing, teasing grins as broad as the sky; the girl walking slowly immersed in animated intrigue, its no different from the village green, town square or road in your town.

…This is Fez. Morocco. Fez now… and may it continue to prosper and grow – insh'allah.

In Move It Or Lose It, a Tangier-based blog, the author writes of representing Morocco through photography, and the challenges that go along with it:

I have never seen a Moroccan women taking pictures in Tangier. I cannot remember ever seeing an American women taking pictures in the streets of Buffalo. Most of the people in Tangier have not seen me taking pictures of the city. Half of the people I photograph do not see me doing it, ie backs of heads, passing in cars, me on a terrace.

Braveheart Does the Maghreb echoed the sentiment, saying:

I am amazed that in a Muslim country none (a rash generalization, I hope there are some) of the tourists ask permission to take photographs. The Muslims, especially on holy days, do not want their photographs taken. I don't want my photograph taken! The children are always ready to pose; but one should still ask.

Finally, in the realm of print media, Myrtus remarked that “Mariane Pearl, the wife of American Journalist Daniel Pearl who's been murdered by radical Islamists, travelled to Morocco on behalf of Glamour Magazine to do a special report on the plight of unwed Moroccan women,” recommending the article, available online.

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Arabeyes: Muslim-Coptic Clashes in Egypt

Amira Al Hussaini · 09:58

lingua → fr

Sectarian strife rocked the quiet Egyptian village of Bahma in Giza on Friday over alleged plans to open a new church. Blogger Nora Younis tells us what happened and why. She also criticises the deafening silence of authorities in the civil war which saw the burning of five shops, 25 homes and an undisclosed number of casualties and provides a solution for the crisis.

What Happened?

قام مواطنون مصريون مسلمون باحراق 5 محال هي مصدر رزق لعائلات بأكملها، كما أحرقوا 25 منزلا وما هي الا ملكية خاصة ومأوى لجيرانهم الأقباط.. قام المسلمون باحراق المحال والمنازل بالكيروسين، ثم تعدوا على أصحابها بالشوم والعصى والحجارة. وفقا لجريدة المصري اليوم هذا هو ما حدث في قرية بمها بالعياط وأسفر عن أحد عشرة مواطن مصري قبطي مصاب بحروق وكسور وكدمات

Muslim Egyptians burned five shops which are the only means of livelihood for complete families. They also burned 25 homes which are the private property and shelter for their Coptic neighbours. The Muslims burned the shops and homes with Kerosene. They then hit their residents with sticks and pelted them with stones. According to the Masri El Youm newspaper, this is what happened in the village of Bahma and resulted in 11 Egyptian Coptics suffering from burns, fractured bones and bruises.

Why did this happen?

السبب؟ أراد 300 قبطي بالقرية تحويل أحد المنازل المملوكة لأحد الأقباط من سكان القرية الى كنيسة فقام أحدهم، ويقال أنه امام الجامع، بتوزيع منشور يطالب فيه المسلمون بالدفاع عن قريتهم الجميلة

The reason for all this? A total of 300 Copts in the village wanted to transfer one of the homes, owned by a Coptic in the village, into a church. One of the villages, who is said to be an Imam (clergyman) of a mosque, distributed leaflets calling upon Muslims to defend their beautiful village.

How did organisations and authorities react?

حسنا، هذه واقعة قد تحدث من قلة قليلة منحرفة في أية دولة على مستوى العالم.. دعونا نتأمل ردود أفعال مؤسسات الدولة المختلفة:

Fine. Such incidents do occur among a few wayward people in any country. Let us reflect upon the different reactions of state institutions:

وزارة الصحة والسكان لم تصدر بيانا بشأن عدد المصابين وطبيعة الاصابات، كما لم ينتقل وزيرها لزيارة المصابين
خلت الجرائد الرسمية للدولة من أية اشارة في صفحتها الأولى واكتفت جريدة الاخبار بالاشارة للواقعة في صفحة الحوادث، وكأن الحريق كان بهدف السرقة أو حدث من تلقاء نفسه
وزارة الداخلية أصدرت بيانا مخالفا لما جاء في وسائل الاعلام المستقلة والرسمية قالت فيه أن عدد المنازل المحترقة ثلاثة وعدد المصابين ثلاثة وأن الاصابات سطحية وطفيفة، كما أشار البيان للمعتدى عليهم ثلاث مرات بعبارة “أبناء الطائفة القبطية” مما يرسخ للطائفية في مقابل المواطنة
بالاضافة الى ذلك فأن وزير الداخلية لم ينتقل الى موقع الحادث، وفي أول رد فعل لها قامت الأجهزة الأمنية بقطع الكهرباء عن القرية بأكملها للسيطرة على الموقف مما أزعم أنه أصاب باقي الأقباط الذين لم يحترقوا بالذع

The Ministry of Health and Population did not issue a statement about the casualties and the nature of their injuries. Its Minister didn't visit the victims.
The country's official newspapers did not cover the incident on their front pages while the Akhbar newspaper was content with mentioning it on their accidents page, as if the fire was started because of theft or was ignited on its own.
The Ministry of Interior issued a statement with information which was different from what appeared in the independent and official media. The statement said that three homes were burnt down and three people were slightly injured. It also referred to the victims as being members of the Coptic community three times - which emphasises sectarianism against citizenship.
In addition to this, the Minister of Interior did not visit the site of the incident. Also, the Security Forces first action was to reaction was to cut off electricity from the entire village to control the situation - which I expect resulted in the remaining Copts who weren't burned feeling terrified.

How did Islamic organisations react?

أما عن موقف المؤسسة الاسلامية فقد أدان شيخ الأزهر محمد سيد طنطاوي الحادث واصفا اياه ب”الفتنة الطائفية” وموضحا أن الشريعة الاسلامية تحترم أصحاب الديانات الأخرى، وتتيح حرية الاعتقاد للآخرين، وأن جميع المواطنين متساوون في الحقوق والواجبات.. ومن الملحوظ أن شيخ الأزهر لم يعلق على حرية ممارسة الشعائر واقامة دور العبادة وهو أصل الموضو

As for the Islamic organisation, Al Azhar leader Mohammed Sayed Tantawi condemned the incident and called it “sectarian sedition”, while stressing that the Islamic Shariah respected those of other religions and allowed others to follow other beliefs. He also said that all citizens are equal in rights and duties. What draws attention is that the Sheikh of Al Azhar did not comment on freedom to follow religious rituals and construct religious centres, which is the main reason for this incident.

وبينما لم يصدر الحزب الوطني الحاكم أية بيانات بهذا الشأن، ولم ينتقل رئيسه لزيارة المصابين والأمر بصرف التعويضات كعادته بعد الحوادث الارهابية، أصدرت جماعة الاخوان المسلمين المحظورة بيانا على موقعها باللغة الانجليزية تدين الحادث وتصفه ب”حادث عنف بين أقباط ومسلمون” كما نشرت تصريح لأحمد عبده، النائب البرلماني الاخواني عن دائرة مزغونة بالجيزة قال فيه “أن الاعتداء يتعارض مع روح المحبة والاخاء التي تسود الأقباط والمسلمون منذ قرون. وأن الاسلام لا يحرم بناء الكنائس ولا يحد من الحريات الدينية. وأضاف أن هذه الممارسات ليست لها جذور شعبية وبالتالي سوف تنتهي بمجرد أن يعرف الناس التعاليم الصحيحة للدين”.. هذا بينما تجاهل موقع الجماعة باللغة العربية الحادث ولم تصدر أية تصريحات عليه من مرشدها العام حتى اللحظة

Meanwhile, the governing National Party did not issue statements regarding the incident and its president did not visit the victims nor order compensations for them, as he had done for the victims of terrorism. The banned Muslim Brotherhood group issued a statement on its English language site, condemning the incident and describing it as “violence that took place .. between Muslims and Christians.” It also published a comment by the Brotherhood's Member of Parliament Ahmed Abdou who said: “The attack goes against the spirit of love and brotherly relations which the Muslims and Copts have enjoyed for centuries. Islam does not forbid the building of churches and does not restrict people's religious freedoms.” He added that such practises don't enjoy popularity and will come to an end once people realise the true teachings of religion. At the same time, the Brotherhood's Arabic site totally ignored the incident and has not yet issued a statement from its spiritual leader.”

The solution

في الحقيقة حينما استعرضت ردود أفعال مؤسسات الدولة المختلفة وجدت تصريح الجماعة المحظورة باللغة الانجليزية هو الأكثر مسئولية بينها جميعا.. وبالتالي أدعوا جماعة الاخوان أن تبدأ حملة اعتذار وتبرعات لبناء كنيسة بمها وأقترح أن يقود الحملة النائب أحمد عبده بصفته ممثل الشعب في موقع الحادث، وألا تكون الحملة موجهة لأعضاء الجماعة فقط، بل أيضا لجموع المسلمين الذين يعرفون الاسلام الصحيح، وأن يساهم المسلمون المعتدلون بسواعدهم في بناء الكنيسة ويحضر النائب أحمد عبده أول قداس ب

In reality when I reviewed the reactions made by the different authorities, I found the banned Brotherhood's English language response to be the most responsible of them all. This is why I call upon the Muslim Brotherhood to initiate a campaign to apologise and also raise funds to built a church in Bahma. I suggest that MP Ahmed Abdou spearheads the campaign since he is a representative of the people in that district and that this campaign is not targeted towards members of the Brotherhood only but for the entire Muslim populace who understand the true Islam. I also suggest that moderate Muslims help build the church with their own hands and that MP Ahmed Abdou attends the first service held in it.

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