Subtitles:
*Dr. Ibrahim Mikhael: A wall magazine that doesn’t even express emigrant Copts.
*Samir Saad: I do not understand why Sidhom distributes his paper in churches.
*Romany Michael: Behind the pope. With Palestine.
*Tareq Selim: Sidhom avoids discussing Christian’s real problems.
*Ramzi Banob: He went down the sectarianism swamp.
We are not Americanized. This paper does not represent us, Watani is not our home. It does not express our situation which comes from the church’s national heritage. We support with our hearts and souls the pope’s patriotic stance.
These are examples of some comments made by Copts on: "Americanized Christians turning against the pope" and they are all comments that assure the solidarity of Egyptian people, from all religions, towards our Arab-Israeli conflict. The same comments showed us that emigrant Copts have different attitudes. Those who happened to be in Egypt supported the same patriotic attitude of our church.
Dr. Ibrahim Mikhael, who emigrated to the US, explains that the supplement dedicated by Watani to writers from the emigrant Coptic community was in fact reports extracted from American newspapers. He added: "it does not express us nor our causes and from the professional point of view it is more like a wall magazine or a church bulletin that only expresses its chief editor’s personal opinion."
Samir Saad, an Egyptian who emigrated to Italy, wonders: "Why does Sidhom insinuate that he represents the national church? And why does he insist on distributing his newspaper in churches to emphasize this point? If he were confident that he truly represents Coptic people he would have limited his distribution to newspaper stands. If it truly speaks for the people they would surely buy it but the fact is that it does not."
The lawyer Romany Michel refused to describe Watani as a newspaper. From his point of view it is just an extension of Al-Keraza bulletin. "It follows Sidhom’s tendencies as it does not deal with the causes of his society and does not allow the publication of free opinions limiting its input to religious ones mostly taken from books."
Romany reminded us that the Coptic religious opinion is determined by the holy council, which is presided over by the holy pope. Copts are free citizens who can express their opinions about life, politics or social issues.
Romany disapproved of the way Sidhom discusses problems. When a solution was reached it was ignored. He insisted that the situation of Copts concerning the Palestinian issue was known, and had been expressed more than once in words and in writing by His Holiness the pope.
Plastic artist Tareq Selim supposes that every newspaper expresses a section of the population, which is natural. And he also supposes that Watani is the one that expresses the Coptic section and their problems, nevertheless it did not do that, it stayed distant from our problems while other newspapers discussed them.
Tareq requests that Sidhom points out irregular cases of corrupt men of religion, who take advantage of their functional authority inside the church, before some other newspaper exposes them and causes Copts to feel sensitive about it. His reasons for this demand are: first of all, in order to reveal them to the people and second, to deal with them and avoid their harm. Tareq also wonders if Watani calls for introversion or extroversion. Explaining that an introvert policy never protected anyone and that it always caused the destruction of those who followed it. And if Watani does not stand with righteousness, show contradictory opinions, reveal the weak points and take the side of the oppressed, then what is its use?
Engineer Ramzi Banob, head of society for erecting churches says that in cases of a national struggle for liberation and people try to obtain their legal rights in deciding their destiny, points must be made clearly and not in a confused way as they were in Mr. Youssef Sidhom’s article.
This totally opposes the concept of national liberation and vexes every patriotic citizen, as well as contradicting President Mubarak’s invitation to define terrorism. We have to differentiate between the use of force to obtain legal rights and its use to commit massacres, subjugate peoples, steal their lands and waste their rights. There’s no doubt that we condemn every form of violence and we seek peace and security for all peoples as well as their right to progress and have a decent living. But we also support the people’s rights, and comes first the Palestinian people, in the struggle for all that using all legal means including the right of armed struggle. Mr. Sidhom went down the sectarianism swamp. Copts have no doubt their worries and their just causes but the confused publication as currently proceeded by Watani doesn’t solve any problem. On the contrary, it emphasizes and calls for a sectarianism that divides people according to identity and it drives us away from the civil society that we are constantly seeking.
In the current Coptic fact, emigrant Copts represent a big paradox that has its dimensions and effects. And we all have to regard them with a comprehensive look for the sake of all immigrating Egyptians as to make of them strength and support to Egypt.
Pope Shenouda III, whom we are proud and happy to have as pope of all Arabs, recognized all this with his true patriotism, his political sense and his full awareness of the history’s movement.
Along with him came the Coptic intellectuals and the whole Coptic people and they all stood together unhesitatingly on the side of Arabic rights. His holiness is by that the role model for all Copts and may some of us learn the lesson!
