The Coptic Christians don't know, unless it's just more death. The "Arab Spring" has not helped their plight, only worsened it. Just this week, a draft constitution passed posing a greater obstacle to their well-being:
The draft constitution has an Islamist bent. It strengthens provisions that set Islamic law as the basis of legislation, gives clerics a still undefined role in ensuring laws meet Shariah and commits the state to enforce morals and "the traditional family" in broad language that rights activists fear could be used to severely limit many civil liberties.
Almost all liberal and secular members of the assembly had quit in the past weeks to protest what they called Islamists' hijacking of the drafting process. As a result, 85 members - almost all Islamists, with no Christians - participated in the session that began Thursday. The voting, which had not been expected for another two months, was hastily moved up to approve the draft before the Supreme Constitutional Court rules on Sunday on whether to dissolve the controversial assembly.
Racing against the clock, the members voted article by article for 16 hours on the draft's more than 230 articles, passing them all by large margins. The rush resulted in a process that at times appeared slap-dash. Assembly head Hossam al-Ghiryani doggedly pushed the members to finish.
When one article received 16 objections, he pointed out that would require postponing the vote 48 hours under the body's rules. "Now I'm taking the vote again," he said, and all but four members dropped their objections.
In the session's final hours, several new articles were hastily written up and swiftly voted on to resolve lingering issues. One significant change would reduce the size of the Supreme Constitutional Court by nearly a third to 11 judges, removing several younger, sharply anti-Brotherhood judges.
The voting ended just after sunrise Friday, to a round of applause from the members.
Women have no illusions about what shari'a law demands of them: second-class status, and an even lower rank for Christians. The marginalisation of one of the largest religious communities signals more violence, which this excellent photo-essay depicts.
[Hanna Nabi Ayub, 31-year-old widow of Feriz Rezik Ayub, a victim of Maspero violence, and her daughter Carolyn. Hanna is eight months pregnant. Photograph by Rena Effendi.]
The only quibble I would offer is the constant reference to "sectarian strife" or "violence," which seems to indicate that the Muslims and Christians are harassing each other and share in the harms. If you notice, the violence is all in one direction: Muslims harassing (and killing) Christians. If there is the slightest indication of Christians chafing or fighting back, the retaliation is horrific: many killed, neighbourhoods torched, and businesses looted on the slightest suspicion (or rumour) of Christain wrong-doing. Technically, this is sectarian violence, but it doesn't really tell the story. Widespread persecution is what's happening, and the draft constitution only cements the attitude.
How the next chapter is written depends on what happens to those who protest it in the coming weeks. We must pray for calm to prevail.
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