Hans Rustad Forfølgelse av kristne følger i kjølvannet til den arabiske revolusjon. Kopternes skjebne er den mest skjebnessvangre.
100.000 har allerede forlatt Egypt siden revolusjonen i februar. De som kan, kommer seg ut.
Wall street journal har snakket med koptere som kommer til USA, de flest på turistvisum, hvoretter de bare blir. Asylsøknader koster fort flere tusen dollar.
Et stort innslag koptere vil påvirke amerikansk samfunnsklima. Det er de ressurssterke som drar: leger, forretningsfolk, de frie yrker, advokater, eiendomsmeklere … og de kommer ikke til å tie stille om hva de har opplevd.
Gjennomgående er at revolusjonen har gitt islamistene mye større spillerom, og det er ingen til å stanse dem.
This year, mobs have looted and attacked Coptic churches, homes and shops throughout Egypt. Churches have been burned down, and one Copt had his ear cut off by a Muslim cleric invoking Islamic law.
Strong gains by Islamist parties in the recent elections have further raised fears among the Christian minority that they won’t have a place in the new Egypt.
Obama-administrasjonen kvier seg for å gjøre kopternes sak til sin. Det vil bety knute på tråden i forhold til dagens og morgendagens makthavere. Men hvis forfølgelsen utløser masseflukt kan det by på store problemer for USAs politikk i Midtøsten.
Å snu ryggen til problemene vil ikke løse dem.
The plight of the nation’s roughly eight million Copts poses a quandary for the U.S. The pivotal Middle East ally receives $1.3 billion annually in military aid, and the administration has riled some critics who say it has failed to strongly rebuke the transitional rulers amid recent violence against women, Copts and other minorities.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal advisory agency, asked the State Department to place Egypt on its list of «countries of particular concern»—egregious violators of religious freedoms. The department declined, saying that its goal is to work with the Egyptian government to improve conditions for Christians.
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, a deputy assistant secretary of state, says her department has been «very concerned with the attacks on the Copts in Egypt in recent months,» and has shared its views with «the highest levels of the Egyptian government.»
Mark Hetfield, a senior vice president at HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, argues that any failure to safeguard the Copts in their homeland could be perilous, opening an immigration floodgate if Christians conclude there is no hope for them in the new Egypt.
Kanarifugl i gruvegangen
Amerikanerne ser på koptere som et varsel: hvis de får alvorlige problemer er det ikke slutten på visa.
Throughout the Middle East, «Democratization has resulted in ethnic cleansing,» Mr. Hetfield says bluntly.
Some members of Congress want the administration to take a stronger stand. Rep. Chris Smith, (R., N.J.), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who chairs its human rights subcommittee, notes that in years past America has helped Soviet Jews and Christians from South Asia make new lives in America. He argues that the U.S. should do the same for the Copts. «The Copts are the canaries in the coal mine—they are the barometer of Egypt—and the canary is gasping,» he says.
Amerikanerne er flinke til å ta imot forfulgte via uformelle nettverk, og det samme gjelder kopterne. Mange jøder er aktive.
«A lot of Copts aren’t able to live in their own land anymore,» laments Father Luke Awad of the St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in Brooklyn. A tall man with a jet black beard, he says they are «coming out of desperation.» Coptic clerics in other regions, including Jersey City, N.J., and Los Angeles, say they are also seeing an influx.
St. George, built in the 1970s, is located in a staid working-class neighborhood near Bensonhurst. Waves of immigrants have come here over the years—from Italians and Chinese seeking a better life, to Russians escaping the former Soviet Union.
Trakassering
Sherien Mehany El Gawly, 39, and her family arrived in Brooklyn in July. Her two daughters, aged 11 and 12, had «a very nice life in Egypt» thanks to her husband’s textile business, she says. But after the revolution, their affluent station didn’t seem to matter much.
One day, while shopping at an Egyptian grocery, a man singled her out and hurled curse words at her. «I am not veiled and he told me, ‘We want to clean our country of you,’ » recalls Mrs. El Gawly. Christian women are easily identifiable because they don’t cover their hair.
The family’s regular house of worship no longer felt safe. Her daughters were frightened when the church appeared on an online list of bombing targets.
The final blow came last summer, soon after a doctor examining her 12-year-old daughter for a fever asked if she had been «chitan»—the Arabic term for removal of the clitoris and other female sexual organs.
«He said, ‘I can do it for them now—it is very easy and it is free,’ » Mrs. El Gawly said. «I said, ‘No, no, no, no.’ Then, I ran out of the hospital.»
Female genital mutilation was banned under the Mubarak regime and declared illegal. But as Islamists gained sway earlier this year, it was one of the Mubarak era reforms they derided and wanted to strike down. The practice is in danger of making a comeback, says an expert at the World Health Organization.
«Thank God we are far away,» says Mrs. El Gawly.
Historiene kopterne fortellert avslører en skremmende intoleranse og hat mot annerledestenkende.
Dalya Attiatalla, age 36, along with her husband and brother, originally found refuge at Father Luke’s Church after arriving in New York in September. She went to St. George’s several times a week to pray, and attended Bible classes at night.
In Egypt, Ms. Attiatalla had realized her dream of opening an arts and crafts center, where she would teach children to paint. But her business angered Muslim neighbors in the building who pressured her and her husband to remove a cross and other Christian images.
Ultimately, they ran afoul of authorities who said they didn’t have the proper license. Finally, they say, police came one day and destroyed the center using hammers and other objects.
Now she and her husband are in the U.S. trying to start anew. Recently, they left their small apartment in Brooklyn—it had sparse furniture infested with bedbugs—and headed for Dallas, where they have relatives. Ms. Attiatalla isn’t without regrets. If she and her husband apply for asylum, she won’t be able to return to Egypt, where she left behind a frail and sick father.
«We looked to Egypt as a holy land,» she says. «It is very hard to leave your country.»
