Al Masry al Youm and MEMRI have reported on a meeting between U.S. Ambassador to Cairo Margaret Scobey and Coptic Church Patriarch Shinoda, where the recent terrorist attack against Coptic Christians in Nag Hammadi was discussed. The reports do not mention any specific concerns by the U.S. government about the killings and abductions of Copts, other than “discussion” on the Nag Hammadi terror attack. The reports did state that “U.S. Ambassador to Cairo Margaret Scobey promised that the U.S. administration would compel the Egyptian government to pass legislation for the Coptic minority, such as a law arranging for church construction, or even top posts and allocation of seats for Copts in parliament.”
MEMRI: Egypt: U.S. Ambassador in Cairo: We’ll Act To Help The Copts
— MEMRI reports: “During a meeting with Coptic Church Patriarch Shinoda, U.S. Ambassador to Cairo Margaret Scobey promised that the U.S. administration would compel the Egyptian government to pass legislation for the Coptic minority, such as a law arranging for church construction, or even top posts and allocation of seats for Copts in parliament.”
— Scobey, Shenouda discuss Naga Hammadi — Al Masry al Youm: “According to a source at the papal office, Scobey and Shenouda also discussed the 7 January shooting incident in the Upper Egyptian city of Naga Hammadi, in which six Coptic Christians and one Muslim were killed.”
Margaret Scobey, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt (Photo: U.S. Cairo Embassy)
— Saudi Girl, 12, Married Off to 80-Year-Old Man
— “‘She was raped and they took her to the hospital after the wedding night,’ Wajiha Al-Huwaidar, a Saudi journalist who has been banned from reporting by the government told The Media Line.”
— “No religious justification for child marriage: Saudi cleric”
— AFP reports: “The case of Aisha, known to Muslims as ‘The Mother of Believers,’ is often used by Saudi judges and clerics to justify child marriages.”
— “The government’s Human Rights Commission said it was following the Buraidah case, which is currently being weighed by a local court.”
On January 21, 2010 on a winter afternoon, over 2000 Coptic Christians rallied, chanted, sang, prayed, and marched outside the White House to get the attention of U.S. President Barack Obama and the American public on the continuing human rights violations of the Copts in Egypt. They came from Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and other parts of America to protest the recent terrorist attack on Copts in Egypt on January 6 (Coptic Christmas Eve), with terrorists killing Copts as they left their religious services in Nag Hammadi (near Luxor). The latest attacks were part of a continuing history of oppression, rape, murder, and forced conversion from Christianity to Islam of the Coptic people and women in Egypt.
January 21, 2010 - Over 2000 rally in front of the White House in the aftermath of the Coptic Christmas eve killings of Copts in Egypt Protesters Joining the Copts White House Rally
The crowd arrived in different locations from buses, some of which were organized at St. Mark Coptic Church (11911 Braddock RD Fairfax, VA 22030) and St. Mary Coptic Church (8340 Woodward St. Savage, MD 20763). Coptic organizers included Halim Meawad and Magdi Khalil.
With the recent attacks on Copts in November 2009 (in Farshoot and Abou Shousha) and the January 2010 terrorist attack on Copts outside their Mar Yohana church in Nag Hammadi, the Coptic people continue to face deadly persecution in Egypt. Individuals passed out fliers at the White House rally defying President Mubarak’s claims that “there is no persecution for Copts in Egypt;” the fliers addressed the oppression of Coptic Christians, attacks on churches, the forced “Islamization” and abduction of Coptic girls, and official restrictions on creation of new Christian churches.
One attendee stated that the crowd of Copt supporters was estimated at 2500 people. It was a large enough crowd that it filled the Pennsylvania Avenue area in front of the White House. We attempted to estimate the moving crowd (which frequently was marching around the area) and concluded it was clearly over 2000 people. New members to protest continue to join the rally as it was in progress. Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) was represented among the supporters at the Copts’ White House rally.
More People Kept Coming to the Copt Rally
Protesters held signs, crosses, and American flags. Entire families with their children came to spend the day.
Signs included messages such as “Stop the Killing of Innocent Christians Now,” “Save Christians in Egypt,” signs imploring President Obama to recognize their plight, and some signs merely asked the painful question “Why?” regarding the hate-based attacks and oppression on the Copts’ human rights and lives.
Copts Called for "Stop the Killing of Innocent Christians Now"
In reference to the January 6 (Coptic Christmas Eve) terrorist attack, one protester’s sign read “Bloodshed is not what I wanted for Christmas.”
Others held large banners describing the scope of the ongoing human rights violations against the Copts: 161 attacks on Christians and churches, 4500 stores, houses, and churches burned, and 1500 tortured.
Copts Describe Scope of Human Rights Crisis in front of the White House (January 21, 2010)
The protesters called for U.S. President Barack Obama to take action, and chanted “Obama, Obama, We Need Action!”
They also chanted to stop the killing of Christians in Egypt, that “Christian Blood is Not Cheap,” and implored the “U.S. [to] Wake Up!”
Protesters lined up and down the Pennsylvania Avenue area in front of the White House marched back and forth.
Copts Lining Up on Pennsylvania Avenue in Front of the White HouseCopts Marching in front of the White House
During the protest at the White House, Coptic supporters sang “Lord Have Mercy,” and prayed. They protested for freedom of worship for the Coptic Christians in Egypt.
Copts Join Together for Moment of Prayer in front of White House
As the Copts braved the winter day to show their support for their fellow Copts in Egypt, they showed that they would defy the forces of oppression, and that they will not allow the suffering of the Copts to be forgotten by the U.S. government or by the American people. Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) stands by the Copts’ struggle for their universal human rights.
Copts Fear No Evil as They Call for Their Universal Human Rights
Following is the text of a letter from Democratic and Republican members of the U.S. House and Senate to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
We write today to express our grave concern regarding numerous reports that have emerged of six Coptic Christians and one Muslim security guard who were tragically killed following a Christmas Eve service in the town of Naga Hamady in Qena province, Egypt.
Initial press accounts indicate that a gunman accompanied by two others drove by the church opening fire on the worshipers as they exited the service. Additional reports indicate that thousands of mourners in Naga Hamady that turned out to show their support for the victims’ families at the funeral were sprayed with tear gas by government security forces. We call upon you to urge the judicious use of force by government security forces during this difficult time and to ensure that the three perpetrators that have voluntarily turned themselves in to authorities are properly prosecuted.
Unfortunately, this recent incident is indicative of a systematic pattern of violence against Egypt’s Coptic Christian population. As you know, Coptic Christians comprise approximately 10 percent of Egypt’s 80 million population and are an integral part of Egyptian society. We urge you to better protect the Coptic Christian community by properly investigating and prosecuting perpetrators of violence against Coptic Christians, providing compensation for victims of violence, and ensuring the protection and preservation of Coptic places of worship.
The State Department’s 2009 International Religious Freedom report states that the Egyptian government’s respect for religious freedom “declined somewhat during the reporting period based on failure to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of increased incidents of sectarian violence.” The United States Congress continues to increase economic assistance to Egypt and has recently created an endowment to “further the shared interests of Egypt and the United States.” As members of the U.S. Congress, we see the protection of the Coptic Christian community as a “shared interest” and strongly urge you to reverse Egypt’s trend of failing to properly investigate and prosecute incidents of violence against Coptic Christians. We also call upon your government to address ongoing discriminatory practices affecting the Coptic community, including the difficulty in building and repairing churches, poor representation in certain government bodies, and security harassment of converts.
Expressions of religious intolerance, which are occurring in Egypt with alarming frequency, are cause for worldwide concern. We urge the Egyptian government to obviate such incidents by ensuring the equal protection of the law and equal rights for all citizens and by taking swift and effective action to prosecute any such incidents that occur.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Sen. Sam Brownback
Rep. Frank R. Wolf
Sen. Ron Wyden
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Sen. James M. Inhofe
Rep. Dan Burton
Rep. Christopher H. Smith
Rep. Bob Inglis
Rep. Joseph R. Pitts
Rep. James P. McGovern
Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao
Rep. Donald A. Manzullo
Rep. Todd W. Akin
Rep. Gus M. Bilirakis
Rep. Barney Frank
Rep. Jan Schakowsky
The OC Weekly reports that Bill Johnson “tried peddling his Pace Amendment to various white-power organizations, including the National Alliance and the Aryan Nations. (a 1986 report noted that Johnson and other delegates to that year’s World Aryan Congress ‘opened the meeting by giving the traditional Nazi salute as the Aryan Nations’ flag — a swastika slashed by a sword — was raised’).”
OC Weekly also reported that Long Beach State psychology professor Kevin MacDonald is “now partnering with local skinheads and a notorious racist lawyer to create a new political party modeled after England’s fascist British National Party, a new party created explicitly to oppose and deport non-whites.”
— “The co-founder of the American Third Position (ATP), white supremacist Los Angeles lawyer William Daniel Johnson, says his new California-based group plans to run as many candidates for political office around the country as it can muster.”
— “In an interview with Hatewatch last week, Johnson said that he intended to qualify ‘high-level people,’ meaning prominent white nationalists, for campaigns on the ATP ticket in a large number of states. He did not elaborate on what states or offices, or precisely when, but said that that would be decided in coming months.”
— “ATP was created last October. It was reportedly brought together by members of Freedom 14, a racist skinhead group in Orange County, Calif., who initially formed a group called the Golden State Party to run candidates. But that group collapsed when reports surfaced about the criminal past of its leader, and so the Freedom 14 members decided to create a replacement group — the American Third Position.”
— “For his part, Johnson is a long-time racist activist. In 1985, he wrote a book under the pseudonym James O. Pace called Amendment to the Constitution. It proposed a constitutional amendment to repeal the 14th and 15th amendments (respectively, making freed slaves citizens, and prohibiting the denial of the right to vote based on race) and replace them with the ‘Pace Amendment.’ That amendment would only have allowed whites ‘in whom there is no discernible trace of Negro blood’ to be U.S. citizens. Hispanic whites, Johnson added in a generous moment, might also be granted citizenship, but only if their ‘appearance [is] indistinguishable from Americans whose ancestral home is in the British Isles or Northwestern Europe.'”
The OC Weekly reports that Bill Johnson “tried peddling his Pace Amendment to various white-power organizations, including the National Alliance and the Aryan Nations. (a 1986 report noted that Johnson and other delegates to that year’s World Aryan Congress ‘opened the meeting by giving the traditional Nazi salute as the Aryan Nations’ flag — a swastika slashed by a sword — was raised’).”
"Bill Johnson" Leader of "American Third Position" -- aka James O. Pace (Photo: OC Weekly)
OC Weekly also reported that Long Beach State psychology professor Kevin MacDonald is “now partnering with local skinheads and a notorious racist lawyer to create a new political party modeled after England’s fascist British National Party, a new party created explicitly to oppose and deport non-whites.”
In addition to its website, A3P has developed a Facebook site to also recruit new members.
We support our unqualified, universal human rights for all. We urge white supremacist and “white nationalist” supporters to drop the burden of the hate of supremacism from their hearts, and to rejoin the family of humanity in support of our universal human rights. Choose Love, Not Hate.
