Coptic Commemorative Protests and the Security Vacuum That Ensued Led to Discourses of Egyptian Nationalism: Increased Vulnerability of Minority Groups
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FOCUS 45 Introduction In the aftermath of the January 25 Uprising, Coptic Commemorative Protests and the security vacuum that ensued led to Discourses of Egyptian Nationalism: increased vulnerability of minority groups. While communal attacks against the A Visual Analysis1, 2 Coptic Christian community (constituting about 7% of the Egyptian population) can be traced to the 1970s, its increase in the aftermath of the January 25 Uprising led to further strain communal relations (Brownlee 3-5). In the fluid transition period that followed Mubarak’s ouster, these attacks led to the rise of various Coptic Christian social movements that started mobilizing against the demolition of churches and for more inclusion of Yosra A. El Gendi Copts in public life. The current conflict over the identity of This paper discusses the identity con- argues that through these performances Egypt is rooted in the history of various structions of the Coptic Christian minority members of the community aimed to occupations that the country underwent. of Egypt during conflict and in particular reconstruct and reassert their identity in Egypt was under Roman rule from 30 BC through the theme of commemoration of public space as well produce opposi- until it was invaded by the Muslims in 641 martyrdom. In the aftermath of the attacks tional nationalist discourses that interplay AD. Christianity first reached Egypt in the against them on October 9, 2011, (what is with social conflicts. Through examining first century with the arrival of Apostle known as the “Maspero Massacre”) videos and photos of these performances, Mark to Alexandria, after which several Coptic social movements resorted to per- this paper conducts an intertextual analy- waves of attacks took place against formative protests to celebrate their sis of the visual aspects of the protests in Christians by the Roman authorities “martyrs”. This paper analyses the visual order to reveal their political meaning as (Hasan 25). These attacks continued even representations of two such protests and well as their contradictions. after the Roman Empire became Christian. examines how different themes and sym- The rejection of the Coptic Orthodox bols from different traditions were used: Keywords: Copts, commemoration, iden- Church the doctrines of Council of Coptic Christian, Pharaonic and as well as tity, conflict, nationalism, Egypt Chalcedon in 451 AD on the dual nature of nationalist Egyptian traditions. This paper Christ led to the subsequent schism and Middle East – Topics & Arguments #08–2017 FOCUS 46 to further persecutions by the Byzantine bors. 3The attack spurred a series of pro- imately a month after the Maspero mas- “Melkite” Church (Hasan 28). With the tests by Coptic movements against the sacre, and aimed to commemorate the Islamic occupation in 641 AD, a relative church’s destruction (Androwus 1). The Arbaʿīn ceremony, a traditional ceremony period of tolerance followed which was Maspero protest was the largest of these forty days after death (Shukry interrupted by waves of attacks under rallies and used the state TV building as its “Celebrating”). A second ceremony was se veral Islamic rulers (Hasan 31). A process destination. The protesters employed held in order to commemorate the first of Arabization and Islamization ensued visible Christian symbols, such as make- anniversary. While for the first ceremony and Christians became a minority by the shift crosses and pictures of Jesus, in order SCAF was in power, by the time the second tenth century (Ibrahim et al. 8). to voice their demands in what was seen protest took place, SCAF had rendered At the heart of the conflict between Copts as a bold display of religious identity. power to the Muslim Brotherhood affili- and Muslims today in Egypt are different As soon as the protesters arrived at their ated president, Mohammed Morsi (Ahram social constructions of national territory destination, they were attacked. Videos online 1). Both of these ceremonies used and national identity. On the one hand, captured the military police’s armored car, pharaonic artifacts and national symbols, increased Islamization of the public sphere which were stationed in front of the State a far cry from the Christian symbols used leads to increased public perception of TV building, running over protesters. As in the Maspero protest. the Egyptian national territory as being a the protest devolved to a fight, the This paper questions why Coptic move- Muslim territory. In this perception, Egyptian state TV announced that Copts ments resorted to commemorating their churches are considered anomalies and were attacking the national army thus fuel- martyrs by using ancient Egyptian themes. potential elements of tension (Purcell ing a communal strife (Ibrahim). Twenty-six In the words of one interviewed activist, “it 433). On the other hand, Copts have per- Copts reportedly lost their lives as a result was (…) a message to the audience that ceived this territory as their home for the of the consequent violence (NCHR 1).4 the solution lay in fostering an Egyptian past 2000 years (Purcell 466). In this sense, These attacks were not only a blow to the identity”6. But how can an Egyptian iden- different understandings of Egypt’s victims’ families, but the Coptic commu- tity be defined? By consulting the visual national identity underlie all debates on nity at large who needed consolation. It material of the protests produced by news the right of non-Muslims to build houses was a particular challenge to the Coptic agencies as well as the movements them- of worship and further underlie intercom- movements, which were accused by the selves on their social media channels, munal conflict. pro- state media of attempting to violently various depictions of national identity in The starting point for this paper is October rupture national unity (Osman 1). As a the Coptic commemorative protests will 9, 2011, when a mass rally was organized result, the Coptic movements struggled to be analyzed.7 by several Coptic Christian movements in prove their patriotism. They responded I argue that through the commemoration downtown Cairo to protest the demolition with protests to commemorate those who processes, group identity is continuously of a church in a village near the Upper had immediately been labelled as mar- reconstructed and negotiated as well as Egyptian city of Aswan by Muslim neigh- tyrs.5 The first ceremony was held approx- used tactically by social movements in Middle East – Topics & Arguments #08–2017 FOCUS 47 order to present oppositional discourses tional discourses and new political visions portraying the image within a particular that interplay with social conflicts. Coptic (Butler 25-9). cultural convention and the interlocking social movements attempted to push Performative protests make use of both textual traditions, which in combination forth an identity construct – namely a the narratives that structure the protests as are used in an image (Rose 145). Thus, the Coptic-Pharaonic identity – which does well as performative artifacts, which are most important part of iconological analy- not relegate Copts to a lower position, the objects that become the raw material sis is deciphering how different textual but rather balances other variants of of performances. These are constitutive of traditions have been used to produce the national identity in the public space. In new and different meanings when com- discourse (Rose 145). In that sense, the this way, commemorations are opportune bined (Johnston 6-7). In Coptic comme- complexities and contradictions that are moments for performative protests. morative protests, the artifacts combined internal to discourse become important. elements of pharaonic, Coptic Christian Iconologists such as Panofsky are essen- Theory and modern nationalist artifacts. Examples tialist in their method, claiming that the Protests are performative if they produce, include the national flag, the solar-boat, image’s “intrinsic meaning” can be under- construct, negotiate or establish new or T-shirts with the ankh sign, a hieroglyphic stood through analysis (Richard and alternative ideas, identities, ideologies or symbol meaning life that has been appro- Negreiros 25; Rose 147). However, as the meanings (Juris 227-8). Against threats on priated by Copts and used as their cross performative protest establishes new their lives or livelihoods or “precarity” in (Hanna 34). Thus, a visual iconological meanings and identities, it is primarily Judith Butler’s words due to the uneven analysis is needed in order to interpret the constructive. Thus, it underscores the ways distribution of power, protesters resist messages that the protest performance is in which discourses are enacted by mem- through appearing in public space. Public trying to make. bers of the audience and how they them- space is a field that is regulated by exclu- Iconological analysis combines scrutiny of selves take part in the reproduction of sionary and hierarchal norms and consti- compositional elements of visual images meanings. In other words, our iconologi- tuted by differential forms of power and understanding those elements within cal analysis will turn away from inherent (Butler 38). Performances are a way the cultural conventions of symbolic claims and provide an interpretation of through which subjects push through this re presentations (Richard and Negreiros meanings in the performance. power field in order to become eligible 16-7; Rose 144-5). The analysis eventually for