Egypt's military has taken over. The parliament is dissolved and the constitution is suspended. Yes, I am aware that this meets two demands of the pro-democracy demonstrators. But it's telling that all this is happening on the eve of the army clearing out the remaining protesters. The book about military dictatorships willingly relinquishing control is a short one. Frankly when I read this about fifteen minutes ago the cynicism I felt at the protest on Friday my was totally justified. I really, really hope all this works out for the Egyptian people. My sense of historical irony kicks in too fast for me to ever give into it however.
So, what about the Copts? Throughout this whole shtick in Egypt I've spent most of my time considering possible ramifications for the State of Israel. Never once did I think about what it means for the sizable Coptic-Christian minority, and other minorities in Egypt. It seems like the media is by-and-large as guilty as I. What voice are they going to be given? How do we know they'll be included in the dialogue? We don't know.
It's important to mention that as far as we can tell, Christian-owned businesses have not been targeted for vandalism. However in light of the recent attacks on Coptic churches, this fact likely does nothing to calm anyone's nerves. Does Friday's events apply to Egyptian Christians? Is the revolution which we're told is going to spread across the Arab world something that Christians there can look forward to? If the answer to these questions is no this whole revolution is a insult.
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