Stephen Harper has been ambivalent about democracy for Arabs. He could not even muster rhetorical outrage at the Egyptian army’s ferocious crackdown. While the world was reacting with fury (cutting off aid and pondering other sanctions), Harper and his Christian crusaders were selectively standing on guard for Christians of Egypt. John Baird extended “deepest sympathies” to the victims of “unconscionable” random attacks on Coptic and other churches.
Christian crusaders, eh? That's the sort of overheated rhetoric that has led to Christians in Egypt being treated like Jews in Nazi Germany. How heartless--how shameless!--of Harpoon to dismiss this persecution in such a cavalier way.We should worry about the Copts being targeted by some groups. But we must also worry deeply for Egyptian civilians being cut down by the state.
My letter:
At the very moment Haroon Siddiqui calls on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his "Christian crusaders" to campaign for "democracy" in Egypt (which amounts to a call for Harper to help restore the Muslim Brotherhood to power), Islamists are torching Christian churches in Egypt and persecuting and killing Christians. I don't know what's more disturbing--Siddiqui's gross mischaracterization of the prime minister, or the airy dismissal of the suffering of Egypt's Christian minority as "Copts being targeted by some groups.""Christian crusaders"? Given what's occurring in Egypt right now, using that expression is the equivalent of a very sick joke.
2 comments:
" Islam and Muslim culture were crushed by pro-western dictators Kemal Ataturk and the first Shah. "
A
peculiar form of defamation of heads of state is defamation of deceased heads of state. In Turkey, a law
protects the memory and legacy of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkey’s first president (1923-38).
Harpoon doesn't even try to hide the fact that his sympathies lie with the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists.
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