Race against time

Overseas Copts protest against the alleged persecution of their co-religionists back home. But are these outbursts detrimental to the wider interests of Egypt's Coptic community, wonders Gamal Nkrumah It had been a political track event somewhere between a marathon and an obstacle race. But now following several protest marches in the United States, Australia and France the émigré Copts are nowhere within sight of the finish line. A swelling chorus of Coptic Christian activists is vociferously protesting against the conditions of Copts in Egypt; some Coptic activists abroad even claim that they are facing genocide and extermination. Those at home tend to play down the Coptic "crisis" propagated by émigré Copts. The Australian Coptic Association, for example, has organised protest marches in Australian cities, ostensibly to... [read full story]