Read on Twitter
what's happening with the coptic community in Egypt? (a thread)
read it all ok? ok
read it all ok? ok
copts are indigenous to Egypt, the descendants/continuation of ancient egypt. they use the same language as in the ancient times, they have been there from the start. However, copts have been oppressed since like the roman empire times till now.
In the early roman times, they tried forcing copts to convert away from christianity and to paganism and bc copts kept refusing they were slaughtered. they actually commemorated the year 248 A.D with the year of the martyrs bc of the genocide taking place
There was some period of peace for copts before the arab conquest in the years 639-646. When this happened, copts were given three options, convert, die, or pay an expensive tax (jizia) and stay christian.
Arabic was forced on copts
and they say that they cut the tongues of anyone that spoke coptic so it only stayed as a language used in church, in other words, criminalizing the language of the indigenous people
and they say that they cut the tongues of anyone that spoke coptic so it only stayed as a language used in church, in other words, criminalizing the language of the indigenous people
Copts had to wear a really heavy metal cross around their necks to identify them,the slur “blue bone” was used against them due to the metal rusting on their necks and making their skin blue. Copts weren’t allowed to ride horses, only donkeys and always viewed as less than human
here are some of the few tragic incidents that faced the coptic community, these are a lists of (some) of the attacks coptic communities have faced. The list is not complete but already longer than it should be and that’s the problem.
in the 60’s gamal abdel nasser put Coptic people and Nubians at an extreme disadvantage- closed Coptic and Nubian schools but also displaced many Nubians from their traditional homeland in order to built what we now know as the aswan dam in upper egypt
He had pan-arabist views, so he closed all coptic schools and community centres, redistributed land which basically took away most of the lands copts had.Egypt wasnt considered an arab country and egyptians didnt really consider themselves arab till he kept pushing for this idea
Makes sense sorta cuz gamal abdel nasser himself, ethnically wasn’t really egyptian. But still today, there are attacks on copts and government makes rarely makes an effort in trying to stop them or arrest the perpetrators.
they still arent given equal opportunities , simply by hearing their names people change their attitude towards them. copts deal with disgusting amounts of discrimination and prejudice in Egypt just for believing in their religion
Copts in egypt are silenced cuz if they speak out against the persecution they get arrested, its a whole cycle. many of their women and girls at young ages were kidnapped (and still are) r@ped and were forcibly converted
Many young boys were kidnapped and raised by Arab families (similar to the North American indigenous communities experience with colonization) In order to prevent these kidnapping, the Coptic people started tattooing crosses on their kids to insure they weren’t taken
the attacks are mainly from the people, more specifically el ekhwan, or in english they call it the muslim brotherhood, which egypt, UAE and saudi arabia recognize as a terrorist group. They target copts, it was a HORRIBLE year during morsi
however, the government doesnt do as much as they should to protect copts. Let alone treat them as equals, coptic people are still seen as second class citizens in the government’s eyes
while the government is currently doing a lil more to protect the Coptic community there still a lot of danger for simply going to church. Currently there are metal detectors in front Of all churches, many churches actively raise money so that they can get metal detectors placed
That is due to the ongoing and continual suicide bombing threats that churches receive. It is gotten so bad that the army is called in to protect churches during Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter.
While the attitudes of some Egyptians are starting to change with the push for secularization their history is largely incorrectly told. they don’t seek revenge but wish to help build a better Egypt for all of its children
here are some accounts for coptic activists sent by : @beautyATTz
.
@nicoletaa0
.
@KyrillosWannes
.
@michaelakladios
.
@amy_fallas
.
@nicoletaa0
.
@KyrillosWannes
.
@michaelakladios
.
@amy_fallas
it’s important that we recognize and properly tell history as it was experienced by the coptic people
#justice4copts
#justice4copts
