The Persecution of Copts: A State Crime

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

It was predictable that sectarian attacks against Copts would escalate recently, fully backed by state apparatuses. The military regime held no one accountable after the incident in May, where an elderly Coptic woman in Minya was publicly stripped of her clothes. Such an act warranted the dismissal of a government, the Minister of Interior, or the local security chief. Yet, all officials in the governorate retained their positions. Not only that but Bishop Makarios, the General Bishop of Minya and Abu Qurqas, was labeled an enemy of the state for refusing to engage in informal reconciliation sessions to settle this heinous assault.

The incidents spanned Fayoum, Beni Suef, Aswan, and, of course, Minya, which alone witnessed four sectarian attacks this month. These ranged from collective punishment, forced displacement, and denial of religious practices to assaults on places of worship, properties, individuals, stripping, and even murder.
In response, Copts have begun raising their voices in protest, organizing angry demonstrations after each incident. They have directed sharp criticism at the government and security apparatus, with some even daring to criticize Sisi, threatening to oppose him in the upcoming presidential elections. However, this stance is rejected by Pope Tawadros, a staunch ally of the dictator, who consistently calls on Copts to remain calm and maintain order.

The citizenship promised by Sisi to the Copts and the political forces that allied with him on June 30, 2013, has proven to be a hollow pledge under military rule. The illusions of a modern civil state have vanished.

The state, having allied with the Copts to oust the Muslim Brotherhood—whose regressive and sectarian rhetoric failed to win over impoverished Copts—has limited its support to superficial gestures like Sisi’s visits to churches and public displays of solidarity. Meanwhile, the reality of persecution against Copts, especially people experiencing poverty among them, has persisted and worsened, particularly with the state’s alliance with Salafists.

The unprecedented frequency of these crimes sends a clear message from the state, through its executive and legislative bodies, to the increasingly restless and angry Copts: “We can leave you prey to Islamists and segments of the population dominated by regressive ideologies.” The implicit demand is that Copts must continue to support the regime, even as it reneges on all its promises, including passing a church construction law, reforming educational curricula, and enacting anti-discrimination laws.

On the other hand, the regime provides its Salafist allies fertile ground to propagate regressive ideas, such as claims that “churches cannot be built in Islamic lands,” “Christianity is a false religion,” “Christians are not partners in the nation,” or “Christians deceive by constructing factories or homes and later converting them into churches, which must be resisted.” These baseless myths further fuel sectarian hostility.

Thus, the persecution of Copts will persist under the current equation, and their legitimate demands—enforcing the law, abolishing informal reconciliation sessions, ending religious discrimination, and passing a church construction law—will not be met without substantial pressure.
This challenge is not solely the responsibility of the Copts. It is a collective mission for all civil and mainly leftist forces. Struggles against discrimination and violence are essential to the broader fight for democracy and socialism.

The solution lies in ordinary Copts witnessing a strong political movement that openly opposes military rule and sincerely fights for their liberation from persecution. Only then will they find an alternative to following the Coptic right-wing and church leadership, whose vested interests in the current regime compel them to justify and tolerate the ongoing oppression.

On that day, ordinary Copts may align with a genuinely radical popular political movement that transcends sectarian divides and includes all the oppressed.

Undoubtedly, building such an anti-sectarian movement is the responsibility of revolutionary forces, which must link liberation from exploitation and soaring prices with combating all forms of oppression, including the persecution of Copts, as well as ending dependency on the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

The Revolutionary Socialists condemn these heinous sectarian crimes, holding the military regime responsible. They affirm their support for the Coptic masses in their struggle for their legitimate rights against state persecution and the regressive ideologies promoted by vast segments of Islamists, which reduce Copts to second-class citizens in explicit service of the capitalists and ruling authorities seeking to divide the populace along religious, gender, and ethnic lines to perpetuate their exploitative and authoritarian system.