For the Introduction, please click here. For Part One, click here. For Part Two, click here. For Part Three, click here. Media Coverage Video Twenty-Three: Live Testimony from Injured Soldiers in Maspero (Two minutes) Early on during the events of Maspero, State TV aired an interview with injured soldiers. It appears that the audio testimony … Continue reading »
Posted in October 2011 …
Video Analysis of Maspero: Part Three
For the Introduction, please click here. For Part One, click here. For Part Two, click here. Scenes of General Chaos Video Thirteen: The Christians began Attacking the Army, I wish We Focus and See who Steals the APCs and Drives Over the Copts (Three minutes) Video taken from the State TV feed. It may represent … Continue reading »
Video Analysis of Maspero: Part Two
For the Introduction, click here. For Part One, click here. The Beginnings of Violence Video Six: The Coptic Protest in front of Maspero (Five minutes) This is the best video I could find which seems to locate the outbreak of violence. There are several hundred protestors standing outside the Maspero building, and the camera is … Continue reading »
Friday Prayers for Egypt
God, Where is Egypt these days? What does the landscape suggest? Tunisia just completed successful elections, for which thanks is given. May Egypt soon do the same, for which support is asked. Is Egypt on the same path? Can she come to consensus? This month may be telling, God. Legislative elections are scheduled for the … Continue reading »
Video Analysis of Maspero: Part One
On October 9, 2011 at least twenty-seven people were killed and over three hundred injured, following a largely Coptic demonstration culminating at the Egyptian Radio and TV Building at Maspero, in downtown Cairo. Clashes began at roughly 6:30pm and lasted long into the night, involving the military police, central security riot squads, demonstrators, ordinary citizens, … Continue reading »
Video Analysis of Maspero: Introduction
October 9 witnessed riots in Cairo that led to the death of at least twenty-seven people and the injury of over 300, mostly from Egypt’s Coptic Christian community. The conflict followed a peaceful march from the neighborhood of Shubra, with its high percentage of Coptic residents, to the Radio and TV Building in Maspero, which … Continue reading »
Coptic Iconography: From the Pharaonic Age to the Arab Spring
Magdy William is one of the world’s premier Coptic iconographers, having studied under the renowned reviver of the long neglected art, Isaac Fanous. William discussed his craft, its history, and spiritual impact during an exhibition hosted by St. John’s Episcopal Church in Maadi, Cairo, on October 21, 2011, under the sponsorship of Rev. Paul-Gordon Chandler. … Continue reading »
Friday Prayers for Egypt
God, Things are still in a bit of a daze. There have been no escalations since Maspero, no multiplied scenes of sectarian tension, as best I have heard. Thank you for this, God. Thank you for the wise and calming words from different sectors of society. Thank you for the outrage which preoccupied many. God, … Continue reading »
Maspero Youth Union Press Conference: Photos
Today the Maspero Youth Union conducted a press conference to put forth its version of events of what took place the evening of October 9, when at least 27 people were killed and over 300 injured in clashes following a largely Coptic peaceful demonstration. The MYU assembled testimonies and video evidence to demonstrate the innocence … Continue reading »
Friend’s Brother Killed by US Drone
I should take care with a word like ‘friend’. It may well be this line of work promotes a false intimacy between the subject and the interviewer. My goal is to learn, to honor, and then to share. A friendship, however, is self-contained; others may be invited in, but there is never an inside-out. If … Continue reading »
Statistics on Religious Perspectives in Egypt
On September 25 al-Masry al-Youm published a very interesting survey on religious perspectives conducted by the Information and Decision Support Center of the Egyptian Cabinet of Ministers. Here are a few of the significant findings; keep in mind that Christians make up between 6-11% of the population: 73% of Egyptians are religious and pray regularly. … Continue reading »
Friday Prayers for Egypt: Maspero
God, So much has gone wrong. Over twenty are dead, over three hundred are injured, and hard questions are being put to the nation. The confirmed dead are almost if not all Christians, the result of a peaceful protest morphing somehow into a bloody confrontation. Some dead are also military, as the army announces but … Continue reading »
In Aftermath of Maspero, a Muslim holds a Cross
Just to pass on briefly, with no verified authenticity or knowledge of details, here is a picture taken of a solidarity demonstration over Christian deaths at Maspero. If a Salafi, as the original link asserts, it would represent a very necessary coming together of two sides almost completely isolated from each other. May they be … Continue reading »
Clashes, Deaths at Coptic Protest in Maspero
Egyptian State TV confirms 23 dead and over 170 injured in clashes between largely Coptic protestors, unknown assailants, and Egyptian military police on October 9, 2011. Protestors began their march from the heavily Christian neighborhood of Shubra at 5pm, culminating at the Egyptian Radio and TV Building in Maspero in downtown Cairo. The peaceful march … Continue reading »
Marinab, Maspero, and Faith on the Earth
Please note: The following was written a few days ago following a largely Coptic protest at Maspero. Obviously, it must be reconsidered in light of the horrible events of this evening, in which several were killed. All the same, this should do well to set the context for what happened today. Outraged at the … Continue reading »
Customary Formation of Politics: Muslim and Christian Examples
Generally speaking, the customary rules of politics issue and evolve from hard earned consensus historically and informally negotiated among public figures and society. Eventually these are crafted into constitutions and laws to formalize the political system along grounds to which all agree. The success of the political system rests in the degree to which all … Continue reading »
Friday Prayers for Egypt
God, This was a difficult week for Egypt. Sectarian issues emerged once more, and political wrangling led to agreement, only to end in further discord. Bless Egypt, God. Keep her stable; make her successful. Repair the damages done this week. A small Christian community in an overwhelmingly Muslim village sought to make their place of … Continue reading »
Published on Aslan Media: An American Perspective on the Culture of Conspiracy through the Lens of Sinai
In the last day or two I had my first text published by a source outside of Arab West Report. Aslan Media is a new media project from Reza Aslan, an author of several books on Islam such as ‘No God but God’ (read and enjoyed) and ‘How to Win a Cosmic War’ (hope to … Continue reading »
Burning the Church Dome: AWR Investigations in Edfu
On Friday, September 30, 2011 a structure purporting to be a church was attacked and destroyed in the village of Mari-Nab, near Edfu, in the governorate of Aswan. Since then there has been much confusion in the media about what took place. Arab West Report editor-in-chief Cornelis Hulsman traveled to the village with Lamis Yahya, … Continue reading »
