2012

(Read the browseable version)

FROM: Giuseppe Eid

SENT: Saturday, October 13, 2012

SUBJECT: Coptic Exodus

It is completely true and even an understatement of the raw reality seen by those who know Egypt and its villages. I’m sorry to hear about moderate Islam which is “nonsense”. Our Arab priests call the dialogue that has taken place in Egypt since the 1940s a “café concert”. The foundation for true dialogue in Italy begins with daily conviviality, while in Egypt it is necessary to reform all scholastic material and sermons, as well as those who finance them.

• There is a common front of 56 OSI Islamic states where freedom of conscience does not exist, and the community’s right prevails over a person’s dignity. The West should actively take note of this. Fine declarations must be followed by incisive actions in the educational field both in the West and, above all, in the Arab world: ask European politicians to demand the monitoring of educational material in Arab countries so that incitement to violence would make room for mutual respect.
• It is essential to work on education, on textbooks in schools, and on the media, and even to invite the imams who have in their hands the formidable instrument of preaching in mosques to collaborate in this educational line of justice and peace, where it would be appropriate to proclaim also the verses of the Koran that underline God’s will towards religious plurality and the commitment to compete for good in God’s Mercy.
• I recall a statement by Baronessa Ashton, High Representative for Foreign Affairs of the EU: “We must not fall into the trap that extremists and terrorists are setting for us”, “We must resist those who would like to make religion a cause for division. The best response to extremism is to create a united international front based on universal standards of freedom of belief and religion.” “The European Union will not look away.”
• How do we move from theory to practice? By awakening of our consciences and showing dignity.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

2013

(Read the browseable version)

During this period, various initiatives have arisen to commemorate events that are distant

but close in memory (Armenian, the foibe, the Holocaust and many others), events that

Italians rightly remember in order to avoid their repetition with future generations.

Thanks to freedom of thought and our democracy, our children have grown up open to knowing the meaning of the customs and traditions handed down over the centuries by the elders; they have acquired a rich identity that derives from the knowledge of their history without being caged.

The message I’m sending is to draw attention to the condition of the people living on the southern shore of the Mediterranean, our neighbors subjected in the 21st century to discriminatory laws not very different from those which were practiced in Italy under Fascism. These conditions push part of the Arab population to emigrate, leading to the extinction of some components that have contributed to the wealth and splendour of the Arab civilization, the same that today causes their marginalization and flight abroad: moderate Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

Giuseppe Samir Eid

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator