In an interview with al-Watan, Dr. Farīdī al-Bayādī, leader of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party and member of the Shūrá Council talks about his perspective of the current crisis in Egypt. He explains how Egyptians must realize that there is a problem that they have to solve together. They need to start looking at the roots of the problem, not the causes. With all the latest violence it becomes clear that the Ministry of Interior does not want to control the crisis; it needs to recognize that there is strife. Additionally, al-Bayādī explains how Egypt’s great history has changed because of the rise of ignorance and extremism.
Al-Bayādī also believes that President Morsi, as the head of the state, can be blamed for the sectarian strife in Egypt. He is at the head of the executive power and thus politically responsible for everything that happens in the country. It is up to him to take the necessary decisive and legislation actions to put an end to the crisis.
Al-Bayādī does not blame the Islamist parties, but he believes there were people that were using religious speech to incite the violence that led to killing and hatred. He does not deny that there Christian extremist hate discourse, too, but that is just intellectual violence.
Finally, he explains that the Church does not have the capability to calm the situation or to tell people what to do; it does not control the people. It is not up to the Church to intervene in politics. The statement of ‘Abd al-Ghanī in front of the Shūrá Council, in which he claimed that the church owns weapons, only increases the conditions for conflict. The only weapons the Church has are the words of God and the message of love for both enemies and abusers (Author not mentioned, al-Watan, Apr. 16, p. 2). Read original text in Arabic.
