Egypt is a state dominated by the Arab Muslims, and, as such, the cultural values and worldview of its majority is taken as the cultural values and worldview of the state. This amounts to cultural assimilation of Egypt’s minority nations – the Nuba to a lesser degree, and the Copts to a greater degree. In fact, in the latter case, it amounts to cultural genocide. Gradually the Copts are being assimilated into Arab culture through the educational institutions and media in all its forms, television, radio, press. The abolishment of the Coptic schools in 1956 constituted the beginning of the decline of Coptic cultural autonomy.
The Copts must resist that – it is a sacred struggle that all Copts must enlist in, and they must protect not only their religion but also their language, history, music, art, traditions, and worldview. They must fight assimilation into Arab and Muslim culture, and they must fight to end the cultural genocide of their nation.
This cannot be achieved without the establishment of a cultural national autonomy for the Copts in a consociational democracy. For these two we must work.