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‘The Lobster’ nabs Best Screenplay at Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards

“The Lobster” has nabbed Best Screenplay for Greek writers Efthymis Filippou and Yorgos Lanthimos at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association 2016 awards.

Starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz, “The Lobster” is also directed by Lanthimos (“Dogtooth,” “Alps”), hailed as a leading proponent of the so-called Weird Wave of cinema.

The action is set in a fictional world where single people or those who have lost their mates must find love during a hotel “dating game” or be turned into the animal of their choice.

“Moonlight,” the three-part tale of a young African-American from Miami’s Liberty City ghetto coming to terms with his sexuality, was the big winner on Sunday, taking home four awards for best picture, director, supporting actor and cinematography.

LAFCA’s 2016 winners will be honored at an awards dinner on January 14.

(www.ekathimerini.com)

December 14, 2016
Hurghada witnesses the opening of Egypt’s first miniature city

Imagine having all of Egypt’s wonders and mesmerising monuments in one place, where one can go from the pyramids of Giza to Karnak temple in Luxor before paying a short visit to a Roman amphitheatre and the luxurious Montazah Palace in Alexandria. This has become possible just by visiting the Mini Egypt Park.

Mini Egypt Park is the first Egyptian miniature park, located in Hurghada. Due to the sheer size of the country and the vast distances between many of these real-world landmarks, tourists do not often get the opportunity to visit all of them. The park affords tourists the opportunity, in a sense, to visit all of Egypt’s most famous touristic landmarks.

Not only does the park provide its visitors the opportunity to see Egypt’s most decorated sites, it also grants them the opportunity to discover less well-known places such as the Cairo Opera House, Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai and the Unknown Soldier Memorial in Alexandria.

“Hurghada is one of Egypt’s most well-known touristic spots, attracting people from all over the world,” the park’s CEO Wael Zakaria said. “However, these tourists usually don’t have the time to travel throughout all of Egypt. In Mini Egypt Park, we aim to gather all of the landmarks they should visit from different governorates in one place.”

The park’s creators spent seven years studying the possibility of establishing such a park in Egypt, taking into consideration its location, budget, and the landmarks they wanted to display.

“Miniatures exist in several countries across the world,” Zakaria said. “It’s not something that we came up with, but we needed to figure out how best to bring this concept into Egypt considering the current state of the country.”

The park includes 55 miniatures of landmarks from Cairo, Alexandria, Sinai, Luxor, and Aswan. This includes Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum, Cairo Opera House, Al-Sultan Hassan mosque, the Hanging Church, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Montazah Palace, Karnak temple, the Aswan High Dam, and many more.

The miniature models are made of various different materials, depending on the composition of the original.

The park held its soft opening at the start of the year, and will be officially opening its doors in January.

The park occupies 30,000 sqm, of which 3,500 sqm are lakes representing the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, and Lake Nasser.

The park’s soft opening brought in a large number of tourists and local residents, prompting many to revisit the park and recommend it to their friends and family. “We saw local residents who visited the park once and came back with their foreign friends who brought theirs as well,” Zakaria said. “This has been an optimistic start, indicating that once tourism levels return to their normal levels the park will be a big attraction.”

In the future, the park owners wish to expand the concept into Cairo, the North Coast, and Marsa Alam.

“Egypt is just full of wonderful and mesmerising landmarks that need more exposure,” Zakaria added.

(www.dailynewsegypt.com)

December 14, 2016
Thessaloniki International Film Festival: Continuity and change

Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) is one of the oldest and most reputable cinema events in Southeast Europe. On the occasion of TIFF’s 57th edition (3-13.11.2016) Festivalists “online playform for independent film criticism”, published a report by Lydia Papadimitriou* that provides an overview of the verve behind recent processes in the Greek film industry (Original title: Continuity and change)**:The poster of the 57th Thessaloniki International Film Festival was bold and monochromatic. Large black capital letters, partly concealed multiple repetitions of the festival’s name and edition, against a white background. The effect was dynamic, underlining strength and simplicity, while also suggesting a sense of continuity and origin.

This was the first edition under the new leadership of Élise Jalladeau as General Director and Orestis Andreadakis as Artistic Director. The Opening ceremony pointed to their vision to bring a forward-looking energy to the festival without altering its core identity. Taking place a day earlier than the usual Friday start, the two directors’ speeches underlined the embrace of the past, the journeys of discovery, the challenges of the future. The Opening night culminated with a screening of Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson (2016), reasserting the festival’s continuing commitment to independent cinema, while also reminding us of the iconic American director’s visit to the festival three years ago.

So what were the innovations in this year’s edition? Like the addition of an extra hidden ingredient in a recipe that already works, as Andreadakis put it to me, they were small and subtle, but nonetheless detectable by the discerning palate. Some new programme sections cropped up: Mirror/Image coupled titles dealing with the same topic and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her presented films by women about women. While such ephemeral sections reflected curatorial responses to this year’s crop, the parallel, non-competitive Greek Film Festival that showcased the majority of Greek productions of the year was here to stay. The Youth Jury Award for Best Feature Film was given to Sotiris Tsafoulias’ crime drama The Other Me / Eteros Ego (2016), aiming to restore the audience’s faith in Greek cinema as the film blends artistic quality with commercial potential. A number of specially subtitled and/or audio-described screenings – a novelty for the festival – widened accessibility for hard-of-hearing and visually impaired spectators.

Thessaloniki is also very active behind the scenes. Since 2000, its Agora sidebar has become a regional and national hub for professionals to network and seek opportunities for funding, development, and distribution. New awards, incentives, and initiatives were introduced this year. The EURIMAGES Lab Project Award for unconventional projects (50 000 EUR) was added to the existing Agora Works in Progress prizes. The regional emphasis of the Crossroads Co-production Forum that gives prizes for development and co-productions was complemented by the activities of the SEE Cinema Network. And there was a brand new initiative too, the Locarno Industry Academy International in Thessaloniki – a program for training young sales agents, distributors, and new media professionals.

For all these additional “spices” that made the festival somehow different this year, we should not disregard its main ingredients – the excellent films that consistently led to sold-out screenings.What follows discusses some of the highlights I savored during my short stay in Thessaloniki.

From the festival’s International Competition (for directors’ first or second films), I thoroughly enjoyed two loosely autobiographical films from the Nordic countries, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s Hearstone / Hhartasteinn (2016) and Amanda Kernell’s Sami Blood / Sameblod (2016). Set in a fishing village in Iceland similar to where its 34-year-old director grew up, HEARTSTONE is a coming-of-age story of two boys whose divergent sexuality tests the boundaries of friendship. Inspired by the story of the director’s grandmother, SÁMI BLOOD follows a young woman from Lapland in the 1930s, as she revolts against the ingrained racism of Swedish society and tries her luck in the city. Dissimilar in visual texture, narrative tone, and thematic emphasis, both films are about growing up, and they both make for compulsive and emotionally touching viewing.

Another highpoint from the competition was the French/Greek/Algerian coproduction I still hide to smoke / À mon age je me cache encore pour fumer (2016) by Rayhana, a theatrically conceived, but also engrossing and politically astute feminist story that puts into sharp relief tensions that emerge from the clash of religious and secular cultures in a post-9/11 world. Shot (and mostly set) in Thessaloniki’s historic Bey Hammam, it may be no coincidence that it also won the Audience Award at the festival.

Among Greek films, three also participated at the International Competition: Yannis Sakaridis’ realist melodrama Amerika Square / Plateia Amerikis (2016), Sofia Exarchou’s San Sebastián winner Park (2016), and Stergios Paschos’ low-fi post-breakup comedy Afterlov (2016). Of these, my personal favorite was Amerika Square, a dynamically paced, well crafted, raw but also sensitive story set within a racially tense, multicultural neighborhood of Athens, that dramatizes effectively aspects of the recent (and not-so-recent) refugee and immigration crises. Visually and conceptually – rather than narratively – driven, PARK is set in the abandoned Olympic village, now ephemerally inhabited by drifting youths, offering limited, if any, hope for escape. Finally, while keeping the two characters locked in an Athenian villa for its duration, the mumblecore-like Afterlove, with its static shots and dialogue-driven emotional pyrotechnics, will likely manage wider appeal among young audiences.

From the non-competitive Open Horizons section, my highlight was Ivan I. Tverdovsky’s Zoology / Zoologiya (2016) – a confidently told, semi-absurd but highly convincing parable about a middle-aged woman in a provincial Russian town who has grown a long tail. Offering stinging social critique, but celebrating difference while also pointing to the difficulties of non-conformity, this is very insightful modern fairy tale, presented in alternating light and dark narrative tones. From the same section, Christopher Murray’s ethnographically inspired The blind Christ / El Cristo ciego (2016) is about a self-professed Messiah who takes to the Chilean desert to find and heal an injured friend. Based on stories and beliefs held among the materially deprived inhabitants of Northern Chile, the film’s take on religion is open-minded, while its portrayal of the local people – a number of which appear in the film – is both powerful and sensitive. I also watched Gabe Klinger’s Porto (2016), a three-part story of an exquisite one-night stand. Narratively adventurous, as it tells (parts of) the story through three perspectives, the girl’s, the boy’s, and the couple’s, it is rewarding as an exploration of the power of attraction, but offers few insights to the culture of the city from its title.

Last but not least is the Balkan Survey, a non-competitive section that gives the festival a regionally distinctive character both through retrospectives and new films. This year’s tribute was dedicated to Turkish director Zeki Demirkubuz whose stories of people caught into impossible situations are among the best examples of New Turkish cinema, and deserve further attention. From the new Balkan films, I watched Serbian actress Mirjana Karanović’s directorial debut A Good Wife / Dobra Zena (2016), a well-paced story of a middle-aged woman faced with her husband’s atrocities during the Bosnian war. Raising questions about complicity and redemption, the film covers familiar ground in terms of subject matter, yet has the potential to reach wider audiences due to its star-director’s popularity. The Bulgarian Glory / Slava (2016) by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov focuses on a rail worker who finds a bag full of money and chooses to do the right thing, by returning it to the authorities. The film presents a potent parable about corruption and moral choices while also exposing the hypocrisy of the political and media establishment.

Finally, I was very pleased not only to catch Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu’s debut Anishoara (2016) in the Balkan Survey line-up, but also to meet the young Moldovan director in Thessaloniki and discuss her work. A poetic tale of a girl’s transition into womanhood, the film (named after the main actress and protagonist) is structured around four seasons, and focuses as much on the changing countryside as on the young woman’s gradual maturation. Episodic and sensuous rather than narratively driven, this is a film for the large screen, as the camera lingers on the faces of its non-profession actress and the beautiful landscapes, enticing contemplative feelings through its well-toned visual textures. It took four shooting trips to her home country, Moldova (north-east of Romania), and three DoPs, for the young director who now lives and works in Germany to collect the footage for her graduation film. Just like her young character and protagonist – and most characters in the film – Scutelnicu has left her home country in search of better opportunities. That we can still enjoy the world she left behind through her vision is one of the many rewards that films and festivals can offer, and we are grateful.

(www.greeknewsagenda.gr)

December 14, 2016
Promoting Social and Solidarity Economy in Greece

On October the Greek Parliament adopted a new law that will create a supportive legal environment for the development of Social and Solidarity Economy. According to Alternate Labour minister Rania Antonopoulos, the law provides solutions to issues like “funding, tax, social welfare and access to public procurement” and “clarifies the relationship between social economy operators and the public sector” with a view to establish this new type of economic activity and to combat unemployment.

The term Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) refers to a broad range of organizations that are distinguished from conventional for-profit enterprises by two core features. First, they have explicit social (and often environmental) objectives. Second, they involve varying forms of co-operative, associative and solidarity relations. They include, for example, cooperatives, mutual associations, women’s self-help groups, social enterprise and fair trade organizations and networks.

In part, the seeds for the development of social economy in Greece had been sawn by the vibrant grassroots movement that spread throughout the crisis-ridden country from early 2012 onwards: the groups that appeared reconnected electricity, organized distribution of agricultural produce “without middlemen”, set-up solidarity healthcare clinics and pharmacies, tutoring programs, provided free legal support on housing and debt, organized hospitality structures for refugees etc. Harnessing the power of this solidarity movement to rebuild the Greek economy was major pledge made by the SYRIZA: in its electoral programme, SYRIZA had highlighted the importance of reviving the co-op movement as a form of social and economic activity for the future, and suggested drawing up a strategy by looking at the most suitable sectors for co-operative development.

Outline of the new law on social economy

The Greek Government presented this August a Bill to the Parliament on the “Social and Solidarity Economy and the development of its agencies”, in order to expand to other forms of enterprises the scope of the old 2011 Law on cooperatives, which no longer met current needs. According to alternate Labour minister Rania Antonopoulos in her recent (24.10) interview for Efimerida ton Syntakton’ daily, the new law (voted on 20.10), expands the legal definition of SSE operators, while at the same time securing the core concepts of the coop culture: solidarity and parity between the members, participatory democracy in decision-making, development of economic activities that don’t focus on profit but are able to offer workers a living wage and provide services to local communities.

Furthermore, the minister notes that the law defines the procedure by which the government and the broader public sector will offer support to SSE entities, through open and transparent procedures, either by developing contracts, or by utilizing idle public property. Among the incentives and supporting measures to make sure that SEE operators are viable are tax deductions and exemptions.

The priorities of the new law were further outlined in the speech minister Antonopoulos gave during the International Conference on Social and Solidarity Economy, organized by the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy (11/11, Rome). In the Conference, which was a part the UN’s Agenda for “Sustainable Development 2030” Minister Antonopoulos underlined that “the Greek government does not consider Social and Solidarity Economy to be another welfare policy measure addressing the most vulnerable. For the government, SSE presents a new model for work as well an alternative production and consumption model. Social and Solidarity Economy is an overall horizontal priority for us.”

This is why the government in this new law has put in place a National Strategy for SSE, which, as the minister pointed out, besides laying the groundwork for legal and institutional changes, establishes important supportive structures like the Regional Support Centers, which will provide free support and advice for those wishing to become active in SSE. Another supportive structure is the Social Economy Fund which, in the next three years, will allocate at least 157 million euros for the creation of new jobs and start-ups, as well as one-stop-shops supporting potential SSE practitioners. The Fund will become an active supporter of SSE ventures by making financial tools avaibable to those that cannot access them now through the bank system, such as grants and repayable grants, microlending-microcredits or guarantees.

According to the minister, the majority of comments and suggestions made via public consultation and during the discussion fora with stakeholders and political parties have been incorporated in the law, while the government also consulted with the International Labour Organization, exchanged views with the European confederation of industrial and service cooperatives (CICOPA), and several European Coops. “Greece is now at the forefront of the international effort to enable SSE. The new law, voted recently in Parliament with a wide majority is a concrete proof of our commitment to boost SSE” said minister Antonopoulos, adding that, “we believe that Social and Solidarity Economy bears all the necessary characteristics to become the vehicle for the creation of new forms of production and of enterprises that are not so much dependent on the market economy or on state policies”.

Background: UN and Europe views on SSE

The UN set up an SSE Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy in September 2013, bringing together UN agencies and other inter-governmental organizations with a direct interest in SSE as well as umbrella associations of international social and solidarity economy networks. The Task Force believes that SSE holds considerable promise for addressing the economic, social and environmental objectives and integrated approaches inherent in the concept of sustainable development

According to the European Forum on Social and Solidarity Economy, organized by the European United Left / Nordic Confederation Group (GUE / NGL) the economic importance of the SSE is beyond any doubt, representing over 14 million jobs (6.5% of total employment in the EU) and having proved to be extraordinary resilient to the impacts of the crisis concerning unemployment. It is a booming sector, which generates qualitative benefits, which have the potential to improve the quality of democracy while proposing frames of production and reproduction more compatible with fairer and more sustainable societies.

The European Commission works closely with the European External Action Service to participate in international development forums to enhance the visibility of social and solidarity economy and make SSE part of the global political agenda. The Commission is supporting the prospect of more EU countries becoming members of the International Leading Group on SSE (ILGSSE).

(www.greeknewsagenda.gr)

December 14, 2016
Greece remains the leading ship-owning country

Greek shipowners have retained their role as top players in world shipping according to a special review recently published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Despite the challenges faced by the Hellenic ship owning community, Greece has continued to strengthen its position as the largest ship owning nation in recent years. The Review of Maritime Transport 2016provides an analysis of structural and cyclical changes affecting seaborne trade, ports and shipping, as well as extensive statistics. According to the review, the top five ship owning economies in terms of dead-weight tons (dwt) were Greece, Japan, China, Germany and Singapore, with Greek companies accounting for 16.36 per cent of the world industry. The Greek fleet amounts to 4.136 vessels(ships over 1,000 gt) of 293 (dwt), while in 2015 the Greek fleet amounted to 4.017 vessels of 279,4 (dwt).

The top five economies by flag of registration were Panama, Liberia, the Marshall Islands, Hong Kong (China) and Singapore. The Greeks have not been quite so dominant in the newbuild market, as78 per cent of the fleet (by tonnage) are registered under a foreign flag. The largest shipbuilding countries are China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, accounting for 91.4 per cent of gross tonnage constructed in 2015, while the largest suppliers of seafarers are China, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Union of Greek Shipowners

Addressing an event marking the 100th anniversary of the Union of Greek Shipowners in Athens on November 9th, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, noted that while Greece’s population is only 0.15 per cent of the world population, Greeks control 25 per cent of the world’s total merchant fleet. These numbers are of huge signifigance not only for the Greek but for the European economy as well, in terms of competitiveness.“After six years of deep crisis, the Greek economy is finally in a phase of recovery,” he said, adding creditors should note the efforts made by the country to achieve fiscal consolidation by offering debt relief.

Traditionally, shipping gives an important boost to the Greek economy, with opportunities to generate income and employmentas well as promote foreign trade, in a country which after 2009 is experiencing severe GDP recession. Amid all the problems pounding the Greek economy, some things are looking up. One prominent trend giving hope and optimism for the future is the high quality of maritime studies in Greece, in combination with the potential of Greek shipping and the high standard of Greek shipping personnell.

The Prime Minister also called on domestic and international investors to take make good use of business opportunities in the country, to increase their involvement in different sectors of the shipping business, port and cruise operations, as well as capitalize on the four major infrastructure projects underway, such as the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, the Revithoussa LNG Terminal upgrade and the Alexandroupolis Independent Natural Gas System project, a modern, cutting edge technology project which comprises an offshore floating unit for the reception, storage and re-gasification of LNG.

Addressing the same event, Theodore Veniamis, president of the Union of Greek ship-owners, emphasized the fact that Greek shipping is a national capital resource that lies beyond and above party politics, with a multidimensional economic, political and strategic importance for our country.

(www.greeknewsagenda.gr)

December 14, 2016
Greece’s cultural heritage is its ‘real capital’, Koniordou tells ANA radio

The best way to protect Greece’s monuments, both material and immaterial, was to “bring the citizens closer to them in such as way as to enliven their own love and own awareness that these monuments bring added value to their lives,” Culture Minister Lydia Koniordou said on Sunday, talking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) radio station ‘Praktorio 104.9 FM’.
“This is Greece’s real capital and perhaps the most important thing it has at this time,” Koniordou said from St. Petersburg, during the ANA’s “Sputnik Express” broadcasting slot, noting that it could translate into progress, prosperity and also help encourage other activities, in education, local community activities, quality tourism and sustainable growth.
Koniordou was interviewed about her visit to St. Petersburg for the inauguration on November 30 of the exhibition “Genii Loci. Greek art from 1930 until today” at the Manege State Museum. The exhibition was among events arranged for the Greece-Russia Year 2016 and features 147 works of art by 100 Greek painters of the 20th century until the present day. The minister also took part in the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum on December 1-3.
“Like latter-day Noahs, we have to preserve the diamonds of humanity’s adventure and keep these not in a museum but alive, with the subversive and many times even revolutionary spirit they had in their own time, to relay this spirit to the younger generation,” she said.
She noted the Russian public’s strong interest in the Manege Museum exhibition and said Greece needed to invest in this “comparative advantage that all give us credit for.”
Koniordou said that Greece’s intention and goal was to continue cooperating with Russia in these areas after the end of the Greece-Russia Year 2016, while adding that the experience gained will also be put to good use during Greece-China Year, which follows.
“We wish to follow up by cooperating with another important ancient civilization that also seeking to find a balance between outwardness and preserving cultural heritage,” she added.

(www.amna.gr)

December 14, 2016
25 dead, 49 injured in explosion inside Coptic Cathedral in Cairo

At least 25 people died and 49 were injured in an explosion inside Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbasiya, according to state TV.

Army forces were deployed at the scene after the attack, security sources told Daily News Egypt on condition of anonymity, adding that casualties may increase.

Eyewitnesses said the explosion took place at about 10am, but could not confirm what exactly had happened. Some suggested that someone threw a bomb into the cathedral during the weekly Sunday mass.

Amid panic at the scene, families tried enter the cathedral to check on their relatives that were attending the mass.

“Fourteen ambulances transferred the injured to Dar Al-Shefaa and Demerdash hospitals,” a statement issued by the Ministry of Health said.

The Coptic Cathedral explosion came during an official holiday, celebrating the birth of Prophet Muhammad.

(www.dailynewsegypt.com)

December 12, 2016
Egypt’s law on building churches dashes Christian hopes for equality

After 160 years of tight restrictions on building churches in Egypt, a highly anticipated law regulating the construction of churches was passed on 30 August 2016.

But many Coptic Christians and rights organisations say that the law will do very little to practically change discrimination against Christians who represent 10 percent of Egypt’s more than 90 million citizens, most of who are concentrated in Upper Egypt.

Supporters of the law believed it would finally give Coptic Christians the freedom to build houses of worship under the protection of the state, amid a climate of sectarian tension and violence. Many Christians therefore openly welcomed the new legislation.

But others are sceptical. “The law was issued to calm down the public opinion of Coptic Christians in Egypt, nothing more. If they wanted to issue a proper law, they would have drafted a unified law for building houses of worship.’’ Coptic Christian and marketing director Ramy Kamal told Middle East Eye.

He added that Christians are Egyptian citizens just like Muslims, and the government should treat them the same and solve their problems, instead of issuing a law that essentially separates them from the rest of the country.

Since the revolution of January 2011, dozens of instances of inter-communal tension and violence have been reported in the majority Muslim country.

A shocking incident took place in May in al-Karm village in Minya, where a 70-year-old Christian woman was dragged from the safety of her home onto the dirt, beaten and stripped naked by a mob following rumours that her Christian son had an affair with a married Muslim woman.

Souad Thabet, a grandmother, was paraded naked through the streets in front of her neighbours, who had known her for years, as the mob chanted “God is great,” according to eyewitnesses. After managing to escape the humiliating ordeal with the help of another Muslim neighbour, she returned to her home only to find it in ashes.

Several men have since been arrested on suspicion of being involved in this offence which was widely condemned by Egyptian religious and political leaders as well as the wider community.

Romantic relationships between Muslims and Christians are sometimes frowned upon by ultra-conservatives. According to Muslim tradition, Muslim men can marry Christian women, but the converse is still considered taboo and there have been cases where it is considered a matter of dishonour sometimes leading to disputes and even violence.

New churches are not always welcome

The building of new churches has also been at the centre of sectarian strife.

In the last few months, Christian properties have been attacked, burnt down and looted due to suspicions regarding alleged church construction or actual construction taking place. Some families even claim to have received death threats, forcing them to flee their homes and villages.

In July, a priest’s cousin was stabbed to death and three others were injured by a mob, during a street brawl in a village in Minya, where around one third of the population is Christian.

Fam Mary Khalaf, 27, was stabbed in the heart and died instantly, according to the local bishop. The attack came as tensions were at a peak, two days after five Christian homes were burnt down, following rumours that a church was being built in the village.

In October 2011, a protest by Coptic Christians in Cairo against the demolition of a church in Marinab village in Aswan led to one of the deadliest massacres against Christians. More than 20 demonstrators were killed by the armed forces in front of the Cairo State TV building, known as Maspero.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) documented 10 cases of sectarian attacks between January and July this year alone and 77 since 2011 in Minya province, Upper Egypt.

Pope II praises the new law

Egypt’s main churches were involved in drafting the new law, alongside the cabinet, before it was approved by parliament and later by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who ratified the law on 28 September.

Pope Tawadros II, leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church, hailed the law during his weekly sermon in August following parliament’s approval.

“[The law will] correct a wrong that lasted for 160 years,” he said, according to local media,adding that it healed wounds that have lasted for a long time – to achieve stability for Christians.

Pope Tawadros is referring to the 1856 Ottoman decree that was interpreted by Egypt’s courts as giving the ruler full power to allow the building of churches.

In 1934, the Interior Ministry set out restrictive rules for church building, including taking into account the permission of neighbouring Muslims and the proximity of already existing churches.

Law is crippling and discriminative

Despite the church’s approval, many Coptic Christians said that they were disappointed by the new law that has not changed many of the old practices.

Coptic activist Abraham Louis – who is part of the Maspero Youth Union that calls for the rights of Coptic Christians as well as for justice for those who died during demonstrations in 2011 – was born in Asyut, Upper Egypt.

Growing up there, he said he witnessed first-hand the sectarian tensions and violence that took place over the building of churches and described the law as “crippling”.

He said it enforced more restrictions on building churches, while mosques are built in every corner of the country without any resistance from the government.

“There should be a unified law for building houses of worship in Egypt, not a law specifically for Christians,’’ Louis told Middle East Eye.

There are 2,869 churches in Egypt, compared to 108,000 mosques, according to some estimates.

The new law, which was published in the official state newspaper, stipulates that the governor must approve any request to build or renovate a church, within a maximum duration of four months, adding that a justification has to be provided for any rejection.

Prior to the law, Egypt’s feared State Security Agency, which has been accused of torturing, abducting and even killing protesters, was involved in rejecting the building of new churches to avoid sectarian violence.

The agency was disbanded in 2011, following the 25 January revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, but it was replaced by the National Security Agency (NSA), which has been widely accused of the same violations.

Louis argued that this law seemed like an improvement on paper, but he added that there are no guarantees the governor will not cite “security concerns” as a reason for rejecting the construction of a church, in line with previous practices.

Protecting whose security?

An explanatory memorandum attached to the law states reasons for rejecting a request to build or renovate a church, including; “protecting security and public safety”, according to a statement by EIPR.

Another point of contention is article two of the law, which states that the size of the church should be in proportion to the number and the need of the Christians living in the area.

However, Louis said that the number of Christians in each area has not been accurately or officially documented in Egypt.

The law also does not specify how to determine the “need” for constructing a church, which leaves it to the judgement and prejudices of government officials, according to EIPR.

“[This] law is a new step towards reinforcing discrimination [against Christians], rather than solving the issues of violence and sectarian tensions that surround the building of churches,” Ishaq Ibrahim, a Coptic Christian and researcher on religious freedoms at EIPR, told MEE.

The legislation, however, did provide procedures to license churches that were previously built without any permits, due to strict regulations.

For such churches to be given official sanction they need to meet certain criteria, like complying with construction requirements approved by the state, which is not the case for many churches built in slums or homes in rural areas, according to EIPR. There are hundreds of unlicensed churches in Egypt, according to Human Rights Watch.

A farce or a positive step?

The law sparked much debate as it was discussed in parliament before being passed by a majority vote of two thirds of the MPs.

Many Coptic MPs publicly criticised and rejected the law, like MP Nadia Henry, who described the law as “a political farce,” that was “imposed on Christians” by Sisi, according to Ahram Online.

She stressed that even if there is one Christian in a certain neighbourhood, that person should have the right to build and pray in a church.

However, minister of parliamentary affairs, Magdi el-Agati, disagreed, saying that “article two by no means imposes restrictions, it just simply states that we cannot build a cathedral in a tiny village”.

Others like MP Margaret Aazer said that although there were downsides to the law, it was a positive step.

Egypt’s main churches had approved the law before it was reviewed by parliament, following months of back and forth with the government. The Coptic Orthodox Church’s statement, announcing its agreement to the draft law, seemed a little sceptical on how effective it would be in reality.

“We pray that the implementation of the law, after its approval, will be a step forward in building our new Egypt. We understand that the first years of implementing the law will show how effective, valid and respectful it is to others and we hope that [it doesn’t cause] problems on the ground,” the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church said in a statement.

EIPR’s Ibrahim says that the Coptic church followed the saying “a bird in the hand is better than two in a bush,” explaining that the church considers the law a step forward and has good faith in officials and their application of the law.

Ibrahim is less sanguine about it. “Of course [this is] naive, and a result of their lack of political experience,” he added, saying that the church should not have been responsible for discussing and drafting the law in the first place, but rather civil society organisations that represent a broader spectrum of the people.

Calls for separation between church and state

In July 2013, Pope Tawadros II stood behind Sisi as he announced the end of President Mohamed Morsi’s term in office, which was essentially a removal of the Muslim Brotherhood from power. This represented the first of many public stances of the church backing Sisi.

Many Coptic Christians, following Pope Tawadros’s lead, sought refuge from the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule by voting for Sisi.

However, as sectarian violence continued and many Christians grew tired of the government repeating old policies, more than 800 prominent Coptic figures signed a statement against the involvement of the church in politics in September, saying that it harmed Christians living in the country.

The statement said that the Coptic church’s “political alliance” with Sisi has not significantly improved the state’s policies towards Coptic communities.

”We warn against the dangers of the involvement of religious institutions in general and the church in particular into politics, in a society that already suffers from a sectarian crisis.”

These words came after the church rallied Christians in support of Sisi during his visit to New York for the UN General Assembly meeting in September.

“The state and the church both tend to treat Coptic [Christians] as a religious sect, rather than as citizens who have full rights,” said Ibrahim, one of the signatories to the statement. He cites the fact that Coptics are referred to in the law as a “religious sect,” instead of citizens of the state as an unfortunate indicator of the mentality of some Egyptians towards Coptic Christians at the moment.

(CENTRE for RELIGIOUS PLURALISM in the MIDDLE EAST)

December 8, 2016
Seafaring & Shipbuilding | Athens | To May 28

The Herakleidon Museum in Athens presents “Voyage: Seafaring and Shipbuilding in Greece from Antiquity to Modern Times.” The show explores the history of maritime voyages and naval architecture through about 40 handmade wooden models of Greek ships which plied the seas from prehistoric times to the middle of the 20th century. The ship models were created by Dimitris Maras, MSc in mechanical engineering and model shipbuilder. Opening hours are Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Fridays to Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The show runs to May 28.

Herakleidon Museum, 16 Irakleidon, Thiseio, tel 210.346.1981,

www.herakleidon-art.gr

December 2, 2016
Greek sushi master among world’s 100 best chefs

Greek sushi master Antonis Drakoularakos, owner of Athens restaurant Sushimou, was named among the world’s 100 top chefs at the award ceremony of the first Chefs World Summit on Sunday night.

Organized by the prestigious French magazine Le Chef from November 27-29 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the event included a stellar lineup of more than 500 two- and three-Michelin-starred chefs from around the world and other influential industry players.

The 37-year-old physicist-turned-chef came in last on the list that places him among the ranks of the legendary Alain Passard (first place) of L’Arpege in Paris and Martin Berasategui (second place) of the eponymous eatery in Lasarte Oria, Spain.

Drakoularakos trained in the demanding art of sushi making at the Tokyo Sushi Academy in 2014, returning to Athens to open Sushimou, located just off Syntagma Square, in November last year. In the year since it opened, the small, 12-seat sushi bar has attracted the attention of local critics and discerning diners alike.

(www.ekathimerini.com)

December 2, 2016