Digital Activism Within the Coptic Community in North America: New Transnational Opportunities or Emerging Threats?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31430/ngwv1331

Keywords:

Coptic Diaspora, Digital Advocacy, Transnational Mobilization, Social Movement Theory, Surveillance

Abstract

This article critically examines the dual impact of digital technologies on the political agency of the Coptic diaspora, emphasizing both the opportunities and limitations posed by information and communication technologies (ICTs). Digital platforms have enhanced diaspora visibility, resource mobilization, and transnational activism, but they also introduce major risks, including misinformation, censorship, and surveillance. These growing challenges have hindered the diaspora’s ability to navigate power structures, reducing the effectiveness of advocacy efforts. The article argues that the drawbacks of digital activism now outweigh its initial benefits, creating new constraints on Coptic political influence. In light of these pressures, it calls for a reassessment of how diaspora groups can sustain activism in an increasingly hostile digital landscape.

References

  1. Athens Bureau, "Coptic Orthodox Martyrs Are Beheaded by ISIS in Libya," Greek City Times , 16/2/2022, accessed on 23/6/2025, at: https://tinyurl.com/np3e56nf; Bill Hutchinson, "ISIS Releases Video Purporting to Show Beheading of 21 Egyptians in Libya," New York Daily News , 16/2/2015, accessed on 23/6/2025, at: https://tinyurl.com/yhesad63
  2. Youssef Zaki, "A Theban Legion on the Banks of the Potomac: Coptic Political Activism in the Diaspora, the U.S., and the Egyptian Polity," IMES Capstone Paper Series , George Washington University (2010).
  3. Nadia Marzouki, "The U.S. Coptic Diaspora and the Limit of Polarization," Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies , vol. 14, no. 3 (2016), pp. 261–276.
  4. تستخدم الباحثة كلمة Advocacy كثيرًا في الدراسة، وهي تعني الدعوة إلى أفكار أو الدفاع عن قضايا معيّنة. آثرت استخدام كلمة الدعوة مقابلا عربيًا لها، وهي تتضمن معنى الدفاع والمناصرة، بيد أنها أوسع منهما في مضامينها. (المترجم)
  5. Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996).
  6. Fiona McCallum, "Religious Diaspora and Information Communications Technology: The Impact of Globalization on Communal Relations in Egypt," in: Marc Lynch (ed.), The New Arab Media: Technology, Image and Perception (Reading: Ithaca Press, 2011), pp. 81–101.
  7. Koen Leurs & Kevin Smets, "Five Questions for Digital Migration Studies: Learning from Digital Connectivity and Forced Migration in (to) Europe," Social Media + Society , vol. 4, no. 1 (2018), pp. 1–16.
  8. Priya Kumar, "Rerouting the Narrative: Mapping the Online Identity Politics of the Tamil and Palestinian Diaspora," Social Media + Society , vol. 4, no. 1 (2018), pp. 1–18.
  9. Bahar Baser & Amira Halperin, "Diasporas from the Middle East: Displacement, Transnational Identities and Homeland Politics," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies , vol. 46, no. 2 (2019), pp. 215–221; Jennifer Brinkerhoff, "Digital Diasporas and Governance in Semi–Authoritarian States: The Case of the Egyptian Copts," Public Administration and Development , vol. 25, no. 3 (2005), pp. 193–204; Donald A. Westbrook & Michael Saad, "Religious Identity and Borderless Territoriality in the Coptic E–Diaspora," Journal of International Migration and Integration , vol. 18, no. 1 (2017), pp. 341–351.
  10. نسبة إلى شبكة الإنترنت. (المترجم)
  11. Victoria Bernal, Nation as Network: Diaspora, Cyberspace, and Citizenship (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014); Dana Diminescu & Benjamin Loveluck, "Traces of Dispersion: Online Media and Diasporic Identities," Crossings: Journal of Migration and Culture , vol. 5, no. 1 (2014), pp. 23–39.
  12. Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso,
  13. Martin Sökefeld, "Mobilizing in Transnational Space: A Social Movement Approach to the Formation of Diaspora," Global Networks , vol. 6, no. 3 (2006), pp. 265–284.
  14. Fiona Adamson & Michael Demetriou, "Remapping the Boundaries of 'State' and 'National Identity': Incorporating Diasporas into IR Theorizing," European Journal of International Relations , vol. 13, no. 4 (2007), pp. 489–526.
  15. Vicente Navarro, "A Critique of Social Capital," International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services , vol. 32, no. 3 (2002), pp. 423–432.
  16. Saijun Zhang, Steven G. Anderson & Min Zhan, "The Differentiated Impact of Bridging and Bonding Social Capital on Economic Well–Being: An Individual Level Perspective," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare , vol. 38, no. 1 (2011), pp. 119–142.
  17. Agnieszka Kanas, Frank van Tubergen & Tanja van der Lippe, "Immigrant Self–Employment: Testing Hypotheses about the Role of Origin–and Host–Country Human Capital and Bonding and Bridging Social Capital," Work and Occupations , vol. 36, no. 3 (2009), pp. 181–208.
  18. Larissa Larsen et al., "Bonding and Bridging: Understanding the Relationship between Social Capital and Civic Action," Journal of Planning Education and Research , vol. 24, no. 1 (2004), pp. 64–77.
  19. Michelle E. Martin, "The Political Power of Diaspora as External Actors in Armed Civil Conflict: Ethnonationalist Conflict–Generated Diaspora Use of Social Media in Transnational Political Engagement in Homeland Conflict: The Case of Rwanda " PhD. Dissertation, Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, 2013.
  20. Harry H. Hiller & Tara M. Franz, "New Ties, Old Ties and Lost Ties: The Use of the Internet in Diaspora," New Media & Society , vol. 6, no. 6 (2004), pp. 731–752.
  21. W. Lance Bennett, "The Personalization of Politics: Political Identity, Social Media, and Changing Patterns of Participation," The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , vol. 644, no. 1 (2012), pp. 20–39.
  22. Norman H. Nie & Lutz Erbring, "Internet and Society: A Preliminary Report," IT & Society , vol. 1, no. 1 (2002), pp. 275–283.
  23. Ibid.; Hiller & Franz; Navarro.
  24. ينظر: الملحق. الكاهن القديس شنودة القبطية St. Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society، ومتحف كندا القبطي The Coptic Museum of Canada، وجمعية دراسات الكنيسة القبطية The Society of Coptic Church Studies، والمشروع القبطي الكندي التاريخي The Coptic Canadian History
  25. Amal Bakry & Mohammed F. Alkazemi, "Social Media Coverage of 'Maspero': Solidarity between Muslims and Christians Post the Egyptian Uprising," Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations , vol. 16, no. 3 (2014), pp. 61–74.
  26. Michael Saad, "The Contemporary Life of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United States," Studies in World Christianity , vol. 16, no. 3 (2010), pp. 207–225.
  27. Mariz Tadros, "Vicissitudes in the Entente between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the State in Egypt (1952– 2007)," International Journal of Middle East Studies , vol. 41, no. 2 (2009), pp. 269–287.
  28. Paul S. Rowe, "Neo–Millet Systems and Transnational Religious Movements: The Humayun Decrees and Church Construction in Egypt," Journal of Ch u rch and State , vol. 49, no. 2 (2007), pp. 329–350; Paul S. Rowe, "Building Coptic Civil Society: Christian Groups and the State in Mubarak’s Egypt," Middle Eastern Studies , vol. 45, no. 1 (2009), pp. 111–126.
  29. Adel Guindy, Sword over the Nile: A Brief History of the Copts under Islamic Rule (London: Austin Macauley, 2020), p. 325. جمعية صعيد مصر Les Partenaires de L’Association de la Haute–Egypte، أن الأقباط في أميركا
  30. "ي 8"، سياسية ومرشحة حزب المحافظين الكندي في عام 2019 وعضو مجلس شركاء جمعية صعيد مصر، مقابلة عبر منصة زوم، مونتريال، نيسان/ أبريل.2022
  31. "د 5"، محامٍ وسياسي وعضو سابق في حزب المحافظين وعضو حالي في الحزب الليبرالي، مقابلة عبر منصة زوم، كنغستون، كندا، أيار/ مايو.2022
  32. "ج 7"، محامٍ وناشط، من جيل الأقباط الثاني، مقابلة عبر منصة زوم، مونتريال، نيسان/ أبريل.2022
  33. Westbrook & Saad.
  34. "ف 6"، ناشط وأستاذ جامعي، مقابلة عبر منصة زوم، كنغستون، كندا، آب/ أغسطس.2022
  35. "ل 9"، ناشط وأستاذ جامعي وعضو تنفيذي في جمعية علم النفس الكندية، مقابلة عبر منصة زوم، كنغستون، كندا، شباط/ فبراير.2022
  36. Mark Latonero & Paula Kift, "On Digital Passages and Borders: Refugees and the New Infrastructure for Movement and Control," Social Media + Society , vol. 4, no. 1 (2018), pp. 1–11; Shoshana A. Magnet, When Biometrics Fail: Gender, Race, and the Technology of Identity (Durham: Duke University Press, 2011).
  37. Sameh Elnaggar, "Egyptian Diaspora Explains the Meaning of Its Political Engagement in Washington , DC," PhD. Dissertation, Walden University, 2019; هاني لبيب، أزمة الحماية الدينية: الدين والدولة في مصر (القاهرة: دار الشروق، 2000)؛ Bosmat Yefet, "The Coptic Diaspora and the Status of the Coptic Minority in Egypt," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies , vol. 43, no. 7 (2017), pp. 1205–1221.
  38. Mena Botros, "The Coptic Identity: Recognizing the Coptic 'Indigenous Peoples' Status for Protection from State– Sponsored Discrimination," Coptic Solidarity Report , 2/5/2023, accessed on 23/6/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9GPkv; Egyptian Human Rights Forum, Years of Persecution, Reprisals, and Deprivation of Basic Citizenship Rights: Targeting of Egyptian Human Rights Defenders in the Diaspora (2024), accessed on 23/6/2025, at: https://acr.ps/1L9GPxZ
  39. "م 11"، مرشح حزب المحافظين الكندي في عام 2019 وناشط، مقابلة عبر منصة زوم، تورنتو، آذار/ مارس.2022
  40. Coptic Solidarity, The Impact of Social Media Restrictions on Coptic Advocacy (2023), accessed on 23/6/2025, at: https://tinyurl.com/mu5rk3ht
  41. Egypt: Release Nine Coptic Christians Detained for Attempting to Rebuild Church , Amnesty International (March 2022), accessed on 23/6/2025, at: https://tinyurl.com/mrnr42yt
  42. 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Egypt , U.S. Department of State, accessed on 23/6/2025, at: https://tinyurl.com/27t3jvxa
  43. يصدر أيضًا عن وزارة الخارجية الأميركية. (المترجم)
  44. 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Egypt.
  45. "ي 22"، باحث قبطي في جامعة كوينز، مقابلة عبر منصة زوم، تورنتو، أيلول/ سبتمبر.2023
  46. Doowan Lee, "Resistance Dynamics and Social Movement Theory: Conditions, Mechanisms, and Effects," Journal of Strategic Security , vol. 10, no. 4 (2017), pp. 42–63; Amanda Pullum, "Social Movement Theory and the Modern Day Tea Party," Sociology Compass , vol. 8, no. 12 (2014), pp. 1377–1387; Marie–Claude Tremblay, "Can we Build on Social Movement Theories to Develop and Improve Community–Based Participatory Research? A Framework Synthesis Review," American Journal of Community Psychology , vol. 59, no. 3–4 (2017), pp. 333–362.
  47. Yvonne Haddad, "Good Copt, Bad Copt: Competing Narratives on Coptic Identity in Egypt and the United States," Studies in World Christianity , vol. 19, no. 3 (2013), pp. 208–232.
  48. "Details Emerge on 'Innocence of Muslims' Filmmaker," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty , 14/9/2012, accessed on 23/6/2025, at: https://tinyurl.com/mryfshna
  49. Ahmed Al–Rawi, Islam on YouTube: Online Debates, Protests, and Extremism (London: Palgrave Macmillan,
  50. "Jihad of the Womb: Trafficking of Coptic Women & Girls in Egypt," Coptic Solidarity, 10/9/2020, accessed on 23/6/2025, at: https://tinyurl.com/5ctmbw2z
غلاف العدد 53 من دورية عمران

Downloads

PDF (Hosted in Arabic)
HTML (Arabic)

Published

2025-07-01

Article dates

Received: September 28, 2024 Revised: February 4, 2025 Accepted: June 25, 2025

Usage statistics

39 views 68 downloads

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 053 (2025): Issue 053

Section

Studies

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Omran for Social Sciences and Humanities

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.