Burning fuse

Spearheaded by young people, the wave of popular unrest that has swept through the Mideast and North Africa region in recent weeks is without precedent and has many wondering how it will play out in the end. But what are the causes of this burning fuse that was lit in Tunisia, how will this upheaval impact on the situation of Christians living in those areas and what do these uprisings say about the West's policies towards regimes in the region? To find out more, Susy Hodges spoke to Dr Harry Hagopian, an Armenian from Jerusalem, and a consultant on Mideast affairs for the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales.
Asked about the root causes of this wave of unrest, Hagopian says the people who are out there "in the streets and the squares" are "the Twitter and Facebook generation who have suddenly decided to take matters into their own hands" ... and these "are people who don't particularly belong to a political ideology nor to any (particular) religious background... and are now seeking that sense of dignity and respect and freedom".....
Hagopian believes that pretty much every leader of a regime in the Mideast and North Africa region now "feels vulnerable" because after the uprisings led to the removal of Egypt's president that was when people realised that "this is beginning to gain a momentum that could pretty much prove to be unstoppable."
When asked how this upheaval could impact on Christians living in the region, especially in view of what happened in Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Hagopian replies that this "is a particular worry" for him (as a practising Christian) and also for the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales and he says we need to ensure that Christians who are indigenous to the region "retain a voice so their rights are not trodden over..."
Hagopian also spoke of his belief that the recent events in the Mideast and North Africa have been "a rude awakening" for the West who believed in the need to support dictators and autocracies in the region in order to protect their security and interests.
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