You will have heard the distressing news that Maikel Nabil Sanad, an Egyptian blogger and conscientious objector, has been imprisoned by the Egyptian government:
“I am a pacifist, I am against bearing arms and participating in military and paramilitary organizations. Recruitment goes against my conscience. I don’t want to act against my conscience, whatever the price. I also am not willing to be a pawn on the chessboard of an arms race, struggles and bloodbaths in the region. I don’t want to point a weapon at a young Israeli, recruited into obligatory service, defending his state’s right to exist. I think obligatory service is a form of slavery and I have worked for years for my freedom.”
He adds:
“I have lived all my life under risk and I’m used to it,” he claims. “They are already saying in the Egyptian media that I’m a spy.”
That is the authentic voice of a peace activist.
The late Vittorio Arrigoni, mis-described by the Guardian as a “peace activist”, had this to say about the imprisoned Sanad, on the very day of his own abduction:
What a revolting thing to say.
