Update on Phil Rizk; the fruit and the cost of non-violent protest

Two updates on Phil Rizk from Christianity Today's blog.

One I missed on Wednesday: Philip Rizk freed in Egypt.

And one this morning: Update: Philip Rizk Describes His Detainment

Besides these and other articles based on the same interviews, there is a good article here that seeks to anayse the story:  Widespread critique of Egypt for the arrest of the German-Egyptian humanitarian activist Philip Rizk.

I quote from that article:

Philip organized his march with a group of only 14 young people. His arrest has garnered attention for his march that he would never have achieved if he had not been arrested. His arrest has also resulted in discussions about humanitarian aid to Gaza and human rights in Egypt that would not have happened without his arrest. Egyptian security authorities have thus done his case a great favor that in all likelihood was completely unintended.

The story shows the poor calculations and responses of the Egyptian authorities concerning the effects of hampering activities that many people in and outside Egypt sympathize with. Not or insufficiently considering the consequences of media reporting in the West results in Egypt's poor image in the West. That is a shame and is also something that is not needed. A lot of the reporting about the arrest of Philip Rizk was highly emotional and often not accurate or lacking context. Egyptian authorities could have avoided a lot of this negative media fall-out by immediately providing the official reasons for Philip's arrest. They could also have responded immediately with information about government aid to Gaza and why they are so cautious about private aid to Gaza. Instead the authorities and most Egyptian media outlets chose to remain silent, thus making them co-responsible for the negative reporting that we have now seen about Egypt.

If Egypt wants to avoid negative publicity as many officials say they do, then they should consider changing the criminal procedures act, providing relatives of people who are arrested with reasons for their arrest and regulating aid from non-government initiatives, not stopping citizens from seeking humanitarian support for Gaza.

Phil is committed to non-violent protest. He just made a documentary about non-violent protest by Palestinians. He was protesting non-violently about Gaza, and was arrested for it. Thousands have responded and shown their solidarity on the web, by email and letters, and many have joined demonstrations outside embassiest. It seems to me that this is a wonderful example of the power of simple actions to achieve big ends. Peaceful action is so much less costly than war in terms of economics and lives. Its cost though is that which Phil paid.