Friday, August 13, 2010

They Are Looking For A Leader Not For Pharaoh

Ben Wedemen interviewed Mohamed ElBaradei in CNN's African Voices and as usual the former head of IAEA insisted that he is not the new pharaoh nor he came to lead but rather ready to lead if the people are ready to stand behind.
Here is the interviews on parts below covering ElBaradei's return to Egypt , ElBaradei on the war of Iraq and his quest for new democracy in Egypt.

It is interesting enough to see CNN recognizing ElBaradei as Egyptian presidential candidate just like Gamal Mubarak.

Laila ElBaradei , the daughter of Mohamed ElBaradei appears for the first time to speak about her dad in the media after his return to Egypt. By the way there is a video circulating online by the ElBaradei supporters firing back at the accusations of the NDP that ElBaradei was the man behind the American invasion of Iraq , the video shows that the current Mubarak regime was actually the one who was cooperating and facilitating the American invasion to Iraq letting the U.S army use our Suez Canal when Turkey refused the U.S air forces use its skies.

Wedeman asked ElBaradei a very interesting question that Egypt needs a unique kind of leader who can be tough and the Nobel Prize winner told him that this is what he wants to change , he wants to change a system based on a pharaoh to a system based on institutions.
Despite being a supporter for Dr. ElBaradei and his call for change to the end  , I have to disagree with Dr. ElBaradei on what the Egyptians want , they want a leader not a pharaoh , turning their leader in to a pharaoh once he takes over the rule is another issue , but what really the Egyptians are looking for currently is a leader , a leader they can trust to go behind him in his quest for democracy.
Again speaking on Foreign examples may not suite us with our complexity and unique situation , yes we can learn from other countries like Eastern Europe and Latin America's experience in the transfer period from a dictatorship to democracy but here in Egypt we are not in that period yet , we are still in the dictatorship era.Through out the history of this land regimes and pharaohs are downed by other leaders who gather Egyptians around them regardless of whether they made to the chair or not ; again I will remind you with Mustafa Kamel whom unlike Saad Zaghlol did not get any public position but rather took the hand of the Egyptian people and reminded them with their rights , he did not wait them to stand behind him , he went to them for God sake.
Dr.ElBaradei insists on mentioning Gandhi as a role model , Gandhi was more active than Dr. ElBaradei with my all due respect.  I understand what ElBaradei wants but does he want us to stand against a 50 years old something regime culture so easily without telling us what to do !!?? This is why the role of a leader is very important during this particular moment.
Sometimes I feel Dr.ElBaradei does not put too much hope on the Egyptian people yet he does not want to let all those people who believe in him down. I understand his commitments abroad but the Egyptians he should reach now do not have twitter accounts and till the NFC campaign reaches to them it will take ages !! Here I am speaking about the Egyptians the GM businessmen lobby are trying to recruit in their side. 
I support and I will still support Dr. ElBaradei though , the man managed to stir something was frozen for years.

1 comment:

  1. Dr.ElBaradei has begun to recognize that he cannot incite the average Egyptian with his 'civilized' approach for change.
    Change happens quickly through revolution which is violent and quick, the route he is preaching is evolutionary which happens slowly and takes a long time.
    The book Taxi by Khaled Al Khamissi depicts the true sentiment of the average Egyptian as quoted by a taxi driver explaining their chronic political apathy:
    “The problem is with us Egyptians, the government has planted the seeds of fear from hunger in us. This made us only think of ourselves, and our only preoccupation is how we make ends meet....... We are living a lie, and the government’s role is to make sure that we continue to believe it.”
    Dr.ElBaradei intentions are noble and sincere but ineffective in changing the political apathy of Egyptians.
    Egypt will change only through labor strikes and disobedience and Dr.ElBaradei does not fit the profile of a person who can lead that type of crowd.

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