Revolution in the Arab World - Observation of a lost soul Blog

foreign policy • revolution in the arab world • revolution makers
of thousands of demonstrators occupying Tahrir Square—something he
was generally careful not to do—it was ElBaradei who remained the most
consistent and unyielding in his condemnation of Egypt’s six decades under
thinly veiled military rule and the gross corruption, socioeconomic ills, and
political instability the Mubarak regime is leaving behind.
From his first return to Egypt last February, ElBaradei denounced the
entire system as unsalvageable, calling instead for a nationwide campaign
for genuine political reform. While Western reporters probed for signs that
ElBaradei sought to contest the 2011 presidential election, his youthful supporters
gathered more than a million signatures in favor of a seven-point
reform platform, building a surprisingly effective grassroots organization
and, as ElBaradei puts it, helping to break the “culture of fear” in Egypt.
While ElBaradei has not ruled out a run for the presidency under certain
conditions, he seems to recognize that he’s not the kind of populist leader
Egypt’s teeming masses have typically rallied around (a recent poll estimates
his support at around 3 percent). In an exclusive interview with Foreign
Policy, conducted at his home on Thursday, Feb. 10, ElBaradei described
his role as more of a coach, dismissed the Egyptian government’s efforts to
negotiate a way out of the current crisis as “faulty,” and urged the West to
declare itself firmly on the side of the Egyptian people—before it’s too late:
Foreign Policy: You’ve always said that your role is to be a catalyst for
change. You’re not a politician; you’re not a grassroots organizer. But now
that change is starting to happen with these huge demonstrations, how do
you see your role evolving
Mohamed ElBaradei: I always said I’m an agent for change. I’m not a
grassroots organizer; that is clear. I believe in a division of labor. I’m not
trained to organize the grassroots, and grassroots has to come from the
grassroots.
But I never said I’m not a politician. Obviously I’ve been practicing politics,
if you like, for the past 30, 40 years in different [forms] either through
my International Atomic Energy Agency work or before that in the diplomatic
service. And that essentially is what I’ve been doing in the last year;
it’s political work.
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