Enough condescension
With reference to Daily News Egypt editorial titled “ElBaradei and the intoxication of hope (Feb. 27, 2010) I was puzzled by the analogy drawn to the Hans Christian Anderson story of the Emperor s New Clothes where ElBaradei represents the young naive child and our President is depicted as the hapless victim of a few con artists.
It may have been more useful to my understanding if you had named the people you think are the con artists who have managed to fool him for the last 28 years. If anything, the victims in this tale are Egyptian citizens who have been weighed down with decades of promises that are certainly tangible, unlike the Emperor s (so-called) new clothes.
For too long now I have heard people from all walks of life in Egypt express their sense of powerlessness, their conviction that nothing will ever change. And their sense of powerlessness comes from a regime that has dedicated itself to ensuring that any whisper of dissent is tantamount to treason and a threat to national security.
We are a nation that is paralyzed by fear. Fear of solar eclipses, fear of swine flu, fear of our teachers, fear of our employers, fear of our healthcare providers, fear of our police force and other security apparatus and increasingly fear of our rulers.
Given this state of paralysis, I am all the more astounded that in the few minutes I have been writing this, more than 150 people have signed up to the ElBaradei Facebook group, which now has 146,337 members – no scratch that, in the last minute that number has jumped to 146,345 members; no sorry that last number is also wrong because that number has increased by ten in the last 30 seconds.
If nothing else, ElBaradei has galvanized people into action. He has breathed life into a stagnant political debate that during the past couple of years has centered on which of the two Mubaraks will be the next president. And more importantly, ElBaradei isn t asking for our vote – not yet. He is simply urging us to demand a change in the constitution that will level a playing field that is currently all but monopolized.
What he is proposing makes sense to me regardless of whether I would vote for him or any other candidate.
Is it easy to be condescending about ElBaradei s chances of success at effective mobilization? Given the last 28 years, of course it is. But condescension has become a national trait. It’s so much easier to shoot something down because it s a safe bet in an environment that recoils at any prospect of change. Which is why it is all the more amazing to me that in the last ten minutes the number of people who have signed on to the ElBaradei Facebook group has jumped by 200 to reach 146,538 members.
Who knows what the number will be by the time this gets to print?
Your condescension is a safe bet, but I m betting on the long shot and believe me, if nothing else, it s much more fun.
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A benevolent dictatorship
I read with glee the balanced and sharp editorial titled “ElBaradei and the intoxication of hope (Feb. 27, 2010).
I think Ms. Al Malky is right to feel skeptical about Egypt s chances for democratic change, since experience has taught us how complex, contradictory and mean politics are.
Nevertheless, I am glad to know that a leader with the political prestige and personal stand of ElBaradei s is in the political arena. Even if he is not able to gather all the opposition parties and followers and even if he s not able to win elections yet, he certainly has already made the Egyptian political scenario more interesting, elevating political discourse and questioning the emperor … that in itself, is a gain I think.
Not only is he tremendously charismatic, but also, intellectually sound and politically correct – that is in liberal terms, of course. His chances are better in the symbolic level at this point, though, since he might represent the potential for democracy in Egypt and open both minds and hopes for the future by shaking Egyptian leaders and people to imagine Egypt in different terms than the present ones; imagining ways of political action and discourse to dream about freedom.
The mere act of challenging the status quo is, in itself, in an invaluable step! The fragility of the Mubarak regime is obvious, on the other hand. And ElBaradei comes with international political support, so his possibilities to shake the political scenario are 30% good. But on the other hand, I also think that it is ridiculous to try to democratize a country where 90% of the voters are so uninformed (and uneducated) that their votes can be bought.
What we need is a benevolent dictatorship.
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