Mohamed El-Baradei takes the NAC's message of reform to London, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Mohamed El-Baradei was in London this week, meeting with Egyptians living in the UK and other European countries. The visit was organised by members of the National Assembly for Change (NAC) which was founded by El-Baradei and a group of political activists last February. George Ishaq, a leading member of the NAC, told Al - Ahram Weekly that El-Baradei's visit came as part of the NAC's efforts to disseminate its agenda for change and political reform among Egyptian expatriates. During a public meeting organised on Saturday, El-Baradei surprised the audience by announcing that he had "no wish to run in presidential elections scheduled next year". "The presidential election," he said, "will be a political farce." "Right now I am focussed on promoting the case for change. The Egyptian people are the only force capable of achieving reform." El-Baradei went on to describe himself as "a crusader for change and not a professional politician". "My greatest hope is to see my country in the same way I saw it when I was a young man," El-Baradei told the audience. "The pre-1952 period was one in which Egypt was a beacon of democracy." "Since 1952," he continued, "when the Egyptian people were stripped of any say in the internal affairs of their country, they have been told by others what they must do. When those in charge decided to move towards the East we became allies of the Soviet Union and adopted a centrally planned economy. Later, when they shifted loyalty to the West, we became allies of the United States and turned to a market economy." According to El-Baradei, "the deterioration of conditions in Egypt and the lack of democracy is the fault of policy rather than individuals." El-Baradei launched a scathing attack against the recent Shura Council elections, denouncing results in which "the Muslim Brotherhood, which has 88 seats in parliament, is supposed to have failed to win a single seat". El-Baradei concluded his London speech by urging all Egyptians to sign the NAC's manifesto of change. "Your signatures are very important. The more signatures we collect, the stronger we will be in standing up to the regime. No force can challenge the will of the people." El-Baradei's visit to London followed the appearance of rifts within the NAC. Hamdi Qandil and Hassan Nafaa, two leading members of the NAC, publicly criticised El-Baradei's prolonged absences from Egypt. Qandil surprised journalists by insisting that "El-Baradei has never been a leader of the NAC or even a member of it." "He wants to be free, not bound by any agenda of action or anything that gets in the way of his schedule," said Qandil. Ishaq told Al-Ahram Weekly that, "El-Baradei has a lot of international commitments to meet." "He wants to crusade for change, not to be restricted by the agenda of a single group. He was the major force behind the creation of NAC, and his relationship with the NAC remains strong. It is NAC, after all, that arranged his London visit," said Ishaq. Differences between El-Baradei and some NAC political activists have been exacerbated by El-Baradei's recent meetings with Muslim Brotherhood leaders and his visit, two weeks ago, to one of their main enclaves in Fayoum. Nasserist Hamdi Qandil is opposed to any kind of political partnership between El-Baradei and the Muslim Brotherhood. Nafaa said he hoped that "the Brotherhood's recent rapprochement with El-Baradei is not just a tactical step aimed at pressuring the regime". "El-Baradei believes, correctly, that the Muslim Brotherhood is a major political force and a moderate Islamic group. As long as it is committed to a civilian state it should be encouraged to participate in political life rather than being isolated," said Ishaq. "I have political differences with the Brotherhood but they cannot prevent me from defending the group's right to participate in political life," said El-Baradei. "Every force should be allowed to explain its ideas and ideology honestly and rationally. It is up to the people to judge between them." In an interview with the independent Al-Dostour, El-Baradei explained his priorities. "What I want to see is a critical mass of Egyptians who believe in change, pressuring the regime to democratise. If it then refuses it will have to bear the consequences." "The required critical mass may not appear overnight but with the support of 250,000 Egyptians we could perhaps compel the regime to change 30 or 40 articles of the constitution." El-Baradei argued that, "anyone participating [under current regulations] in the farce of next year's presidential election will be betraying the will of the people". "If I stood in the 2011 presidential election what will happen is this: the regime will rig the vote, allowing me 35 per cent or so of the vote, simply because they imagine that would lend their own candidate some legitimacy." "We are still a year away from the presidential election. Should something happen to guarantee that the poll is conducted with a minimum level of integrity I could change my mind and run."
