Supporters of Mohamed El-Baradei have started a campaign promoting him among ordinary citizens, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Mohamed El-Baradei, who has campaigned for political reform since retiring from his post as director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), took a practical step this week to further his public appeal, opting to take to the streets and reach out to as many ordinary citizens as possible. On 26 March El-Baradei surprised residents of Cairo's poor and middle-income district of Gammaliya when he performed Friday prayers at the historical mosque of Al-Hussein. It was surely no accident that the media was out in force, filming and photographing El-Baradei as he shook hands with worshippers, talked with young people and hugged poor citizens wearing the traditional Egyptian galabiya. El-Baradei's supporters, including the cyberspace activists of his Facebook website and the so-called 6 April movement, were also present, chanting "Long Live Egypt... Egypt Needs Change". El-Baradei was quoted in independent media sources as saying, "the street tour around Al-Hussein Mosque reinforced my conviction that people desperately want change and are aware of our campaign for reform". Commenting on El-Baradei's first street campaign, Hamdi Qandil, the well-known broadcaster and newly-appointed spokesperson of the National Assembly for Change (NAC) which El-Baradei founded on 21 February, said: "NAC is preparing for greater engagement between El-Baradei and ordinary citizens on the street. We hope that this street tour, and others, send a message not only to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) but to old opposition parties that El-Baradei and his supporters are serious about change and that five-star hotels are not the ideal venues for reform campaigns." "El-Baradei's next public appearance will be a much bigger surprise," he added, leading to speculation that the would-be presidential candidate intends to take his campaign to the provinces. Predictably, NDP officials have sounded a less positive note. El-Baradei's tours, Mohamed Ragab, NDP Shura Council spokesman and an MP for Al-Hussein and Gammaliya district, told Al-Ahram Weekly, "show he is interested more in television and press cameras than in making direct contact with ordinary citizens." Ragab accused El-Baradei of exploiting poor citizens to heighten his political profile. "El-Baradei thinks that when the world sees photos of him with ordinary citizens he will be able to bring pressure to bear on the regime and enhance his presidential ambitions. But he is wrong if he thinks performing Friday prayers at a famous mosques and hugging poor citizens on the street is the pathway to the presidency." In his first interview with a non-Egyptian satellite channel, El-Baradei told Al-Arabiya that, "he is the best-known Egyptian in the world." "However," he added, "I am not a national hero and my goal is neither fame nor popularity. My hope is that in the year and half run-up to the presidential elections the rules of the political game in Egypt will change." El-Baradei's strategy is clearly focussed on broadening the base of his support, expanding it from the realm of political activists to include other segments of Egyptian society. On 28 March, El-Baradei met with a number of filmmakers, including directors Khaled Youssef, Youssri Nasrallah, Dawoud Abdel-Sayed, actor Khaled Abul-Naga and actresses Naglaa Fathi and Basma. They all signed El-Baradei's manifesto for political reform, Together for Change. On the same day El-Baradei met with a delegation of Coptic activists. Amin Iskandar, a leading member of Al-Karama Party, quoted El-Baradei as saying that, "the constitution must be amended to stress that Egypt is a civilian state and that all Egyptians, Muslims and Christians, are equal". El-Baradei was also cited as affirming that he is opposed to religion being included on identity cards "because this divides Egyptians along sectarian lines". In an unprecedented move, the Coptic Orthodox Church invited El-Baradei to attend its annual Easter Mass next Saturday. Sources close to Pope Shenouda said, "El-Baradei will attend the ceremony in his capacity as a distinguished Egyptian figure and a Nobel Peace laureate rather than as the leader of a campaign for political reform". Leading officials, including Gamal Mubarak, the younger son of President Mubarak and chairman of the NDP's influential Policies Committee, regularly attend the Easter service. El-Baradei also met with Saad El-Katatni, parliamentary spokesman of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. El-Baradei has repeatedly made it clear that he is against "parties based on religious foundations" while conceding that the "Muslim Brotherhood is a force in Egyptian society". "Its leaders," he said, "have assured me that they believe in democracy and political reform." "The Brothers and El-Baradei believe in the necessity of changing the constitution," El-Katatni said following the meeting, "but it is too early to say that the Brothers will support El-Baradei running as a presidential candidate." It may also be significant that this is the week El-Baradei stopped cold-shouldering major opposition parties. Hussein Abdel-Razeq, a leading member of the leftist Tagammu Party, said a delegation will soon meet with El-Baradei. "Tagammu," said Abdel-Razeq, "has stressed many times that it is in favour of opening a dialogue with El-Baradei. We share the same vision of political reform and democratisation." Tagammu, he continued, intends to invite El-Baradei to the party's headquarters to debate constitutional reform in Egypt. Meanwhile, Tagammu held "a reconciliation meeting" with Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Mohamed El-Beltagui, a Brotherhood MP, told the press that Monday's meeting came as "part of efforts aimed at mending fences with major opposition parties which are strongly critical of the Brotherhood and its Islamist ideology". "Meetings with Wafd and the Nasserists are planned in a serious bid aimed at finding a common ground between the Brothers and these major opposition parties." El-Beltagui told Al-Ahram Weekly : "We are all in the same boat. Clashes and conflict among us only serve the dictatorial policies of the ruling NDP and helps tighten its grip on power." Analysts, however, believe that the Brothers, in the midst of a security clampdown, are seeking to win support among the opposition. "We all know that in times of need the Brothers will seek support from the secular opposition," says political analyst Ammar Ali Hassan. "Yet when they feel they are in a strong position they opt to ignore other political groups." The Brothers might also be hoping to rally the support of civil society organisations against a further two-year extension of emergency laws. Rumours are rampant that the government has finally decided to extend the state of emergency rather than replace it with its much hyped anti- terror law. As well as reaching out to a broader base El-Baradei's strategy includes restructuring the NAC. Hamdi Qandil has been appointed as spokesperson, reformist judge Mahmoud El-Khodeiri as legal adviser, pediatrician Mohamed Abul-Ghar as coordinator with Egyptian expatriates, Kifaya leader Abdel-Gelil Mustafa as responsible for collecting signatures in favour of El-Baradei's manifesto and physician Mohamed Ghoneim and Kifaya activist George Ishaq as responsible for opening NAC offices in governorates. Qandil has said that the NAC will also open offices in Arab countries, beginning with the Gulf state of Qatar. "We could even send delegations to Arab countries to promote El-Baradei's political reform manifesto among Egyptians working there," he says. NDP leaders, who were busy receiving President Hosni Mubarak following his return from Germany on 26 March, have stressed that their agenda does not include plans to amend the constitution. NDP media secretary Alieddin Hilal urged El-Baradei to join a political party "if he is still serious about running in presidential elections".
