Of everything I have read on the return of ElBaradei and his reception at Cairo International Airport, an article written by Gehad Ouda, member of the Policies Secretariat of the National Democratic Party (NDP), published in Al-Masry Al-Youm grasped my attention the most. In his article, Ouda wrote that the crowds receiving ElBaradei at the airport are not representative of the biggest and the strongest bloc in Egyptian political life. He described three fundamental power blocs in Egyptian political life. The first bloc comprises the NDP and the government; the second the major Egyptian parties; and the third, small political parties and unofficial powers. The people who received ElBaradei at the airport belong, according to Ouda, to that third bloc. Ouda wrote that security was present but chose to let the reception "pass peacefully" no matter the size of the crowd. Perhaps their logic was that meeting such a small, peaceful assembly with force would eventually harm the reputation of the regime. But I would like to take issue over Ouda's classification of what he calls the "effective powers" in Egyptian society. The NDP, which he listed as the most effective power, should more correctly be described as a "ruling power". And there's a broad difference between these two descriptions. The NDP draws on the power of the president and not the size of its membership. The second power Ouda mentioned was that of "major parties", which are not, in effect, "major" in any way. In fact, those parties were established by a decision from above, not by the people. Besides, their activity has been restricted by law since day one. So what kind of influence is Ouda talking about here? What Ouda doesn't realize, or perhaps neglects on purpose, is that the third bloc--which he dismissed as a minor power made up of small parties and other people who don't belong to any party-- actually encompasses the majority of Egyptians, who for long had turned their back on politics but who have finally seen a ray of hope in the arrival of ElBaradei. Thousands of other people may have wanted to go to the airport but probably feared being dealt with harshly by security forces. Those people aren't yet used to organizing themselves for political action. They have just set foot into the world of politics after a long period of passivity. They certainly had doubts that the reception of ElBaradei would be allowed to "pass peacefully." Translated from the Arabic Edition.
