Mohamed ElBaradei wants to bring down the corrupt Mubarak regime. He talks to Reza Aslan about his call for an election boycott, the prospect of violence, and his disappointment with Obama. Mohamed ElBaradei, the 68-year-old Egyptian diplomat and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, may not look like a modern-day Moses, but he has made it his ambition in the final years of his life to bring down a modern day Pharaoh—Egypt’s “president-for-life,” Hosni Mubarak. After decades of public service in New York and Vienna, including a stint as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005), ElBaradei has returned to his home country to take on one of the most oppressive regimes in the Arab world, a country that has instituted a permanent application of emergency laws, which allow the government to arrest anyone at any time for any reason and for however long it chooses. Did I mention that Egypt is also one of America’s closest allies? The country hauls in nearly $2 billion a year of American taxpayer money (the second-largest aid amount after the $3 billion a year we send to Israel), the vast majority of which is used to purchase the military equipment necessary to maintain its repressive police state. Now, as we approach what will likely be another seemingly pointless election in Egypt, significant solely for the fact that it will probably be Mubarak’s last (he is 82 years old and reportedly in poor health), ElBaradei has injected a sense of excitement into the country’s sclerotic political scene by hinting that he may challenge Mubarak for the presidency. ElBaradei has received a wave of support, especially from Egypt’s youth, many of whom had until now shunned politics as a useless enterprise. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, ElBaradei remained coy about his intention to challenge Mubarak in the next presidential elections. “I might run if there is the prospect for a free and fair election, but I will definitely not run if it’s under the present circumstances, when you don’t have any guarantees to a free and fair election, when you have a situation completely slanted in favor of the ruling party and you don’t have judicial supervision.”
Posted on: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 00:33:37 +0000
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