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Following are excerpts from an interview with IAEA Director-General Muhammad Al-Baradei, which aired on Dream2 TV on February 11, 2009.
Muhammad Al-Baradei: Today, 57 years after the revolution, we are trying to get back to where we were in 1952 – a multi-party parliamentary regime with an open economy. We have spent 57 years in all kinds of experiments, only to try to return to where we were in 1952. I am not saying that things in 1952 were at their best, but the cornerstones of an early multi-party democratic regime and of a free economy were already in place.
Interviewer: So do you think we have been marching in place for the past 50 years, or is our situation slightly better or slightly worse?
Muhammad Al-Baradei: Ahh...
Interviewer: Be frank...
Muhammad Al-Baradei: In many areas, we have not improved.
[...
Interviewer: Is it true that you said in an interview that we have sunk to the lowest depths?
Muhammad Al-Baradei: That's true. The Arab world has sunk to the lowest depths. Our contribution to human civilization in literature, in science, and in culture is non-existent. This is in terms of science... This is an addition to human culture... Today, countries are not judged by the size of their armies or the number of their tanks, but by their contribution to human civilization – by the number of authors who contribute... by the number of scientists, the number of people who create. The contribution that we in the Arab world make to human civilization today is modest at best. This is due to many things – the political system, the economic system, the educational system. We must reexamine all these things.
[...]
What I am saying is the same as what all Egyptians and all Arabs are saying. We must not fool ourselves. Whether you ask someone walking down the street or an intellectual, they will tell you that they are unhappy about our situation as Egyptians and as the Arab nation. Secondly, I am not trying to frustrate the nation, but I am sad that our situation as an Arab and Islamic nation is in constant decline. In order to reform the situation, we must first acknowledge that we have made mistakes, and we must rectify them. My starting point is that we must analyze our present situation, in order to advance. It would be much easier to say that everything is perfect.
[...]
Interviewer: If I were to ask you about the proposed constitution, would you prefer to keep the clause stating that Islam is the main source for legislation, and consequently, accept the existence of religious and Islamic political parties, or would you rather have these two clauses removed from the constitution?
Al-Baredei: This issue requires some thought...
Interviewer: Don't answer if you don't want to...
Muhammad Al-Baradei: No, no. I have no problem answering. The question is what does it mean to have Islam as the main source for legislation. How do we define Islam? This is another issue, which we haven't determined. We have transformed Islam into a set of rituals, in the way we practice it. What is Islam? Have we made any innovation in our interpretation of Islam over the past 4-5 centuries?
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