Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
The national dialogue is important for bringing Egyptians together, and its success is in its continuity
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Wrote
Mahmoud Muharram
Dr. Hossam Badrawi, head of the Union Party, affirmed that the national dialogue is a positive idea and Egypt needs it, and that investment, job creation and the demographic challenge must be the most prominent axes that the dialogue should discuss, pointing out in his interview to “Rosa Al-Youssef” that the political parties in Egypt are in a state of inactivity and need A movement such as the national dialogue in order to determine what are the challenges facing society, adding: the traditional political parties have disappeared and they must be parties in a different way, and to the text of the dialogue:
■ First, what is the significance of the timing of the national dialogue, from your point of view?
– Dialogue is a positive thing and Egypt needs it. If it was held yesterday or tomorrow, it is an excellent idea. Dialogue is not a snapshot in a movie, but it is an integrated film. Today we are having a dialogue and tomorrow and after that we will also have a dialogue because this is the reality in which we live, because every 18 months everything changes around us and this is it. The life cycle, and if we are not ready to agree with change, we will be out of the picture, and we need dialogue always and not just for a moment, because continuity is the continuity of application and listening to the other opinion.
■ What is the importance of the national dialogue?
– The national dialogue is important for bringing together all Egyptians, and there must be a building for the national dialogue, inside multiple rooms to sort out everything that all the interlocutors say so that we come up with a unified document that we all look at, and one group may have one opinion and another another, so all opinions are said, and if there is a majority Or a minority that is present and documented.
Whoever is invited to dialogue must respect legitimacy, order, and the constitution within an institutional framework. In the end, he will come out with positive initiatives that add and do not destroy. This is my simple point of view. Dialogue needs things that we call the foundations of building, and from it results emerge that are announced to all, and it is not a requirement that there be an absolute commitment. And everyone must agree that human development is a basis, and in order to reach it, it is possible that the paths are different between them, but the one who chooses the path is the state, and the role of civil society is to monitor what the state has chosen because civil society, whether it is associations, individuals, parliament or the media, they are parties in This dialogue.
■ What are the most prominent axes that the Union Party will present during the national dialogue sessions?
The foundations of the modern civil state, as stated in the constitution, and what should be in the next stage is justice and human development. capabilities and opportunities.
■ What is the role of the citizen?
– He must learn, acquire knowledge and capabilities, choose and create more, and within all this there are more details, and we have 65% of the society are young, and our policy must be clear with the youth and we all agree that we need our children and youth to be open-minded, capable of pluralism and difference, and believing in the modern civil state And they have skills that make them competitors, and in order for this to happen, we have to agree during the national dialogue on what must be changed in education and culture, and if we agree on that, we discuss how to implement it, and investment, job creation and the demographic challenge must be the most prominent topics that everyone must discuss during The national dialogue sessions, the demographic challenge, the youth, and the modern civil state in the sense that there will be no difference between a Copt and a Muslim, a woman or a man.
All of this has procedures so that the mantle of Salafism does not wear us down. We are a civil state and this has nothing to do with our respect for religion and our adherence to it, but there should be no income for religion in running the state, but it has a role with the person and his relationship with his Lord and these are all foundations, and it is permissible for there to be a disagreement And whoever disagrees says about that, and we should not prevent it because we sit in the dialogue for that, but society has the right to refuse within a framework governed by law, and our approach is clear economically, humanely and socially, and the matters are very clear, but all of this must be done according to certain controls during the sessions of the national dialogue
■ What are the rules for controlling dialogue from your point of view?
Dialogue is regulated by setting several rules: whoever has an opinion is documented, if there is criticism, the alternative is presented, and if there is an orientation, it is written, and if it is an institution, it is with one working paper, and if it is a person and a thinker who documents what he says and brings it to the dialogue, but I am afraid of That the dialogue be without clear borders or destructive criticism, which is something we do not accept and is wrong because we do not want to work as demolition cells, but we want to build, and whoever controls all that are those responsible for managing the dialogue and sets the rules and we are on an equal footing, and we do not repeat what we say to outbid and we do not demolish with criticism other than Constructive, because if the framework of dialogue is not set, there could be chaos, and the extremist who wants to demolish his voice will be louder, or the bidder who refuses to listen to the other opinion will be louder, and people will end up taking steps back.
■ What is the impact of the national dialogue on the domestic political climate?
– The state implemented Egypt’s Vision 2030, and the model of dialogue exists, and certainly the national dialogue will reflect positively on the internal political climate, and there will be a state of optimism among citizens. To society, because people are enemies of what they are ignorant of, and the political role of the government is to market ideas and convince the stakeholders, not to leave them so that they are not enemies of the state’s direction, in addition to working to transfer confidence between the state administration and society that what we say has measuring indicators that we measure after a year or two for society. The most important issue is convincing Society believes that this is Egypt’s way to the next stage, and we need our youth to dream without a ceiling and the most experienced must translate this into viable projects, and all of this is linked to good management of matters.
■ What are the external repercussions of the national dialogue?
– First, our internal respect precedes our relationship with the outside world, and it must
