Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
This country was unlucky twice with Dr. Hossam Badrawi. The first was when his endeavor as Secretary General of National Democratic Party (NDP) was aborted at the peak of January 25 Revolution. The second was when the last Cabinet reshuffle was declared without having included him as a deputy prime minister for affairs of ministries of services without exception!
That is a fact that settled in me deeply at the moment when I finished reading “Man of The Storm”, a book by our colleague Mr. Ahmed Mubarak, recently published by The Egyptian Lebanese Publishing House.
This book is almost the only book in which that you will see 7 introductions by eminent credible figures.
You will read Dr. Mostafa El-Feki’s introduction, in which he says that he listened to Dr. Badrawi many times, in presence of foreign professors of education affairs. He himself saw how they were astonished by his vision and dazzled by his thought, especially about the education issue. You will read this and then ask yourself: when will this astonishment at the vision and dazzling with the thought reach to those in charge in our country, not to foreigners? So we find a decision maker in the education file in the country, and even in entire public services file. When can we find him?!
In the second introduction, by Dr. Mohamed Makhzangi, you will read that the “Man of the Storm” is a descendant of wealthy aristocrats that stands by human rights, with the education and health rights being at the core.
In the third introduction, he is described by Dr. Refaat El-Saeed that, in terms of his persistence on the issue of reform in his country, especially education reform, he competes “Sisyphus” in Greek myth. Sisyphus carried up a rock to a mountain top. Every time he almost approached the top, the rock rolled down to piedmont. He carried it once again, and so on .. without having any feeling of despair!
In the fourth introduction, Dr. Kadry Hefny says you can summarize it by describing “Badrawi” as a “respectful character” and you will not be exaggerating. He might reject and condemn your ideas, but he will never underestimate you..
In the fifth introduction, Dr. George Isaac sees him as a talented man who must be engaged in the era of drought we are living.
Dr. Osama Hamdy, Professor of Diabetes at Harvard, of the same country Dr. Badrawi, Mansoura, considers him an innovative person in a swamp of outdated thoughts, open-minded in a time of closed minds, intellectual in a time when minds stopped thinking and academic that knows how to arrange his ideas in properly.
The seventh, and the last, introduction is by Author Ahmed Mubarak. He contemplates the entire journey and finds out that Dr. Badrawi, within Hosni Mubarak’s regime, was the closest man to the thought of those who revolted against it.
The book contains three sections: the first for the seven introductions, the second for the Man of the Storm’s early life in Mansoura and stages of his life and the third for his actions during the storm, the storm of January 25 Revolution. Because of our country misfortune towards him, his position as Secretary General of NDP was aborted.
You are before a man who has been and is still influenced by Al Akkad way of thinking, before a man who wants for Egypt no less than what Taha Hussein wanted. It is not strange that “The Future of Culture in Egypt”, written by the Dean of Arabic literature [Taha Hussein] is his life constitution and a compass that guides his steps.
