CAIRO - The anti-Mubarak demonstrators, who flooded Al Tahrir Square from January 25 for 18 days, were representing all walks of life in Egypt. Poor citizens mingled with film stars and children of wealthy families. Women activists and television presenters linked arms with poor housewives, who left their children at home and came forward to chant slogans calling on Mubarak to step down. These women discovered that their husbands did the same and gathered to condemn Mubarak and his ministers for creating such wretched economic circumstances. There were former officials, kicked out by the Mubarak regime for undisclosed reasons and victims of large-scale corruption, which used to be the rule. Widely regarded as the powerhouse of the Egyptian revolution, Al Tahrir Square was also teeming with hundreds of thousands of unemployed parents, accompanied by their angry children. These scenes were vividly recorded in the mind of Egyptian film star Amr Waked, who left the square only after Mubarak was ousted. Like millions of demonstrators, Waked was a victim of the former regime. He was severely criticised by the then pro-government newspapers for accepting a role in an international film starring an Israeli actress. Waked was disgraced for allegedly ignoring Egypt's national psyche, which rejected normalisation with Israel until the Jewish state recognised the Palestinians' legitimate rights. During the revolution, Waked's brother was arrested by State Security to force the film star to stop protesting in the square. Although the ex-president and his entire regime are now in detention, Waked has pledged “to keep the flames of the revolution burning until all criminals, including Mubarak and his family, are behind bars and punished for the horrible injustice they inflicted on Egyptians over thirty years”. He vowed to support the campaign to create a new Constitution. “We also have to devote our talents and revolutionary energy to bail out the Egyptian economy,” Waked declared. “We [the revolutionary Egyptians] will not rest until we have succeeded.” Quoting veteran journalist Mohamed Hassanin Heikal, the actor said that it was time for opening the ‘black box' of the collapsed regime. He was confident that like the box on a plane, the Mubarak regime had a black box that would reveal a systematic scheme to seize State-owned lands, squander public funds and increase illegal gains. “The Egyptian people were coerced into paying a high price for the huge wealth of the Mubarak family and its entourage,” the actor said angrily. He attributed the success of the Egyptian revolution to the ultimate sacrifices of the demonstrators in Al Tahrir Square and many other places across the nation. “Although the revolution has made enormous historical achievements, the price paid by the Egyptian nation is very precious,” he said. In an interview with a local weekly magazine, the film star rejected rumours that he was enthusiastic to form a political party and run in the forthcoming elections. “I am not interested in playing politics this way,” Waked explained to Ezza Wa Televisyon (Radio and Television) magazine. “I am just one of millions of ordinary Egyptian citizens, who have to express their views audibly and freely.” It is common knowledge that Waked persuaded his colleagues in the film industry to create a formidable front against political parties and politicians. He explained: “The task of this Front is to rally public opinion against political parties and politicians if they refuse to commit themselves to serving the nation.”
