Khalid Abol Naga gets political
With millions of Egyptians protesting against President Hosni Mubarak's regime since January 25, several high-profile names in the world of entertainment have come out to show their support. One artist who has been actively campaigning for change throughout this week is Khalid Abol Naga.
The actor, producer, and director — who has also been a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador since 2007 — has appeared on various news stations throughout the week talking about the situation, marched alongside citizens in Tahrir Square and showed his support for Mohammad Al Baradei, an opposition leader, when he appeared in central Cairo to speak to protesters.
With internet services down across Egypt for much of the week, millions of people could not communicate directly with the world, or update their Facebook and Twitter pages. However, Abol Naga has been recording voice notes and posting them on his official blog (http://kalnaga.wordpress.com). It seems likely he sent voice notes to someone abroad who in turn updated his site, a method currently being used by hundreds of Egyptians who don't have internet access.
His experiences
In his first voice note, posted on Tuesday, the day millions marched, the actor spoke to his fans in Arabic about his experiences during one of the protest rallies on January 28.
He said: "I am Khalid Abol Naga, and the reason I am making a [blog] post by recording my own voice is because I cannot access the internet."
"What has happened in Egypt is 100 per cent a real revolution. What you saw on January 25 was the beginning of this revolution that was started by young people via Facebook and Twitter. What is happening in Egypt is not being described by Egyptian State TV — of course, no one is going to be able to hear me or see this post, except for those living outside of Egypt — because the Egyptian regime wants to cut off Egypt [from the rest of the world] by cutting off the internet completely on Friday January 28, the ‘Friday of Anger.'
"On that day I was on the streets of Egypt with millions of other Egyptians — young and old — la ekhwan wala ehzan [no Muslim brotherhood or otherwise]. This revolution is one that belongs to all the people. We walked the streets to call for the overthrowing of the regime."
On Tuesday, he said: "They need to start fresh with a new free democratic elections," he said, adding that there is news filtering into the square but he doesn't know what it is because his phone doesn't work.
"I have to go away from the square to have the phone work. I'm not sure what's going on but it seems they are watching, they got some news." He then chants, "Go, go, go".
"It's amazing. I want to tell everybody outside Egypt. Don't feel it's unsafe at all. There are two million people, not one incident I've seen. It's unified, these people are together. There's a sense of freedom and victory."
On the other side
Gada Abdul Razeq has defended Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, expressing her worry at "how a great Egyptian name is being betrayed."
The actress in an interview on Al Arabiya TV earlier this week said: "What do the protesters want? When President Mubarak responded to their demands and sacked the government, the protesters still continued to insist that the president steps down from his post."
"What the protesters are doing could lead to disaster. They do not represent the views of the 85 million Egyptians from across the country," she added.
Stars come out for Egypt
Khalid Abol Naga is not the only Egyptian artist to have shown support for their country's protesting citizens.
According to Arabic media reports, other well-known personalities said to be supporting or taking part in protests include actors Khalid Al Sawy, Khalid Nabawi, Karim Kassem, Mohammad Sobhy and Ahmad Dawood, actress Mona Zaki, as well as director Khalid Yousuf.
Earlier this week, legendary Egyptian actor Omar Al Sharif spoke to journalists from his Cairo home, calling on President Hosni Mubarak to step down from his position. Al Sharif went on to explain that, in his opinion, Mubarak had failed in improving the living conditions of Egyptians and 30 years in power is more than enough.
Meanwhile, actress Sherihan, who has been away from the public eye since the ‘90s as she was suffering from cancer — called Al Jazeera TV to state that she backed the people of Egypt.
She went on to say that she hoped the newly appointed prime minister would formulate a government that will serve the Egyptian people justly and address the demands of the people.
Sherine is sad
Rumour has it Sherine is stuck in Dubai after performing a concert in the emirate as part of the Dubai Shopping Festival 2011 last Friday.
It was initially thought that the Egyptian singer was going to pull out of the concert out of respect for the current events in her home country. However, the singer performed alongside Lebanese singer Fares Karam.
Upon her arrival, Sherine reportedly refused to be interviewed, however, upon taking to the stage the singer expressed her sadness over the current situation.
Lebanese singers are safe
Elissa is just one of the Lebanese singers said to be in Cairo when the protests in Egypt broke out.
The artist apparently faced difficulties trying to escape the chaotic conditions as most flights out of Cairo were either cancelled or delayed. However, she eventually found a flight back to her hometown of Beirut.
Meanwhile, Carol Samaha is said to be waiting until the conditions improve before she also returns to Beirut.
Samaha, who was in Cairo shooting for upcoming television drama Al Shahroorah, was left stranded in Cairo Media City after a curfew had been put in place.
The singer and her crew were not able to return to their hotel until the army arrived to escort them.
Adel Imam changes his mind?
Adel Imam has come under fire after appearing to have contradicted himself in front of journalists and fans.
According to reports, Imam appeared on camera a few days ago hitting out at protesters, saying that they did not represent the people of Egypt and had been encouraged to do by opposition groups. He reportedly went on to praise Hosni Mubarak's regime.
However, a few days later, Imam denied the reports, blaming Mubarak for not solving problems of the youth and for not listening to their demand for a decent living.
He also warned of the widening gap between the rich and the poor in Egypt, adding: "I say to the protesters I am with you and on your side."
Imam has been photographed with Mubarak and Mubarak's sons, Alaa and Gamal, quite often in the past.
