Cairo – Marwa Yehya
Actor Hisham Abd El Hamid has stated that he wants to play the role of ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the arts. The actor also expressed his grief over the current goings-on in Cairo\'s Tahrir Square. “How can Tahrir Square, which witnessed the greatest revolution in history, toppling a corrupt regime, turn into this?” he said on television, warning that there were those who wanted to divert the course of the revolution. \"I ask Egyptians to stay calm and aware, and to not give a chance to those who are trying to tamper with Egypt and its national security,\" he said. He added: “I want to play the role of Mubarak for the interactions, developments, and surprises it will have in a work of art, and not as a political stance,” pointing out that Mubarak’s life from after he was appointed Vice President till he became President had a lot of material. Abd El Hamid said he was opposed to the suppression and exclusion policy that was practiced in Mubarak’s era, saying: “I reject the policy of exclusion and the suppression of a stream by detaining its elements for long periods of time for difference in opinion and thinking, and this is what Mubarak’s regime used to practice with the Muslim Brotherhood and other religious trends.” He stressed that there is an implicit marriage between power and capital in Egypt, which naturally affects cinema, television, and media, and that such a marriage will not dissolve and money will always have power. Thus, with the lack of adequate funding, creative artists would not be able to present their point of view to the public. Hisham Abd El Hamid participated in the January 25 revolution and protests which overthrew President Mubarak.