Page 4-Wednesday, April 11, 1978-The Michigan Daily
CAIRO - While President Anwar Sadat has
captured world attention in his tumultuous
"peace initiatives" with Israel, the emergen-
ce of a new and massive opposition party here
may transform the entire structure of Egyp-
tian politics upon which Sadat has ridden to
success.
Heir to the militant party that spearheaded
Egypt's 35-year fight for independence, the
reconstituted New Wafd (delegation) Party is
being described by a number of leaders as the
most important political development since
the 1952 coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. The
New Wafd is the first legal political party not
decreer by the government since then.
ONE MILLION applications for New Wafd
membership were received within two weeks
following its authorization in February, ac-
cording to the influential newspaper Al
Ahram.
Entire committees of the ruling Arab
Socialist Party have resigned to join the New
Wafd. The leftist Unionist Progressive
Nationalist Party has begun to discuss
cooperation with the New Wafd on civil liber-
ties, while the rightist Liberal Socialist Party
publicly offered the New Wafd a full page to
espouse its cause in the party's weekly
newspaper.
"The emergence of the New Wafd will
enrich the political life of Egypt," an Egyp-
tian official in a United Nations office predic-
ted. "It means the army can be sent back to
the barracks where it belongs," added a Cairo
University professor.
Whatever its consequences for internal
Egyptian politics, the New Wafd predictably
identifies Palestine as "the paramount Arab
issue."
"The immediate task to be accomplished,"
declares the New Wafd Program," is Israeli
return to its pre-June 1967 borders and the
establishment of a Palestinian state in the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip."
THE LEADER of the New Wafd Party is
one of the indomitable figures of the Egyptian
independence movement, Faud Sarrag Eddin,
who even'today retains his title as pasha. In
1948 Sarrag Eddin supported sending Egyp-
tian troops into Palestine on the grounds that
the establishment of Israel represented an
immediate threat to Egypt. The rotund, thick-
jawed pasha has not changed his view of
Israel.
Egypt's other political force
By David DuBois
"As we said at the time, Israel's
aims are not limited to Palestine. Israel now
occupies one quarter of Egyptian territory.
We have been proved right. Belittling the
Zionist danger would be a grave mistake.
When we fight the Palestine battle we are not
only defending the Palestine cause; we are
also at the same time defending Egypt. We
should understand that Palestine is Egypt's
first line of defense."
As to who should represent the Palestinian
Assembly (Parliament) was elected on a
Wafd ticket, the party now has 24 deputies in
that 380-member body. The last National
Assembly elections in 1976 resulted in an
inevitable sweep for the ruling (center) par-
ty. It won more than 300 seats; the right won
28, the left won five, and 43 deputies were
elected as independents. But since the laun-
ching of the Sadat "peace initiative" a shif-
ting of loyalties among individual deputies
has taken place. The 24 New Wafd deputies
about the New Wafd's apparent strength. For
several weeks the party's .paper, Masr
(Egypt), has run banner-headline attack
against the New Wafd and its leaders, charac-
terized by some observers as "a campaign of
slander based on rumors and hear-
say with the aid of sowing dissen-
sion inside the new party." Sarrag
Eddin has denounced the attacks as
"hysterical, unobjective and full of personal
abuse, violating established rules of political
'When we fight the Palestinian battle we are not only
defending the Palestinian cause; we are also at the
same time defending Egypt. We should understand
that Palestine is Egypt 'sfirst line of defense.'
- Sarrag Eddin, leader of
Egypt's New Wadf party
failed.
The announcement of the formal, re-
emergence of the Wafd, he boasted has "sent
a tremendous echo throughout the country
from Alexandria to Aswan."
ALTHOUGH THIS claim may be something
of an exaggeration, it is true that while
President Sadat diligently pursues his
severely threatened "peace initiative,"
everywhere in Egypt one hears talks of the
New Wafd Party.
"It means greater efficiency and skill in
government," a taxi driver predicted.
"I've always been a Wafd supporter," a
small landholder said.
"It's reappearance is of great importance
to the future of Egypt," a member of the for-
mer royal family said.
Dr. Louis Awad, one of Egypt's leading in-
tellectuals, cultural affairs editor at Al
Ahram, a Copt, and by his own admission "a
non-party man," said: "Most people feel the
New Wafd is the organization to fill the
present political vacuum in the country."
In a general appeal to the Egyptian
population the New Wafd Party called for
sweeping restraints on the power of the;
executive within a parliamentary rather than :
presidential republic. It demanded free elec-
tions for the presidency, rather than
nomination and referendum as practiced sin-
ce 1953, and pledged support to Sadat's
economic "open-door policy" in "eliminating
all obstacles in the way of foreign and Arab
investment in Egypt."
The party has called for giving "a free
hand" to private enterprise in all economic
areas except heavy industry and basic public
services and has proposed relaxing current
restrictions on the leasing of land in a bid to
win support among Egypt's new class of
small plot owning "gentlemen farmers."
David DuBois, novelist and journalist,
reports for the Pacific News Service from
Cairo.
people, Sarrag Eddin was non-committal.
However, Ibrahim Farrag, secretary general
of the New Wafd Party, a former minister in
Wafd-led governments and alleged to be the
second most powerful leader inthe new party,
said in an interview that "If the Palestinian
Liberation Organization includes all
Palestinian factions and it is clearly evident
the PLO has the trust and confidence of the
Palestinian people, it should be the sole
representative of the Palestinian people."
New Wafd criticisms of the Sadat gover-
nment have not been restricted to the
problem of' a Palestinian settlement. Con-
tinuing the original pre-1952 Wafd tradition of
resistance to any big-power alignment, the
party's draft program criticizes the Nasser
regime's anti-American, pro-Russian stance,
and implies a criticism of Sadat's current pro-
American policies.
Although no deputy in the National People's
have come from those elected as independen-
ts,' rightists or ruling (center) party can-
didates.
AT ONE POINT during the assembly
debate on the January 1978 draft law
authorizing the formation-of political parties,
67 deputies had declared their allegiance to
the New Wafd Party. However, a threat from
the ruling party to activate local electoral
challenges against deputies supporting the
Wafd bid reduced that number significantly.
Nevertheless, the New Wafd Party succeeded
in securing more than 20 deputies required by
current law to form a new political party and
the party was made legal on February 18,
1978, amid unprecedented scenes of scuffles
and fist fights between ruling party deputies
and Wafdists in the People's assembly cham-
bers.
Clearly, the ruling party is concerned
discussion and political morals."
Few persons in Egypt outside the ruling
party hierarchy would dispute Sarrag Ed-
din's assessment of the existing center, right
and left parties as "paper formations."
"They have no base among the people," he
insisted in a recent' interview. "They have
no mandate from the people." With obvious
pride he recalled that the original Wafd Par-
ty received its mandate to represent the
people of Egypt from 10 million signatures-
gathered in reply to Britain's 1918 claim that
'the Wafd leaders represented no one.
Sarrag Eddin further charged that a
"political vacuum" has existed in Egypt sin-
ce the 1953 ban on political parties and that all
attempts to fil that vacuum - the Nasser-
created Liberation Organization followed
successively by the National Union, the Arab
Socialist Union and the Sadat "political
forums" of the left, right and center - had
Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Vol. LXXXVIII, No. 153
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
LETTERS TO THE DAILY
Museum
staff
irks
visitors
Bursley's little massacre
T HE EXPULSION of six Bursley
student leaders from dorm
housing because they approved the
purchase of marijuana for a recent
party is a kneejerk reaction by Univer-
sity administrators, yet at the same
time, an understandable one.
The students, all members of the
-Bursley Board of Governors, voted to
buy $200 worth of pot for a March 31
party in the dorm, much as they would
have voted to buy liquor for a dorm
party.
Unlike purchasing alcohol, however,
buying pot for a party is obviously
against current state laws - not to
mention dorm regulations. No one can
deny that housing officials had suf-
ficient premise on which to terminate
the students' leases. House rules are
stated explicitly in lease applications,
and the University's option to evict
violators of these rules is just as ex-
plicit.
The real question is whether officials
should exercise such an option when
the lease violations were a collective un-
dertaking by a legitimate student
representative group. The Board of
Governor's purchase was unwise in
light of current laws, but it simply
wasn't an action meriting such harsh
penalties.
But perhaps there is something to
understand here. The Housing Office
may not have terminated the leases of
the students had they been your
average Bursley tenants. Evicting
these particular tenants, however -
all student leaders - will make a
distinct impression on all students, in
Bursley and elsewhere on campus. A
realistic assessment of the ter-
minations might be that officials were
not just looking for a way to punish six
students, but were looking for a way to
head off a future epidemic of pot pur-
chases by other house governments.
Techniques such as lease ter-
mination may work initially to check
pot use, but as long as marijuana
remains illegal, housing officials are
fighting a losing battle.'
To The Daily:
I would like to express my ex-
treme disgust with the staff at the
Museum of Art. Yesterday I
planned on spending an enjoyable
afternoon with my brother who
flew in from New York to see me.
My schedule of activities in-
cluded a trip to one of the Univer-
sity's museums. Had I previously
known the character of the staff I
would have immediately changed
my plans.,
My brother became very in-
terested in a piece of sculpture
and began to examine it closely.
A courteous reminder not to
touch the work would have suf-
ficed, but the hawkish staff
descended upon up like Sam
Spade Private Eye, yelling
across the gallery not to touch the
work. When we moved to the up-
per galleries we w'ere again
hounded by these omnipotent
egomaniacs.
While examining the light
reflections on the "Bronze and
ruby Neon," once more they
shouted from across the room.
However, from across the room
this "guard" lacked the proper
perspective to see that neither of
us had our hands on the sculpture
or came within one foot of it.
Our experience at being houn-
ded is not unique. My roommate,
an art student, has been con-
sistently pestered, making his
visits extremely unpleasant. In
the future I would hope that
University students who ap-
preciate art would be allowed to
enjoy it in a semi-relaxed at-
mosphere. My future plans, and
those of my friends, will be
greatly influenced by my un-
pleasant experience..
- Douglas Edan Fierberg
Ann Arbor
"
energy, future
To The Daily:
Spring is a time for new begin-
nings and renewed life in nature
and apparently in community life
as well. The warm weather has
seemingly injected the numerous
activist groups with a much,
needed dose of energy as ac-
tivities, demonstrations and
gatherings have abounded on and
around campus these last few
weeks.
This active assertion of social
awareness is a refreshing change
from the apathetic cloud of inac-
tivity that has resided in these
parts in recent times.
One such issue being brought to
front is "Energy." With national
"Sun Day" just around the cor-
ner, May 3rd, many local groups
have had activities, and more are
for various groups and alliances.
For his Ann Arbor concert he has
invi'ted FOEW to provide infor-
mation on the energy issues. The
following evening, Thursday,
April 13th, FOEW will be showing
"Lovejoy's Nuclear War" at 7:30
in the Union ballroom. Group
discussions will be held directly
afterwards.
Finally, on',Saturday, April
15th, from 10:00-5:00, FOEW is
sponsoring a "Safe Energy"
exhibition at the Ann Arbor
public Library. The day will start
with speakers, such as Mary Sin-
clair, a member of the National
Board of Internenors in op-
position to nuclear power, and
anti-nuclear activist here in
Michigan, and Bill Griffin, editor
of, Doing More With Less, and
many more. In addition there will
be a movie, "The New
Alchemist," a slide show, and
working demonstrations of alter-
native energy sources construc-
ted by local groups.
All of these activities merely
represent a move towards the
future that is happening around
the world. No longer is our
energy future out of our hands,
rather it is very much within'our
grasps. So we urge everyone to
join us in celebrating the warmth
of spring through brightening our
future.
- Friends of the
Earth Washtenaw
m eal freeloading
To The Daily:
As returning residents to the
University's housing system, we
feel it necessary to bring to your
attention a serious problem
which University policy-makers
have neglected. The problem
being that during any meal a
large number of persons
regularly eat in South Q uad
without meal cards. Most of the
free-loaders enter via the exits to
the meal areas and have not
merely "forgotten" their meal
cards. While the number of per-
sons obviously varies, we have
seen upwards of twenty to thirty
people enter in less than an hour.
In light of the recent seven per-
cent increase in University
housing costs and the resultant
concern over food costs we feel
that this situation can no longer
be condoned.
Kitchen supervisors have
privately admitted' hat the above
problem exists and have done
nothing to effectively improve
security. Our complaint does not
lie with the students stationed at
the doors since we do not expect
them to physically bar entry
thrdugh the exists.
While it may be necessary to
employ additional security at the
cafeteria exists, we feel that this
would be less expensive than the
amount of food being lost now
across the campus.
Overlooking the net savings of
increased security, we believe
that the present situation should
be quickly stopped.
- Richard P. Ford,
George Brostoff
Ann Arbor
-Health Service Handbook
Who we didn't endorse for MSA
ON E THING the current Michigan
Student Assembly election has
been refreshingly devoid of this year is
the usual, below the belt campaign tac-
tics and smears. Thus, it is disappoin-
ting that the Daily has been the subject
of intentional misrepresentation by
two candidates, Eric Arnson and Nan-
cy Smith.
The two, who are running for
president and vice-president of MSA
respectively, drew comments from the
Daily's April 9 election endorsement
page to comprise a publicity flyer for
distribution on campus. The comments
were removed completely from their
context - like a cheap movie adver-
tisement - and used to make it appear
that we were endorsing Arnson and
From the compliments we did
bestow on Arnson and Smith in our
recent editorial, it is obvious we were
expecting more scrupulous behavior
from them.
SPORTS STAFF,
BOB MILLER............ ..... ........... .Spors Editor,
PAUL CAMPBELL .. ..... Executive Sports Editor
ERNIE DUNBAR.................. Executive Sports Editor
HENRY ENGELHARDT..........Executive Sports Editor
RICK MADDOCK...........,...... Executive Sports Editor
CUB SCHWARTZ............ .... Executiye Sports Editor
NIGHT EDITORS: Jeff Frank, Gary Kicinski, Geoff Larcom,
Brian Martin. Brian Miller. Billy Neff, Dan Perrin,'. Dave
Renbarger, Billy Sahn, Errol Shifman, Jamie Turner, Bob
Warren.
ASSISTANT NIGHT EDITORS: Jeff Blake, Elisa Frye. Pete
Leininger, Liz Mac, Eric Olson. Kevin Roseborough, Diane
Silver, Tom Stephens.
DESK ASSISTANTS: Ken Chotiner, Cliff Douglas, Bob Emory,
Al Fanger, Lisa Kaplan, Gary Levy, Scott Lewis, Bill Thomp-
son, Bob Ward.
By Sylvia Hacker
and Nancy Palchik
QUESTION: I read somewhere that THC was
a dangerous drug to take. Isn't this just another
form of marijuana?
ANSWER: THC is short for delta-9-Tetra-
hydr'ocannabinol and is the main although
probably not the only psychoactive ingredient in
marijuana. First synthesized in 1966, and used in
connection with government research projects on
the effects of marijuana, its publicity as a "purer"
form of marijuana led to an increasing demand'
for it on the illicit drug market. The synthesis of
THC, however, is complicated, expensive, and
requires very sophisticated laboratory equip-
ment. According to our publications on THC from
the "Do It Now" Foundation, which were ex-
tremely helpful in responding to your question, the
cost for the manufacture of THC has been
estimated at ten to twenty dollars per dose, with
some estimates as high as fifty dollars per dose. In
addition, THC is a chemically unstable drug and
loses its'potency if not kept cold.
All this is to say that although a lot of people
may claim to be selling THC on the illicit drug
market, very few, if any, actually are (or at least'
not at prices that most human beings can afford).
Data compiled by the "Do It Now" Foundation
from the chemical analysis of "street" drugs
suggest that there have hardly ever been samples
of real synthetic THC procured through street
transactions. They further note' that although
"substances showing THC content occasionally
appear in street drug analyses, these are in-
variably naturalmarijuana preparations, such as
hashish crushed in a capsule, or hash oil." But,
by far, the majority of THC samples (about 95
percent) turn out to be PCP, or PCP in com-
bination with other drugs.
PCP (Phencyclidine) is a dangerous drug. It
was originally used as an anesthetic before it was
create an effect fairly close to what people
are naive to the drug scene might expect,"
easy to see how this fraud is perpetuated.
who
it is
QUESTION: Why can't you get your
diaphragm fitting checked when you come in for
your yearly Pap smear? The telephone recep-
tionist told me' that I would have to make a
separate appointment. I realize that you can
charge us poor students twice this way, but it
seems senseless-a huge waste of your time and
mine. I would be willing to pay an extra dollar or
so to get this checked, but I certainly don't need
the whole fitting or lecture on how to use the
diaphragm. Because of this silly practice, I just
keep putting off my yearly visit-contemplating
going elsewhere just to prevent all this hassle.
Why?
ANSWER: We have submitted this question to
lour ombudsperson, Ms. Shelia Farmer, who is
most willing to grapple with such issues. Her an-
swer follows:
It is possible to have your diaphragm checked
when you have your annual exam. When you
schedule an appointment for the annual exam, tell
the secretary that you also want to have your
disphragm checked. This way, you can be
scheduled with a'staff member who checks dia-
phragms (not all gyn clinic personnel do this
procedure). There is;no additional charge for
having your diaphragm checked at this time. If
you do not tell the secretary you want this done,
there is the possibility that you will be scheduled
with someone who does not check diaphragms,
and if this happens, you'll have to be re-scheduled
with a nurse, and there is a small fee for that ap-
pointment. The problem arises if the physician
finds your diaphragm is not fitting properly. If
such is the case, an appointment will have to be
scheduled with a staff person who has been
trained to fit diaphragms. If you do need to be
refitted there i s asmral fee fn thi c or'mn' I It
I