Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 1, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 8 Winnipeg free december 1981 m Why they did not by Don Schanche los Angeles times Cairo four years ago presi Dent Anwar Sadat of Egypt stood ramrod straight As the Soldier he was on the speakers stand of the israeli Knesset in Jerusalem and made an eloquent plea for peace with his jewish enemies of 30 years and four his unprecedented act of Cour age in undertaking the lonely Pil Grimage for peace won Sadat world to his As he later con fessed to former ambassador Herman Eilts it also won him the adoration of the people of half expecting to face cat Calls and perhaps an assassins Sadat returned to Cairo and boldly spoke from an open Balcony overlooking a joyously tearful throng of a Hal million people who at that moment and for months thereafter loved him so deeply most would have Given their lives for apotheosis forgotten last when the assassins bullets finally few of those who had adored him deified him Only a few years before shed tears or even pretended to mourn his while europeans and even israelis wept in the streets at the news of Sadat slaying on the mass of egyptians stayed Home and remained his funeral on 10 was perhaps the first semiprivate state funeral of a head of state in the mourners were mostly foreigners sent by their governments to pay re although the egyptian Public was barred from the funeral for Security longtime observers Here doubted that Many would have come even if the question of Why Egypt did not and still does not mourn its greatest hero of peace has preoccupied people egyptians and foreigners Ever illustrates decline an indication of the depth of the decline in Sadat popularity at Home Between its Al time High at the time of the 1977 Jerusalem Mission and his assassination May be found in a taste less bit of Black humor that is circulating in Cairo today among egyptians who traditionally contrive jokes to shield themselves from pain and it is said that just before he Sadat looked heavenward and demanded two things of Allah i want two rest one in heaven and one in to the joke May be to Sadat penchant for moving from one to another of his governments 12 luxurious rest houses actually palatial resort Homes surrounded by High Security Walls had be come symbolic of a Man whom Many had come to regard As a Royal Sadat Imperial lifestyle had Over the years of his 11year the equal of along with members of his official Hanger son and a few close cronies he was whisked every where by helicopter or presiden tial he appeared proud to Lead the list of the worlds Best dressed Sadat actually believed that he had become the father of modern Egypt and that people wanted to see him behave like an said a source who asked not to be i dont think he recognized that poverty and inflation among the vast majority of egyptians made his lifestyle seem de testable and even it was probably this Sharp con Trast Between elegance and poverty that Lay at the heart of the growing disillusionment among egyptians with their late the Promise of peace was Prosperity and a better life for All of Sadat could not deliver on that he followed economic policies that made a few vulgarly Rich and left the masses paying More and More for less and a University professor Sadat frequent Public orations also had become an irritation to Many earlier in his years of he adopted the discursive speaking style of a Vil Lage Story wandering from Point to diverting to recount Homey railing at his praising his Ini Many egyptians found the style appealing because it struck familiar chords and made him seem one of rambling addresses but As the years wore on the speeches became longer and More he addressed his National audiences As my my Brothers and the Assumption of National fatherhood annoyed Many at the time of his death and before his funeral there was what has come to be called Here As that fearful although it was the time of an annual fou Day religious feast when the City nor Mally slows its usual frenetic there probably had never before been such a silence in few ventured on the not even children came out to the silence was indeed people had been warned by the minister of Interior not to gather in groups or discuss no one knew whether Sadat Assas sins were part of a Small group or represented the tip of an iceberg of islamic fanatics who might pour into the streets for further bloodshed at any the people were afraid of being caught in the according to Many egyptians who have Pon dered the Post assassination Peri there Are probably Many other reasons Why few genuinely mourned Sadat and they vary according to different Levels of in the the Fellaheen Geve As a virtual god by poor egyptians after he but Imperial lifestyle eroded his think his Days were numbered instead of a heros in afraid that if he had lived much longer his end could been an ignominious Anwar Sadat was regarded achieved peace with Israel peasants appeared to be More visibly saddened by the killing than their Brothers in the but Many of them had lost their affection for Sadat because govern men fixed prices on their crops were far below realistic world and they knew corruption ranging from Petty demands for Small tips to heavy payoffs for major favors and con tracts also had become common place in business and government offices in the As in All resentment Over corruption and favouritism inevitably focuses on the National and Many were blaming Sadat Persok Nally even though he May have been unaware of most of islamic terrorists Sadat assassination was preceded by a sweeping wave of arrests although ostensibly aimed at suppressing would be islamic Cut across other Large segments of some of the arrests appeared to have been solely motivated by Sadat personal desire for vengeance against political and social the Banning of coptic Christian Pope Shenouda ii clearly fell into this As did the arrest of Egypt Best known Mohammed it was the clearly personal ele ment evident in the september crackdown that probably Crysta lived what had become a growing sense of disillusionment and Dis although he died standing As proudly erect and soldierly As he had stood in the israeli the magic that Sadat Mission for peace had bestowed upon him had it May sound cruel to say but it was the right time for him to said an egyptian who was a longtime Sadat he had become so Remote from us that i political dichotomy of the Quebec Premier by Wilson special to the free press Ottawa Premier Rene Levesque is a politician in the predicament of having to Appeal to a divided the traditional problem of men who simultaneously Lead a government and a popular his announcement that he will veto the constitutional changes agreed to by the Federal govern ment seems unrealistic in Light of the supreme court of Canadas ruling that while significant provincial support is it does not go As far As the apparent purpose of his the limitations of which he can assess As Well As anyone is to Appeal to the militant parti quebecois supporters who Are actually it is not drastic enough to offend seriously the mass of no separatists who sup port him As head of a government which they find better than aver the problems the Quebec pre Mier encounters in reconciling his two roles head of a broadly based government and of a Nar Rowl based movement cause some pleasure in particularly visible in Justice minister Jean Chretien derisive reaction to his veto this reaction is perfectly understandable but it is questionable whether Levesques federalist opponents keep sufficiently Clear in their own minds the fact that he fills two one or should perfectly acceptable to the rest of the the other is wholly unacceptable because it threatens the it seems to me that the National interest is always Best served by encouraging situations in which the Quebec Premier must put first his position As head of a govern ment with Appeal to a Large num Ber of it is not Well served when circumstances Force or encourage him to make his Appeal to the separatist move ment he also Levesque has already shown twice when Circum stances Force him to he acts As men in this dual role traditionally he compromises the goals of the movement in favor of political Power for the party forming a there Are some useful parallels with the British labor movement and the governments that have sprung from the labor party prime ministers have always been More moderate in office than the goals of the labor movement would their compromises have had the same purpose As Levesques broaden the party Appeal beyond the move ment on which it is this was True of Clement Wil James Callaghan and of Hugh Gaitskell who died without hav ing become prime the men seeking Power always have had to reject the Tony Benns and keep them at it is the divisive Force that has plagued the labor party for Many the Quebec federalists in Ottawa Are confident that they could again defeat Levesque and his colleagues if it came to a positive test of separatist strength As in the 1980 this May Well be but it is no argument for accepting situations which May help the Quebec Leader Appeal to his separatist this confident View in Ottawa leads to the facile Assumption that being a Levesque will never agree to that has All the dangers of becoming a self fulfilling the need to Appeal to his no separatist constituency is a considerable pressure on Levesque not to be totally since he had agreed with seven other premiers to an amending formula it would have been very difficult for him to reject it in the end if the opting out provision had not been gutted at the Ottawa conference by eliminating the Fis Cal compensation some of that has been restored but the damage has already been the important aspect of the opt ingot provision will almost certainly prove to be As a Brake on excessive use of Levesque is not the Only provincial Premier who would insist that we have seen examples of that during this last 15 months from the Federal he is not 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