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July 07, 1989 - Image 7

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1989-07-07

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

OPINION

CONTENTS

Jackson-Vanik Waiver
Worries Soviet Jews

AVRAHAM WEISS

T

he most potent tool in
the arsenal of the
Soviet Jewry move-
ment is in deep trouble. The
Jackson-Vanik Amendment
which links trade benefits for .
Communist countries with
freer emigration, may soon be
waived.
On June 15, several
members of Congress in-
troduced for the first time a
non-binding resolution
declaring that Congress will
support easing trade limits
"at such time as the president
has received appropriate
assurances that the Soviet
government is firmly on a
course toward sustained high
levels of emigration."
The legislators took their
lead from the National Con-
ference on Soviet Jewry
which, two days before, urged

A list of conditions
by refuseniks has
not been met by
the Soviets.

similar action. Congress can-
not be expected to do more
than American Jews demand.
The legislators were
snowballed. The NCSJ vote
contravenes the wishes of the
Soviet Jews and does not
reflect a consensus in the
Jewish community here.
In a Moscow "freedom of
movement" legal seminar
which I attended in May, a
seminar undertaken with
potential danger for its
organizers, speaker after
speaker expressed an utter
lack of faith in Soviet pro-
mises. In a document
distributed at the conference,
the activists stated: "We ap-
peal to Congress and the
American Government to
refrain from waiving Jackson-
Vanik until all our demands
are fulfilled."
They listed their conditions
in a May 25 letter to Presi-
dent Bush:
• Exit visas, immediately,
for all "secrecy" refuseniks
who did not work in secrecy
jobs for more than three or
five years.
• To solve immediately,
within three months, the exit
problems of all members of
the "poor relatives group"
(those denied parental con-

Rabbi Auraham Weiss is
national chairman of the
Center for Russian Jewry and
the Student Struggle for
Soviet Jewry.

cent to emigrate) and for their
receipt of exit visas.
• The amount of Jewish
emigration must not be less
than 60,000 people per year.
• A new emigration law
should be in successful prac-
tice for one year.
In what can only be con-
sidered a betrayal of Soviet
Jews, the NCSJ rejected the
refuseniks' demands. I cast
one of three dissenting votes
at the NCSJ conference. Dur-
ing the deliberations, I saw
images of those heroic Soviet
Jews with whom I spoke at
the Moscow emigration con-
ference and at the Jewish
cultural conference in Riga
two days later:
Images of refuseniks rejec-
ting the theory that a waiver
now on the amendment is an
incentive for more Soviet
Jewish emigration. The
Kremlin, they argued, has
already been granted conces-
sions such as the White
House assent to a 1991 inter-
national human rights con-
ference in Moscow.
Images of refuseniks
dismissing the notion that
the waiver could always be
reversed after a year as
prescribed in the Amend-
ment. Once waived, they
maintained, it might never be
changed. Their concern is
legitimate. After Jackson-
Vanik was waived for
Romania it remained that
way for 13 years, despite
Bucharest's terrible human
rights record. Large
American corporations eager
for Soviet trade would expend
huge resources to block a
reversal.
Images of refuseniks em-
phasizing that Kremlin
assurances alone are not
enough to waive the amend-
ment. For the refuseniks, the
only assurance is a Soviet law
which allows emigration to be
enforceable, standardized and
sustained at minimally
60,000 per year.
Images of refuseniks assail-
ing Soviet anti-Semitism. At
the Riga cultural conference,
Moscow activist Victor Kret-
sky stated: "Today, in the
USSR, anti-Semitism has
reached a higher level in
society than in Germany
before the Nazis came to
power. In the USSR today,
anti-Semitism has pierced all
levels of society and state ap-
paratus. It is practically
total." Soviet assurances on
emigration are difficult to
believe while anti-Semitism
— often state sponsored and

Continued on Page 10

24

CLOSE-UP

Paradise Found

HARVEY GOTLIFFE

Former Detroiters have found
the good life on Maui.

32

BACKGROUND

Raising Hackles

LOUIS RAPPOPORT

24

David Levy's ideas on Soviet Jews
have stirred a storm in Israel.

42

BUSINESS

The Big Push

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Israel's free trade agreements
may stimulate some U.S. business.

44

SPORTS

Hanging It Up

57

MIKE ROSENBAUM

Sam Taub has retired
after 24 years at Mumford High.

ENTERTAINMENT

10 Seconds To Air

57

ADRIEN CHANDLER

Broadcaster Michael Freedman
gets a plum job at UPI.

FINE ARTS

Sculpting Allegory

67

67

JUDY MARX
Community activist Jerry Soble
concentrates on sculpture.

71

SINGLE LIFE

Summer Breeze

SUSAN LUDMER-GLIEBE

Ann Arbor singles set sail
during the simmering season.

DEPARTMENTS

26
35
36
74

Inside Washington
Community
Synagogues
Engagements

80
82
84
105

Teens
Births
Classified Ads
Obituaries

CANDLELIGHTING

7

8:54 p.m.
July 7, 1989
10:04 p.m.
Sabbath ends July 8

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

7

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