Speech #980263175

On this day. I seek to honor and focus attention on the plight of Soviet Refuseniks. Soviet Jews who have applied for exit visas for the purpose of family reunification or freedom of religious expression abroad. and who have repeatedly been turned down as part of the ongoing practice or religious intolerance within the Soviet Union. The flow of Soviet Jews to Israel and the West is now down to a trickle. The year 1983 was the most disappointing year in at least a decade for Jewish emigration. According to recent figures. approximately 1.300 Jews left the Soviet Union in 1983. down from a peak of well over 50.000 in 1979. With this descent of a new "iron curtain" on Jewish emigration. persecution of Jews has intensified internally within the Soviet Union. with Jews placed on trial for attempting to emigrate or to promote Jewish customs and religious work. Prisons. labor camps. and internal exile have all been meted out to those who have expressed yearnings for fundamental religious freedom and who have had the courage to pursue this freedom in the face of frustrating bureaucratic obstacles and interferences. Refuseniks now in prisons or labor camps have endured restrictions on or rescinding of correspondence and visitation rights. Additionally. there are reports that unreasonable labor quotas and physical punishment are common. with the weak and disabled special targets for such abuse. Typically. either no reason at all or sketchy justifications are given for denying a Refusenik an exit visa. "Security risk" or "lacking parental consent" are typical labels applied to the cases of Refuseniks. even when such designations are blatantly inappropriate. Some Refuseniks. such as Andrei Sakharov and his wife. Elena Bonner. have become "nonpersons." frozen out of Soviet society and professionally ostracized.