Speech #1000006745

Brezhnev. Andropov. and Chernenkopromised reform. nonetheless. the totalitarian edifice remains in place. Even as our national media touts Gorbachev "the reformer." his draconian emigration policies lead me to think that "glasnost" is just another word for propaganda. The San Diego Jewish community. working hard for the freedom of their friends and relatives not permitted to emigrate from the Soviet Union. finds not openness but increasing repression in the U.S.S.R. If Gorbachev is genuine about reform. why has Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union dropped from a high of 51.320 in 1979. to 1.140 in 1985. to a paltry 914 last year? Why does he release some of the wellknown human rights activistsNatan Shcharansky and Yuri Orlovonly to clamp down harder on those refuseniks not widely known to the West? Here are a few cases brought to my attention by their family and friends in the San Diego community: In July. 1977. Naum Kogan and his family applied for an exist visa. which was denied on the grounds that his wife. Zhanna. worked in a "classified" area. Since then. they have lost their jobs. and have been unable to find steady employment. Today. Mr. Kogan suffers from kidney disease. and unless he is granted permission to emigrate to the United States to receive treatment. he may die. Michael C. Beizer. the husband of a young woman in my district. applied for an exit visa in 1979. but still waits without word from Soviet officials. The Brailovskaya family first applied for exit visas in October 1972 in order to join their relatives in Israel. Permission to emigrate was denied due to Mrs. Irina Brailovskayas alleged access to "state secrets" at Moscow University. Since this time the family has suffered greatly: Mr. Viktor Brailovskaya recently returned to Moscow from 5 years internal exile in Khazakstan. and is now being threatened with the charge of "parasitism." The Safronov family applied for exit visas in 1979 in order to join their relatives in Israel. However. this and subsequent requests were denied on the grounds of "insufficient kinship." Soon after applying to emigrate. the parents. Vladimir and Ellanora Safronov. lost their engineering jobs. The plight of these and other Jewish refuseniks is a testament to the hollow ring of Gorbachevs policy of "glasnost." As a signatory to the Helsinki accords and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. the Soviet Union guarantees citizens the right to emigrate. The American people consider freedom indivisible. and judge the Soviet Union by its fidelity to this principle. I strongly urge the Soviet Union to honor its solemnly signed agreements. and grant Jewish refuseniks their right to emigrate.