The rhetoric of glasnost and perestroika has echoed with calls for "openness" and "change." And. to the credit of the Soviet Union. some concrete progress has been made. There is more freedom of the press. of travel. of culture. and of commerce. And more refuseniks were allowed to emigrate this year than last. But when we hold this "progress" under a microscope. we see that these molecules of "openness" are firmly attached to a larger. and stronger. body of control. No freedoms have been granted that have not been used to strengthen governmental control over society. Approximately 800 refuseniks a month have been allowed to emigrate over this past year. Closest to my heart is Yuri Druzhnikov. a Soviet authorplaywright who arrived in Vienna with his wife and son on the Jewish new year itself. The Druzhnikov family was able to celebrate the new year on free soil after 10 long years of painful refusal. Yet. emigration figures are still enormously disappointing when compared to 1979 figures. when over 50.000 Jewish refuseniks were allowed to emigrate to Israel and the West. Today 400.000 Jews await their turn to emigrate. One of the many waiting for freedom is Naum Meiman. Because Naums daughter Olga lives in the United States. Naum should be entitled under Soviet law to emigrate for the purpose of "family reunification." However Naums application to emigrate has been repeatedly refused for 12 years. The official reason for refusal is his knowledge of "state secrets." The real reason is that Naum was an active member of the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group. Naum Meiman is now the sole remaining member of this group in the Soviet Union.
Keywords matched
family reunification emigrate emigration