Speech #1100113259

I attended a meeting in Philadelphia where Natan Sharansky spoke. Sharansky has been a hero to so many of us in the United States in his struggle for freedom from Soviet oppression. He and his fellow refusniks embody the spirit of determination and unbelievable courage to stand up for human rights and freedom and demand that Soviet Jews be able to leave the Soviet Union and immigrate to Israel or the United States or other countries of their choice. Sharansky told us the movement for Soviet Jewry not only freed him and other refusniks. but that it set in motion the process that ultimately brought down the Soviet Union. By demanding human rights for some. we hastened the demise of one of the most repressive. most dictatorial regimes in history. This movement demonstrated that human rights questions do not exist in a vacuum separate from larger questions of global politics or trade. We have a tremendous capacity to be global leaders by tying questions of human rights to other issues that we deal with in the international arena. whether in trade or the environment or immigration policy. While we do business with other countries. we should not. we must not. turn a blind eye to human rights abuses. It is as true today as it was 40 years ago.