Speech #1100113269

Res. 759. which recognizes two of the most important events in the area of human rights in the twentieth century: Recognizing the 40th Anniversary of the Mass Movement for Soviet Jewish Freedom and the 20th Anniversary of the Freedom Sunday Rally on the Mall in Washington. DC. I would like to specifically touch on one of the most important aspects of the Jewish struggle for freedomthe right to emigrate. A few months ago. the travel plans of many Americans were disrupted when they were unable to acquire within a reasonable period of time U.S. passports that would allow them to October 30. 2007 CONGRE travel abroad to certain regions. It was an inconvenience. but fortunately. the State Department with great effort cleared up the backlog and the waiting period is now back to around two months. Now imagine waiting five. ten. or even fifteen years for a passport allowing you to leave the country. Imagine not filling out an application and dropping it into the mail. but instead trudging from office to educational institution to police station seeking signatures from employers and various officials. without which the emigration office would not even consider the application to emigrate. Imagine being told you cant leave. but not given any rational reason as to why not. Or being told that you cannot emigrate because of military servicein a construction unit! Imagine taking to the streets with a sign demanding the right to reunify with ones family and loved ones abroad. as stipulated in the U.N. Convention on Civil and Political Rights. and being set upon by police and perhaps winding up in a forced labor camp or in internal exile in some tiny village in Siberia. It may be hard to imagine. but this is what thousands of Soviet Jews faced when they wanted to emigrate to Israel from the former Soviet Union. And why did Soviet Jews want to emigrate? Many of them were tired of the government antisemitism that permeated the Soviet system. including a quota system for educational institutions. Understandably. they did not want their children to face these obstacles. Many wished to practice their Jewish faith. to be able to attend a synagogueif they could find one that hadnt been closed by the Communistswithout having to worry that some Communist Party hack would see them and report them to their employers or teachers. Others were tired of the constant stream of antiSemitic articles in the Soviet press parading as opposition to Zionism. In 1967. with the Soviet press spewing tirades against Israel and alleged Zionist misdeeds in the wake of Israels victory in the Six Day War. the Jewish emigration movement in the Soviet Union began in earnest. Many applicants. to be sure. were allowed to leave. but others were refused time and time again. The word "refusenik" was coined.