2,000 Demonstrate for Shcharansky

An estimated 2,000 staged a march and rally outside the Soviet Consulate here yesterday in support of imprisoned Soviet Jewish activist Anatoly Shcharansky who was in the 21st day of his hunger strike in the notorious Chistipol Prison. The rally was the largest Soviet Jewry event in northern California in years, according to Morey Schapira, president of the Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry, a member of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews.

The participants carried signs, banners and photographs of Shcharansky who began his indefinite hunger strike because he has not been allowed to send or receive mail from his family or have family members visit him since early this year. His mother, Ida Milgrom, said in Moscow that a long hunger strike would kill her son.

Addressing the rally here, U.S. Representative Phillip Burton (D. Calif.) recalled meeting with Shcharansky in Moscow in 1977. “We shall not rest until Anatoly Shcharansky and other Soviet Jewish Prisoners of Conscience are released,” Burton declared. Shcharansky was arrested in 1977 on charges of “treason” and anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda. He was sentenced to three years in prison and 10 years in a strict labor camp.

His wife Avital was allowed to emigrate to Israel eight years ago and has received only four letters from her husband since then. She is now in the United States meeting with federal, state and local officials and Jewish community leaders in an effort to help save her husband’s life.

The rally here was sponsored by the Bay Area Council on Soviet Jewry along with the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, Temple Isaiah of Lafayette, and the Northern California Board of Rabbis.

SOLIDARITY HUNGER STRIKES

In related actions, hunger strikes in solidarity with Shcharansky took place in a number of cities across the country. Hunger strikers included leading political officials, community leaders, rabbis and representatives of Jewish communities.

The National Conference on Soviet Jewry in New York City reported that it has received an appeal on behalf of Shcharansky from 17 former Soviet refuseniks now living in Israel, the appeal said, in part:

“The life of our beloved friend and great hero is now in mortal danger. We urge you to mobilize world opinion, to mobilize all those to whom freedom land justice are dear. We urge you to explain to the Soviet government that they cannot crush Anatoly’s life in this way. We ask you to react immediately before it is too late.”

Avital Shcharansky, speaking several days ago at a press conference in New York sponsored by the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, said.

“The responsibility for Anatoly’s life rests not only on the Soviets, but on the U.S. government, and on all of us. I believe that only the direct intervention of the American government and of concerned Americans will save my husband’s life. The Soviets respect America’s authority, and they are still very concerned about their relationship with the United States, despite the decline of detente.”