Jewish women refuseniks are being joined by American and Israeli women in a hunger strike to mark the annual celebration of International Women’s Day on Tuesday.
Na’amat USA and Na’amat Israel have proclaimed their solidarity with Soviet women in the second annual fast organized by Jewish Woman Against Refusal, which is taking place Sunday through Tuesday in Moscow, Leningrad, Chernovtsy (Chernovitz), Kharkov, Vilnius (Vilna) and Tallinn.
The aim of the hunger strike is to remind the international community that refuseniks are being denied the right to emigrate as stipulated by the 1975 Helsinki human rights accords, according to Action for Soviet Jewry in Waltham, Mass., the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and Na’amat.
Several Boston-area women, who recently visited Moscow and Leningrad also are participating in a solidarity fast.
Soviet women have asked their American counterparts to contact American and Soviet officials on their plight by telegram and phone call.
The Moscow vigil was to include 150 women assembled in seven locations. Coordinators in the Soviet capital include Inna Ioffe-Uspensky, Judith Lurie and Natasha Cherniak. All Moscow women on the hunger strike were to gather in Uspensky’s apartment on Monday, and in the other locations Sunday and Tuesday.
In Leningrad, more than 50 women were to gather in three locations under the leadership of Elena Keys, a 14-year refusenik who recently completed a two-week personal hunger strike.
Two hundred women were expected to assemble at the Western Wall in Jerusalem between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday for a one-day hunger strike. Na’amat Israel assembled about 50 Israeli members of “Women for Women” at the end of January in Tel Aviv to prepare for the solidarity fast. The Israeli group includes actresses and journalists.
The Soviet hunger strikers released a statement to Soviet Jewry organizations in the West that said: “We appeal to the Soviet authorities to bring an end to this illegality and tyranny. Give us and our families an exit visa. We appeal to all people of good will, demand that the Soviet Union cease their policies of refusals and halt the suffering of human beings.”
Participants in the fast also remarked: “During this past year, many of the participants of the last hunger strike at last were able to leave the country with their families. Still many of us remain. We and our families continue to find ourselves in the same state of uncertainty and stress which has affected our health, strength and our professional capabilities.”
One of the hunger strikers on the list received by Action for Soviet Jewry, Vera Sheiba of Leningrad, was informed last week that she and her husband Lev had received permission to emigrate. They both had been denied because of alleged possession of state secrets.
Another hunger strike will begin Thursday, when Yuli Kosharovsky of Moscow will launch a 17-day fast, one day for each year he has been a refusenik.
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