Governor Malcolm Wilson and Mayor Abraham D. Became joined together for the first time in support of Soviet Jewry today by announcing a massive “Solidarity Day” rally April 28. Wilson and Became urged all New Yorkers to participate in Solidarity Day as a demonstration of their support for Soviet Jews seeking to emigrate from the USSR and for the Soviet Jewish “Prisoners of Conscience” in Soviet labor camps.
With the Governor and the Mayor at a news conference on the steps of the main branch of the New York Public Library was Stanley H. Lowell, chairman of the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry, which will sponsor Solidarity Day. In attendance were leaders of the Conference’s 79 constituent agencies in the Metropolitan area and New York State Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz and Brooklyn District Attorney Eugene Gold. Solidarity Day will get underway with a freedom march on Fifth Avenue 12 noon beginning at 71 Street and culminating with a mass rally at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza opposite the United Nations.
In his remarks, Became said, in part: “Those of us who cherish liberty must express our full support for those who cannot enjoy liberty. Those of us who value human dignity must demonstrate our commitment to those who live in a society where human dignity has little value.”
Wilson said that Solidarity Sunday “presents a unique opportunity for all New Yorkers to express their support for Soviet Jews who are bravely struggling to achieve their basic human rights….” He added that the plight of Soviet Jews “challenges all of us” to stand up in their defense.
Lowell said this year’s demonstration “takes on special urgency in light of the intensified campaign of harassment and persecution of Soviet Jews who want to leave the USSR.” He added: “It is imperative that the New York community turn out in overwhelming numbers for Solidarity Sunday, to let both the Soviet and American governments know that we stand behind Soviet Jews in this perilous hour.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
