Defying the KGB: How a forgotten movement freed a people

Deleted member 472633 · Dec 30, 2012

Defying the KGB: How a forgotten movement freed a people - CNN.com

Driven by desperation, Marina and Lev Furman stepped out of their home in Leningrad and took a 20-minute walk into uncertainty. Trailed by KGB agents, they bundled up and set out in the weak winter light for Palace Square, site of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
They brought signs demanding freedom. And they pushed a baby carriage holding their 9-month-old daughter, Aliyah, who had already proved in her short life that she, too, could handle risks.
Friends told the Furmans they were crazy. Such demonstrations were forbidden in the square. The couple arrived in silent protest and spotted a mob of police and KGB agents waiting for them. Knowing they'd be taken away, they chained themselves to Aliyah's carriage.
For years, they'd asked for permission to leave. Each time, their requests were denied. Told once more they'd never be allowed to go, they were taking a final, calculated, bold stand.
On this day, though, they knew they weren't alone. The date was December 6, 1987.
Some 4,500 miles and a world away, 250,000 people were preparing to protest in Washington as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was preparing for his first White House summit with U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The demonstrators wanted to make sure the Furmans and other Soviet Jews weren't forgotten.

Known as Freedom Sunday, the rally would be the culmination of a decades-long populist campaign the likes of which the world rarely sees. Americans of all stripes were coming together to demand human rights in a faraway land.
Driven by students and housewives and fueled by post-Holocaust guilt, civil rights activism and a newfound sense of Jewish pride after Israel's 1967 Six-Day War victory, the movement brought together Jews and non-Jews, religious and secular.
It's a part of a recent past that's nearly forgotten but that once enjoyed the support of top-tier politicians, congressional wives, Catholic nuns, actors, musicians and civil rights icons, including Martin Luther King Jr.
If a new coalition has its way, the Soviet Jewry movement will find its place in history books and serve as a model for change in a time when global human rights abuses continue.
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Very inspiring these people had cajones.

friedfever · Dec 31, 2012

How funny! A KGB agent is now in charge of Russia. Lol

Aries the Frog · Dec 31, 2012

James2912 said:

Very inspiring these people had cajones.
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They sure did.
There are 1 million+ Russian Jews in Israel today.

friedfever · Dec 31, 2012

Aries the Frog said:

They sure did.
There are 1 million+ Russian Jews in Israel today.
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But they didn't have any staying power. The dictators are back in charge again and all their work was in vain.

Deleted member 472633 · Jan 1, 2013

friedfever said:

But they didn't have any staying power. The dictators are back in charge again and all their work was in vain.
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They have it pretty good in Israel. And they have voting rights of course.

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