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Science and Human Rights (1988) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 61-80

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From page 61...
... Surely a stable, peaceful world requires an absence of paranoia, it requires trust, a sharing of values that must include a universal respect for human rights. In that respect for human rights, would include the positive rights that Dr.
From page 62...
... We welcome him warmly with admiration for his courageous struggle for human rights and with the hope and belief that that struggle wiD succeed. TEE SOVIET UNION, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND NATIONAL SECURITY Yuri Orlov Dear colleagues and friends, ~ will discuss some nontrivial prow lems about the connection between human rights, especially in the USSR, and the preservation of peace.
From page 63...
... And Soviet society in the course of the last 30 years has indeed become, little by little, increasingly susceptible to Western influence.
From page 64...
... Openness in Soviet society is not only important for international security, it is also that aspect of human rights in the USSR which is most subject to the influence of Western society. The Soviet government at the present time is exceptionally interested in the
From page 65...
... Soviet children would then, for example, be able to spend their vacations with American families and American children with Soviet families. As for the contribution to openness that can be made by Western scientists and scholars: They can help open up Soviet society in the area of academic freedom.
From page 66...
... By contrast with the Soviet Union, public opinion in the United States has sufficient power to force the government to cut short military actions in "local conflicts. Unfortunately, this takes time.
From page 67...
... In conclusion, ~ want to stress that, as a first approximation, the issue of human rights is independent of the issue of disarmament. Both issues are important for the cause of peace and international security.
From page 68...
... The first one is, to some extent, clisproved by recent events. The insistence of the West on criticizing violations of human rights has not diminished the eagerness of the Soviets to go on with arms control negotiations and improve relations with the West.
From page 69...
... But such a development takes much time and can only happen after a reasonably successful period of increasing collaboration between East and West, leading to an avoidance of crisis situations, to effective arms control, and to a common effort to counter other important threats to mankind in the environmental field. In short, we should uncover and protest infringements of human rights in the USSR and elsewhere.
From page 70...
... Stellar when he invited me to come, I could not pass as a human rights activist, although I share their concerns and their goals. Instead, ~ think ~ am here to represent the several dozen members of the academy who, over the years, have pursued a somewhat parallel, but much less dramatic and much less heroic and much safer, course, personally, of trying to bring about a bridge between the scientists in the Soviet Union and those here and to explore in all the ways that we could between the two sides of finding a safer world ahead, depending less and less for our security upon the enormous stockpiles of weapons that we have assembled.
From page 71...
... I essentially agree with most of what we have heard. In particular, I fully agree with OrIov that, in first approximation, and ~ would say even in second approximation, the struggle for nuclear disarmament and peace and the struggle for human rights are rather independent of each other.
From page 72...
... ~ think the time has come when we may insist that the Russians adhere to certain generally accepted rules of scientific intercourse. More precisely, we may demand that at international scientific conferences invited speakers be permitted to come, no matter whether the authorities like them or not.
From page 73...
... 73 Finally, ~ would like to express the gratitude and respect which we all fee! toward the small and courageous group of our Russian colleagues who started this fight for human rights and for openness many years ago, when success looked very, very far away.
From page 74...
... to conferences and many time t.h~v an tin conferences. T' :~ ~o _ V ~ or" Is very, very crucial, it seems to me, that if they do not go to such meetings in a particular country because of human rights abuses, that they should be very clear in expressing that.
From page 75...
... So, the situation is far from perfect, and we have a lot to do to improve it. Eliot Stellar May ~ just take advantage of Joel Lebowitz's comment and point out that the Committee on Human Rights does have information on dissidents and refuseniks in the Soviet Union for any of those of you who are planning to visit.
From page 76...
... 76 On the other hand, particularly in the specific present situation, where the main threat to peace is the confrontation between the two superpowers, ~ think increased mutual knowledge and an increased openness are, in the long run, at least a necessary condition for eventual disarmament and a long-term solution. ~ remember a position Niels Bohr took when ~ was a nostdoc in Copenhagen.
From page 77...
... 77 Yuri Orion ~ would like to say, first of all, when you come into contact with Soviet official organizations, you are not having contact primarily with scientists, but rather with government officials. It is an illusion that you are having free communication with scientists; it is pure illusion.
From page 79...
... It takes that same dedication, and more, to be a human rights- activist in Chile, South Africa, and the Soviet Union, and In many other countries around the world. But it takes tremendous personal courage and strength and conviction to fight openly for human rights in those countries.


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