‘The Clamor Will Go On’
Your editorial is excellent. I am concerned with primary focal points. Human rights in the Soviet Union as covered by the Western media has been distilled to one human right: emigration. Millions and millions of indigenous people inhabit the Soviet Union. Ancient indigenous populations are attempting to continue their religious, national, ethnic cultures against the wishes of the oppressive, atheistic, Russian government.
When will human rights violations closely tied to regional conflicts in the Baltic countries, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Central America be elevated by the West to the focal point they should have? Has the West, with its media focus on people who wish to leave the Soviet Union, abandoned the idea that only when regional conflicts are settled with respect for indigenous people will there ever be a chance for human rights to flourish?
The issue is the continuing Soviet national, physical, cultural, religious genocide that must be changed by Western pressure. Exodus is an important solution but migration solves the basic issue of lack of liberty and freedom for comparatively few and only for a short time. In the meantime, millions are being ignored and the drumbeat of human oppression festers.
DANUTE MAZEIKA
Vice President Political Affairs
Lithuanian World Youth Assn.
Agoura
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