Americans and Soviets Air Their Differences, Similarities at UCSD

San Diegans got a rare peek behind the Iron Curtain on Wednesday, and for some it was like gazing into a fun-house mirror: What peered back was hardly identical, but the resemblance was striking nonetheless.

“There was nothing really surprising about it,” said Jan Favell after a round-table talk between San Diegans and four Soviet visitors at UC San Diego. “They are people just like we are. They aren’t any different. Our countries should just go ahead and exchange people for people and quit relying on governments.”

Favell was one of about 70 people who crammed the International Center Lounge at the university for a frank discussion with the four Soviet panelists: a law professor, a Communist youth group coordinator, an English instructor and a peace committee coordinator. The talk, which focused on U. S. and Soviet life styles, was sponsored by a cultural exchange group called Soviets, Meet Middle America.

“There are many elements in your system that are in ours,” said Taras Shamba, a law professor at the Academy of Social Sciences in Moscow. “We are alike in many ways, but in some ways the character certainly is different.”

The quartet fielded questions about child care, women’s rights and national politics, while using the forum to air its own criticisms of the Western media.

“Most of the information given by the Western press about the Soviet Union is biased,” said Nadezhda Mizinova, the English instructor, who lives in Moscow. “I got an opportunity to watch CNN. Their coverage was a bit different from the Soviet Union’s. CNN followed the American tradition--placing emphasis on all the sensational things.”

Mizinova, who alternated with an American as interpreter for two of the other Soviets, said journalists in the United States project a negative image of her homeland by highlighting its dark side.

“I got the impression that the Soviet Union is a very gloomy country, judging by that look,” she said of snapshots compiled by one American photojournalist. “There are a lot of military men in the photos and not many benign, nice faces. I am from there, and it seemed to me that they are not very pleasant people to be with.”

Their attack on Western reporters aside, the visitors said they found much of the United States praiseworthy.

“People here have been kind to us,” said Shamba. “We have learned a lot just sitting with Americans at the breakfast table.”

Shamba said the four panelists are part of a 20-person delegation--the others are in cities across the nation--sent over to observe U. S. culture and to try to dispel prejudices about the Soviet Union.

‘We Are Like Sponges’

“We are like sponges,” he said. “We are taking in information about U. S. political structures, concerns and problems you have. The fact that we are here is evidence of the process of understanding each other.”

The panelists said there is much about Soviet life--both good and bad--that mimics America.

“We have a lot of good in our country,” said Gemal Margvelidze, the secretary of Komsomol, a Soviet youth organization. “But we also have young people who do break the law. We do have young people who are bad. We do have drug addicts.”

However, Margvelidze said, youths are constantly furnished chances to prosper in the Soviet Union.

Nyet on Yuppies

“We don’t have such things as yuppies,” he explained, “but young people have all opportunities to get education, to be trained in a trade and to choose the specialty of occupation they love.”

The panelists said the hope for prosperity also extends to women.

“There is equality for women in our country,” said Natalya Yelizarova, a coordinator of the Soviet Peace Committee. “Women make salaries equal to men who do the same job. We have women doctors, plant administrators, hospital administrators and a lot of other things. There are many places where women are ahead of the men.”

But the visitors pointed out that there are some major differences.

“In the United States, you lay strong emphasis on political rights,” said Shamba. “In the Soviet Union, there is an emphasis on human rights, which has four aspects: the political aspect, the cultural, the economic and the personal. Political rights are not emphasized like they are here.”

However, political rights are becoming a popular topic of discussion in the Soviet Union, he said.

Although the four said much of their visit has been pleasant, they conceded that it has had its “terrifying” moments.

“We went to Disneyland, which is delightful,” said Mizinova. “But I must say, we went to see a movie, ‘Captain Eo,’ and it was terrifying. How can parents allow their children to see such a movie?”

“Captain Eo” is a 3-D science fiction/adventure film shown at the amusement park. It stars singer Michael Jackson.