Kisses Babies, Signs Autographs, Plans Telethon : Jackson Wraps Up Soviet ‘Campaign’

Standing on the rubble of a church destroyed by an earthquake in Soviet Armenia, the Rev. Jesse Jackson inspired a crowd of fist-waving survivors who chanted the campaign slogan “Keep hope alive” in English, a language most did not understand.

In Moscow, he kissed Soviet babies, posed for television cameras, signed autographs and met in the Kremlin with top government officials.

The former Democratic candidate for President looked a lot this week like a man still campaigning.

In fact, aides said, Jackson’s six-day trip to the Soviet Union was in part an effort to extend his Rainbow Coalition to include Soviets and particularly Armenians, who have a large immigrant community in the United States.

“We saw the devastation. We shared the pain,” the black civil rights leader said Thursday of his visit to Armenia, where at least 25,000 people died in the Dec. 7 earthquake.

“We cannot let Armenia suffer under the ice and rubble,” he said.

During his visit, Jackson reached a tentative agreement with the Soviets for a joint superpowers’ telethon concert that would include both American and Soviet artists.

Jackson said performers Cher and Bill Cosby, along with boxer Mike Tyson, had expressed an interest in participating in the benefit concert. The telethon would be televised in a live satellite link between Los Angeles, New York City, Moscow and Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

Funds would likely go to providing housing for the more than 500,000 people left homeless by the quake and to rebuilding the area’s hospitals and churches, Jackson said.

Jackson also addressed the problem of recent ethnic clashes between Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis over Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave within the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.

“The political problems of the region must be addressed even as we strive to relieve the economic problem,” he said.

Sees Dobrynin, Sakharov

Jackson, 47, also met this week with Kremlin foreign policy adviser Anatoly F. Dobrynin, the former Soviet ambassador to the United States, and with Soviet human rights activist Andrei D. Sakharov, who asked him to help gain the release of 13 Armenians recently jailed for political activism.

The main disappointment was that a session he had hoped to have with President Mikhail S. Gorbachev did not materialize.

Gorbachev and Jackson had been scheduled to meet when the Soviet leader was in New York in December. That visit, however, was cut short due to the earthquake.

But Jackson also had lots of successes here. The man known for his ability to inspire was often able to work his magic in the Soviet Union, even through a translator.

He twice exhorted groups of Armenians in the earthquake zone to chant “Keep hope alive.” The crowds enthusiastically shouted the three words even though many appeared to be uncertain about what exactly they meant.

‘Better and More Ties’

“There is obviously a great desire by the people of Armenia to have better and more ties with America,” Jackson said. “After all, the largest Armenian community outside Armenia is in the United States.”

In California alone, the Armenian community numbers about 350,000, and Gov. George Deukmejian is of Armenian descent.

In reaching out to the Armenian community, Jackson was seeking “to extend the base of his Rainbow Coalition into the international sphere,” said Jackson aide Eric Easter.

Jackson has used the phrase Rainbow Coalition to describe his political supporters, who he says come from all races and backgrounds.

Jackson said he also came to the Soviet Union because he wanted a first-hand glimpse of glasnost, the Russian word for Gorbachev’s efforts to open up Soviet society.

Jackson said he discussed the rights of Soviet Jews with government officials.

Jackson seemed to be a popular figure in the Soviet Union. He was often approached by autograph seekers. Soviet television ran daily reports on his trip here. And on a visit to a jazz club, the singer began dedicating songs to him.