echrzanowski@watmath.UUCP (Edward Chrzanowski) (10/05/83)
It finally happened Lech Walenza received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Would the same thing happen to Lech Walenza as happened to Zakaroff
in Russia? Any comments?
BTW it makes me feel proud to be a Polock.
Eward Chrzanowskinotes@ucbcad.UUCP (10/10/83)
#R:watmath:-589700:ucbesvax:7500039:000:1526
ucbesvax!turner Oct 9 15:03:00 1983
Sakarov is the victim of a long-standing Soviet institution. There
is an "internal exile" system, whereby, at it's most lenient, one is
barred from Moscow, and at it's harshest, one rots in a labor camp.
I'm not sure if, once one starts into this system, it's all downhill,
with emigration (or, as in the case of Sakarov), broad international
support as the only possible salvation.
I don't think Poland has such a system. Walesa has, at times, been
detained; much of the Solidarity leadership (especially its leading
intellectuals) are either in prison, or underground. But it *does* seem
to be an either/or situation; that is, it does seems as if there is
an effective judicial system in Poland, hobbled as it might be by martial
law (or it's corresponding civil forms.)
The comparison is also stretched in another way: Sakarov was (and is),
after all, a member of the Russian intelligentsia. You certainly can't
say that about Walesa. He was, and is, an electrician. Sakarov, on the
other hand, was an insider for several decades, a member of the Russian
defense establishment. They are not going to let him out (especially after
his recent statement on the Euromissile controversy!)
I don't know if Walesa will be allowed to collect his prize money, but
I don't think the Polish authorities have quite as much to lose as the
Russians did in the case of Sakarov. But then again, maybe they have
everything to lose...
Only 1/4 Polock, but Still Proud
Michael Turner (ucbvax!ucbesvax.turner)