The Dissidents

To the Editors:

My heart ached when I read of the fate of Anatoli Shcharansky and other Soviet dissidents [July 24]. Their only crime is the love of freedom.

Carolynn Calabro Reedley, Calif.

The Shcharansky trial has proved again that Henry Kissinger's detente was a stillborn child. Previous Administrations did what Christ warned against 2,000 years ago. Kissinger saw the Soviet wolf scrambling into a sheepskin and sat down to wait for it to eat grass.

Leon Rabinovic Honesdale, Pa.

So President Carter should "choose carefully" whether or not he should protest the horrible persecution of Soviet dissidents and religious believers!

Your advice to the Carter Administration brings to mind a famous quote from World War II: "They came after the Jews, and I was not a Jew, so I did not object. They came after the Catholics, and I was not a Catholic, so I did not object. They came after the trade unionists, and I was not a trade unionist, so I did not object. Then, they came after me, and there was no one left to object."

The Nazi persecution of Jews was "an internal matter" at first too.

Judith Hjerstedt Bothell, Wash.

Is our country strong enough, brave enough and proud enough to cancel the Olympic Games in Moscow unless Shcharansky and Ginzburg are released?

Harriet K. Flinn Los Altos, Calif.

Using Young's Quotes

It is a strange paradox that President Carter, who came to power with the sincere and laudable intention of improving human rights throughout the world, has through his U.N. representative, Andrew Young [July 24], almost certainly done just the opposite.

Every dictator from Brezhnev to Amin will quote Young to justify the continuation and perhaps the tightening of the suppression of his people.

Frank Hawkins Amsterdam

Andrew Young was accurate; if we can't count "thousands" of political prisoners currently, we have only to go back through a decade or two of war protests, civil rights activism and witch hunts of the House Un-American Activities Committee to accumulate that many.

John S. Rigney Evanston, III.

Sartorial Masochism

My gasping gratitude for your frank discussion on an outrageous instrument of sartorial masochism, the necktie [July 24]. I'm sure the Supreme Court would, if asked, declare the necktie cruel and unusual punishment.

Frank Powell Florence, Ala.

As one whose neck is bitten by the Roman collar, I can agree with those who sing Blest Be the Tie that Binds!

(The Rev.) John Cassidy Los Angeles

This obsession with suits and ties is a national liability. Suits, ties and jackets serve mainly to conceal. Have you ever thought of what it would do for the nation's physical fitness if every fat gut were on display?

Jack Ratliff El Paso

Personally, I like neckties. As to what you wear--well you can run around naked for all I care, just as long as you leave me alone.

Joseph Rogers Bangor, Me.

The Hot New Imports

You call the new wave of immigrant entrepreneurs talented [July 24]. If they have talent, it is talent we don't need. We don't need new restaurants for the rich, new furniture stores, new real estate companies, model agencies, etc. What we need are designers, engineers and shop managers who would make our industrial products more competitive with those of Japan and West Germany. We need talented teachers--on all levels.

Carl Beer Sand Lake, N.Y.

You mention people in every field, from bankers and financiers to exporters-importers, and dealers in just about everything from abstract art to shopping centers. You missed one field--university professors. You are not anti-intellectuals, are you?

Ken Shen Huang Memphis

I came to America not as an entrepreneur but to make sure that my children would be born American. This is by far the best place on earth to live and let live. To appreciate how great America is, go anywhere else.

Julio Florez Chicago

Gateway to Peace

I have read your proposal for the West Bank and Gaza [July 10] with great interest and I consider your proposals highly useful as a basis for further peace negotiations. In your proposals you state "that the Palestinians have a moral if not a juridical right to a homeland of their own." I do not agree to this formulation. I consider that the Palestinians have a moral as well as a juridical right to a state of their own if they wish to exercise their right to self-determination.

I fully agree with you that the capital of the new entity or state should be East Jerusalem. Lord Caradon (in 1967 head of the English delegation to the U.N. and the architect of Security Council's 242 Resolution) has expressed his views on the future of Jerusalem this way: "Two sister cities, I trust with no barriers between them, with a new relationship of equality and mutual respect and cooperative understanding. The noble conception is that the Holy City should become not a barrier but a gateway to peace." I agree with Lord Caradon.

This new atmosphere may develop over the Middle East and create the final reconciliation between Arabs and Jews. Therefore, to resolve the Jerusalem problem is rather urgent.

Lieut. General Odd Bull Asker, Norway

General Bull served as Chief of Staff, U.N. Truce Supervision Organization for Palestine 1963-70 and Executive Member, U.N. Observation Group in Lebanon, 1958.

Your proposed plan for the future of the West Bank and Gaza is just and sensible. Many thoughtful Israelis would probably accept it. But it will be rejected by the Palestinian oligarchy--Arafat, Habash and their cronies.

The tragedy of the Palestinians--and the Israelis--stems from the fact that there is not a moderate Palestinian leader in sight.

Michael Harsgor Tel Aviv

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