RUSSIAN VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN SOLZHENITSYN EXPULSION

WHEREAS, America's teachers believe that the highest objective of a quality education is developing the ability to think critically; and

WHEREAS, the necessary preconditions to the development of critical thinking include freedom of inquiry and the free exchange of information; and

WHEREAS, the government of the Soviet Union arrested Alexander Solzhenitsyn and forcibly expelled him from his homeland for exercising his faculty of critical thinking and his right of free expression; and

WHEREAS, in acting against Solzhenitsyn the Soviet government violated not only his basic human rights of free thought and speech, but also his right under the Soviet Constitution to an open court trial:

RESOLVED, that the Executive Council of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, formally condemns the government of the Soviet Union for this newest act of repression and for its continuing contempt for academic and intellectual freedom; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT Executive Council urges the government of the United States to refuse the government of the Soviet Union any additional American technology, trade credits, or most favored-nation status until fundamental human rights are established and respected in the Soviet Union. (Executive Council)