Natan Sharansky, a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, was the English translator for, and English instructor of, the great Russian physicist, Andre Sakharov. The book is dedicated to Sakharov, "A man who proved that with moral clarity and courage, we can change the world" and who said "Regimes that do not respect the rights of their own people will not respect the rights of their neighbors."
Sharansky spent 9 years in Soviet prison and used this time to reflect on the mechanics of tyranny and how such tyranny might be overthrown. He never gave up hope that the Soviet Union would be dismantled. To keep his mind active he played chess in his head-and never lost a match.
At the time of Stalin there were no known dissidents in the Soviet Union simply because the price for dissent was death. With Stalin's death and with successive, slightly more "liberal" regimes, the price for dissent became long prison terms. This allowed several hundred dissidents to emerge, who were willing to risk prison to speak out. Many of these were Soviet Jews seeking to immigrate to the U.S. or Israel; Sharansky was one of these; recall that at that time, no Soviet citizens were allowed to emigrate from the country.
Sharansky divides the populace of a dictatorship into three classes: true believers of the regime, double-thinkers, and dissidents. True believers are usually part of the regime and have a stake in its survival; double-thinkers, which make up the great bulk of the populace, don't agree with the administration but are afraid to speak up; dissidents represent the minority willing to risk job and family to disagree with the regime. The passive support given by double-thinkers to their masters often misleads outsiders into concluding that all-is-well in such countries; just look at the reports made by American correspondents in the USSR from the period of 30's to the 70's. Likewise, Sharansky says, both Iran and Saudi Arabia are steeped in double-think.
It was President Ronald Reagan who had the moral courage to call the Soviet Union the Evil Empire and to seek its end. This, together with the Jackson Amendment (which linked most favored nation trade benefits with the U.S. to the right of emigration) and the Helsinki accords, is what ultimately caused the Soviet Union to collapse. Sharansky was then able to leave prison and immigrate to Israel, where he was reunited with his wife. He then rose through the ranks of government to various ministerial positions.
In the book Sharansky extrapolates from his experiences to the world situation of today. He claims there are two basic types of societies: free and fear. Free societies are democratic and allow dissent; fear societies are dictatorial and do not allow dissent. Examples of free societies are those in the West (like the U.S., England, Israel, Australia, etc.). Examples of fear societies are Communist China, North Korea, Iran, and the 22 Arab countries; Arafat's Palestinian Authority was and still is a fear society. Previously Germany and Japan were fear societies, but after World War II they were changed into free societies. Also, Eastern Europe used to be composed of fear societies, but since the fall of the Iron Curtain, they have joined the free camp.
Sharansky is optimistic from his past experience and from history that the remaining fear societies can be freed; tyranny cannot last. He thus disagrees both with the pessimistic conservative "realists" who stress "stability" above all else and with liberals like Jimmy Carter who are willing to negotiate treaties with dictators regardless of the lack of human rights in their countries. Sharansky claims that democracy is not culturally-contingent (citing the Japanese). The vast majority of people love truth and freedom and "freedom is always a winning hand unless we morally equalize the good with the bad, the lies with the truth, and make treaties and compromises with tyrants." The West should stop doing business with tyrants: they can never be trusted and are only interested in their own survival; they are inherently corrupt and won't keep promises. Israel and the rest of the world should devote its energy to bringing democracy to the Palestinian Arabs, rather than pressuring Israel to make more concessions. Sharansky stresses the power of one's inner freedom (which kept him going while in prison), the power of a free society, and the power of the solidarity of the free world. A coalition of free nations (not the UN) should be formed that would turn the right of dissent as a test for international legitimacy.
Sharansky sees a tie between U.S. security and bringing democracy to the Middle East. Democratic countries don't make war on each other. The U.S. should use all possible leverage-moral, political, and financial-to support democracy around the world. "Once the life of double-think and self-censorship is shed, once the brainwashing stops, once freedom is tasted, no people will ever choose to live in fear again." The conditions for real peace in Palestine include real reforms like dismantling the refugee camps, developing private enterprise, and changing the hate-filled curriculum of Palestinian schools. Of course, dictators will resist all change; to keep their power, they constantly need to mobilize their people against alleged external enemies. But if a coalition of security hawks and human rights activists in the West can be reconstituted, the world's dictators can be defeated.
It is a tribute to Sharansky that President Bush invited him to the White House for a private briefing. The President has read the book and has recommended it to many of his cabinet secretaries and foreign leaders. I'm proud to say that I met Sharansky at a recent meeting of the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia, where he signed my copy of the book. I do strongly urge all individuals concerned with foreign policy to read this book. Of course, one minor English quibble might be with Sharansky's use of the term "democracy" when he really means "democratic republic". That's OK; the meaning is clear, regardless.
