A life lived for human rights in the Soviet era

In her 1993 memoir, The Thaw Generation: Coming of Age in the Post-Stalin Era, Lyudmila Alexeyeva points out that there is no good Russian word for dissident. A term that was sometimes used in its place translates as otherwise thinkers. Over time, the Soviet press adopted the English term, referring to disidenty. Alexeyeva, who died this month at the age of 91, certainly fell into that category. A historian by training, Alexeyeva was widely recognized as Russia’s foremost human rights advocate. In 1976, 20 years after Nikita Khrushchev’s secret speech denouncing Stalin’s crimes, Alexeyeva was among the founders of the Moscow Helsinki Group, focused on monitoring Soviet compliance with the Helsinki Accords, which had been concluded the previous year by 35 governments from Europe and North America.

from The Daily Star >> Live News http://bit.ly/2BxdVX7