The Friendship Flight in 1988 brought Alaska Natives to Russia for the first time in decades. Photo from Alaska World Affairs
David Ramsuer, a visiting scholar at University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute for Social and Economic Research, wants Natives in Alaska to be reunited with their relatives and families in Russia:
For thousands of years, Eskimos traveled freely in walrus-hide boats to harvest the region’s rich marine mammals and visit relatives on both sides. Even with some restrictions after the 1917 Russian Revolution, that travel continued largely unimpeded. In 1938, the Soviet government formally recognized the legitimacy of Eskimo visits across the date line, provided they check with local border guards. But after World War II, relations soured as American and Soviet leaders grew increasingly suspicious of each other. As the Berlin blockade began in Europe, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover concluded in a 1948 memo that “U.S. national security interests should outweigh the interests of local Eskimo.” That closed the border for 41 years, until Native leaders on both sides pressured their national governments in 1989 to reinstate visa-free travel. That positive step was part of a heyday of productive relations between Alaska and the Russian Far East, which began in the mid-1980s and continued for more than two decades. Since January, I’ve been researching this era for a book documenting this breakthrough in international relations in our unappreciated part of the world. It’s a story of how average citizens, motivated by curiosity, a desire for reduced tensions and a little capitalism, overcome the enormous barriers of suspicion, transportation and language to build bridges -- bridges I believe can serve as a model for today.Get the Story:
David Ramseur: Easier Native travel between Alaska and Russia is a thaw and an opportunity (The Alaska Dispatch News 7/31)
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