APPENDIX 3B(4) ESALEN INSTITUTE SOVIET-AMERICAN EXCHANGE PROGRAM 3105 Washington Street • San Francisco, CA 94115 July 3, 1986 Lee H. Hamilton Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Hamilton: Enclosed is a summary of Esalen Soviet-American Exchange Program's current projects. Given the wide range of our activities, it was impossible to stay within five pages and cover all our projects even briefly. If you would like further details for your report, please feel free to call me or the Administrative Director, Jane Peterson. We would very much appreciate a reciprocal copy of your report on USUSSR exchanges when it is done. Regards, James Jarvans James Garrison Enclosure Founders James L. Hickman, Dulce W. Murphy, Michael Murphy, Mary Payne ESALEN INSTITUTE SOVIET-AMERICAN EXCHANGE PROGRAM SUMMARY OF PROJECTS 1986 Since 1979, Esalen's Soviet-American Exchange Program has sought to bring a spirit of exploration into the complex field of Soviet-American relations. Through innovative projects that demonstrate the potential for the SovietAmerican relationship, the Program has explored areas of contact not being addressed by governments, particularly in the areas of human development, communication, and political psychology. In doing this, the Program has created a variety of new areas in which Americans and Soviets have been able to work together. Our wide range of contacts in the Soviet Union indicates the diversified nature of our many projects. We are currently working with the USSR Academy of Sciences, the USSR Writers Union, the USSR Ministry of Health, Gosteleradio and the USSR Olympic Committee as well as the United States' agencies and personnel The heart of the Esalen Program is the exchange of individual Soviet and American leaders in the scientific, artistic and political communities, who have a significant personal or professional commitment to exploring the relationship between human development, changing human values, and international accord. The Program has sponsored nearly two dozen individual exchanges since 1980. Out of the personal relationships that develop from these exchanges, larger projects emerge to influence wider audiences. The live satellite link-ups and the Astronaut/Cosmonaut Dialogues are two examples of this. Astronaut/Cosmonaut Dialogues In 1982, the Program began bringing astronauts and cosmonauts together to discuss the transformative experiences that many of them underwent in outer space. These Astronaut-Cosmonaut Dialogues culminated in October, 1985, when 25 space fliers from 13 countries met at a chateau near Paris, France, to found the Association of Space Explorers, an independent international organization. Health Promotion Project Since 1983, the Program has developed a Health Promotion Project which in 1984 signed a protocol with the USSR Ministry of Publishing for reciprocal book exhibitions on health promotion and the medical sciences. In January 1985, over 1,000 American books accompanied by a delegation of American health professionals were exhibited at the Moscow National Library Of Science and Technology and at the Novosibirsk National Library of Medicine. The Soviets reciprocated in April 1985, with a delegation of eight publishers and health professionals. Over 1,000 books were exhibited at the Medical School of the University of California in Los Angeles and at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. The Program has recently signed a protocol agreement with the USSR Ministry of Health for long-term collaboration in a newly emerging field in both countries: psychoneuroendocrinology. Dr. Aron Belkin, Director of the Moscow Institute of Psychoneuroendocrinology, will be visiting the U.S. this September. An invited conference on psychoneuroendocrinology is planned for January 1987, in which Soviet and American scientists will meet to discuss long-term In 1982 and 1983, Program staff pioneered the first live two-way satellite link-ups between the Soviet Union and the U.S. During these events, large groups of Soviets and Americans talked directly with each other for the first time through this medium. These successes set the precedent for nearly a dozen subsequent satellite link-ups, the latest of which has been Phil Donahue's "People to People Summit". Esalen and Internews are co-sponsoring a spacebridge between Moscow and San Francisco on July 19 on 'Chernobyl and Three Mile Island: Lessons for the Future'. Eminent Soviet and American scientists will be linked to discuss ways in which we may increase international cooperation in the age of nuclear power. Writers Exchange The Exchange Program has signed an agreement with the USSR Union of Writers to sponsor reciprocal exchanges of Soviet and American authors. Our purpose in these exchanges is to introduce the American public to contemporary Soviet literature, which we feel warrants increased exposure. Another aim is to initiate a dialogue between American and Soviet writers regarding those deep structural changes in modern society which make obsolete many apparent SovietAmerican differences. In July, the Program will host the first delegation of Soviet writers in New York and San Francisco where they will participate in conversations and seminars with prominent American editors, publishers and writers. III. Political Psychology Bathurst Seminars Another of our projects is conducted by Robert Bathurst, Adjunct Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He has a background in naval intelligence, served a tour of duty in Moscow, and helped President Kennedy develop the 'hot line'. Over the last two decades, Bathurst has been close enough to the negotiations taking place between our two nations to observe how forcefully our different cultural backgrounds shape our respective negotiating stances. His public seminars at Esalen are designed to bring Russians and Americans together in a way that enables both to |