Robert Amsterdam

Although this video is long overdue (due to technical difficulties), I thought I would post Bob Amsterdam's interview on the Charlie Rose Show, which originally aired October 27, 2006. Fast forward the video to 40:28 for the beginning of the interview.

The transcript of the show is available for download here.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

CHARLIE ROSE: How much do you fear that he'll die in prison? As someone once said, he'll slip on a banana?

ROBERT AMSTERDAM: It won't be a banana. The man was stabbed four months ago.

CHARLIE ROSE: By?

ROBERT AMSTERDAM: By another inmate.

CHARLIE ROSE: What do you know about that?

ROBERT AMSTERDAM: Well, you know, there are many inferences that can be
drawn. He is in danger. The fact that I'm here and talking to you is --
every time we do anything that's public, everything is a calculated risk.
What they want is silence. That's why he's in Siberia.

CHARLIE ROSE: Then why are you doing it?

ROBERT AMSTERDAM: Because if in fact the lessons we learned from the
refuseniks of 25 years ago is, if you stay silent, they win. So it's a
very difficult line, every day we have to deal with.

CHARLIE ROSE: Sakharov and others.

ROBERT AMSTERDAM: Yes, silence doesn't work. If you read Sharansky's
book, if you look at the lessons of history, you realize that silence
doesn`t work, and that impunity grows where silence exists.