Dear friends, Mordechai Vanunu, the only person who ever provided proof of the existence of atomic weapons in the Middle East, was "freed" to draconian restrictions yesterday after 18 years in prison, 12 of them in solitary confinement. He must live in a small village, which he is not permitted to leave without police permission obtained 24 hours in advance. He may not come nearer any embassy than 100 meters, he may not correspond with foreigners. His dream was to move to his adopted parents in the USA, but the Israeli authorities willed it otherwise. Ridiculously, they still regard him as a security threat. He was only ever a low grade technician, and in 1986 he gave the Sunday Times all the photos he had ever taken of the Dimona nuclear plant. Whistleblowers like Vanunu are often our only chance to get to hear of massive abuse of human rights, or planned large scale environmental degredation, or development of weapons of mass destruction. The individual conscience is vital to the world's security. It is important to demonstrate to other potential whistleblowers that althought they must suffer, the world sees and cares, and will do what it can to lessen the suffering and honour the bearer. The International Vanunu Committee have started a campaign to award Vanunu with a "People's Peace Prize", a fund to be used as Vanunu himself sees fit, in the same way as the Nobel Peace Prize (for 18 years Vanunu har repetitively been a Nobel candidate, but has never made the finals). We at the Norwegian Peace Alliance are administering the fund for the Vanunu Committee. If you would like to support the Vanunu Peace Prize, go to http://www.peaceispossible.info/thankyouvanunu.php, and send this letter and Vanunu's poem below on to any other likely candidates. (the Paypal thing only works well for Americans - if you come from any of the countries where there is a local bank account on the page we recommend that you use that!!) Yours, Babs Sivertsen, director Norwegian Peace Alliance PB. 8940 Youngstorget Storgata 23 0028 Oslo town office: +47 22 97 98 89, home office: +47 66 91 25 92, mobil: +47 97 50 98 36 www.nowar.no <http://www.nowar.no/> I’M YOUR SPY Mordechai Vanunu I am the clerk, the technician, the mechanic, the driver. They said, Do this, do that, don’t look left or right, don’t read the text. Don’t look at the whole machine. You are only responsible for this one bolt. For this one rubber-stamp. This is your only concern. Don’t bother with what is above you. Don’t try to think for us. Go on, drive. Keep going. On, on. So they thought, the big ones, the smart ones, the futurologists. There is nothing to fear. Not to worry. Everything is ticking just fine. Our little clerk is a diligent worker. He’s a simple mechanic. He’s a little man. Little men’s ears don’t hear, their eyes don’t see. We have heads, they don’t Answer them, said he to himself, said the little man, the man with a head of his own. Who is in charge? Who knows where this train is going? Where is their head? I too have a head. Why do I see the whole engine. Why do I see the precipice — is there a driver on this train? The clerk driver technician mechanic looked up. He stepped back and saw — what a monster. Can’t believe it. Rubbed his eyes and — yes, it’s there all right. I’m all right. I do see the monster. I’m part of the system. I signed this form. Only now I am reading the rest of it. This bolt is part of a bomb. This bolt is me. How did I fail to see, and how do the others go on fitting bolts. Who else knows? Who has seen? Who has heard — The emperor really is naked. I see him. Why me? It’s not for me. It’s too big. Rise and cry out. Rise and tell the people. You can. I, the bolt, the technician, mechanic — Yes, you. You are the secret agent of the people. You are the eyes of the nation. Agent-spy, tell us what you’ve seen. Tell us what the insiders, the clever ones, have hidden from us. Without you, there is only the precipice. Only catastrophe. I have no choice. I’m a little man, a citizen, one of the people, but I’ll do what I have to. I’ve heard the voice of my conscience and there is nowhere to hide. The world is small, small for Big Brother. I’m your mission. I’m doing my duty. Take it from me. Come and see for yourselves. Lighten my burden. Stop the train. Get off the train. The next stop — nuclear disaster. The next book, the next machine. No. There is no such thing. Mordechai Vanunu, Israel, was a subordinate nuclear technician at what proved to be a clandestine nuclear weapons program. Following his convictions he delivered evidence to a London newspaper, the Sunday Times. Israel’s secret police abducted him to Israel, via Rome, in grave violation of the territorial integrity of both Britain and Italy. He was sentenced as a spy to 18 years in prison. He wrote "I’m Your Spy" early during the first 11 1/2 years he was held in strict isolation. He is due to be released on April 21, 2004. top