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Date:         Wed, 18 Nov 1992 13:00:00 EST
From:         CATHYF@EARLHAM.BITNET
Subject:      Israeli Nukes & Vanunu

X-News: yang.earlham.edu earlham.ml.activ-l:9769
From: Rich Winkel <rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu>
Subject:Israeli Nukes: Vanunu Poem
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 09:06:19 GMT
Message-ID:<01GR8TV6DGU8000DKW@YANG.EARLHAM.EDU>

INFORMATION RELEASE
                          I AM YOUR SPY
                       by Mordechai Vanunu
Chicago, IL -- Following the June Walk for Peace in the Middle
East,  Gene Stoltzfus, Christian Peacemaker Teams coordinator
joined 150 Israelis, Arabs, and visitors from 20 nations at
Ashkelon prison south of Tel Aviv in one of the first public
vigils to draw attention to Mordechai Vanunu, an Israeli
Christian now serving time for publicizing Israel's nuclear
program.  Israel maintains as many as 200 nuclear bombs, making
it the world's sixth most destructive nuclear power.

Vanunu  was kidnapped and imprisoned by his government for
telling the world the truth about its nuclear weapons program.
Born in Morocco, he emigrated to Israel as a child.  He was
raised like many Oriental Jews in poverty. Vanunu was trained as
a nuclear technician after three years of service with the
Israeli defense force in the Golan Heights.

Until 1985 when Vanunu volunteered to be laid off during fiscal
cuts he worked for 8 years at Dimona at the underground Machon II
lab, Israel's top-secret plutonium separation plant, near
Beersheba.  He had begun to question his work after the Israeli
invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

In 1985 Vanunu traveled outside of Israel and engaged in
discussions regarding peace and spirituality.  During his travels
he converted to Christianity and was baptized in Australia.  His
story was eventually carried in the London Times whereupon he was
kidnapped by Israeli agents in London, drugged, chained and
shipped to Israel.

He is now in his seventh year of an eighteen year sentence to
solitary confinement at Ashkelon prison for divulging state
secrets.  He wrote to his brother,  "My Christianity is my
freedom here.  To practice my freedom every day is to declare
that I am a believer in Christ in a country that calls itself
democratic."  His most eloquent statement is the verse that
follows, translated from Hebrew by Maxine Kaufman Nunn.


I am the clerk, the technician, the mechanic, the driver,
whom they told, do this or do that.  Don't look
to the right, to the left, don't eye the page. Don't look
at the whole machine.  You are responsible for one bolt
only.  You are responsible for just one rubber-stamp.
Concern yourself with one matter only.  Don't bother
with things that are above you.  Don't think
for us.  Drive.  Keep driving.  On. On.
The great, the wise, those who understand our future, thought:
There's nothing to worry about.  No fear.  Everything works,
clicks.
Our little clerk is a diligent worker.  He's a simple technician.
     He's the little guy.
Like all the low-ranking clerks, ears have they, but they hear not,
     Eyes have they but they see not.  We have a head;
not the little guys.
Answer them, he thought to himself--just between him and
himself--
the little citizen.  But the man with the head
is not little.  Who is the boss here, who knows
where the train is headed?
Where is our head?  I too have a head.
Why do I see the abyss
Does this train have an engineer?
The clerk-driver-technician-mechanic raised his head.  Retreated
a bit, saw a monster
Unbelieving, returned, rubbed his eyes and indeed--
they're fine.  I'm just fine.  I really do
see a monster.  I am part of the system I signed this form.  And
only now am I reading
the text.  This bolt is part of a bomb.
This bolt is me.  How did I not see
and how do others go on bolt-tightening.
Who else knows.  Who saw, who heard
The emperor is indeed naked.  I see him.
Why me.  This is not for me.  It's to big for me.
Rise up and cry out.  Rise up and proclaim to this nation.
You can.  I the bolt, the mechanic,
the technician.  Yes you.  You are the secret agent
of this nation.  You are the eyes of the state.
Spy-agent, reveal what you've seen.  Reveal
to us what those who understand, the wise, hide from us.
If you are not with us, the void awaits us.
A holocaust awaits us.  You and only you sit
at the wheel and see the void.
I have no choice.  I am a little guy, an ordinary citizen,
one of the common folk,
but I will fulfill my commitment.  I have heard
the voice of my conscience.  And there's nowhere to run.
The world is small.  Small compared to
big brother.  Here I am, on your mission.  Here I am fulfilling
my role.  Take this
from me.  Come and judge.  Lighten my load.  Carry it along with
me.  Carry on my messenger-mission.  Stop the train.  Get off
the train.  The next stop is nuclear holocaust.
The next book, the next machine, no. There is no
such thing.
** End of text from cdp:headlines **
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