dimona

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.

- Vanunu was not an advanced scientist, but a subordinate technical assistant.

- An oath of secrecy would not bar him from exposing an illegal nuclear program.

- Assuming that the Israeli government saw nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, Vanunu was helpful in giving credible evidence of the weapons

- If Vanunu had been a spy for another state (which?), he would long ago have been released in a swap with agents of that state.

- He did not go to an enemy, but to the newspapers, in an attempt to protect his own people, the region and the world against great danger.

- Scientists agree that Vanunu primarily had photos to offer, in 1986. Now, almost 18 years later, the Israeli claim that he has nuclear secrets is nothing but an empty pretext for continuing the punishment.

- In civilised justice a prisoner who has served his time is back in society.

- Israel may find it embarassing that Vanunu was abducted in violation of the territorial integrity of Britain and Italy, but cannot keep him forever to cover up its own illegal actions.

- One main problem for Israel is a US law that prohibits support to countries that break the 1968 treaty on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

more @ vanunu.org