October 12, 2009: Back to U2, Lennon and Vanunu
On January 30, 1972, British troops opened fire on NONVIOLENT demonstrators in Derry, Ireland during a March for Civil Rights march.
"Bloody Sunday" is U2's tribute to the 29 killed and many others who were wounded.
Last Friday in Tampa, U2 dedicated this song to Iran's Green Movement-and for me it was the highlight of the exceptional night of great music and unity among the stand up and record breaking crowd at Raymond James Stadium.
Green is the color chosen by Iranian Civil Society to symbolize their unity and their hope for a better future.
On September 6, 2006 I published the following message from:
An Irish Truth teller in Jerusalem
And a Lennon Vanunu connection:
In
1976, at the height of "The Troubles", [which extended from 1969 to
1998] the "Peace People" movement organized the largest nonviolent
demonstrations in the history of Northern Ireland. The following year
Betty and Mairead Corrigan Maguire were awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace
Prize for their leadership and vision.
The
war raged on but Mairead persisted in speaking and promoting
nonviolence. Since 1976, Mairead has insisted "that a peaceful and
just society can be achieved only through nonviolent means and that the
path to peace lies in each of our hearts. I believe that hope for the
future depends on each of us taking nonviolence into our hearts and
minds and developing new and imaginative structures which are
nonviolent and life-giving for all. Some people will argue that this is
too idealistic. I believe it is very realistic. I am convinced that
humanity is fast evolving to this higher consciousness. For those who
say it cannot be done, let us remember that humanity learned to abolish
slavery. Our task now is no less than the abolition of violence and
war. We can rejoice and celebrate today because we are living in a
miraculous time. Everything is changing and everything is possible."
In April 2006, after spending 10 days in Israel-Palestine Mairead Corrigan Maguire stated:
"During
my visit I have travelled to Jenin Refugee Camp, Hebron, and Bethlehem
in the Israeli Occupied Terrorities. I have witnessed the daily
suffering of the Palestinian people living under an increasing and
worsening oppressive Israeli occupation.
"I
believe there is a great desire for peace amongst all the people, but
in order to move into serious dialogue and negotiations urgent steps,
and the political will, particularly from the Israeli Government, need
to be taken.
"I
believe it is sad and shameful that the Israeli Government continues to
detain Mordechai Vanunu for this the 20th year of his internal exile
within Israel. He has no secrets. He is no threat to Israeli security.
I therefore call upon the Israel Government to uphold Mordechai
Vanunu's human rights to freedom of speech and freedom of movement and
let him go."
Maried returned to Jerusalem in August 2006 and wrote:
On
7th September, 2006 that upon hearing of her unanimous appointment as
the next Israeli Supreme Court President, Justice Dorit Beinisch said
"she would preserve the Supreme Court's culture of values'. She went on
to say 'As for the talk of eroding public confidence in the court
system, everyone from all walks of life comes to court to ask for its
help.' She said the Supreme Court had no political agenda and protected
basic values.
I
found these interesting comments from Justice Beinisch, who just the
day before sat in the Israeli Court (together with Justices Chesine and
Brunis) hearing this the 3rd Appeal of Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli
Nuclear Whistleblower, against his restrictions.
"In
l986 Mordechai Vanunu, acting out of conscience, revealed to the world
that Israel had a nuclear weapons programme. Sentenced to 18 years in
prison, he spent the first 12, in solitary confinement in a tiny cell,
and eventually was released in April, 2004 having completed the entire
18 years. Upon his release the Israeli Government imposed draconian
restrictions on his freedom. He is forbidden to speak to foreigners,
foreign press or leave Israel. Each year for the past 2 years on 2lst
April, these restrictions are renewed and Vanunu remains a virtual
prisoner living within a couple of square miles within East Jerusalem,
and under constant security surveillance everywhere he goes.
On
this my 4th visit to support Mordechai Vanunu (whom I have nominated
many times for the Nobel Peace Prize) I attended the Israeli Supreme
Court hearings on Vanunu restrictions on 6th September, 2006. Vanunu
defense Lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, argued that in all the interviews
Mordechai gave to the International Media since his release, in April
2004, there was no new secrets revealed and nothing he said was
endangering the security of the State.
He said that the
Supreme Court stated in its judgment last year, that 'the no breaches
of restrictions together with the "Passing of time" factor are the base
in deciding the continuing or ending of the restrictions", and now
after two and a half years and in the light of the fact that Mordechai
did not breach the restrictions for eight months, Feldman argued, the
court should consider the ending of the restrictions. Mr. Feldman said
that the ban on Mordechai to leave the country is a serious breach of
his fundamental constitutional human rights. The attorney for the State
came to the court with four or five men, secret expert witnesses, from
the Secret Services and from the secret Israeli Nuclear Committee, to
give the three judges a testimony behind closed doors, without
Mordechai and his lawyers present, as they have done in the previous
discussions in the Supreme Court. Their aim would be to convince the
court that Vanunu still has more information to reveal and he is a
serious danger to the security of the State.
The
President of the Supreme Court Dorit Beinish, said that there is no
need to hear these secret testimonies as their position was well
accepted by the previous bench of the court and 'it is accepted on this
bench too'. The Attorney for the State disputed Feldman's statements
'Vanunu is still a danger to the State Security, he has more
unpublished information and he wanted to make it public". He also said
that it is not true that Vanunu did not breach the restrictions in the
past eight months and that he has material on that but he wants it to
be heard in closed door. Mr. Feldman said only if the state has a
proper order to make it closed doors evidence. In the end the court
asked the Sate to obtain the certificate for secrecy and make a new
date to continue the hearing of the appeal.
One
thing was clear from both the State attorney and from the Judges
statements in the court, that with our without Vanunu breaching the
restrictions, eight months or a years time (since the previous decision
of the court) is not enough time to end restrictions. The President of
the Court said that 'the court in its decision left the term 'time'
undefined' and asked the State what is their position to how long more
the restrictions could continue but there was no clear answer, from the
State Prosecutor how long was long enough!
As
I sat in the Israeli Court I was surprised at one of the comments by
President Beinisch to the effect that two year's restrictions do not
seem too long!
I though to myself, that it is, two and a half
years restrictions, plus 18 years in prison (12 solitary) and every day
that goes by now, as Mordechai Vanunu is a virtual prisoner, whose life
is constantly in danger, being repunished again and again (itself an
action forbidden by law). How long is it going to be before it is
finally long enough! Vanunu has no secrets; Israel and the world know
it. His situation is now worse than a prison term, when at least he
could look forward to getting out at a given time.
Now he
knows the Israel Gov. directed by the Security Services of Israel, can
keep him in Israel forever if they like, and no one outside Israeli, or
inside, apart from the Israeli Supreme Court if they really are a Court
of justice, can do anything about it! Vanunu has gone (yet again as
this is the 3rd appeal!) to the Israeli Court to ask for its help, and
the question is, will they help give him Justice NOW, and if not now,
WHEN? or must he live out the rest of his life incarcerated within
Israel, a victim of secret court hearings, and securocrats, and an
victim of an allegedly democractic country with a sham justice system,
offering no hope to Vanunu or any of its citizens who come looking
justice from their Courts of Justice.
Both
inside Israeli and many in the International community, wait and watch,
to see if President Beinisch and her 2 Justice colleagues, will have
the courage to uphold International Laws and basic common decency and
justice, and restore Mordechai Vanunu's right to his basic freedom of
speech and movement. The result of this Appeal will indeed give us an
indication of the future strength of Israeli justice for those who go
to ask for its help. We wait in hope that we may yet see JUSTICE IN
JERUSALEM."-Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate and Hon.President, Peace People, N.Ireland. Please read more: http://www.peacepeople.com/
On Sept. 6, 2006, I also wrote:
Everyone
has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes
freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and
impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers.-UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, Article 19. On
September 6, 2006, Mordechai Vanunu was once again inside of the Israeli
Supreme Court.
He returned this time, regarding an appeal against the
renewing of the restrictions against him which have forbidden him to
leave Israel and to speak to media or foreigners, ever since he was
released from 18 years in jail on April 21, 2004. The
restrictions have been imposed in the name of Security, for the Israeli
government has maintained Vanunu could still have a secret he has not
yet told about the underground nuclear weapons facility in the Dimona. Vanunu has not been there in 20 years, and International Atomic Energy Agency Inspectors never have. On
9/30/86, Mordechai Vanunu was kidnapped by the Mossad and sentenced on
3/27/88 to eighteen years in jail, most of it in solitary. Vanunu was
charged with treason because he broke down the wall that proved Israel
had gone nuclear when he shared photos and his story with the London
Sunday Times in 1986.
Released
from Ashkelon Prison on 4/21/04, Vanunu has lived under the draconian
restrictions of the British Emergency Defense Regulations that forbid
him to leave Israel, to speak to media or foreigners. He is currently
on trial for the interviews he gave the media after his release in 2004.
The
media has been a no show for his current trials, but Vanunu will soon
be posting what transpired in Supreme Court on September 6, 2006 on his
site http://www.serve.com/vanunu/
When Israel became a state in 1948, it was contingent on upholding The UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. Article 19 states: Everyone
has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes
freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and
impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers.
Lennon Connection: On
9/18/04 in London, Yoko Ono awarded Mordechai Vanunu a peace prize
founded in memory of and in the spirit of John Lennon's "Give Me Some
Truth" released in 1971. The award is given biennially, and was
instituted in 2002, when Israeli Zvi Goldstein and Palestinian Khalil
Rabah each won for artistic contributions to peace in their homeland.
In
2004, Yoko Ono also awarded $50,000 to New Yorker magazine
correspondent and author Seymour Hersh, whom she described as "a
staunch seeker of truth" for his investigative journalism.
In
2004, Ono was quoted by Reuters that Hirsh and Vanunu were honored as
"people who have spoken out for the benefit of the human race by
overcoming extreme personal difficulties and, in doing so, have allowed
the truth to prevail…Hopefully [Vanunu] can come and receive the award
himself. He did complete his sentence, it's not as though he's a
criminal…the point is that it's another statement, a statement that the
whole world can share and think about…People power is stronger than the
power of institutions."
Long time friend and supporter of Vanunu, the Anglican Father Dave from Sydney, Australia wrote in 2004: "Good news and not-so-good news this month regarding our brother Morde Vanunu. The
good news: Morde has been awarded a Yoko Ono Peace Prize…The
not-so-good news is that Morde seems to be flouting the ban placed upon
him, preventing him from communicating with foreign media…The danger is
that the Israeli authorities will re-arrest Morde for making contact
with foreign media. Having spoken to Morde though, he is confident, and
is sick of being told who he is not allowed to talk to. Indeed, he has
asked me whether I will set up a community web cast for him, where he
can talk to you, his online supporters, via webcam. He has asked me to
organize this for his birthday, October 13..."
That web cast still has not happened and Fr.Dave's
words proved accurate, as Vanunu is now on trial for speaking to the
media in 2004 and that trial resumes on 9/21/06. Vanunu is a hero to Palestinians and many Internationals, but is surrounded by many who despise him as a traitor. Vanunu
has consistently maintained that he spoke out twenty years ago and
continues to do so under threat of more jail time, because he only
wants to save Israel from a "New Holocaust." Israel claims
that they must detain Vanunu for security reasons, but they have failed
to secure the safety of the citizens that work and live near the
leaking dinosaur that is the Dimona. In a March 2006 interview
with this reporter, Vanunu stated, "When I decided to expose Israel's
nuclear weapons I acted out of conscience and to warn the world to
prevent a nuclear holocaust…The Dimona is 46 years old; reactors last
25 to 30 years. The Dimona has never been inspected and Israel has
never signed the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty; but all the Arab states
have...Twenty years ago when I worked there they only produced when the
air was blowing towards Jordan ten miles away. No one knows what is
happening now.” In June 2005, he told me, "The only way to
peace is peace; the only way is non-violence. The only answer to
Israeli nuclear weapons, their aggression, occupation and oppression,
the wall and refugee camps is to answer them with truth and a
peace-full voice. When I became the spy for the world I did it all for
the people of the world. If governments do not report the truth, if
media does not report the truth, all we can do is follow our
conscience... Israel is not a democracy unless you are a Jew. Israel is
the only country in the Middle East where America can right now find
WMD's. America can also find where basic human rights have been denied
Christians, right here in Israel." In
Ray Coleman's biography of John Lennon, he quotes the artist circa
1969:
"I'd like to be like Christ, [he described himself as a
Christian communist] in a pure sense, not in the way Russia or Italy
think of Christianity or communism…Every body's uptight [fearful] and
they're always building these walls around themselves. All you can do
is try to break down the walls and show them that there's nothing there
but people… I only know that peace can exist, and the first thing is
for the world to disarm…I think I'll win because I believe in what
Jesus said."-LENNON , McGraw-Hill, 1984. pgs -374-381. So
does Vanunu and he has always insisted, "My Christian conversion was
also considered as treason and led to me receiving more time in jail
than any murderer has ever served. The Israelis have this very
beautiful article about freedom and liberty but they want to destroy
anyone who criticizes them for revealing the truth to the world. The
world must look and see what kind of democracy Israel is when one
speaks out the truth."
Article
18 of the UDHR affirms: Everyone has the right to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion. This right includes freedom to change
one’s religion.
Article 13 of the UDHR affirms: (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Love him, or loathe him, one thing remains certain: Vanunu will continue to give us some truth, if we have ears to hear him.
Sources:
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/478559.html http://www.fatherdave.org/ezine-express/view.php?item=get&id=22#a5 |