continued from page 3 
     
    
   
   
    
     b. 
     
    
   
   
    
     .5“ f 
     
    
   
   
    
     I 
     
    
   
   
    
     AI is not a broad— 
     
     based human rights ‘ 
     
     organization, but a very 
     
     focused movement that 
     
     concerns itself with just 
     
     a few, very. important 
     
     rights and violations. 
     
     this respect, we are 
     
     absolutely correct in 
     
     insisting that the debate 
     
     needs to focus on govern— 
     
     mental ,accountablility. 
     
    

    
     v In the United States, 
     
     it has been said that the 
     
     concern is not human rights_ 
     
     so much as terrorism. :3 
     
     Well, that's: what we are 
     
     working on, isn't it? 
     
    

    
     Terrorism. Govern- 
     
     mental terrorism, anybody's 
     
     terrOrism.  oppoSes _ 
     
     these violatiOns perpetrated 
     
     by Whoevsr‘ff  When A V 
     
     ' privatefgfioUpsg‘orr“ -¥ 
     
    

    
     gover'. -. -  2, ‘ ‘ 
     
     liBefc-Efifon Esra 
     
     hostages {for’a‘ssass inate ' ‘ 
     
     people" with Very few 
     
     exceptions—4 and Iran was 
     
    

    
     one such exception — the 
     
     whole weight of national 
     
     and international police 
     
     power descends on the 
     
     perpetrators. Whereas 
     
     when governments 
     
    

    
     practice terrorism, there 
     
     tends to be silence. 
     
    

    
     While we say in AI 
     
     that we can never claim 
     
     success, we can be very 
     
     satisfied‘of doing our . 
     
     work, and Successful to 
     
     the extent that if we can 
     
     do nomore than make sure 
     
     that when these violations 
     
     occur, never again should" 
     
     there be this monumental 
     
     silence. And of. course We 
     
     do a great deal more. 
     
    

    
     All of you, I'mpsure, 
     
     have to .grityour- teeth 
     
     on many occasions while 
     
     writing sweet'requesting 
     
     letters to very nasty 
     
     People. But the fact is 
     
     When we do that it is an 
     
     effort; to call to the . 
     
     attention of governments 
     
     that they are in violation 
     
     of their own commitments 
     
     and underatkings. ‘ 
     
    

    
     Torture is to be 
     
     proscribed and condemned 
     
    
   
   
    
     In 
     
    
   
   
    
          
     
    
   
   
    
     at ‘all levels and under all 
     
    
   
   
    
     ~ remakes  - 
     
    
   
   
    
          
     
    
   
   
    
     v 
     
    
   
   
    
     \ 
     
    
   
   
    
     ! 
     
    
   
   
    
     circumstances and certainly 
     
     We are not going .to draw 
     
     any lines of permissable  
     
     limits. 
     
    

    
     Is there a difference 
     
     between totalitarian and 
     
     authoritarian forms of 
     
     government? I often am 
     
    
   
   
    
     I asked this question. 
     
    
   
   
    
     If you look at the AI 
     
     Annual Report you see that 
     
     110 countries are listed 
     
     for violating human rights, 
     
     from extreme left to 
     
     extreme right and every- 
     
     thing in between. The 
     
     tragedy is that the words 
     
     left and right, liberal 
     
     and conservative,» progressive 
     
     and reactionary, don't 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     The/SUN, Thursday, October 8, 1981, page 11 
     
    
   
   
    
     of impartiality never 
     
    
   
   
    
     > neutrality because we are 
     
    
   
   
    
     passionate about these 
     
     matters — is terribly 
     
     important and justified. 
     
     And not let us forget that 
     
     pecple in 130 countries, 
     
     of all kinds of political 
     
     persuations, become 
     
     members of AI. 
     
    

    
     Minutes after John 
     
     Spenkelink was executed in 
     
    
   
   
    
     . Florida, our phones began 
     
    
   
   
    
     to ring. The first pecple 
     
     to call us were the radio 
     
     and television networks 
     
     and the wire services, and 
     
     all of them wanted to know 
     
     from me; "Is this an 
     
     indication that there is 
     
     a political wing to the 
     
     right?" 
     
    

    
     This made me very 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     seem to ve much meaning 
     
     in AI'S concerns. People ' 
     
     of all kinds of political 
     
     persuasions seem to be 
     
    

    
     not only able, but willing 
     
    

    
     to violate the rights which 
     
    

    
     AI tries to defend. Their 
     
     political orientation may 
     
     cover their rhetoric, but 
     
    

    
     it doesn't give any guarantees 
     
     one way or the other, and 
     
    
   
   
    
     , surely, the prisoners them-‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
     selves cound't care less 
     
     under which particular 
     
     ideology they are being 
     
    
   
   
    
     ed. And so our stance 
     
     5.3- . . - --_-.-... -;- ‘-' ‘Y-s.‘ '-' -'.\' \‘V -. . . » 
     
    
   
   
    
         
     
    
   
   
    
         
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     angry, because it had 
     
     nothing to do between left 
     
     and right, liberal or 
     
     conservative swings. A 
     
     person can be of any , 
     
     political persuasion and be 
     
     totally’outraged by inhuman- 
     
     ity. ~ We must never forget 
     
     that. ‘ 
     
     I always feel that the 
     
     voices of the prisoners we 
     
     work for need to be heard. 
     
     Here is an exerpt from 
     
     Jacobo Timerman' 5 book ‘ 
     
     ' "Prisoner without a name,._;; 
     
     'Cell withou a ‘Ntinbef'j . 
     
    
   
   
    
      \ 
     
     .x‘ " 
     
    
   
   
    
     are. ‘Q‘gxrim :2   
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
       
     
    
   
   
    
         
     
        
     
       
     
       
     
    
   
   
    
     \ z is worthwhile. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Am‘nesty' can‘t  
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     (Random House) . 
     
     Jacobo Timerman was 
     
     a prisoner of conscience 
     
     in Argentina. A journalist 
     
     who became a publisher, 
     
     who became a prisoner ,of 
     
     conscience and was 
     
     subjected to torture. 
     
     After 30 months in captivity, 
     
    
   
   
    
     he was finally thrown out 
     
     of th 
     
    
   
   
    
     e country and now 
     
     lives in Israel. 
     
    

    
     I thought it would 
     
     be impossible for any 
     
     person to write about 
     
     pure horror and turn it 
     
     into pure pOetry. But the 
     
     book is that way. It is 
     
     very moving and extraor- 
     
     dinarily detailed. 
     
    

    
     The final chapter of 
     
     this book reads: 
     
    

    
     "Have you ever looked 
     
     into the eyes of another 
     
     person, on the floor of 
     
     a cell, who  that he's 
     
     about to die,  no 
     
     .One has told  so? 'He 
     
     knows that he's-about to 
     
     die, but he clingstto 4 
     
     his biologicaldesire to 
     
     live ,_ asma single hope, 
     
     since ‘no mama‘s toldrhim 
     
     that he's to be executed. 
     
    

    
     I have many such 
     
     gazes imprinted upon me. 
     
     Each time I Write or 
     
     utter words of hope, words 
     
     of confidence in the 
     
     definitive triumph of . 
     
     man, I‘m fearful — fearful 
     
     of losing sight of one of 
     
     thOse gazes. At‘ night, 
     
    
   
   
    
     .I recount them, recall 
     
    
   
   
    
     them,~ re-seei‘ng them, 
     
     cleanse them, illumine 
     
     them. These gazes, 'which 
     
     I encountered in the 
     
     clandestine prisons of 
     
     Argentina, and which I 
     
     have retained one by one, 
     
     were the culminating 
     
     point, the purest moment 
     
     of my tragedy. They are 
     
     here with me today. And 
     
     although I might wish to 
     
     do so, I would not know 
     
     how to share them with 
     
     you. I! 
     
    

    
     It is impossible for 
     
     us to share these gazes, 
     
     yet,nonetheless, we plod 
     
     away with this difficult, 
     
     frustrating, ongoing, :5. 
     
     pertinent and pernacious "-‘3' 
     
     kind of work; because it