It is with a mixture of delight and great humility that I accept this award you are graciously conferring.

Delight, because I am deeply moved by the recognition from people for whom I have such deep respect; and because of the nature of the values which we all espouse and cherish.

Humility, because in receiving this award, I must pay tribute to the legendary figure whose name it bears - Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson.

Among his many achievements & claims to fame, I would highlight one, which has especial significance for me.

Beginning in August 1972, the Soviet Union began assessing exorbitant "education reimbursement fees" ("diploma taxes") on its citizens wishing to emigrate, primarily targeting Soviet Jews. A coalition of major Jewish organizations worked with Senator Henry Jackson, Representative Charles Vanik and other prominent Members of Congress, to pressure the Soviet Union to end the diploma tax and eliminate barriers to free emigration. The now famous Jackson-Vanik Amendment linked U.S. trade benefits, now known as Normal Trade Relations (NTR), to the emigration and human rights policies of Communist or formerly Communist countries.

As someone who has had the privilege of crossing the Iron Curtain many times & always intensely dismayed by the imprisoning behind it of a vast array of free spirits, yearning for freedom, I can have some understanding of the enormous significance of this initiative, both in its principled linking of human rights & freedoms with economic incentives; & its implications for so many trapped inside a system where they were denied the fundamental freedom of exit. As I will recount, in a few moments, one or two examples of my own experiences behind that Iron Curtain which stretched as vast prison fence across Europe - experiences which make me appreciate even more profoundly the significance of Scoop Jackson's political vision & initiative - & which make me especially proud, as well as humble, to receive this Award in his name.

And I am also proud to be a successor to Richard Perle, who has fought so hard in the international arena for the preservation of fundamental freedoms and the recognition of their centrality in the political vision of the leaders of the western world - even at times when it was not popular or 'politically correct' to do so. In particular, I will always remember him as a valiant warrior against the domination and barbarity of the 'Evil Empire'.

By comparison, I feel an amateur of small stature. However, the definition of the word 'amateur' indicates a love or passion - and I do feel passionately about the values we all share, especially a deep commitment to freedom and democracy.

As an amateur, I will respond in kind - not with an impressive academic lecture, but with a message from the heart, which will, I hope, speak with as much eloquence as I can muster, of the importance of values and vision in the political leaders and arenas of the world today.

As we are all befitting from a programme packed with serious discussion and erudite analysis. I am going to take this opportunity to speak more personally and intimately. I wish to explain how I came to understand the importance of values and vision in politics by my encounters with those who were holding frontiers of freedom in various parts of the world.

It was my experience of their courage and the price they were paying for freedom which made me appreciate how precious freedom is.

From them I learnt that freedom is indivisible. We cannot - or should not - enjoy all the benefits of our freedoms, while others are denied them. Not only is it callous and, therefore, immoral, to do so. It is also living dangerously. We all remember the warning:

"When the Nazis arrested the Communists, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Communist.
When they locked up the Social Democrats, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Social Democrat.
When they arrested the trade unionists, I said nothing; after all, I was not a trade unionist.
When they arrested the Jews, I said nothing; after all, I was not a Jew.
When they arrested me, there was no longer anyone who could protest".
(Martin Niemoller)

Secondly, my friends holding frontiers of freedom taught me the danger of crying 'peace' when there is no peace. To do so is not only conniving with perpetrators of violence and turning a blind eye to aggressors of attempted ethnic cleansing, militaristic jihad or genocide. Again, it is dangerous. Hitler's dreadful assessment of the world's forgetfulness of the Armenian genocide were spoken as a reassurance that he could get away with murder on a huge scale with impunity as he was about to embark on his terrible assault on Poland and the escalation of the holocaust:
"Who speaks today about the Armenians?"

Therefore, I also learnt from my encounters with those defending their freedoms, often with little support from the international community, that those of us who have the privilege of living in freedom have an obligation to use our freedoms on behalf of those who are denied them.

So I would like to use this opportunity to pay my tribute to the countless people who are defending fundamental freedoms, such as those enshrined in the UDHR. These represent an evolution of political values and visions over the centuries, born in the world of Ancient Greece and the Judaeo-Christian traditions and subsequently refined and developed by many social developments such as the Reformation and the Enlightenment and by visionaries ranging from Hobbes and Locke to Burke and Hayek. Others whose names must be awarded special places in the Roll of Honour are those who wear the scars of battle for freedom on their hearts, minds and bodies - the famous dissidents such as Solzhenitsyn and the countless victims of the Holocaust, the notorious Gulag of the Soviet Union and subsequent Gulags, to those of the present day in North Korea.

There are also those who suffer and die in conflict, defending their homes and lands against aggressors and oppressors; and the unsung heroes and heroines who maintain quiet resistance and defiance, by refusing to comply with unjust dictates of totalitarian regimes and who thereby risk or suffer punishment ranging from execution to torture, imprisonment or cruel forms of discrimination.

I have had the enormous privilege of meeting many of these and it is their voice I would like to be heard here today: they are the heroes and heroines who have risked or given their lives for the values and the visions of freedom, justice and democracy.

So, I am going to ask you to allow me to tell you some stories - their stories, which are part of the mosaic of history of genuine freedom fighters. I would therefore ask you to travel with me in imagination to meet these people, to share my experiences - and I hope you will return from our travels as humbled and inspired as I always am, by their courage and dignity.

First, to Poland in the dark days of martial law.
Case Study/story 1: Lech Walesa's cry for help; establishment of MAPF; travels on 32-tonne trucks; life of trucker; crossing the Iron Curtain into vast prison of free spirits; near arrest for inadvertently carrying 2 boxes of blank paper; clarification with Polish doctor:
"Of course you could have been arrested and sent to prison. Don't you realise that in a totalitarian society, blank paper is DANGEROUS - you can write ideas on it."
The nature of totalitarianism - and the irony that on the other side of the iron curtain, 16 out of 19 of my fellow academic staff/faculty members were Communist party or further Left and using the freedoms of democracy to subvert it, in order to destroy our democracy and the freedoms it enshrines.
Lesson learnt: The importance of never taking for granted the fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of expression and speech - and necessities such as blank paper.

Story2: Poland again: Children's Hospital at Krakow; children with leukaemia and no pain-killing or sedative medication; no complaining; immense courage. True story of 12-year-old boy in the midst of the Warsaw Uprising, with shelling, fires, tanks, death and destruction all around, wrote these words on a wall:
"I believe in the sun, even when I cannot see it;
I believe in love, even when I cannot feel it."

Lesson learnt: Admiration for so many people I've encountered who have lived in darkness of tyranny for so long, but who continue to believe in the sun - even when they have not been able to see it for years - and the importance of being with them to share the darkness.

Story 3: Move to Russia in 1990 for visit to first independent Human Rights Conference to be held in USSR, convened by Poles with new found freedom and hosted by new democratically elected Lensoviet (though' still within the context of USSR State apparatus).
Meet hostess Olga, generously, graciously providing accommodation for John and me in crowded apartment. Last evening, spent until 3am listening to Russian sacred music and looking at maps of Leningrad showing blue and red crosses, with the red crosses far outnumbering the blue. The red were all the churches destroyed by Stalin; the few blue crosses were the only ones which remained.
Join us as we sit crowded round little breakfast table, eating kasha. Olga shyly stands and asks to make a toast:
"Thank you for coming here. You have brought us hope. You have shown us it is possible to live in a land where people still smile. Here in the USSR, we cannot smile. When I or my husband go to work or Sergei goes to school, we cannot smile, because we don't know whom we can trust. But you have given us a vision of a world where people do smile and I pray we may find that vision comes true for us one day."
Lesson 4: Never to take for granted the freedom of association and the freedom to meet friends without the fear of the ever-present secret police looking for a compromising situation to endanger me - or, far worse, those with whom I have been associating.

Story 5: Southern Sudan: walking through the killing fields of victims of militant jihad. Visit with us in Bahr-El-Ghazal, soon after NIF forces and Jihad warriors have attacked this region, killing all in sight (people and cattle), burning homes and crops. Come 'footing' through 20km of scorched earth policy and visit with us as we reach the burnt remains of a village.
The tribal chief welcomes us with warmth but embarrassment: he has nothing let for us to sit on - chairs, beds, everything burnt. So we sit on the ground among the ants; he is more worried than we are - except we are hurt by his embarrassment. Listen to his gracious words. Refraining from taking this opportunity to blame the British for the catastrophic situation we bequeathed to them, with our legacy of inappropriate, now lethal, territorial boundaries, this tall, elderly, painfully emaciated Dinka Chief says graciously:
"We will always be grateful to the British. For you gave us education - and education gives us the freedom to think for ourselves. You cannot give anyone a greater gift or a greater freedom than that."
Lesson 5: Humility in the face of the dignity of so many people suffering from injustice, tyranny and war - and the importance of education. Hence, the commitment to the recognition of the importance of education in any society, no matter how great the deprivation or suffering of its people - and in particular a commitment to ensure that the education provided is of the kind which enables people to think for themselves: the education which is the legacy of the western tradition. Without this, people will remain illiterate and/or become cannon fodder for totalitarian ideologies such as Communism or Islamism.
Lesson 6: Subsequently, we have become increasingly aware of use of education by militant Islam, whether through the spread of Wahhabism in the madrassas of Pakistan, the pesandarin of Indonesia or the rapid growth of Islamic schools with anti-western curricula throughout many parts of the world.

Sixth and final story: to Indonesia. The world's largest Islamic nation hah an honourable and honoured record of religious tolerance - until 1999, when militant Islamism arrived in the form of Laskar Jihad, igniting conflicts in Maluku and Sulawesi, causing the deaths of thousands and the displacement of hundreds of thousands,

Although there has been some stabilisation, the situation in Sulawesi is still very volatile and there are many elements in the military and security forces who do not want peace. Therefore one of the Christian leaders, who had been active in promoting reconciliation, was framed and imprisoned. Come with me to meet Revd, Damanik in prison in Palu, Central Sulawesi, last year. Sit with me in his grimy prison cell and hear him explain that he has been offered freedom, because they could not bring an effective case against him - but only if he pleads guilty. He felt unable to do this.
Sit with me in the sultry court room the next morning, as this brave man, defenceless, except for the defence of truth, explains to the judges:

"Your Honours, I have been offered my freedom id I will plead guilty. That I cannot do, because I am not guilty. I cannot accept freedom on the basis of a lie. We cannot build the future for our children for our grandchildren, for Indonesia, on the basis of a lie. Even if it means that I must spend many years in prison; even if it means that I must go to the scaffold, I would prefer to go to the scaffold for the truth than accept freedom for a lie."

Sitting just a few yards away from this brave man choosing the scaffold for freedom, the words of this verse kept running through my mind:

"Tho' the cause of evil prosper
Yet 'tis truth alone is strong -
Tho' her portion be the scaffold
And upon the throne be wrong.
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And behind the dim unknown
Standeth God, among the shadows,
Keeping watch above is own."

Lesson 7: It was ever thus. It is those who are ready to go to the scaffold, to give their lives in countless ways, to spend years in prison, for the truth, who truly cherish, preserve and enhance our most fundamental values and visions.
It is their voices I want to speak here today. They have taught me the value of the freedoms we enjoy; they have inspired me and we owe them a debt of gratitude which we can never repay, But we can try to be worthy of their sacrifice, as they hold the frontiers of freedom for us, by using our freedoms to support them; and also to ensure that we do not betray them by failing to protect and promote those values and visions in our own societies.

The Book of Proverbs reminds us:
"Without a vision, things fall apart and the people perish"

This Conference has helped to remind us of the vision and values we have inherited. May our friendship and fellowship enable us to defend and to promote these more staunchly, effectively and intelligently in the face of all the challenges which confront us in the days ahead.

Caroline Cox.

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