Statement by Marino Busdachin for June 4 - New York State's

First Annual Anti-Death Penalty Day.

Hello, I'm here from the Transnational Radical Party and Hands Off Cain International Campaign.

I welcome the opportunity to be part of the demonstration against the death penalty and I thank all of you for taking part in it.

At a time when atrocities justified on self-righteous principles are perpetrated in so many parts of the world, it seems the perfect time to take a stand against the sanctioning of death.

IF we are here it is because we all believe that the death penalty is an Anachronistic, Uncivilized and Ineffective practice; but that it has been reinstated in a progressive State like New York is very difficult to accept.

We all know that it doesn't curb crime, we all know that it does not deter violence. So why is it here? Because politicians know how to use people's fears and turn them into paranoia to be exploited for political gain.

Unconscionable, but it's the game. Death, however is no game. Not for those who are victims of crime and not for those who wait for death.

New York, by reinstating it has made a giant step backward. The death penalty issue unfortunately, is not simply a New York State issue. New York, in its social as well as its economic scope, is international.

The reintroduction of the capital punishment in New York risks being used not only as a mean to administer punishment instead of practicing justice, but also as a negative example in countries that apply it to submit and subdue their citizens to their governments' will.

Since New York is a model for many developing nations, any development in its social structure has immediate and eventual repercussions. This requires, therefore, a joint and concerted effort not simply of local forces, but of citizens, parliamentarians and governments together.

At the 1994 General Assembly of the United Nations, the resolution on the universal suspension on capital executions drawn up by the Transnational Radical Party and presented by Italy had 49 countries as co-sponsors. After easily making it through 5 procedural votes, it was ultimately rejected by a mere 8 votes.

Was this a defeat?

Not at all!

It was in fact an unprecedented success to have brought the issue of a moratorium on capital punishment to the United Nations' forum where for no other motion had there been so many delegates make so many speeches.

The topic was obviously a hot one, so what went wrong?

There just wasn't enough support from the people, the parliamentarians and governmental force which although not directly involved with the UN processes, nevertheless excercise considerable influence over the delegates' positions.

Not that there wasn't any!

At that time deputies and citizens from all over the world, flooded the UN with their signed appeals, organized press campaigns and sent faxes in support of the motion to the extent that it prompted the Secretary General Boutros-Boutros Ghali to say that "It created a revolution into the U.N. building",

and yet

not one paper,

not one TV station

spent as much as a word about it to inform the American people.

Still This proves that there is a great deal of support all over the world for the universal moratorium and abolishment of the death penalty. What is missing though, is much better coordination among the nations' supporters in order to make a much stronger statement to their governments and the United Nations Commission.

Again, we cannot leave this to a local and regional level. We must gather the supporters from every country and give them an international forum where the magnitude of their number can send a clear message to their governments' representatives.

We at the Transnational Radical Party and Hands Off Cain International Campaign are working relentlessly in pressuring the 15 Nations of the European Community so that they will reintroduce the motion to the European Parliament and subsequently to the United Nations for their 1996 Assembly.

We strongly urge all those concerned not leave us to be the only warriors in fighting this barbaric practice. We urge you to make your sentiments known to your government's representatives and to the US Congress.

To conclude: let's organize, let's support each other and fight together against the death penalty!