by Olivier Dupuis

In Tibet Forum, december 1995

Initially I thought about telling you of the Radical Party at the end of this article and only after having introduced the initiatives for the freedom of Tibet that we are currently working on; in many cases in strict cooperation with the groups supporting the cause of Tibet. On second thought though, I believe that doing the opposite is better and that telling you first who is writing is preferable so that you know where is coming from and what is this organization with a name somewhat barbaric - since in many languages the word "radical" means downright "extremist" (and - curiously - as far as we are concerned it is not entirely false...: we are extremists...of democracy, of rights, of the rules in political "game").

However, there isn't only "Radical", there is also "Party". A word, a concept that today, has acquired a rather negative image in the press. Why continue to use it? Especially since the Radical Party does no participate in elections (national, regional or local). We love, we "want" to be a party! Because, even though there is no participation in the elections, even though there is no aim to "power", we consider ourselves a "political part" of society, and as such a political party that, as far as the issues undertaken, has the ambition to aim to a "government of society", defending and promoting positions that oppose those defended by the other "parts" of society.

As opposite of the church-party, the sectarian party, the Radical Party is nothing more than a place for commitment, next to, together or over the place or places of struggle, that every and each one can have at a local, regional or national level, in some or other party or organization. This is what we call the "transparty" and in effect, anyone can belong to the Radical Party; anyone - registered or not in another party - want to support or fight for one or more or the objectives defined in our Congress, where all the members have the right to participate and vote. The membership in this party lasts only one year and then one can leave or renews the subscription: no induction, no bible, no ideology, no expulsion and obviously no lifetime membership.

A transparty - as I said - but also transnational: we are convinced that no great issue of our time can be dealt with and resolved within the narrow ambit of a single country: our principal questioner is the United Nations. The same United Nations that have granted the Non-Governmental Organization Category 1 status to the Radical Party, giving it the privilege to participate to the debates of the numerous committees and to present documents like the one introduced last June on the Tibetan question.

Ours is a party with direct membership and in this sense, profoundly different from those of the old "internationals". One can sign up in New York or Rome, in Ouagadougou or Grozny, with the same rights and duties. It is a self-financed party, that is, supported exclusively by its membership which explains the cost not exactly modest of the dues, for the membership "card", since self-financing is the condition for its own independence. It is a nonviolent party, ghandian and bases its action on a simple precept that Ghandi defined as "the end is in its means as the tree is in its seed".

What are our objectives?

* the establishment of true international justice, modeled on the ad hoc tribunals for war crimes committed in ex-Yugoslavia and Rwanda, through a permanent international criminal tribunal;

* the universal abolishment of the death penalty and as a first step the institution by the United Nations of a moratorium on capital executions at the global level;

* the immediate inclusion of Bosnia to the European Union which is is only way to ensure the survival of a multicultural and tolerant Bosnia. Unfortunately, the recent developments seem to indicate that the battle may be lost; that politics based on violence, in one way or another, will be rewarded by the international community;

* the release of Francisco CHAVIANO, president of the National Council for Civil Rights, and of all the Cuban political prisoners: a struggle (not simply a testimonial) for the democraticization of Cuba;

* the linguistic democracy, through the promotion at the European and global level, of a neutral instrument of communication, easy to learn...esperanto;

* the regulation of the drug market as the only way to hinder the enormous and steadily growing power of the international mafias that build their wealth on drug traffickingand that, thanks to the power, infect entire segments of our society: justice, police, mass-media, the political world, the banking, industrial, tourist and real estate world.

And, last but not least:

* the freedom of Tibet through the organization at the global level of a great nonviolent mass initiative: the Satyagraha.

This great initiative conceived as goal, needs to be prepared, defined, "nourished": hence the necessity to create and launch other initiatives like the ones that I am about to describe.

Motions in national Parliaments

After the adoption, last July, of a resolution by the European Parliament (for the very first time in Europe a Parliament has denounced the invasion and the occupation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China) we thought that the time had come to propose similar steps in the largest possible number of national parliaments. We have therefore prepared, on the basis of the document approved by the EU, a motion submitted, last September, to the attention of about 30 national parliaments of western, central and eastern Europe.

After only a few weeks from the launching of this initiative, we have received the first responses. In Italy, 61 deputies have introduced this motion; in Luxembourg, a motion, even if less forceful, has just been approved; in France, numerous parliamentarians have notified us of their strong interest and, currently, they are organizing themselves around DE BROISSIA, president of the Tibet Intergroup to the National Assembly, in order to submit a statement. In Belgium, some parliamentarians are beginning - still too slowly - to mobilize themselves. In Germany it seems that it is necessary to wait for the return of Chancellor KOHL from his trip to Beijing in order to act... In Austria the parliamentary groups of the Liberal Forum and the Greens were ready... but the government, as you know, fell and the Parliament has been dissolved. At the Russian Duma, the inclusion on the agenda proposed by our deputy Kara-Kys ARAKCHAA has been rejected; but, thanks to her efforts and to that of the "Democratic Russia" Grou

p, we can concretely hope that the initiative will be launched again after the December elections. In Romania and in Albania various parliamentarians have informed us of their intention to support this effort.

A flag for Tibet

This initiative is directed in the first place to the mayors of the cities and the towns of the entire world. Later, when it will be indicated, to the presidents of regions and provinces. By proposing to the mayors to adhere to the appeal "Freedom for Tibet", they will make a commitment to raise the Tibetan flag on the upcoming March 10th (anniversary of the Uprising Day, the 1959 nonviolent insurrection of Lhasa) and to inform their citizens of the situation in this Country. Among the first adhesions there are those of the mayors of Rome, Sarajevo, Osijek, Krakow, Poznan, Carpentras, Turin... but also of smaller cities.

March 10th in Brussels

The Tibetan communities in Europe, the Tibetan Youth Organization, the European Committees for the Support of Tibet and the transnational Radical Party decided to organize a first great European meeting for the Tibetan cause for the upcoming March 10th in Brussels.

It will be necessary that they raise thousands of Tibetan flags and that thousands of people march from the European Parliament to the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in order to give effective political concreteness to a day that is the symbol of the struggle for the freedom of Tibet and that they have only four months to make the day of March 10th a great day of hope.

These first initiatives are all part, as I said before, of a much larger campaign which we have called - in the motion of our last Congress - SATYAGRAHA 1997. This idea of the Satyagraha, as great nonviolent initiative at the global level, is today being studied and prepared by some of the highest Tibetan experts among whom, Prof. Samdhong RINPOCHE, President of the Tibetan Parliament in exile. The decision of the Tibetan authorities on the opportunity to launch this initiative and on the best way to proceed, will be taken in August 1996.

This decision - a very important one since it will determine the "tone" of the entire fight for the freedom of Tibet - will be particularly difficult and painful since putting it in practice, will imply that a certain number of people "risk", in fasting, in hunger strikes, and in other nonviolent initiatives, their health, their lives (but not as the Irish of IRA did, that is "their death") while in the occupied Tibet, the Tibetans will have to face in a more open way, the terrible repression of the Chinese authorities.

Why this commitment on the part of the Radical Party specifically on Tibet? The reasons can be many: democracy, the respect for the rights and of international law, the unique character of the history, of the traditions and of the culture of Tibet and its people... And many other, I think, will be your own reasons. There is one though, that I would like to emphasize. The freedom of Tibet, from the double totalitarian and imperialistic Chinese regime, through nonviolent struggle, could become, we are absolutely convinced, a formidable force of example for all the oppressed of the world, peoples, minorities and single persons. It would be, after Gandhi and the nonviolent liberation of India from the British colonizer (non-totalitarian), the demonstration that brutal force, violence, terrorism or armed fight, are not the only possible instruments and that another weapon exists, stronger, more effective and, above all, more respectful of the adversary (not of the "enemy") but also of ourselves, of each one of us

, Tibetans, Chinese, Europeans, Americans,... This force is the force of dialogue and truth: of nonviolence.

P.S.: If you wish to know more or if you wish to participate to the campaign "a flag for Tibet", please write to: Radical Party - c/o European Parliament - REM 508 - Rue Belliard 97 - 1040 Brussels - Belgium - e-mail: radical.party@agora.stm.it