London 26th of march 1998

I am usually delighted to read about the Radical Party in the press, but when it is associated to the fate of Ilona Staller ( G2 18th of march page 3 ) it very often means more work as lies and fake information implies my duty to write you this letter. Could you kindly let your readers know that:

- Cicciolina as a Party member-before the Party renounced electoral competition in 1988- had a duty to stand on the lists for which we needed to fill a mere 1,000 candidates names out of about three times that amount of members. She wasnt a leader top of the list candidate like those who represented best the partys ideas and history, she just stood in alphabetical order only in the Rome constituency. She was a headline-grabbing stunt in the Italian press which gave her the publicity an outgoing prime minister would have expected in order not to talk about our leading candidates. Her victory reached the headlines of the international media with very little interest for the Radical Party and a lot for the pornstar. I cannot resist quoting the comment by the Sicilian writer Leonardo Sciascia:Its better to have Cicciolina in Parliament than a thief. Some years later more than a third of the members of that chamber were under investigation for corruption, bribery and other grave offenses...

- Contrary to what you state, the implication was certainly permissive because the Radical Party in Italy was at the forefront of the battles to legalize divorce and abortion , to defend the gay and lesbian rights, and precisely because of that libertarian, avant-guarde attitude we could not refuse her a place on the list by telling her she was a prostitute.

- Certainly you can say that a huge chunk of the press used Cicciolina against us, but you cant say we used her as we knew before that election that including her in our lists would have meant us loosing at least 300,000 votes. It also tarnished our image for long by giving our opponents an easy cheap junk to splash in their columns.

I think it is appropriate to remind you that the Radical Party is since 1988 a transnational and transparty Party, an association of citizens, parliamentarians and members of governement of various national and political backgrounds, that intends to achieve, through nonviolent Gandhian methods, a number of concrete objectives aimed at creating an effective body of international law with respect for individuals and the affirmation of democracy and freedom throughout the world. The main campaigns in progress are: the universal abolition of the death penalty, the creation of a permanent internationalcriminal court, the anti-prohibitionism on drugs, the freedom for Tibet and the instauration of democracy in China. The radical party is a category one NGO recognized by the United Nations Organisation.

Alexandre de Perlinghi

member of the Radical Party since 1984

address in London until friday: European Parliament Office in London, 2 Queen Annes Gate

tel: 0171 2274340