Brussels-New York, December 2, 1996

Dear friend,

Now that we are at the conclusion of this year of radical politics we would like to update you on the political campaigns that have been the reason for our remaining together in the 1997 Transnational Radical Party, as well as for some of the scenarios projected for the future.

* CAMPAIGN FOR THE PERMANENT INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL

At this very moment, there is in the United Nations, the text of a resolution of the question on the International Tribunal. At the center of the debate there is the convocation of the 1998 Plenipotentiary Conference that will institute the International Criminal Tribunal, an important result which we have arrived at thanks to a strong mobilization of global public opinion. An appeal to the United Nations, promoted by the Transnational Radical Party and the "There Is No Peace Without Justice" committee, and launched by eminent political and cultural figures and signed by seven hundred Parliamentarians from forty nations, was published in the "International Herald Tribune" and "Le Monde."

In addition, the European Parliament has recently approved, under the initiative of the deputies who are members of the Transnational Radical Party, a new line of finance that supports ad hoc tribunals and the creation of the International Tribunal. By the end of November, with the fixation of a more or less precise calendar, we will know if the United Nations intends to effectively continue the pursuit of objective of the constitution of the Permanent International Tribunal for which our party has fought for more than three years. No one is unaware of the importance of such an event: its deterrence value for current and future wars; the possibility to penalize, for the first time in history, criminals who are in flight from national jurisdiction: and even the beginning of a new international right based on a redefinition of the principle, that today is absolute, of national sovereignty.

* CAMPAIGN FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY

"A Life Of Rights And A Right To Life" means that for the we Radicals

the negation of the State practice of the possibility of taking life away from its citizens. This is the foundation of the campaign to abolish the death penalty by the year 200, conducted by the Transnational Radical Party and "Hands Off Cain," an association federated to the Transnational Radical Party. It is a campaign that does not wish to divide the world between the civil and uncivil, but that poses political and cultural premises so that international bodies recognize and practice the right to interfere in the internal affairs of states. This was the crisis point of the initiative conducted two years ago by the Transnational Radical Party and the Italian government at the United Nations where, for only eight contrary votes, was unable to pass a resolution on a universal moratorium on the death penalty.

The objective for 1997 is to attempt once more, and to succeed in this attempt, In preparation for this important, and difficult, deadline the Transnational Radical Party has found success with last month's approval of a resolution in favor of the abolition of the death penalty at the ACP-UE Equality Assembly (which gathers 15 European nations with 65 nations of Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific). Another introductory initiative is being defined at the UN: the presentation of a motion to the Human Rights Commission at the United Nations in Geneva.

Also, in light of next year's appointment at the United Nations, "Hands Off Cain," - together with Memorial (the Russian Association for Human Rights)- has organized in Moscow on November 23rd and 24th an international convention on the abolition of the death penalty in the nations of the Community of Independent States. In the meanwhile, another conference on the abolition of the death penalty will be organized in New York early next year.

* CAMPAIGN FOR THE LIBERTY OF TIBET AND DEMOCRACY IN CHINA

It has been almost three weeks since the Dalai Lama was officially received by the European Parliament and the European Commission for an encounter with President Santer and European Commissioner Emma Bonino. It was a visit in which the Dalai Lama reaffirmed that dialogue, nonviolence, and persuasion were the only ways to save the people of Tibet from certain extinction. It was a visit that was the occasion for a meeting with a delegation of the Transnational Radical Party during which Marco Pannella and the Dalai Lama agreed upon the urgency of reinforcing the organizational work for the 1998 Satyagraha for the freedom of Tibet.

The future consists of multiplying and empowering the initiatives and manifestations like those that were organized this past year together with the Tibet Support Groups and the external friends of the Chinese dissidents around the world. Beginning with the more then 1,400 people who participated in the fasting dialogue with the Ministers of foreign affairs in the first days of October for the liberation of the Panchen Lama and Wei Jingsheng we must begin to construct a global network of tens of thousands of persons who are ready to unite with determination in the many difficult actions that will precede the Satyagraha 1998.

On this front, the next appointment is fixed on the 9th and 10th of December, the international day for human rights. On those days there will occur in the major cities (as of now there are eight cities, including Brussels, Rome, Budapest, Vienna, and Paris) a Walk Around, an uninterrupted walk of 24 hours, around the ministries of foreign affairs for the liberation of the Panchen Lama and Wei Jingsheng.

For many months we have been gathering the signatures for an appeal by Parliamentarians to the Secretary General of the United Nations in favor of the opening of Sino-Tibetan negotiations. The appeal has been signed as of now by 1,175 deputies and senators of 43 different Parliaments around the world. Always on the institutional front, numerous resolutions have been delivered and approved on the situation in Tibet. In the European Parliament, numerous resolutions have been approved on the situation in occupied Tibet and on the violation of human rights in China, while recently many lines of finance have been included in the 1997 budget in favor of the resistance of the Tibetan people.

Finally, the campaign "A Flag For Tibet 1997!" is underway, together with that of "A Plaza For Tibet!" which asks the mayors to name a plaza or a street of their -or your- city for Tibet or the Dalai Lama.

Only a few days ago, the prestigious Sacharov Prize was awarded to the most famous Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng under the initiative of the liberal radicals in the European Parliament. This is a success that can only reinforce the campaign for the conferment of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. It is a campaign we are conducting together with Human Rights in China and the Federation for Democracy in China. We have been collecting signatures in support of his candidacy among University Professors of History, Political Science, Law and Philosophy as well as among Parliamentarians since February. There are now over 600 signatures as of toady, among them that of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, and also that of the entire Tibetan Parliament in exile and numerous deputies from India and Taiwan. We believe that the Nobel Peace Prize for Wei Jingsheng could constitute a certain sign of pacification, dialogue, nonviolence and democracy.

* CAMPAIGN FOR A TRANSNATIONAL AUXILIARY COMMUNICATION LANGUAGE

The initiative of the Transnational Radical Party in favor of the adoption of Esperanto as the "auxiliary communication language is actually focused on international institutions. One of our motions is written in the order of the day of the Ecosoc of the United Nations, while in the European Parliament the presentation of a resolution on the cost, in democratic, financial, and technical terms of the current communication system.

This resolution will for the first time open the debate in the European Parliament on this important question, which asks that experimental projects on the teaching of Esperanto be organized in the States of the Union, and that the possibility of using Esperanto as the common language and juridical language in the systems of interpretation and translation in the institutions of the Union.

On its own behalf, ERA (Esperanto Radikala Asocio) is working on its own project on the relative costs of communication in Europe.

* CAMPAIGN FOR ANTIPROHIBITION ON DRUGS

The campaign for the legalization of "drugs" is, in this phase, probably among the most difficult campaigns the party is involved in. Despite the multiplication of positive signals in Italy, in Belgium, in the European Parliament and the media, as well as a diffuse consensus in large segments of the population, we encounter the difficulty of the objective of invalidating the International Treaties that encumber - along with the enormous economic interests, inertia and conformisms- the large number of nations who endorse prohibitionist policies on drugs.

In this sense an initiative, sustained by the TRP and promoted by the Radical Antiprohibitionist Coordination and the "Parliamentarians for Antiprohibitionist Action" (PAA), has seen the presentation to the European Parliament of a proposal signed by 61 deputies. The Europarliamentarians, considering the total failure of prohibitionist policies on drugs, denounce the international conventions and ask for the installation of a system of public control on the sale of drugs that are currently illegal.

The 1007 budget for the European Parliament foresees the possibility of funding comparative studies on the impact of various legislations in the fight against drug addiction.

On these same themes, from the 5th through the 7th of December, the Cora Congress will be held in Brussels. It will be opened by Marco Pannella and European Commissioner Emma Bonino, whose recent interventions in favor of new legislation have relaunched the subject in the English and European press. During the same days that the congress is taking place the trial of Marco Pannella for civil disobedience (public distribution of cannabis derivatives) will open in Italy, an action that was taken last year with the aim of re-proposing the problem of prohibition and the legalization of the so-called soft drugs.

Dear Friend,

The initiatives and the success of which we have told you has only been possible as a result of the militant work, the civil passion, the exertions and the contributions and the inscription fees of little more than three thousand citizens who constitute what is the Transnational Radical Party in the world today.

We are also aware that such a number of members (as of today, 3,070 members, among them 507 non-Italians, for a total auto-financing of one and a half billion Italian lire, only slightly higher than that of the year before) remains inadequate for the effective pursuit of the objectives we have given ourselves to constitute a nonviolent, democratic, transnational party of life and for the right to life, that is capable of confronting the epochal disasters of the end of our century.

For a nonviolent Ghandian party, that is transnational (which ideally works over the entire world and that today is present, although inadequately, with offices and contacts in Budapest, Kiev, Moscow, Sofia, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Tirana, Baku, Bucarest, Minsk, Prague, San Petersburg, Warsaw, Madrid, New York, Brussels, and Rome) and auto-financed (thanks to members and supporters), awe are a party whose ability to communicate the objectives we have assumed is equal to that required of a party of twenty thousand members and ten billion lire of finance.

With this hope, and with the energy we gain from our consecutive results and the knowledge of the difficulties that lie before us, we open the inscription campaign for 1997.

We begin, by turning with our faith, in the first place:

- to those who have decided to become protagonists of the first antiprohibitionist organization,

- to who, whether Tibetan or Chinese, or member of groups who support and are in solidarity with Tibet and members of associations who promote democracy and respect for human rights in China and who has used his or her radical initiative for the liberty of Tibet and democracy in China,

- to who believes in the importance and urgency of constituting a party for the reformation of the United Nations, a party of federalism, the party of rights and international justice,

we invite you to renew your inscription to the Transnational radical Party or subscribe to its campaigns, and we ask you to assume the particular work of being a promoter of the party for the collection of new members.

An embrace,

Danilo Quinto Olivier Dupuis

Treasurer Secretary