*** Czechoslovakia
RADICAL APPEAL TO AVOID A FRACTURE OF THE CIVIC FORUM PUBLISHED TODAY ON PRAGUE-BASED LIDOVE NOVINY
Prague, 1 November 1990. Among other things, the appeal states: (...) We believe that political pluralism, conquered with such effort, should correspond to pluralism of ideas and proposals, as well as with legality and the freedom to express them, and not necessarily to pluralism of political organizations. (...) We believe that the rupture and the disappearance of Civic Forum in Czechoslovakia would lead to the disappearance of the concrete possibility of giving life to a more coherent democratic "pattern", founded on confrontation of ideas and suggestions, rather than on ideology or biased options (...).
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*** Rumania
THE DORU BRAIA AFFAIR CONTINUES. DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE RADICAL PARTY IN FRONT OF THE RUMANIAN EMBASSIES OF ROME, MOSCOW, PRAGUE, BUDAPEST AND BRUSSELS.
Moscow, Prague, Rome, Brussels, 5 November 1990. About eighty people in Moscow, thirty in Rome and a dozen in Prague and Brussels demonstrated in front of the Rumanian embassies, urging the guarantee of free circulation of persons and ideas in Rumania and in the specific case the right for Doru Braia, a Rumanian citizen living in West Germany, to circulate in and out of his country, as well as the right to profess his ideas. In Rome, Sergio Stanzani, Secretary of the Radical Party, and Antonio Stango, member of the Federal Council, were received by the Rumanian Ambassador, who said he had been informed that the case would be successfully solved within ten days. In Moscow, while over 80 people were silently exhibiting banners for the free circulation of persons, Irina Podlesova and Nikolaj Khramov explained the reasons for the Radical Party's action in favour of Doru Braia to Embassy Counsellor Marius Georgiu. In the four capitals, the different radical delegations presented an open letter to President Ion Il
iescu.
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*** United States of America
EMMA BONINO AND MARCO TARADASH ARRESTED IN NEW YORK
New York, 5 November 1990. The President of the Radical party Emma Bonino and Member of the European Parliament Marco Taradash of the International Antiprohibitionist League were arrested in New York, charged with having distributed clean syringes.
After having held a brief press conference in front of New York's City Hall, Emma Bonino and Marco Taradash presented clean syringes to the policemen, the journalists and City Hall's administrative staff. After having seized the syringes, the police handcuffed the two radical exponents and loaded them on board a prison van.
Why did Taradash and Bonino commit this act of civil disobedience? Because in New York it is prohibited to buy needles in pharmacies except with a medical prescription. The minimum penalty for this offence if six months of prison. They did it to draw attention on the alarming diffusion of AIDS in the city of New York, where 70% of the 250,000 heroin addicts are HIV-positive, and where a person dies of AIDS every ten minutes.
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*** Rumania
DORU BRAIA AFFAIR: LETTER FROM THE RADICAL PARTY TO PRESIDENT ILIESCU
Budapest, Brussels, Rome, Prague, Moscow, 5 November 1990. In a letter to the President of the Rumanian Republic Ion Iliescu, the Radical Party, after having recalled the details of the Doru Braia affair, urges the President to intervene directly to re-establish legality and rights: "(...) We cannot believe that you have been informed of these details - of unquestionable bad taste - by the persons responsible. This is why we appeal to you, urging you to intervene directly, with the authority conferred to you, to restore law and legality.
As you may already have understood, we are not interested in Mr. Braia's ideas and political beliefs. What we are concerned about is the restoration of rights that have been denied; we want to defend a man who cannot enter his own country and cannot take part in the political life of his country without any legal justification. Mr. President, confiding in the fact that you will realize the (symbolic) importance of this episode, and in relation also to the what the Rumanian government, the highest authorities and yourself are achieving in terms of democracy in Rumania, in consideration also of Rumania's image in Europe and in the world, we pay our deepest respects".
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*** United States of Europe
EMMA BONINO AND MARCO TARADASH RELEASED PENDING TRIAL. THE TRIAL TO TAKE PLACE IN FEBRUARY.
New York, 6 November 1990. Emma Bonino and Marco Taradash appeared before the Criminal Court of New York. Justice: Jerome Hornblass. The Prosecution has suggested dismissing the case if the defendants accepted the penalty he suggested: one day's work for the community cleaning up the underground. It is not clear whether he was referring to New York's or Rome's underground.
The defendants refused the compromise, stating they were willing to accept a penalty consisting in one or more days spent working for New York's community distributing clean syringes. Having rejected the offer, the Judge released the two defendants pending trial (without bail) and established the hearing with their lawyer on 4th January. The trial will be held at the beginning of February.
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*** Italy
ONE WEEK OF INITIATIVES FOR CONVICTS' RIGHTS
Rome, 6 November 1990. Upon initiative of the Radical Party, about fifty personalities in the field of politics, culture and journalism addressed an appeal to the President of the Senate, Giovanni Spadolini, urging a series of reforms on the situation of the convicts' rights to be rapidly tackled by Senate. Parallel to this initiative, a series of non-violent and supporting actions will take place outside prisons and inside, on initiative of the Radical party: hunger strikes, self-confinement of the imprisoned, voluntary privation of the recreation hour, massive dispatch of telegrams to the President of the Senatorial Committee, non-stop broadcasting on Radio Radicale of the contents of bills under discussion, sit-ins in front of the Senate.
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*** Rumania
DORU BRAIA AFFAIR: RADICAL DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE RUMANIAN EMBASSY IN BUDAPEST
Budapest, 7 November 1990. About twenty people, including Doru Braia himself, and several journalists gathered in front of the Rumanian embassy to invite the authorities to respect legality and law in the Doru Braia affair. A delegation was received by the Embassy's First Counsellor; a long and fruitful exchange of opinions followed, during which the Counsellor repeated the statements delivered by the Rumanian ambassador in Rome to the First Secretary Sergio Stanzani, in other words, that the affair would have been successfully concluded within ten days.
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*** Rumania
FIRST RADICAL ASSEMBLY IN TIMISOARA
Timisoara, 9 November 1990. About 80 people took part in the first meeting with the Radical Party in Timisoara. After having depicted the Radical Party's history and major battles and its current goals, Olivier Dupuis and Emil Iovanescu answered the numerous questions of the participants.
The intereste shown for European and domestic federalism was highly significant, and even more meaningful was the climate in which the discussion on the topic of domestic federalism developed, a topic until then widely considered taboo.
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*** Czechoslovakia
RADICAL "TWO DAYS" WITH THE SUPPORT OF CIVIC FORUM AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, FOR THE ADHESION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA TO THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AND THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE.
Karlovy Vary, 10 November 1990. The Czechoslovakian Radicals and the Radical Association for the United States of Europe (RUSED) with the support of Civic Forum, organized two days of initiatives for the adhesion of Czechoslovakia to the European Community. Among the initiatives, a public demonstration featuring speeches by Alexander Kalich, deputy at the federal Assembly and President of Civic Forum of East Bohemia, Milan Kozelka and Lev Havlicek, members of the Radical Party and running for municipal elections in Civic Forum lists, and Paolo Pietrosanti of the radical Party's Federal Council.
------------------------------------------------------------------*** Rumania
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DELEGATION IN BUCHAREST
Bucharest, 12 November 1990. The European Parliament delegation in charge of the relations with Rumania made an official visit to Bucharest. The delegation, presided by Adelaide Aglietta, member of the European Parliament's Green Group, and member of the radical Party's Federal Council, and Marco Pannella, president of the Radical Party's Federal Council, met several Rumanian political exponents, and particularly the President of the Republic Ion Iliescu, Prime Minister Petre Roman, the foreign minister, the Interior minister, the economic affairs minister, the leaders of all the parties represented in Parliament and several important political groups, such as the group for Social Dialogue. At the conclusion of the visit, the European Delegation said it was optimistic on the possibilities of successfully developing the relations between Rumania and the European Community.
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*** Italy
AIDS: THE FIRST AUTOMATIC SYRINGE-DISPENSING UNIT INSTALLED IN MODENA
Modena, 21 November 1990.
In the context of a project for the prevention of the diffusion of AIDS, the municipality of Modena will install an automatic syringe-dispensing unit. The machine, the first of its kind in Italy, will be placed in front to the entrance of the municipal pharmacy, which normally ensures night service.
