Italy
ARMS TRAFFIC: PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION
Rome, 29 January 1991. In an oral question to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Foreign Trade and the Minister of Defence, the parliamentarians of the European federalist Group at the Italian Chamber of Deputies and members of the Radical Party, asked: 1. Which implementation norms of the new law on arms trade (passed last year on the initiative of the Radicals) have not yet been adopted; 2. if the non-entry in force of the new regulation can be related to the conflict under way in the Gulf and to the pressures of the military industries, which want to avoid limitations and controls in their activity at a moment in which the demand for weapons systems is high.
------------------------------------------------------------------Italy
ARMS TRAFFIC: SEVERAL ITALIAN FIRMS ALLEGEDLY SOLD WEAPONS TO IRAQ EVEN AFTER THE OUTBREAK OF WAR IN THE GULF.
Rome, 30 January 1991. In a letter to the Attorney of the Republic, Roberto Cicciomessere, member of the Radical Party's federal Council and member of the Italian Parliament, asks if the data revealed by the research conducted by U.S. journalist Kenneth Timmerman, commissioned by the Los Angeles "Simon Wiesenthal Center", concerning the sale to Iraq on the part of several Italian firms of military material even after the outbreak of war in the Gulf, are true.
"If such facts were ascertained, we would be confronted with a patent violation of the embargo decided by the Italian government...." "Apart from administrative sanctions"...."we could speak of offences against the international personality of the State".
------------------------------------------------------------------Italy
THE RADICAL PARTY DOES NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE CONGRESS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE LEFT (FORMER ITALIAN COMMUNIST PARTY).
Rome, 30 January 1991. Stated Sergio Stanzani, first secretary of the Radical Party, Paolo Vigevano, Treasurer, Emma Bonino, President, and Marco Pannella, President of the Federal Council, in a letter sent to the PDS's daily, L'Unità: "we received a letter from your Secretariat, inviting us to participate in the Congress; a concise, patently bureaucratic letter, the expression of an equivalent political behaviour (...)". "As you know, despite our reiterated and public requests, it has not even been possible to meet your leaders. We have been forced to endure this (non)relation, but we do not intend to accept it, and refuse it as a consequence. Also for this reason, we will not attend your Congress with an official delegation of the Radical Party, wishing you nonetheless a complete success (...)".
------------------------------------------------------------------U.S.S.R.
STATEMENT BY DEPUTIES OF THE MOSSOVIET
Moscow, 30 January 1991. Upon the initiative of the member of the Radical Party and deputy of the Lensoviet Alexander Kalinin, several members of the Liberal fractions, of the Democratic Party of Russia, of the Greens, of the Republican Party, of the Christian-Democrat Party sitting in the Moscow Parliament, signed a public appeal in which they ask people not to let themselves be involved by the climate of tension created by the conservative forces, to refrain from violence against any possible provocations, to follow their usual life-style, to enhance human relations of solidarity and mutual assistance, to support the legitimate bodies of the authority. Furthermore, they state that a democratic and legal State cannot be based on violence".
------------------------------------------------------------------Israel
RATZ (ISRAELI CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT) ASKS TO DEMONSTRATE AGAINST SADDAM HUSSEIN.
Tel-Aviv, 1 February 1991. In a telegram forwarded to the Radical Party, the RATZ asks all pacifist movements in the United States and in Europe to direct their protest against Saddam Hussein, the true responsible for the war in the Middle East, and to cease their protests against the United States, who are fulfilling the task of blocking the aggressor. As an Israeli peace movement, the Ratz views these anti-U.S. demonstrations in the best hypothesis as a demonstration of naivety, and in the worst hypothesis as a demonstration of irresponsibility. (...) Those who are sincerely concerned about peace in our region, and who are in favour of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians should also be concerned about the complete defeat of the Iraqi dictator. (...).
------------------------------------------------------------------U.S.S.R.
OLEG GORSHENIN, MEMBER OF THE RADICAL PARTY, RELEASED AFTER TEN MONTHS OF IMPRISONMENT FOR CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION.
Moscow, 2 February 1991. Oleg Gorshenin, imprisoned in April 1990 charged with conscientious objection, was released following a sentence of the Court of the district of Orsk (region of Orenburg) on 22 January. Gorshenin spent a total of 10 months and 16 days in the work camp of Orenburg. The origin of this new decision on the part of the Court: the formal version speaks of an unsatisfactory preliminary investigation, but the real reason is a huge quantity of letters arrived from all parts of the world expressing sympathy for Gorshenin. As soon as he returned to Moscow, Gorshenin joined the Radical Party for 1991.
------------------------------------------------------------------U.S.S.R.
ILJA LINSKIJ, MEMBER OF THE RADICAL PARTY, DECLARED MENTALLY ILL FOR HAVING DECLARED HIS CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION TO MILITARY SERVICE.
Moscow, 3 February 1991. Ilja Linskij, 18, member of the Radical Party and of the Democratic Union, was officially declared mentally ill after he stated he was a conscientious objector. He was informed of the fact by the investigative judge of Zelenograd. The sentence closes the criminal proceeding against Linskij. In his statement of objection, sent months ago to the military attorney, Dmitrij Jazov, Linskij stated that he intended to face all the legal consequences of his decision.
------------------------------------------------------------------Italy
REFERENDUM FOR THE ELECTORAL REFORM IN AN ANGLO-SAXON SENSE DECLARED UNACCEPTABLE BY THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT.
Rome, 3 February 1991. Stated Peppino Calderisi, member of the Radical Party's Federal Council and President of the European federalist Group at the Chamber of Deputies, following the sentence of the Constitutional Court: "The true motivation of the referendums' unacceptability does not lie in the fact that they were not clear; the true reason is that they were too clear. No doubt they were extremely clear for the party power, which eliminated them as a consequence.
The sentence of the Constitutional Court all but provides satisfactory answers to the reasons for their acceptability, which were supported by 80 percent of jurists and constitutionalists".
------------------------------------------------------------------
Czechoslovakia
SEMINAR OF RADICALS OPERATING IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA: THE SCHEDULE OF INITIATIVES FOR 1991. THE SECOND CONGRESS SUMMONED IN PRAGUE FOR 3 MARCH.
Prague, 3 February 1991. 4 people, coming from the cities of Prague, Brno and Karlovy Vary - in which there are active groups of members of the transnational Radical Party - took part in a seminar.
"After having acknowledged with satisfaction that the transnational Radical Party counts one member of the federal government and several parliamentarians among its Czechoslovakian members, the participants of the meeting concentrated on the initiatives to be taken to extend the Radical Party with new adhesions on the part of national and federal Czechoslovakian parliamentarians, especially in relation to the recently begun initiative aimed at involving thousands of parliamentarians throughout the world". The participants also invited the executive bodies of the radical Association for the United States of Europe to summon its second congress for 2 March.
------------------------------------------------------------------Israel-Vatican-Italy
ANDREOTTI, THE VATICAN AND ISRAEL. A FIRST ACHIEVEMENT
Rome, 5 February 1991. The two interviews through which the Italian Premier Andreotti urged the Vatican to recognize the Jewish State were considered as a new and positive fact by Giovanni Negri, member of the Radical party's federal council, member of the Italian Parliament and promoter of the initiative whereby over half of the Italian parliamentarians urged the Government to exert pressures in this sense on the Vatican.
------------------------------------------------------------------Gulf-Italy
RESOLUTION OF THE COMMISSION AT THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES ON THE ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY IN THE GULF CRISIS
Rome, 5 February 1991. On the initiative of Radical parliamentarians, the following foreign policy motion was presented and adopted: "considering that a full assumption of political responsibility on the part of the European Community, along with that of the United States, in the development and implementation of the decisions of the U.N. could have represented and could represent in the future a fundamental basis of force and reasonableness for all countries - including the United States themselves, which are otherwise charged with all burdens and decisions, for the countries of the Middle East and for the Soviet Union - in order to achieve the aims established by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council;
acknowledging with deep concern that the crisis and the conflict in the Persian Gulf not only have not caused a similar, necessary complete assumption of European responsibility, but, on the contrary - given the different positions and choices of the different member States - could cause a serious, existential crisis in the E.C.'s historical and political reality; (...);
binds the government, (...), to promote and in any case to publicly request, appealing also to the European Parliament, the E.C. Commission and to the European public opinion, the extraordinary summons of the European Council, so that the Heads of State and of Government of the twelve member States, in the sphere of the Community's responsibility and institutional function, can formally assume the responsibility for their choices toward Europe and its countries".
------------------------------------------------------------------Czechoslovakia
INTERVIEWS
Brno, 5 February 1991. Radicals Stockar, Honner and Pietrosanti took part in a one-and-a-half hour programme aired by the national Czechoslovakian radio on the Radical Party. Moreover, they delivered a lengthy interview to Jiri Hracek, editor of the Brno-based Kurir newsweekly. The topic of the interview was the Radicals' commitment for the adhesion on the part of Czechoslovakia to the United States of Europe, the antiprohibitionist initiatives against drugs, and generally the situation of the Radical Party in Czechoslovakia.
------------------------------------------------------------------Italy
DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY. A PROPOSAL TO BE RELAUNCHED. STATEMENT BY GIANFRANCO SPADACCIA, MEMBER OF THE RADICAL PARTY'S FEDERAL COUNCIL.
Rome, 7 February 1991. Marco Pannella's relaunching the proposal for a democratic constituent assembly is timely and necessary, and deserves to be accepted and approved. It represents not only an urgent reply to the possible crisis of the newly-born PDS, which has remained trapped in the former PCI and the Communist Left, with a few independent appendices, but also to the absence of credible and strong democratic alternatives on the part of the socialist and lay forces. (...) This depends not only on Pannella, but also on those who. leaving aside any distrust and fear, can and want to overcome the psychological and political barriers (not based on ideals or principles) which have to this moment kept them separated from the Radicals. (...)".
------------------------------------------------------------------Soviet Union - Kazakhstan
THEFT OF INFORMATIVE MATERIAL ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Alma-Ata, 8 February 1991. 150 hours of video tapes on violations of human rights in the U.S.S.R. were stolen from the apartment of Radical Zijakhan Shajgildinov in Alma-Ata.
------------------------------------------------------------------Italy
STATEMENT BY MARCO PANNELLA FOLLOWING HIS AGGRESSION AT THE CONFERENCE OF THE "COMMUNIST REFOUNDATION" MOVEMENT.
Rome, 10 February 1991. "When some participants (clearly not Cossutta, Garavini and the refounded Communists) bombarded Italy with this single message: on the one side there are the pacifists, those who cherish life, the true democrats, and on the other side there are the warmongers, the Americans defending oil and capitalism, the traitors, the corrupt, or when ethical and moral characteristics are given to political choices, thus demonstrating and strengthening the very bases of intolerance, when others follow these people, with demagogy and fake political realism, when the exploiters of wars and weapons alter information and present themselves - with what nerve! - as the champions of justice, then it is inevitable that passions carry out their task of devastation everywhere. Once again, it is clear to me that the Radical Party is truly (and increasingly) a force of tolerance, of democracy and of historical intelligence, capable - and therefore a master - of democracy: an example of this is the address deli
vered at the Chamber of Deputies by the Radical Party's first secretary, Sergio Stanzani (published on the last issue of the Radical letter, editor's note). This morning, I once again collected my usual load of abuse and physical violence, only this time "pacifist"-style. And considering the "ideals" in the name of which I was attacked, I think deep thought should be given to this "pacifism" more than to the Movement of Communist Refoundation as such. As for me, there is nothing new about this: for decades, I caused exactly the same reactions, during antimilitarist marches, during unilateral "peace" marches, during referendum campaigns, during sessions of the Chamber; everywhere, in other words, even during fasts and other nonviolent actions.
Such behaviour does not hurt me, even if it cause grievance. Those who really hurt me are the people who lie, who distort truth and censor it everyday, with the excuse of defending the Italian judicial order, guilty of a despicable complicity with the regime and with the violences that are carried out in this vital field of society: the same was done with my proposal for a reform and a democratic constituent assembly, which was transformed into the megalomaniac project of an idiot, whereas it was the attempt to achieve a reasonable and respectful dialogue with everyone.
------------------------------------------------------------------Soviet Union - Kazakhstan
OTHER RADICALS ARRESTED IN KAZAKHSTAN
Alma-Ata, 11 February 1991. Bakythan Abirov, member of the Radical party, was arrested in Alma-Ata while he was collecting signatures for the Radical party's petitions. This is the second arrest of a Radical militant this month in Kazakhstan.
------------------------------------------------------------------Italy
THE FORUM OF DEMOCRATS ON THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY PROPOSED BY MARCO PANNELLA
Rome, 12 February 1991. Stated the Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies, Alfredo Biondi (Liberal Party) and parliamentarian Giovanni Negri (member of the Radical Party's Federal Council), coordinators of the Forum of Democrats: "The idea of a Constituent Assembly cannot but be approved by the Forum of Democrats and by all those who feel that the political commitment in present day Italy is either a commitment for a Reform or it is not. The path for the Constituent Assembly will clearly be arduous and difficult, and it is inevitably so if the ambition is that of summoning lay, Catholics and Communists and all those who wish to assert the priority of the Reform together for a common discussion and work; to work on a project with so many non-militant men and women who feel the potential and the urgency of a democratic change in our country. (...)".
------------------------------------------------------------------Soviet Union - Kazakhstan
RADICAL BAKYTHAN ABIROV SENTENCED TO TEN DAYS OF IMPRISONMENT FOR THE COLLECTION OF SIGNATURES ON RADICAL PETITIONS
Alma-Ata, 12 February 1991. Bakythan Abirov, 34, member of the Radical party and a human rights activist, was sentenced to ten days of imprisonment with charges of "illegal assembly". The arrest occurred when Abirov was collecting signatures on the petitions for civil service, against the death penalty and for the United States of Europe. Stated Zijahan Shajgeldinov, sentenced to a 50 ruble fine at the beginning of February for the same reasons, on hearing of the arrest of another Radical from Alma-Ata: "Political actions of any kind - collection of signatures, demonstrations, hunger strikes,...- are prohibited in our city. Bakythan Abirov is a political prisoner, and it is necessary to fight for his release."
------------------------------------------------------------------Italy
THE RADICAL PARTY'S THIRD ITALIAN CONGRESS
Rome, 14 February 1991. The radical Party's third Congress opened at the Hotel Ergife in the outskirts of Rome. Over 700 people took part in the first day of the Congress, with speeches from Sergio Stanzani, First Secretary, Paolo Vigevano, Treasurer, Emma Bonino, President, and Marco Pannella, President of the federal Council. This first day was also marked by the participation of Bettino Craxi, leader of the Italian Socialist Party. A general debate followed the reports of the party's vicarious bodies.
------------------------------------------------------------------Italy
THE RADICAL PARTY'S THIRD ITALIAN CONGRESS
Rome, 15 February 1991. During the second day of the Radical Party's third Congress, several thematic speeches were delivered. Marco Taradash, antiprohibitionist member of the European Parliament, spoke on the subject of drugs; Marco De Andreis, a researcher at the IRDISP (Research Institute on Defence, Development and Peace) spoke on the subject "Gulf war and nonviolence; Francesco Buonfantino delivered a speech on conscientious objection/assertion; Marino Busdachin and Antonio Stango talked about the situation of the Radical Party in the Soviet Union, whereas Paolo Pietrosanti spoke about the situation in Czechoslovakia. There followed a general debate which continued until midnight.
------------------------------------------------------------------Italy
THE RADICAL PARTY'S THIRD ITALIAN CONGRESS
Rome, 16 February 1991. In the morning, a round table was organized on the subject: "the democratic constituent assembly", attended by intellectuals and politicians of several parties. In the afternoon, the general debate continued, with several controversial speeches on the Gulf War and on the different choices made by the Radicals sitting in Parliament concerning the armed intervention.
------------------------------------------------------------------Italy
THE RADICAL PARTY'S THIRD ITALIAN CONGRESS
Rome, 17 February 1991. The last day of the Congress featured the birth of a Radical association for the "democratic constituent assembly", with over 300 signatures of congress participants. The day closed with a long address by Marco Pannella.
------------------------------------------------------------------* Europe-Rumania
EEC/RUMANIA COMMERCIAL AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION AGREEMENT
Strasbourg, 19 February 1991. Stated Adelaide Aglietta, member of the Radical party's federal Council, President of the Green Group of the European Parliament and relator of the European Parliament/Rumania Committee on the occasion of the vote of the European Parliament on the EEC/Rumania cooperation agreement: "(...) The delegation firmly believes that, while there are still difficulties and contradictions in the course of the democratic life of the country, as underlined by the opposition parties and movements, the country's legitimate institutions have undertaken to carry out a series of political, institutional and economic reforms, touching also on the State's structure, which are aimed at creating the premises and the conditions to establish and develop democratic institutions, culture, mentality and life in the country. (...) The delegation's conclusions have been unanimous, in the sense that the condition of deep misery and hardship, of technological backwardness and of absence of fundamental goods,
which the country must endure, its fragile and extremely unstable political situation, call for helping Rumania out of the isolation in which it has been kept to this moment. If we fail to do this, we will assume the responsibility not only of not helping the population, increasing the situation of misery and the migratory movement, but also that of maintaining favourable conditions for forces interested in destabilizing the situation. (...)".
------------------------------------------------------------------Europe - European Parliament
MARCO TARADASH ELECTED VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY ON DRUGS AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Brussels, 20 February 1991. Marco Taradash, antiprohibitionist member of the European Parliament, member of the Radical Party's federal council and secretary of the CORA (Radical Antiprohibitionist Coordination), was elected yesterday in Strasbourg Vice President of the Committe of Inquiry on organized crime connected to the drug traffic.
Taradash's candidature was presented by the Green group, of which he is a member. Member of the Labour Party David Bowe was elected President; the other Presidents are Luigi Colajanni of the European Unitary Left, and British Tory Jack Stewart Clark. The chairman is Patrick Mark Cooney, an Irish Christian-Democrat.
According to Marco Taradash, "the European parliament has at last realized the need to submit the disastrous outcome of the prohibitionist strategy on drugs to a political evaluation. In the coming nine months, for the whole period of this committee, we will need to organize rational and effective alternatives".
------------------------------------------------------------------* U.N.
ITALY, GERMANY AND JAPAN ENTER THE U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL. "THE PATH TO FOLLOW IS NOT THIS ONE, BUT THAT OF THE ENTRY OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, AS STATED BY THE PRIME MINISTER ANDREOTTI.
Rome, 22 February 1991. Stated Peppino Calderisi, President of the Federalist Group at the Chamber of Deputies, in a press release: "We really cannot understand the initiative announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, De Michelis, concerning the entry of Italy, Germany and Japan in the U.N. Security Council.
In the past months, we had gathered from the Prime Minister Andreotti that the initiative to pursue was that of the entry of the European Community as such in the U.N. Security Council.
We too believe that this is the path to be followed if we want to resume the initiative toward the Political Union with determination, initiative which was interrupted by the events in the Gulf, whereby not only the Twelve, but the whole of the international Community was penalized by a disastrous lack of European unity."
------------------------------------------------------------------* Soviet Union - Georgia
THE RADICALS TAKE PART IN THE THIRD CONGRESS OF THE PARTY FOR THE NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE OF GEORGIA.
Tbilisi, 22 February 1991. A delegation of the Radical Party took part in the 3rd Congress of the Party for the National Independence of Georgia (NIPG), the most important opposition party of this Republic of Caucasus. Mamuka Tsagarelli, moderator of the Congress and member of the executive committee of this party, is also a member of the Radical Party. In his address at the Congress, Nikolaj Khramov said he hoped the battle for democracy and independence conducted by the NIPG will be conducted with nonviolence, and lead Georgia into the United Europe as soon as possible.
------------------------------------------------------------------* Soviet Union - Russia
ALTERNATIVE CIVIL SERVICE: THE PROBLEM MUST BE SOLVED URGENTLY. CENSORED INTERVIEW WITH FEDOR CHUB, RADICAL FROM LENINGRAD.
Leningrad, 23 February 1991. Stated Fedor Chub, exponent of the Radical Party from Leningrad and member of the movement for demilitarization, in an interview aired by the Soviet television in the context of a program on conscientious objection: "The problem of conscientious objection calls for a prompt solution. At present, the young have no alternatives between army and prison". Unexplainably, the parts of Chub's interview concerning the statistic data relative to the persecution of conscientious objection and to the draft bill on alternative civil service developed by the Radical Party were not aired by the State TV.
------------------------------------------------------------------* Soviet Union - Georgia
EUROPEAN FLAG AT THE ANTIMILITARIST DEMONSTRATION IN TBILISI
Tbilisi, 23 February 1991. The Radical delegation which took part in the 3rd Congress of the Party of the National Independence of Georgia also took part in a march for the withdrawal of Soviet troops and for the demilitarization of this Republic. Alongside the black-white-red flags of Georgia, the Radicals waved the blue flag with the yellow stars of the European Community.
------------------------------------------------------------------* Gulf
1. POLITICAL DEMOCRACY FOR KUWAIT
2. FOR IRAQ AS FOR GERMANY AND JAPAN
3. THE UNITED NATIONS SHOULD RECALL ....
Rome, 26 February 1991. Stated Marco Pannella, President of the Radical Party's federal Council and member of the European Parliament on the subject of Gulf: "The Italian government (and the little decorum the E.C. still has) should remind the U.N. that it is based on the charter of the rights of man, and that its task and duty is to ensure the right to democracy of every citizen of the world. In this context, it is necessary to obtain, for the citizens of Kuwait, something different from a return to dictatorship.
As far as Iraq is concerned, (to start with), it should be prevented from rearming itself, as was done for Germany and Japan: this would enable to recover 42 per cent of the budget of that State and use it for reconstruction and development.
I hope the Radical Party will soon be in the conditions to ensure democratic initatives, converging and univocal, directly at the United Nations and on the part of dozens of States".
------------------------------------------------------------------* Soviet Union
RADICAL DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE KUWAITI EMBASSY
Moscow, 27 February 1991. Over 20 people partook in a demonstration in front of the Kuwaiti embassy in Moscow organized by the Radicals. Their banners stated "United Nations court for Hussein!", "No to the international arms trade!", "Soviet weapons kill people all over the world!", "We want an international conference on human rights in the Middle East!". Several members of the Islamic Democratic Party of Tartarstan were present at the demonstration, together with Radicals from Armenia, including Bishop Nikon.
------------------------------------------------------------------* Italy
ELECTORAL REFORM AND REFERENDUM ON PREFERENCE VOTES
Rome, 28 February 1991. Concerning the question of the electoral referendums, Peppino Calderisi intervened once more, stating: "To resume the battle for the electoral Reform means to relaunch a major initiative for a true reform in Italy, that is, for the passage to a majority, uninominal system.
The transformation of the Promoting Committees of the referendums, blocked by the Constitutional Court, into a Movement for Reform, is aimed at this; especially through the reproposal of the contents of the referendum questions on the Senate and the Municipalities.
The remaining referendum on the preference votes, in itself does not have a general value, and in fact does have contradictory parts. (...)".
