Soviet Union
RADICAL DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE MOSCOW SOVIET TO DEFEND THE LEGITIMACY OF THE ELECTED LEGISLATIVE BODY.
Moscow, 3 June 1991. Organized by militants of the Radical party, a demonstration was held today in Moscow at 9:30 local time, in front of the Mossoviet, to defend the democratic political rights of the Muscovite citizens called to vote on 12 June for the direct election of the mayor. According to a law recently passed by the Moscow Soviet, 35.000 signatures are necessary in order for a candidacy for mayor to be accepted (whereas 100.000 are enough to run for President of the Russian Republic), which means that only candidates sponsored by the PCUS or by the movement "Democratic Russia" can take part in the elections.
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Soviet Union
RADICAL DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE MOSCOW SOVIET: STATEMENT BY ALEXANDER KALININ, DEPUTY.
Moscow, 3 June 1991. During a press conference, Alexander Kalinin, deputy at the Mossoviet and member of the Radical Party's federal Council, denounced the fact that "the executive organs have started to abuse their legislative functions again to take decisions that would otherwise be rejected by the Soviet or to stonewall others which have already been passed. The reformative proposals of the Moscow Soviet advanced by many leaders of "Democratic Russia" aim at the drastic reduction of the powers and of the role of the Soviet in favour of the executive structures, in a repetition of the arbitrary administrative system which they themselves had fiercely criticized in the past".
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Soviet Union - Italy - Hungary - Czechoslovakia - Belgium
RADICAL PARTY DEMONSTRATION IN MOSCOW AGAINST THE REFORM OF THE SOVIET. DOCUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF THE DEMONSTRATION PRESENTED BY THE RADICALS TO THE SOVIET EMBASSIES OF ROME, BRUSSELS, BUDAPEST AND PRAGUE.
Rome, Brussels, Prague and Budapest, 3 June 1991. Delegations of the Radical Party presented a letter in support of the demonstration in Moscow signed by Sergio Stanzani, Paolo Vigevano, Emma Bonino and Marco Pannella to the Soviet ambassadors in Rome, Brussels, Budapest and Prague. In Prague the Radicals were received by the first councillor of the embassy, Dmitrij Videnko.
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Italy
REFERENDUM: SIT-IN OF THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Rome, 5 June 1991. The organizing committee of the referendum of 9 June organized a sit-in at the TV production centre of Via Teulada in Rome to "protest against the silence on the issues of the referendum which is being held especially by certain networks of the public radio-TV service". The Committee asked to be received by the directors of TG1, TG2 and TG3 (the news programs of the different networks of the State TV) to express their "Vibrant indignation for the scarcity and, in the case of the TG2, the absence of correct information".
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Italy
THE REGIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE COURT OF LAW OF LOMBARDY (T.A.R.) ACCEPTS THE APPEAL AGAINST THE MINISTER OF HEALTH'S DECREE ON METHADONE.
STATEMENT BY MARCO TARADASH, SECRETARY OF THE CoRA.
Rome, 5 June 1991. "The sentence of Lombardy's TAR is a positive, prudent but important demonstration of the fact that not all the State is prey to the preachers of other people's morals and to their fearsome and fearful political representatives. The Minister of Health now has another occasion to remember that he is a member of the Liberal Party, and not of a sect of anti-drug professionals animated by the sole interest of increasing their power at all costs. A cost which it is possible to measure today: in 1990, 1633 drug users died from AIDS and 1147 died from overdoses, to the benefit of the mafia in every major city of Italy; huge profits guarantied to the minor pushers, sixty robberies and burglaries an hour in a city like Milan.
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Italy
THE FORUM OF DEMOCRATS LAUNCHES AN APPEAL TO VOTE YES AT THE REFERENDUM
Rome, 7 June 1991. Massimo Severo Giannini, Alfredo Biondi and Giovanni Negri (respectively president and coordinators of Forum of Democrats) launched the following appeal to invite people to participate in the vote and to vote yes. "We address an appeal to the citizens - and namely the lay, socialists, the environmentalists who have shared so many battles with us - to vote and to to reject any invitation to abstain. We shall vote, and we invite you to vote YES. It is a vote which for us means YES to the institution of the referendum, YES to a new majority and uninominal electoral law, YES to the liberation of the State and of the public administration from the occupation of the parties. In other words, vote YES for a democratic reform and a refoundation of the State which is becoming every day more necessary.
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Italy
RADICAL PARTY STATEMENT ON THE RESULTS OF THE REFERENDUM
Rome, 10 June 1991. "The Radical Party has been the only party to commit itself in the battle on the referendum, which has not been a battle between those in favour and those against the question on the preference vote, but between the supporters of the participation and those who wanted to boycott it.
The result, from this point of view, is extraordinarily important, and proves that in Italy the need for cleanliness and democracy is not dead, but on the contrary is increasing.
As far as the predictable triumph of the YES is concerned, we will need to keep our eyes open, if we want to avoid the same thing that happened with the referendum on justice, when the law that was supposed to implement the referendum was the opposite to the one that was constitutionally supposed to be created, thanks also to the partyist complicity of President Cossiga who accepted to countersign the law. We advocate a Reform, therefore, not the counter-Reform which many parts - both the Left, the Right and the Centre - want to carry out".
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Italy
INTERVIEW WITH COSSIGA: STATEMENT BY MARCO PANNELLA, PRESIDENT OF THE RADICAL PARTY'S FEDERAL COUNCIL.
Rome, 10 June 1991. "If the ludicrous hypothesis advanced by the President of the Republic should prove to be grounded - and we know it isn't - it is evident that according to his same reasoning he should be forced to resign, having being elected by this Parliament in the way which he underlined.
But I think that at this stage we have gone beyond all reasonableness and reason".
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Soviet Union
TWO SOVIET MEMBERS OF THE RADICAL PARTY DETAINED AT THE AIRPORT OF SHEREMETJEVO. MATERIAL ON CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION SEIZED.
Moscow, 11 June 1001. On their return from Brussels with the delegation of the Supreme Soviet of USSR, Radicals Nikolaj Khramov and Alexandr Pronozin were blocked at the Sheremetjevo airport of Moscow. The police seized several documents concerning the legislation on conscientious objection in Germany and in Belgium, together with documents of the War Register's International, informing that the documents would be examined by the KGB. In addition to the radicals Pronozin and Khramov, members of the Supreme Soviet, the delegation, consisting of 7 people, included jurists and journalists. They had all taken part in a seminar on conscientious objection organized by the Vrij Universiteit of Brussels (VUB).
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Rumania
SMARANDA ENACHE CASE: ABOUT FIFTY PERSONALITIES INCLUDING SEVERAL PARLIAMENTARIANS SIGN AN APPEAL TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC ILIESCU.
Bucharest, 12 June 1991. About fifty personalities of the political and cultural world signed an appeal to the President of the Republic of Rumania, Ion Iliescu, in which they ask to shed light on the episode of professional discrimination against Smaranda Enache, former directress of the Ariel Theatre of Tirgu Mures. The signers remind President Iliescu that: 1. in the exam for the verification of the competence (Law n. 3910/1990) of Mrs Enache, the competent committee never went to the theatre; 2. the committee conducted the exam as if it were a bill of indictment and not an examination of her competence; 3. the previous year Mrs Enache had been the victim of another serious discrimination: she had been prevented from taking part in the elections as a candidate.
Among the signers: Adelaide AGLIETTA, member of the European Parliament; president of the green group; Gianfranco AMENDOLA, member of the European Parliament; René ANDREANI, member of Parliament (Italy); Virginio BETTINI, member of the European Parliament; Marco BOATO, senator (Italy); Emma BONINO, member of Parliament (Italy); Willer BORDON, member of Parliament (Italy); Giuseppe CALDERISI, member of Parliament (Italy); Franco CORLEONE, senator (Italy); Enrico FALQUI, member of the European Parliament; Dmitrij JAGODIN, deputy of the Mossoviet; Claire JOANNY, member of the European Parliament; Aleksandr KALININ, deputy of the Mossoviet; Paul LANNOYE, member of the European Parliament; Domenico MODUGNO, senator (Italy); Giovanni NEGRI, member of Parliament (Italy); Aleksandr PRUDNIKOV, deputy of the Mossoviet; Eva QUISTORP, member of the European Parliament; Claudia ROTH, member of the European Parliament; Aleksandr SOLOVJEV, deputy of the Mossoviet; Lorenzo STRICK-LIEVERS, senator (Italy); Marco TARADASH, me
mber of the European Parliament; Djida TAZDAIT, member of the European Parliament; Alessandro TESSARI, member of Parliament (Italy); Dmitrij ZAPOLSKIJ, deputy of the Leningrad Soviet;
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Soviet Union
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR SERGEJ OSNACH SENTENCED TO ONE AND A HALF YEARS OF FORCED LABOR
Shostka, 18 June 1991. Conscientious objector Sergej Osnach, imprisoned on 13 March, has been sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor. Moreover, if we leaves his post without an authorization or if he violates the disciplinary rules, he will serve his sentence in a labor camp. We invite all those who wish to express support and sympathy to Sergej to write to the Procurator's Office of the USSR - Pushkinskaja pl. 15a - Moscow 103793.
GSP or Supreme Court of the USSR - ul. Vorovskogo 15 - Moscow 121260.
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Italy
MOTION OF CONFIDENCE TO THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT. EMMA BONINO, PRESIDENT OF THE RADICAL PARTY, EXPLAINS WHY THE EUROPEAN FEDERALIST DEPUTIES WILL NOT VOTE THE MOTION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE LEFT.
Rome, 19 June 1991. "We shall not vote, abstaining, the motion of confidence presented by the Democratic Party of the Left, which is a demonstration of contempt toward the other components of the opposition. The PDS-PCI places us before a decision that has been taken exclusively on its own. (...). Cossiga has been elected almost unanimously. (...) Let the dead bury their dead. We want to pass from party power to democracy, and this can be done only with a uninominal, Anglo-Saxon electoral law, capable of guaranteeing this first result: enough with all these parties if we want the parties of democracy to live. We repeat it with dramatic urgency, because we believe that time is running is short (...)".
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Czechoslovakia
RADICAL CONFERENCE ON THE ANTIPROHIBITIONIST PROPOSAL
Karlovy Vary, 19 June 1991. A public conference-assembly on the subject "REGULATING DRUGS: THE ANTIPROHIBITIONIST PROPOSAL" was held at the Termal Hotel. The conference was held by Richard Stockar (Secretary of the Radical Association for the United States of Europe) and Paolo Pietrosanti (Federal councillor of the radical Party).
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Soviet Union
COLLECTION OF SIGNATURES FOR THE RIGHT TO CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION: 10.000 SIGNATURES ALREADY COLLECTED.
Moscow, 24 June 1991. Among the over 10.000 signatures collected by the Muscovite radicals on the petition for the acknowledgment of conscientious objection, there are those of the writer Boris STRUGATSKY, Nina KATERLI, writer, Ales ADAMOVICH, writer, member of the Public Council of the Memorial organization, Sergej KOVALEV, former political prisoner, member of the Presidency of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian federation, Anatolij ZHELUDKOV, deputy at the Russian Soviet, member of the Russian Green Party. Several organizations have also joined the radical initiative, including "Rossijskij Komitet Helsinkskoj Grazhdanskoj Assamblei" (Russian Committee of the Helsinki Assembly), "Komitet Soldatskih Materei" (Mothers of Soldiers Committee), "Rossijskoe Obscestvo Mira" (Russian society for Peace), the liberal group of the Mossoviet, "Mezhdunarodnaja Associacija Grazhdanskij Mir" (International Association "Civic Peace").
The collection of signatures continues.
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Europe-Croatia-Slovenia-Yugoslavia
IMMEDIATE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE REPUBLICS OF CROATIA AND SLOVENIA. RADICAL PARTY STATEMENT.
Rome, Budapest, Brussels, 28 June 1991. The Radical Party urges the immediate acknowledgement of the Republics of Croatia and Slovenia, and the immediate disavowal of any agreement involving the protraction of the international complicity with Serbia's nationalist, Communist-style authoritarianism, and the deceptive support of the technocratic and pseudo-efficient policy of the Central Government of Belgrade.
The Slovenian and Croatian Republics have officially asked to become part of the European Community, and propose a new confederate force for the Yugoslavian republic. Such objectives should be given maximum support, also to ensure a protection against perduring and dangerous chauvinist tendencies.
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Italy
BIRTH OF A LAY MOVEMENT TO PREVENT ELECTORAL FRAUDS
Rome, 26 June 1991. A manifesto-appeal for the reform of politics, namely for an electoral reform in a majority-uninominal sense and the direct election of the representatives of the local, regional and national assemblies, was presented yesterday to the foreign press room of Rome, upon the initiative of five promoting groups: ARCoD (Radical Association for the Democratic Constituent Assembly and for the reform of politics), LIBERAL CLUB FOR THE ALTERNATIVE, FORUM OF DEMOCRATS, INDEPENDENTS FOR REFORM AND CLUBS OF THE LEFT.
Among the over one hundred signers there are entrepreneurs, university professors, journalists, intellectuals and twelve members of Parliament from the Radical Party, the liberal party, the Independent Left and the Democratic Party of the Left.
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Europe-Croatia-Slovenia-Yugoslavia
THE EEC'S POSITION IS BLIND, PRESUMPTUOUS AND ARROGANT. STATEMENT BY MARCO PANNELLA, PRESIDENT OF THE RADICAL PARTY'S FEDERAL COUNCIL.
Ljubjana, 30 June 1991. "In these hours we are witnessing the tragical events which we had foreseen. The EEC's position, and especially the blind, presumptuous and arrogant position of the Italian foreign minister Gianni De Michelis, have resulted in an instigation vis-à-vis Belgrade and the worst part of the Serbian leading group. The cynicism with which the tragedy of Kosovo and the unrestrained progression of the paleocommunist authoritarian demagogy of Molosevic has been treated for years, especially by our government and by are parties, are here confirmed. The Radical Party denounces the full responsibility of those who have been repeating for weeks that the independence of the Slovenian republic and of the Croatian Republic, with their serious and responsible policy aimed at an integration in the EEC and with the official objective of a confederate structure instead of a federal one of Yugoslavia, could "never" have been accepted. I address an urgent appeal to the government and to the public opinion t
o ask them to do all that is possible immediately to impose the respect of the legality in the Serbian Republic and in the whole of Yugoslavia to Serbia. Should there be a bloodshed in these hours and days, Brussels and Rome would be responsible for it. This is what we need to prevent at once.
I address an appeal to the radical and nonviolent militants, urging them to organize, as they did in the most difficult days of the Rumanian crisis, an intervention campaign of peace and democracy".
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Italy
MEETING BETWEEN THE RADICALS AND NICOLO' AMATO, DIRECTOR OF THE PRISONS. SITUATION OF AIDS PATIENTS IN PRISONS EXAMINED. THE PROPOSALS.
Rome, 3 July 1991. A delegation of the Radical Party headed by the secretary Sergio Stanzani and including Vanna Barenghi, antiprohibitionist regional councillor, Luigi Cerina, antiprohibitionist municipal councillor, and Sergio D'Elia, federal councillor of the Radical Party, was received by Nicolò Amato, director general of the prison Administration. The meeting, organized on the spur of the Rosa Masci case, an AIDS patient imprisoned in Rebibbia and released a few days ago following the radicals' intervention, examined the general situation of dozens of AIDS patients in prison, which no one knows anything about and who die amid the general indifference.
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Soviet Union
NOVODVORSKAJA-DANILOV AFFAIR. WHO IS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF IT? STATEMENT BY 8 SOVIET PERSONALITIES.
Moscow, 5 July 1991. As mentioned in the previous issues of the Radical Letter, the members of the Democratic Union Vladimir Danilov and Valerija Novodvorskaja (the latter subsequently joined the Radical Party) were arrested for having published a letter, called "Letter of the 12" on the magazine of the Democratic Union, in which they condemned the massacre of Vilnius with highly emotional tones. In their appeal, the signers (Lev TIMOFEEV, Jurij ORLOV, Galina STAROVOJTOVA, Genri REZNIK, Leonard TERNOVSKIJ, Vjatcheslav BAKHMIN, Mikhail ALEKSEEV, Aleksandr LAVOUT) do not agree with the contents of the letter and insist on the need to carry out an inquiry considering both the context in which the letter was written and the whole of the activities of the Democratic Union (whose program underlines the principle of nonviolence) without however, carrying out a juridical persecution.
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Italy
CONCERNING THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC. PRESS CONFERENCE BY MARCO PANNELLA.
Teramo, 5 July 1991. During a press conference held in Teramo (Abruzzi), Marco Pannella asked the President of the Italian Republic to perform his constitutional duties and especially to assume his responsibilities for that which concerns: a) Italy's E.C. and foreign policy, which is currently in contradiction with the referendum mandate on the European Union.
b) the activities of the public mass media, which have radicalised their behaviour as a mafia manipulated by the parties.
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Rumania
MEETING OF THE RADICALS WHO SUPPORT AN ANGLO-SAXON REFORM OF THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM.
Bucharest, 8 July 1991. About fifteen radicals of Bucharest involved in the project of an Anglo-Saxon reform of the political system generally and electoral system in particular, met to discuss and decide the legal and organizational form to give to their informal association. After having discussed and corrected a draft statute for a "Radical Association for the Anglo-Saxon system" (A.R.A.), the participants decided to collect the necessary signatures to deposit the statute at the competent legal authorities.
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European Community - European Parliament
LUXEMBOURG'S SEMESTER OF E.C. PRESIDENCY DISAPPOINTING, SAYS ADELAIDE AGLIETTA
Strasbourg, 9 July 1991. Adelaide Aglietta, President of the Green group of the European parliament and member of the radical Party, expressed an unfavorable opinion on Luxembourg's semester of presidency of the E.C., "especially as far as the political Union is concerned, a subject which could give rise to an involution in the Community".
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European Community - European Parliament
DEBATE ON YUGOSLAVIA. MARCO PANNELLA IN FAVOUR OF MOTION OF CENSURE AGAINST THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESENTED BY DEPUTY LE PEN.
Strasbourg, 9 July 1991. Marco Pannella, member of the European Parliament elected from the "Liberal-Republican-federalist" lists, and President of the Radical party's federal council, said he was in favour of the motion of censure against the European Commission, recalling that "the political need to extend the Community has been urged more than once, whereas a non-extension would have caused the economic and structural contradictions to explode, as proven by the current events. Moreover, it is not true that Slovenia and Croatia ask for a nationalist form of independence. They ask for an independence in a European context and in the context of a Yugoslavian confederation, to oppose the chauvinism of the Serbian authoritative State".
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Soviet Union - Yugoslavia
RADICAL PARTY DEMONSTRATION IN FAVOUR OF SLOVENIA AND CROATIA.
Moscow, 10 July 1991. About twenty members of the Radical Party. including Marino Busdachin, member of the federal Council, demonstrated in front of the Yugoslavian embassy in Moscow. Together with the European flag, there were banners that read "immediate acknowledgment of Slovenia and Croatia", "our support to the democratic, European policy of Slovenia and Croatia", "No to the Serbian and Russian chauvinism and nationalism", "soldiers back to their barracks", "the time of the empires is gone", "confederation yes, empire no".
The consul rejected the demonstrators' requests, who wanted to meet the consular authorities and present a letter to the Yugoslavian ambassador in Moscow, Andzel Korunic. The militia tried to stop the demonstration on several occasions, threatening to block the participants and identify them.
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Soviet Union
MOSCOW-TV NEWS REPORTAGE ON THE RADICAL DEMONSTRATION
Moscow, 10 July 1991. The Moscow-Tv news broadcast a reportage of over three minutes on the Radical demonstration. Commenting the event, the anchorman said that "in our difficult circumstances, the radical party is the only political party to be concerned about other things apart from internal soviet problems".
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Soviet Union - Moldavia
THE MOLDAVIAN SOVIET PASSES A LAW ON CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
Kichinev, 10 July 1991. The law on the alternative civil service for conscientious objectors has been passed by the Soviet of the Republic of Moldavia. The status of objector will be granted to those who object to the military service on grounds of pacifist, religious or political beliefs.
Objectors will be given the possibility to carry out their civil service in municipal services, in the agricultural field, in the medical and social protection field, in civil protection.
With the passage of this law, Moldavia became the fifth Republic of the USSR (after Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Georgia) to recognize conscientious objection.
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Italy
RADICAL PARTY MEETING-PRESS CONFERENCE FOR THE PRESENTATION OF THE FIRST ISSUE OF THE NEWSPAPER "THE NEW PARTY"
Rome, 18 July 1991. In a meeting-press conference, Emma Bonino, (president), Sergio Stanzani, (secretary), Paolo Vigevano (treasurer) and Marco Pannella (president of the federal council) presented the ten editions of the first issue of the newspaper "The new party", a monthly newsletter which means to be the vehicle for political initiatives for the parliamentarians of the five continents.
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Yugoslavia - Slovenia
MEETING BETWEEN MARCO PANNELLA AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE SLOVENIAN REPUBLIC, MILAN KUCAN
Ljubljana, 29 June 1991. During the period of unrest and clashes, Marco Pannella was in Ljubljana, where he was received by the President of the Republic Kucan.
The President of the Radical Party's Federal Council also met the presidents of the different parties represented in the Slovenian national assembly.
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Israel - Italy
ISRAELI KEREN DEDICATES A FOREST IN ISRAEL TO MARCO PANNELLA AND THE RADICAL PARTY
Rome, 3 July 1991. During a ceremony in Rome, the Israeli Keren, the world Hebrew organization, whose aim it is to collect funds all over the world for the reforestation of the Negev desert in Israel, dedicated a forest of 1000 trees to the Radical Party and to Marco Pannella for their political commitment in defence of the Jewish State. The Radical Party was represented by Bruno Zevi, honorary president, Emma Bonino, president, Sergio Stanzani, first secretary as well as Marco Pannella. The ceremony was attended also by Sergio Frassineti, president of the Hebrew community in Rome, Piero Abbina, president for Italy of the Keren Kayameth Leisrael, the Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff, the Israeli ambassador in Italy, Mordechai Drori and Angelo Pezzana, president of the Israel-Italy Association as well as exponent of the Radical Party.
During the ceremony, Pannella defended Zionism as a defence means of a State which represents a tiny island of democracy amid an ocean of territories that are all ruled by one-party, dictatorial regimes, where human, political and social rights are radically denied.
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Belgium
FOLLOWING THE RADICAL PARTY'S INTERVENTION, FRANCOIS WORTELBOER, 70 YEARS OLD, INTERRUPTS HIS HUNGER STRIKE
Brussels, 17 July 1991. Following the Radical Party's intervention, 70 year-old Francois Wortelboer interrupted his 64-day hunger strike which he had started to urge equal treatment on the part of the Ministry of Pensions for part time workers.
Wortelboer, who worked all his life as a part time worker, and who as such regularly paid his social security dues exactly like "regular workers", was given a pension of 4,079 francs a month, that is, three to four times less than the minimum level guarantied by the Belgian State. Determined not to accept this situation, which he shares with several other citizens, after a number of appeals to the competent authorities, Wortelboer started a hunger strike. Despite the legitimacy of his claims and the support received by the public opinion, the Belgian authorities have disregarded his requests.
In a message of complete institutional and militant support to Wortelboer, the Radical Party asked him to interrupt his hunger strike considering the current situation of parliamentary inactivity. An urgent interrogation, with a short-term vote request was presented by the Radical deputies to the European Parliament.
Wortelboer accepted the Radical Party's request.
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Czechoslovakia
ANTIPROHIBITIONIST INITIATIVES: ANTIPROHIBITIONIST DEPUTY TARADASH MEETS THE VICE PRIME MINISTER MIKLOSKO
Prague, 17 July 1991. During his visit in Prague, Marco Taradash, European antiprohibitionist deputy and member of the Radical Party met the Vice Prime Minister of the Federal Czech and Slovakian Republic. During the meeting, attended also by radicals John Bok, Richard Stockar and Paolo Pietrosanti, the participants confirmed that an International Conference on Drugs in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe by the end of this year. Such conference will be organized by the Radical Party together with the governmental committee against drugs, and will be sponsored by Olga Havlova, the wife of President Havel and by Miklosko himself.
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Czechoslovakia
THE RADICALS SUPPORT DRUGS, SAYS "RUDE PRAVO". THE RADICALS' REPLY.
Prague, 16 July 1991. The newspaper "Rude Pravo" published an article in which it calls the Radicals "followers of drugs".
On behalf of the Radicals operating in Czechoslovakia, Richard Stockar immediately replied asking the paper to publish its reply with a short period of time, otherwise it would submit the case to a court of law.
Ruse Pravo not only published the Radicals' reply, but even an interview with Richard Stockar himself.
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Czechoslovakia
ANTIPROHIBITIONISM: PUBLIC CONFERENCE BY MARCO TARADASH
Prague, 17 July 1991. About one hundred people, including several policemen, physicians and politicians, took part in the conference-debate organized by the Czechoslovakian radicals. The conference was presided by Richard Stockar, Emil Scuka, president of the ROI (Rom Civic Initiative), Dezider Balog, Ondrej Gina and Zdenek Guzi, deputies at the Czech national assembly.
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Czechoslovakia
EUROPEAN DEPUTY TARADASH INTERVIEWED BY LIDOVE NOVINY
Prague, 18 July 1991. Marco Taradash, antiprohibitionist member of the European parliament, member of the Radical Party's Federal Council, delivered a lengthy interview to the paper "Lidove Noviny" in which he examined the antiprohibitionist theses and the proposal of a regulation of drugs.
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Czechoslovakia
WEEKLY "REPORTER" INTERVIEWS DR. DOUDA, PSYCHOLOGIST, DRUG EXPERT AND MEMBER OF THE RADICAL PARTY.
Prague, 21 July 1991. In an interview published by the weekly "Reporter", Ivan Douda, Radical, psychologist at the Prague Centre for alcohol or drug addicts, explained why he believes that the very first step for an effective drug policy cannot consist in publishing the consumers, but should rather aim at a decriminalization.
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Italy
MARCO PANNELLA, PRESIDENT OF THE RADICAL PARTY'S FEDERAL COUNCIL, ASKS THE ITALIAN PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC COSSIGA TO RESIGN
Rome, 22 July 1991. "The President's reference to his arrest or disappearance as the price to pay to his alleged enemies for his political behaviour adds more verbal and conceptual violence to the rickety political scenario, that is, the tragi-comic representation which we are fed every day despite all responsible attempts to control an extremely difficult moment of the life of our country.
Should this situation be further tolerated by the national parties, and accepted by the country, no change of the Constitution or of the laws would have any sense; in fact, betraying them would become a perfectly acceptable rule for ordinary citizens as for the supreme magistracy of the State.
We will probably not have the force to obtain a trial against the President for attempt against the Constitution. However, we shall try. If President Cossiga decided to resign, as he did in the past and in conditions of less evident mistakes, from Minister of the Interior and from Prime Minister, and to free the country of the disastrous situation he has plunged it, we would certainly not be sorry for it".
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Soviet Union
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION: RADICAL ALEXANDR PRONOZIN PLACED IN A MENTAL HOSPITAL.
Moscow, 24 July 1991. Alexandr Pronozin, 21, member of the Radical Party and of the War Resister's International (WRI), was held in the District criminal police's offices and then placed in the Kascenko mental hospital in Moscow.
As the readers may remember, Pronozin refused to carry out his military service in the name of his nonviolent and antimilitarist beliefs. The penal trial (failure to report for military service - art. 80 of the Russian Federation's Criminal Code) had started on 3 January 1990. Pronozin had been given formal notice of this charge a few months ago.
The psychiatric examination is provided for by art. 80 of the Criminal Code, and is aimed at verifying whether the recruit is apt to carry out his military service. If he is recognized to be apt, he risks a penalty of up to five years of imprisonment (even if in these last years the sentences have been of one or two years).
According to the investigating judge, Pronozin should remain in the mental hospital for at least three weeks.
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Italy
AN 18 YEAR-OLD YOUTH ACCUSED OF DRUG PUSHING FOR 12 GRAMS OF HASHISH HANGS HIMSELF IN THE PRISON OF IVREA. STATEMENT BY MARCO TARADASH, SECRETARY OF THE CORA AND MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT.
Rome, 26 July 1991. "Stefano Ghirelli, 18 years old, in possession of 25 grams of hashish for his holidays, has been assassinated by the Craxi-Jervolino law and by the indecent support given to it by the Constitutional Court.
Any attempt on the part of the press to discharge the responsibility of this death on a single magistrate is infamous. It is the law on drugs, in its spirit and in its letter, which claims such human sacrifices.
Stefano died also for the negligence of his prison guards in the prison of Ivrea, and someone will have to be prosecuted by a court for this. But his lost life, like the ruined life of thousands of youths like him, is the tax which the civil Italy has to pay to the Italy of intolerance, the Italy of Craxi and of the clericals, of Di Gennaro and of Don Gelmini, of Muccioli (leaders of communities for the so-called "rehabilitation of drug users", editor's note) and of the TG2 (the State TV channel controlled by the Socialist Party, editor's note).
It is that Italy which pretends to remove its problems, its disorder, its corruption, its indifference with laws and penalties, with prison and trips to Lourdes".
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Hungary
DRUGS. INTERVIEW WITH THE RADICAL PARTY PUBLISHED ON THE DAILY "ESTI HIRLAP"
Budapest, 29 July 1991. The evening daily Esti Hirlap published an interview with the Radical Party on the problem of drugs. Among the subjects dealt with, the experiments under way in the Netherlands and in some European cities, the "results" of the "war on drugs" of the U.S. administration, the need to fight against the moralism which pervades the drug issue etc. The Radicals replied with a letter to the paper's editor to the abusive interpretations made by the journalist, Bela Endre Toth, in his introduction and in the postscript.
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Czechoslovakia - Italy
DEZIDER BALOG, DEPUTY AND MEMBER OF THE RADICAL PARTY'S FEDERAL COUNCIL ON VISIT TO ROME
Rome, 29 June 1991. Dezider Balog - deputy at the Czech national assembly and one of the leaders of the ROI party (Rom Civic Initiative) and federal councillor of the radical party - took part in an assembly which gathered the representatives of the Yugoslav Gypsy residents in Italy. During the assembly, Balog invited the participants to unite in a common organization and to avoid wasting energies and resources.
During his stay in Rome, Balog also had an extensive meeting with Marco Pannella and other Radical exponents, and gave interviews to Teleroma 56 and to the Italian national network of Radio Radicale.
