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Italy
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE BACKS THE PROPOSALS OF THE RADICAL ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST COORDINATION (CoRA). STATEMENT BY MARCO TARADASH, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND SECRETARY OF THE RADICAL ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST COORDINATION (CoRA).
Rome, 1 August 1991. "According to press disclosures, the minister of justice Claudio Martelli is preparing to modify the Jervolino-Vassalli bill on drugs, with a twofold objective: introducing a drastic distinction in judgement and treatment between consumers and pushers, and introducing a difference in judgement and treatment between consumers of hard drugs and consumers of soft drugs (or non-drugs). If these revelations prove to be true, Martelli deserves our full approval.
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Soviet Union
BILL ON CONSCRIPTION - INSTITUTION OF A STUDENT'S STRIKE COMMITTEE.
Moscow, 1 August 1991. A student's strike committee was established in Moscow to protest against the new text of the law on conscription. Such bill, prepared by the Minister of Defence, includes an article according to which students should be assimilated into the armed forces. Beside that of safeguarding the rights of the students, the objective of this new committee is that of opposing the military conscription and contributing to supporting democratic reforms in the armed forces. To contact the committee, write to Student's strike Committee, phone 7-095-9288574.
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Italy - Kuwait
ONE HUNDRED TORCHES TO "WIN THE PEACE": ONE YEAR AFTER THE INVASION OF KUWAIT, A DEMONSTRATION IN PANTHEON SQUARE.
Rome, 2 August 1991. On 2 August 1990, Saddam Hussein's troops invaded Kuwait, triggering that Gulf War the tragic consequences of which are still at work.
On the anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait, and faced to a regime which continues to deny the fundamental human rights of its own people, which continues to carry out massacres among the Kurdish population, which seems determined to resort to war once again, equipping itself with new armaments, the Radical Party, together with the Italian Helsinki Committee, the committee for a "Helsinki of the Mediterranean" and the International Association for the Rights of Man, took part in a demonstration in Pantheon Square in Rome for the democracy and freedom of Iraq and of all the peoples of the Middle East, and for the respect of the peace agreements.
The demonstration was supported by the Christian Democrat Party, the Liberal Party, the Jewish Students Cultural Movement and the Dor Emsheh movement.
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Italy
THE RADICAL ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST COORDINATION (CORA) SUBMITS OVER 200 PETITIONS FOR THE EXTENSION OF THE DECREE OF THE MINISTER OF HEALTH DE LORENZO ON METHADONE, ALSO URGING A RECONSIDERATION OF THE GOVERNMENT'S HEALTH POLICY.
Rome, 2 August 1991. A delegation of the Radical Anti-Prohibitionist Coordination formed by the secretary, Marco Taradash, the treasurer, Maurizio Turco, and the president of the general council, Rita Bernardini, went to the Ministry of Health to submit 119 petitions advanced by drug addicted persons who are being treated at State-managed drug dependency units. The delegation met the deputy Minister of Health, Elena Marinucci, who recalled her support in Parliament of the distribution of methadone, meeting the opposition of the Communist Party. The deputy minister also expressed appreciation for the fact that a great number of drug users have become more conscious, promoting a political initiative on a problem which directly concerns their life conditions.
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Soviet Union
THE RADICALS TAKE PART IN THE FOUNDATION ASSEMBLY OF THE MOVEMENT "DEMOCRATIC RUSSIA" IN OREHOVO-ZUEVO
Orehovo-Zuevo, 2 August 1991. Two members of the Radical Party, Nikolai Khramov and Don Nikon, bishop of the Catacombic Church, took part in the foundation assembly of the local section of the movement "Democratic Russia" in Orehovo-Zuevo. At the end of the meeting, three people decided to join the Radical Party, including Igor Galkanov, president of the local association of "Democratic Russia".
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Norway
WORLD ESPERANTIST CONGRESS. RADICAL PRESENCE.
Bergen, 5 August 1991. Giorgio Pagano, secretary of the Radical Esperantist Association (A.R.E.) took part in the World Esperantist Congress, where he handed out over 2,200 copies of the Esperantist edition of the newsletter "The New Party". The Radical Party is the first political party to take part in a world Esperantist congress. Throughout the period of the congress, four people joined the Radical Esperantist Association and one person joined the Radical Party.
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Yugoslavia - Kosovo - Italy
MEETING BETWEEN THE RADICAL PARTY AND THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT PARTY OF THE ALBANIANS OF YUGOSLAVIA.
Rome, 6 August 1991. The delegation of the Christian Democrat Party of the Albanians, present in Rome with its president Lazer Krasniqi, its vice president Abdullah Karijagdiju and the president of the Humanitarian Association "Mother Teresa" Simon Kuzhnini, met with Marco Pannella, with the President of the Radical Party, Emma Bonino, and with Marino Busdachin of the Federal Council. The meeting highlighted many common points in the concern and safeguard of human rights in Kosovo and in the need for a greater cooperation between the two parties.
Abdfullah Karijagdiu decided to join the Radical Party while remaining vice president of the Christian Democrat Party.
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Rumania
THERE ARE MANY WHO WOULD LIKE TO PLAY WITH FIRE.
INTERVIEW PUBLISHED BY EUROPA IDO
Sfintu Gheorghe, 7 August 1991. In an interview published by the Hungarian-speaking weekly magazine Europa Ido, Olivier Dupuis analyses the issue of the coexistence between different ethnic groups, and the methods (including institutional ones) to organize this coexistence. Dupuis also tackles the question of the need to reform the Rumanian electoral system - and not just the Rumanians one - in an Anglo-Saxon sense in order to consolidate democracy.
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Italy
THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC COSSIGA IS DISTORTING THE INSTITUTION OF PARDON. STATEMENT BY MARCO PANNELLA, PRESIDENT OF THE RADICAL PARTY'S FEDERAL COUNCIL
Rome, 10 August. "President Cossiga is distorting and irretrievably damaging Parliament's functions and prerogatives in terms of policy, control, supervision, interpellation and "publicity" in an increasingly intolerable way. He is interfering in the government's action, depriving it of all serenity in its difficult task and making it more incapable than it already is in itself and for its partyist nature. After having proclaimed their structure, he is now blocking the activity and the tasks of the jurisdiction. He is distorting the prerogative of pardon, which should be "sovereign" and unmotivated, turning it into a politicalized operation, alien both to the law and to the Constitution. He has turned the possibility of a sovereign, almost institutionally religious act, related only to the conscience of the Head of the State, into a public matter. Never before in the history of a country had a president so deeply damaged and systematically offended every rule, written and non-written, and every logic other t
han one based on pure destruction and self-destruction."
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Soviet Union
CALL-IN SHOW WITH THE AUDIENCE OF THE RADIO STATION OF OREHOVO-ZUJEVO
Orehovo Zujievo (Moscow region), 10 August 1991. Upon the invitation of the directress of the radio station, Marino Busdachin and Nikolaij Khramov illustrated the activity of the Radical Party in the U.S.S.R. to the audience of the community. A call-in show followed. At the conclusion, 5 people joined the Radical Party.
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Albania - Europe
"I AN ASHAMED OF BEING EUROPEAN, I AM ASHAMEND OF THE E.C., OF THIS DECEITFUL, ANTIPARLIAMENTARIAN, NOXIOUS COMMUNITY". STATEMENT BY MARCO PANNELLA, MEMBER OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT.
Rome, 10 August 1991. "I feel indignation and shame for this European Community which has betrayed all the hopes, commitments, ideal and practical interests of democracy and of the Continent faced to the Albanian and Yugoslav tragedies and faced to all the other tragedies which this E.C. characterized by a deficit of democracy and Parliament seems to prepare rather than fight.
I feel ashamed of being a "European" of this Community, which is ready to side the worst national-conservative instincts of its "leaders". After the sorry figure on the collapse of popular democracies, on the fall of the Berlin Wall, on Gaddafi, on the conflict against Saddam Hussein, on the murderers and terrorists of the Middle East - Iran and Syria above all - I shall no longer accept to be qualified as a "European". I am a - European - federalist, and a subversive revolutionary faced to this shameful E.C.
As Radical Party, we offer our apologies to the Albanians, which the Western powers have kept under the most cruel and vulgar of dictatorships for over forty years and who are now gathered in a single stadium, amid general hunger and despair. We pledge to fight without reservations and as soon as possible for them and with them.
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U.S.S.R. - Russia
TWO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MOSSOVIET JOIN THE RADICAL PARTY, ANATOLY ZHELUDKOV OF THE GREEN PARTY AND ALEXANDER KOSHEVAROV OF THE LIBERAL GROUP.
Moscow, 12 August 1991. At the conclusion of a meeting between Radicals and a number of representatives of the Mossoviet belonging to the Green and Liberal groups, Zheludkov and Koshevarov joined the Radical Party. The two representatives stressed the need for the Radical Party to engage in environmental campaigns also in Moscow, which faces one of the worst situations in terms of destruction of the environment and ecological pollution.
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Italy - Albania
THE MAYOR OF BARI DENOUNCES THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC COSSIGA. THIS IS a REGIME TRAGICOMEDY. STATEMENT BY MARCO PANNELLA, PRESIDENT OF THE RADICAL PARTY'S FEDERAL COUNCIL.
Rome, 13 August 1991. "I wish to express all my sympathy to the Mayor of Bari, and I hope he will at once appeal to the Magistracy to defend the Italian Constitution and legal system as well as his honour and reputation.
At this point, Parliament, the Government and the Parties can only formally denounce the attack against the Constitution which President Cossiga is carrying out with every new day, in an intolerable provocative escalation. If they do not, Italians should have the right to know that we are faced to a tragicomedy, aimed at perpetuating this partyist regime with forms that are even more antidemocratic and anticonstutional".
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Italy
REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN. IN ADDITION TO THE ELECTORAL REFORM, THE OBJECTIVE IS THE ABOLITION OF THE MINISTRY OF STATE INVESTMENT. M.S.GIANNINI AND OTHER EXPERTS AT WORK TO "STRIKE AT THE SANCTUARIES OF THE PARTIES' OCCUPATION OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR". GIOVANNI NEGRI STATEMENT.
Rome, 13 August 1991. The Radical parliamentarian Giovanni Negri confirms that in addition to the electoral referendums, a group of experts, including Massimo Severo Giannini, is preparing other referendums "to strike at the sanctuaries of the parties' occupation of the public administration and of the public sector. The Ministry of State Investment, for example, has become the strategic direction of all partyist appointments in public corporations. But other areas to clean up are the public credit, municipal concerns, and the health system."
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U.S.S.R. - Russia
FIRST RADICAL HEADQUARTERS OPENED IN ST. PETERSBURG. ASSEMBLY IN ULICA VOJTIKA 23, IN THE PETROGRADSKI AREA, WITH MARINO BUSDACHIN OF THE RADICAL PARTY'S FEDERAL COUNCIL.
St. Petersburg, 14 August 1991. The Radical Party has a new office, consisting of two rooms, two telephones, a computer connected to Agora' and a fax machine, which are the tools which the radicals of St. Petersburg will use from today on to carry out their activity. During the assembly, four more people joined the Radical Party. Fiodor Chub and Marino Busdachin illustrated the radical Project and suggested to launch a political initiative to transform St. Petersburg into a free city with a Special Statute as Integral Free Zone.
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Hungary
ANTIPROHIBITIONISM: DAILY KURIR INTERVIEWS ANNA TOTHFALUSI OF THE RADICAL ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST COORDINATION (ARKo)
Budapest, 15 August 1991. On the first page of the Budapest-based daily newspaper Kurir, Ildiko Toth interviews Anna Tothfalusi on the problem of drugs, on the antiprohibitionist proposals and on the initiatives of the Radical Anti-Prohibitionist Coordination (ARKo).
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Italy
IN AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY 'IL CORRIERE DELLA SERA', PANNELLA INVITES THE SAVOIA ROYAL FAMILY TO WIN THEIR RIGHTS INSTEAD OF ASKING FOR PARDON.
Rome 17 August 1991. The radicals generally and Pannella personally had long since submitted a "plan" to the Savoia family to remove the obstacles - which they consider unconstitutional - to the return in Italy of the male heirs of the Savoia family.
Basically the plan consisted in making young Emanuele Filiberto enter Italy "illegally", make him self-denounce his presence, and appeal (with the quasi-certainty of a positive and final result) against the administrative measure of "expulsion" which would have been activated.
These are the contents of an article published by "Il Corriere della Sera", which indirectly but evidently contradicts today's statements by Vittorio Emanuele published by another Milan-based daily newspaper.
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Italy
SAVOIAS COULD BECOME WELL-DESERVING CITIZENS OF THE REPUBLIC INSTEAD OF HAPLESS PETITIONERS OF PARTY POWER, SAYS PANNELLA.
Rome 18 August 1991. It seems to me that my position, and the position of the radicals generally, has been misunderstood, especially by "L'Unitŕ".
I proposed no "expedient" whatsoever to the Savoias. Rather, I once again tried to assert the rule of law and the respect of rights in our country. If the Savoias had chosen or chose now to listen to us, the result would be extremely important: in addition to the grotesque and ridiculous proscription of the male heirs of Umberto di Savoia, almost all the transitory and final norms of the Constitution which continue to produce effects today, starting with the prohibition of the "reconstitution" of the Fascist Party (which would in any case be impossible after fifty years), would also probably be declared obsolete and abrogated.
This is why I am once again publicly advising these people to stop aiming exclusively and in vain at obtaining the concession or the mercy of the respect of their fundamental, constitutional rights as Italian citizens, but to win their rights. It is an occasion not to be missed. This would enable them to become well-deserving citizens....of the Republic instead of petitioners of the party power.
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Soviet Union
SOVIET COUP: PANNELLA URGES NON-RECOGNITION OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT.
Rome 19 August 1991. "The Radical Party formally asks Italy and the E.C. not to recognize the new Soviet government. Any other attitude corresponds in all respects to a complicity with the coup d'état.
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Soviet Union - Italy
COUP D'ETAT IN THE U.S.S.R.: MOTION PRESENTED BY RADICAL MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.
Rome, 19 August 1991. In a motion submitted to the Chamber of Representatives a few hours after the announcement of the coup d'état, the Radical members of Parliament among others urged the Italian government:
- not to recognize the Committee for the state of emergency which overthrew the legitimate government of the U.S.S.R. with a military coup d'état;
- to make all necessary efforts to urge the European Community to hold a similar position;;
- to make all necessary efforts to suspend all agreements of economic cooperation with the Soviet Union;
- to urge the respect of the commitments taken by the U.S.S.R. in the context of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and of the treaties for the safeguard of human rights and above all to request the immediate release of President Mikhail Gorbachev.
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Italy - Soviet Union
COUP D'ETAT IN THE U.S.S.R.: RADICAL MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT REQUEST EXTRAORDINARY SUMMONS OF THE CHAMBERS
Rome, 19 August 1991. The radical members of Parliament of the Federalist Group at the Chamber of Representatives and of the European Federalist and Environmentalist Group at the Senate requested the extraordinary summons of the two Chambers of Parliament to enable the government to refer on the dramatic events in the Soviet Union and on its intentions as regards this situation, and to enable it to receive the orientations of Parliament in the most solemn forum and form.
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Soviet Union - Ukraine
COUP D'ETAT: RADICALS LIVING IN KIEV LAUNCH AN APPEAL
Kiev, 20 August 1991. In an appeal distributed to the press, the Radicals living in Kiev, including Alexander Belov, Igor Belyj, Igor Olshanskij, Svetlana Lescenko, Tatjana Plaksij, Vladimir Perednja e Nikolaj Khramov, stated that "(...) It is important to underline that this coup d'état took place the day before the ratification of the new Union Treaty, which represented a possibility to pacify extremely strained relations between the different republics and the central government. The strong resistance against this positive process on the part of the old central structures and of orthodox communist leaders are one of the main reasons for the military putsch. We members of the Radical Party who live and work in Kiev firmly intend to defend the rule of law and democracy in our country, together with the many men and women of Russia, Ukraine and of the other states that are currently part of the U.S.S.R. (...). We ask all members of Parliament and all citizens of Europe to uphold democracy and the law in the
U.S.S.R.
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Italy - Soviet Union
COUP D'ETAT: LETTER BY PEPPINO CALDERISI, RADICAL, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN FEDERALIST GROUP, TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN PARLIAMENT
Rome, 20 August 1991. Mrs President, the coup d'état in the Soviet Union calls for the uttermost responsibility and initiative on the part of Parliament. We hope that the Chambers can provide the government with their orientations as soon as possible and in the most solemn form and forum. Nonetheless, we consider it particularly urgent and necessary for a selected parliamentary delegation to visit the U.S.S.R. and ask to meet President Gorbachev, who has been dismissed "for health reasons" and, as far as we know, has been placed under house arrest (...)".
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Hungary
ANTIPROHIBITIONISM: REFORM MAGAZINE INTERVIEWS OLIVIER DUPUIS
Budapest, 22 August 1991. Zoltan Hegyi, a journalist with Reform, the most widely-read weekly magazine of Hungary, interviews Olivier Dupuis on what antiprohibitionism means and does not mean, on the possible consequences of a regulation of drugs, on the reasons for which the drug "phenomenon" has become a taboo subject in the different parliaments of Europe, on the link between drugs and crime and on the possibility of implementing an antiprohibitionist policy in Hungary.
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Italy
MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE RADICAL ESPERANTIST ASSOCIATION
Rome, 23 August 1991. The Council of the Radical Esperantist Association met in Rome. During the meeting, the members of the Council analysed the results of the dispatch of the newsletter "The New Party" in Esperanto. The survey highlighted the need to enhance the organization of esperantists and their coordination.
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Soviet Union
APPEAL AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY
Moscow, 23 August 1991. The First Secretary of the Radical Party, Sergio Stanzani, launched an appeal for the abolition of the death penalty in the Soviet Union (the text and the list of signatories are published on our first pages).
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Italy
MOTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE RADICAL ESPERANTIST ASSOCIATION
Rome, 23 August 1991. In its concluding motion, the Radical Esperantist Association ( A.R.E.) considers the following measures necessary to enhance the campaign for the promotion of Esperanto and of the legislative proposals on the Esperantist issue: resuming the membership campaign to the A.R.E. and to the Radical Party (with the objective of 300 members by the end of 1991) and the organization, together with the Radical Party, of civic assemblies aimed at the promotion of the transnational campaigns of the "New Party" and particularly of the Esperantist campaign.
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China - Tibet - Italy
REALPOLITIK: AFTER MOSCOW, BEIJING. THIS IS HOW PRIME MINISTER ANDREOTTI PREPARES HIS OFFICIAL VISIT TO CHINA OF 15 SEPTEMBER: PROHIBITION FOR COSSIGA TO MEET THE DALAI LAMA AND COMPLETE SILENCE ON THE REPRESSION OF ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS MINORITIES.
Rome, 24 August 1991. "President Cossiga informed me over the telephone that the meeting with the Dalai Lama (Nobel prize for peace) could not be held, as it has not been authorized by the Italian Government on grounds of safeguarding good relations with Beijung". This is what the radical parliamentarian Giovanni Negri revealed on the eve both of Andreotti's official visit to China and of the Dalai Lama's arrival in Italy. "It is tragic but true - Negri said. Bush received the Dalai Lama at the White House, the U.S. Congress denied China the clause of the most favoured nation whereas Andreotti not only does not authorize the meeting with the Dalai Lama at the Quirinal, but he even complains of his presence at the meeting of Rimini, refusing to take part in a round table where the exiled leader of the Tibetans was scheduled to speak."
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Soviet Union - Ukraine
OPEN ASSEMBLY OF THE RADICAL PARTY
Kiev, 25 August 1991. Over 70 people took part in the radical assembly at the Hotel Intertourist in Kiev. Speeches were delivered by Alexander Kalinin, member of the Radical Party's federal Council and member of the Moscow town council, Marino Busdachin of the Radical Party's federal Council, Vladimir Moskovka, member of the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine, president of the Social Democratic Union, Vitalij Kononov, member of the town council of Kiev, copresident of the Green Party, Aleksandr Belousov and Vladimir Shainskij, members of the Social Democratic Union and members of the Radical Party, and Nikolaj Khramov, radical from Moscow. The participants discussed the consequences of the coup d'état and the objectives of the Radical Party. They also debated on the subject of the future role of Ukraine in the united Europe. At the conclusion of the assembly, four people decided to join the Radical Party.
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China - Tibet - Italy
PRIME MINISTER ANDREOTTI IS THE FIRST TO VISIT BEIJING AFTER TIEN AN MEN AND THE LAST (NOT) TO RECEIVE THE DALAI LAMA. RADICAL PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION TO THE GOVERNMENT
Rome, 27 August 1991. In a parliamentary question, the members of the European federalist group and the members of the Radical Party, "considering that (...) according to Amnesty International reports and to the most authoritative international agencies, the government of the People's Republic of China is responsible not only of the massacre of Tian An Men Square, but of constant, perduring violations of human and civil rights, carrying out summary executions, detaining dozens of thousands of political prisoners in concentration camps, repressing ethnic and religious minorities" ask to know the "reasons which lead the Italian government, unlike the other Western governments, to refuse to receive the Dalai Lama, even during his imminent visit to Italy, and to refuse a meeting between the President of the Republic and the Nobel Prize for Peace" and "whether such decision is motivated by the imminent official visit of the Prime Minister in Beijing - the first visit of a head of a European government after the
events of Tian an Men Square".
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Soviet Union - Byelorussia
PERSECUTION OF CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR OLEG LEBEDEV
Moscow-Vitebsk, 2 September 1991. On 22 May, the office of the military procurator of Vitebsk opened proceedings against Oleg Lebedev on the basis of article 70 of the Belorussian criminal code ("dodging the draft"). On 25 August, Lebedev sent a statement of conscientious objection against the military service to the recruitment office. His objection is based on political reasons. He refuses to serve in an army which was used against the population of his own country.
If you wish to support Oleg, you can write a letter or send a telegram to the following addresses:
- Procurator's Office of the U.S.S.R. - Moscow 103793 - GSP, Pushkinskaja pl. 15a
- Supreme Court of the U.S.S.R. - Moscow 121260 - ul.Vorovskogo 15
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Soviet Union - Byelorussia
A RADICAL DELEGATION MEETS THE MEMBERS OF THE OPPOSITION OF THE BELORUSSIAN PARLIAMENT.
Minsk, 2 September 1991. The Radical of Byelorussia Aleksej Galich, together with the radicals from Moscow Khramov and Kuzin, met the members of the Belorussian opposition Galina Semdjanova and Vitalij Malashko. On the agenda of the meeting, Byelorussia's relations with the European Community and the abrogation of the death penalty from the constitutional order of the Republic of Byelorussia.
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Italy
POPULAR REFERENDUM LAUNCHED FOR THE ABROGATION OF THE MINISTRY OF STATE INVESTMENT. ABOLITION OF EXTRAORDINARY INTERVENTIONS IN SOUTHERN ITALY AND OF PUBLIC FUNDING OF PARTIES ALSO PROPOSED.
Rome, 3 September 1991. In a press statement the promoters of the referendum against the parties' occupation of the State, Massimo Severo Giannini and radical Giovanni Negri, stated that "In addition to the much needed electoral reform in a uninominal-majority sense, it is necessary to undertake other initiatives aimed at "freeing" the State and the public administration from the occupation of the parties, by striking at its sanctuaries, the decade-old nomenclature that controls them, overcoming the very idea of Party-State as it has developed in our country. (...) In this sense we propose (...) further initiatives capable of cutting off the links between this system of parties and public funds. (...) First of all, the abrogation of the law that established the Ministry of State Investment. (...). Furthermore, with suitable instruments of initiative we wish to tackle:
- the abrogation of all extraordinary interventions in Southern Italy which are not aimed at industrialization;
- the abrogation of the law on the public funding of parties until conditions of absolute transparency of management are guarantied, as well as the abrogation of the countless welfare contributions to agencies and associations" (...).
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Soviet Union - Byelorussia
RADICAL ASSEMBLY
Minsk, 3 September 1991. About twenty people, including exponents of the political parties of Byelorussia and of the city of Minsk, took part in the first public assembly of the Radical Party at the Hotel Planeta in the capital of Byelorussia. At the conclusion of the assembly, four people decided to join the Radical Party.
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Italy
GIANNI LECCE, PRESIDENT OF "POSITIFS" AND AN ANTIPROHIBITIONIST MILITANT, DIED THIS MORNING AGED 27.
STATEMENT OF THE "POSITIFS" ASSOCIATION.
Rome, 4 September 1991. Gianni Lecce, president of POSITIFS (association of HIV-positive persons and AIDS sufferers) and militant of the Radical Anti-prohibitionist Association (CORA), died this morning aged 27.
Following are the words with which Gianni Lecce summarized the reasons of his commitment in the POSITIFS association: "To testify, openly, because we do not feel guilty, because we refuse to be afraid. Because our experience can be useful for others. To testify openly to destroy taboos, to give those who dare not speak the courage to speak. To create a fraternity of pride. Because we are proud, proud of having learnt a lot about us and about other people. Proud of confiding in ourselves and in our battle. Proud...that is indestructible".
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Soviet Union
16 MEMBERS OF THE TOWN COUNCIL OF MOSCOW START A HUNGER STRIKE
Moscow, 4 September 1991. 16 members of the town council of Moscow, including Alexander Kalinin, member of the Radical Party's Federal Council, started a hunger strike. During a press conference, they explained that the reason for their action was an open disobedience of the State structures against the legal decision of the civic council of Moscow to promote General Komissarov to chief of the Moscow militia. The State authorities have maintained General Myrikov as Chief of the town militia, who is accused of having cooperated with the emergency committee during the failed coup in August.
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Soviet Union
DEATH PENALTY IN THE U.S.S.R.: SOVIET DAILY NEWSPAPER "KOMSOMOLSKAJA PRAVDA" PUBLISHES THE RADICAL PARTY'S APPEAL FOR THE ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY.
Moscow, 6 September 1991. The Gandhian symbol of the Radical Party and the title "Against the death penalty, for the right to life" were an absolute surprise for the almost 50 million readers of the most widely read Soviet daily. The announcement was published on the third page and bore the signature of 120 between members of Parliament and personalities of the U.S.S.R. and of Europe.
It is the first time ever a Soviet daily publishes a political announcement. The announcement included the addresses of the Radical offices of Moscow, Brussels and Rome. Both the Radical Party and the newspaper received a great number of telephone calls following such event.
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China - Italy
PRIME MINISTER ANDREOTTI IN CHINA, CONTRACTS WORTH BILLIONS OF LIRE. NEGRI: "WE HAVE NO DOUBTS ON HIS AFFINITY WITH DENG".
Rome, 9 September 1991. "We will see just what Andreotti will bring back in terms of human rights, in addition to the contracts worth billions of Lire which he prepares to sign in Beijing as Prime Minister and Minister of State Investment. For the moment, we congratulate him once again for the political cynicism which lead him to refuse to meet the Dalai Lama, so as not to disturb Deng's peaceful nights, and we would like to remind him that the British Prime Minister Major (necessarily attentive toward China because of the debate over Hong Kong) on the occasion of his visit at least succeeded in inducing the government to free a prisoner. We have no doubts on the deep affinities that unite two mandarins such as Andreotti and Deng. They are the only two leaders in the world to have remained in power about the same number of years, with the difference that at least Deng spent some time at the opposition".
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Italy
CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE REFERENDUMS FOR THE DEMOCRATIC REFORMS. GIANNINI PRESIDENT. THE QUESTIONS WILL BE DEPOSITED BY SEPTEMBER, THE SIGNATURES STARTING FROM OCTOBER TOGETHER WITH THE ELECTORAL REFERENDUMS.
Rome, 9 September 1991. The formation of the committee for the promotion of the referendums for the democratic reform has been announced, which will coordinate the coming campaign (both referendum campaign and with other means of civic initiative) on the ministry of state investment, the extraordinary interventions in Southern Italy, the appointments in public banks, the RAI, the public funding of parties.
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Hungary - Bulgaria
DRUGS: THREE HUNGARIANS ARRESTED WITH 1,8 KILOS OF HEROIN. STATEMENT BY ANNA TOTHFALUSI OF THE RADICAL ANTIPROHIBITIONIST COORDINATION (ARko)
Budapest, 10 September 1991. The news (MTI) of a new arrest of Hungarians citizens with 1,8 kilos of heroin on the part of Bulgarian customs officers is the ultimate evidence of the fact that real drugs (heroin, cocaine ...) are an every-day problem in Hungary. One month ago, another Hungarian citizen was arrested by the Bulgarian authorities with 11 kilos of heroin. Unfortunately, despite an increasing attention on the part of the Hungarian press, the political parties, "young" or new, prove to be totally indifferent to the problem. Knowing as we do that the quantity which the different police forces of the world are in the conditions of intercepting amounts to no more than 5 % of the drugs that circulate, in the light of these last two events we can no longer pretend that the drug problem in Hungary is a marginal problem, and we need to seriously question the validity of a prohibitionist strategy entirely based on repression, thanks also to Western aid (...)"
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Italy - China
PALAZZO CHIGI (RESIDENCE OF THE PRIME MINISTER) PROHIBITS THE DEMONSTRATION OF RADICAL PARLIAMENTARIANS AND OF THE PRO-TIBET GROUPS BECAUSE OF ANDREOTTI'S VISIT TO CHINA. STATEMENT BY GIOVANNI NEGRI, RADICAL MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
Rome, 13 September 1991. "Until two months ago, it was possible to organize small, silent and nonviolent demonstration in front of Palazzo Chigi. This morning we were opposed a formal prohibition, even of displaying a banner reading "Freedom for Tibet and human rights in China". A rather stupid and authoritarian act, possibly motivated by the concern of not disturbing the mission of Mandarin Giulio in China.
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Italy
GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE RADICAL ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST COORDINATION. A SESSION OF THE COUNCIL DEVOTED TO THE SUBJECT "ANTIPROHIBITIONISM AND CRIMINAL POLICY AGAINST THE MAFIA"
Bologna, 13-14-15 September 1991. The special session of the General Council of the Radical Anti-Prohibitionist Coordination (CORA) was held at the Jolly Hotel in Bologna, on the subject "Antiprohibitionism on drugs and criminal policy against the mafia, after the assassination in Palermo of Libero Grassi (manufacturer, member of the Radical Party)".
After an introduction by Marco Taradash, secretary of the Radical Anti-Prohibitionist Coordination, who recalled that the antiprohibitionist commitment is also a commitment for a different society, made of citizens and not of subjects, the council read the letter which Pina Grassi, the wife of the late Libero Grassi, assassinated by the mafia because he refused to pay a "bribe" (a percentage), sent to the general council of the CORA. At the end of the council, a document was presented which, given the failure of prohibition on drugs, asserts the urgency to assume the antiprohibitionist strategy as one of the necessary means of any policy on drugs and against the mafia; the signatories expressed hopes that the government would accept an open discussion on the results of prohibition and on the perspectives of a legalization of drugs.
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Italy
REFERENDUM ON THE LAW AGAINST DRUGS: THE RADICAL ANTI-PROHIBITIONIST COORDINATION (CORA) LAUNCHES A CAMPAIGN FOR THE ABROGATION OF THE JERVOLINO-VASSALLI BILL OR OF PARTS OF IT.
STATEMENT BY MARCO TARADASH, SECRETARY OF THE CoRA.
Bologna, 15 September 1991. "The Jervolino-Vassalli law has proved ineffective even as far as its immediate objectives are concerned: the programmed centres for drug addiction have not been constituted, the necessary funds for the public drug dependancy units have not been allotted and the disposable, self-blocking hypodermic needles have not been put on sale. And so on.
On the other hand, the number of deaths due to street heroin overdoses has increased, the AIDS epidemic claims its victims among young or less young drug users at an increasingly quick pace.
From the point of view of enforcement, the results are under the eyes of everyone: prisons are filled with everyone except large-scale traffickers, the legal system cannot cope with heaps of criminal proceedings against teenagers who prefer a joint to a glass of beer. The mafia and the drug crime are free to operate, they can extend their commercial networks, and every day they cash in hundreds of billions with which they can maintain their criminal activities and thanks to which the underground empire of corruption and murder has penetrated the vital centres of the country's political and financial life.
The Radical Anti-Prohibitionist Coordination (CoRA) launches an appeal to the public opinion, to the media, to all those who have established channels of solidarity and have promoted organizations against the criminal violence and against political corruption, urging them to take part in the formation of the committee for the promotion and support of the referendum initiative.
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Italy
EXTRAORDINARY IMPORTANCE OF THE REFERENDUMS FOR THE ANGLO-SAXON UNINOMINAL SYSTEM WITH A PARTIAL PROPORTIONAL CORRECTION. STATEMENT BY PEPPINO CALDERISI, RADICAL, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN FEDERALIST GROUP.
Rome, 16 September 1991. We have conceived and strongly promoted the re-proposition, in this season, of the electoral referendums for the Anglo-Saxon uninominal system with a partial proportional correction (...) We need a reform enabling not only the electors to choose government and majority directly, but also questioning the current party form (...) For this purpose, a uninominal-majority system is necessary, capable of imposing the aggregation of the political system around two or three new parties, representative of major political-ideal options. The system that arises from the referendum on the electoral law of the Senate corresponds perfectly to this objective. A system which is uninominal by three quarters and proportional by a quarter, corresponding to that additional member system which Ralf Dahrendorf proposes to mitigate the rigidity of the British system. A system enabling the representation of significant minorities without compromising the substance of the uninominal-majority system and theref
ore of a true democracy of alternation.
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Italy
FEDERAL COUNCIL OF THE RADICAL PARTY
Rome, 19-22 September 1991. The Radical Party's Federal Council met in Rome at the Hotel Ergife. Attending the meeting were about one hundred members, including forty parliamentarians and ministers from a dozen different countries. In addition to them, several prestigious guests such as the vice president of Slovenia, Ciril Zlobec, representatives of almost all the Albanian parties of Kosovo, Aurelio Juri, mayor of Koper, Jasa Zlobec, member of the Slovenian Parliament, Valery Simonov, vice editor of Komsomolskaja Pravda, Ivan Gheorghe, vice president of the Rom people of Bucharest, as well as Zdravko Tomac, vice Prime Minister of Croatia and Zoran Thaler, vice foreign minister of Slovenia, who joined the Radical Party during the Federal Congress.
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Italy
THE RADICAL PARTY'S FEDERAL COUNCIL. THE SUBJECTS DEALT WITH.
Rome, 19-22 September 1991. The following points were death with:
1) the situation of the Radical Party two and a half years after the Budapest Congress, with special attention toward the situation in Italy and in Central and Eastern Europe including the U.S.S.R.;
2) the situation of the European Community;
3) the situation in Yugoslavia;
4) the state of the "transnational" editorial and political "project";
At the conclusion of the congress, the motion on Ex Yugoslavia, quoted unabridged in this issue, was passed unanimously.
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Ex-Yugoslavia - Soviet Union
ALEXANDER KALININ SUBMITS THE MOTION ON THE SITUATION IN "EX-YUGOSLAVIA" TO THE RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT
Moscow, 30 September 1991. Alexander Kalinin, representative of the Mossoviet and member of the Radical Party's Federal Council, was received at the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation by the president of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Vladimir Lukin. During the meeting, Kalinin insisted on the need to interrupt all kinds of supply of armaments to the Yugoslav federal army. Lukin for his part said that according to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, both parts in the conflict have their wrongs. As to the supply of armaments, according to Lukin they are not the origin of the conflict. He also said that Germany and other Western countries supply great quantities of armaments to the Croatian and Slovenian Republics. In spite of this, Lukin said that if the United Nations or the E.C. advanced a request to interrupt supplies, "the matter would have a chance of being solved satisfactorily". Concerning this same matter of the armaments, Kalinin gave Lukin the text of the Radical Party's motion on arms co
ntrol.
