September 1968

INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA: THE FIRST NON-VIOLENT ACTION IN EASTERN EUROPE

The first non-violent action in various Eastern European capitals was carried out as an immediate response to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the USSR on August 21, 1968.

It was promoted by War Resistance International and the Radical Party. In Sofia, Radical Secretary Marco Pannella, together with a group of militants, distributed pamphlets severely condemning the Soviet invasion and "Socialist" countries' role in the brutal suffocation of the Prague Spring.

The Radicals were arrested, submitted to harsh interrogation and expelled.

April 1982

"LIFE, BREAD, DISARMAMENT"

On April 19, 1982, the Radicals demonstrated, simultaneously in all the capitals of the Soviet Empire. At 11.30 huge banners were unfurled on which could be read, "Life, bread and disarmament", in various languages; and this was how they began their distribution of pamphlets: to save 40 million human beings exterminated by starvation every year; for grants to immediately save people otherwise destined to certain death; and to denounce the lack

of international initiatives for aid to underdeveloped countries in Eastern Europe.

French, Spanish, Italian and Belgian militants demonstrated in Moscow, Prague, East Berlin, Sofia, Budapest, and Bucarest. Not in Warsaw because of the imposition of martial law which prevented foreigners from entering the country. All the non-violent demonstrators were stopped and expelled.

October 1983

TO ST. WENCESLAS SQUARE FOR DISARMAMENT

On October 21, 1983, A Day for Disarmament and Peace was proclaimed by the UN. The Radicals celebrated it in a non-ritual way by returning to Eastern Europe to ask for disarmament in the East as in the West. A coach full of Radical militants reached the Czech border on October 21. It was held up by the police, who however, did not succeed in preventing them from presiding at the frontier all night long and the following morning, October 22. At 1.00 p.m. on October 22, three Radical militants unrolled a great banner showing the words "Life, Peace, Disarmament", in Wenceslas Square in Prague, and started to give out pamphlets in Czech. Shortly afterwards, they were arrested and expelled.

August 1985

HIROSHIMA, FORTY YEARS LATER

Hiroshima, forty years later. In 14 Eastern and Western capitals, dozens of Radicals, Italians, French, Belgians and Spanish, demonstrated at the same time on August 5 in Washington, Moscow, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, East Berlin, Athens, Ankara, Brussels and Belgrade. They were asking for extraordinary measures against extermination by hunger in the south of the world, and new international regulations for the right to conscientious objection. Amongst other things, the pamphlet distributed in different languages affirmed: "There will be no peace or security as long as there is no opposition to extermination by hunger and war. There will be no peace, no security, no reciprocal trust, while millions of people, reduced or subjected to dictatorship, in Eastern Europe, as in the South of the world, are denied the right to know, to speak, to determine the choice of their own countries, by removing nationalism, racism, and the armed insecurity on which classes and bureaucracies build their power over peoples

. We affirm that the governments of our countries with parliamentary regimes, will not be able to avenge our democratic supremacy while their options are conditioned and often determined by the interests of the military industrial complex, while they deny the full exercise of the right to profess conscientious objection to all those who are trying to open up the difficult but necessary road to the conception of a society and a defence based on life and rights."

The simultaneous demonstration in 14 countries indicated a swerve in the direction of traditional pacifism. The Radicals proposed a new view of the problems of defence and security, which transferred attention from problems exclusively linked to armament to those associated with underdevelopment and the State of Rights.

In Moscow, the police isolated the demonstrators from the citizens who were standing in Red Square. People were stopped and arrested in Ankara, Belgrade, Brussels and East Berlin.

September 1985

YUGOSLAVIA IN THE EEC

Italian French and Belgian Radicals distributed more than 50.000 pamphlets and stickers for Yugoslavia's entry to the EEC and for freedom of expression in Belgrade, Dubrovnik, and Zagreb. After three days of distributing pamphlets, the Radicals were arrested, tried and expelled.

June 1986

SENSATIONAL DEMONSTRATION AT THE POUP CONGRESS

The tenth Congress of the POUP (Polish Communist Party), celebrated the triumph of Jaruzelski's normalization in Gorbachev's presence. On June 30, at exactly the time when the Soviet premier was starting his speech from the congress platform, eight Radicals: Italian, Spanish, Belgian and French, including the Italian Radical parliamentarian Corleone, unfurled a banner right in front of the headquarters of the POUP Congress in Warsaw, and began to give out pamphlets which demanded the release of 250 political prisoners and a thousand conscientious objectors, from jail. They were arrested, given an emergency trial, sentenced and expelled after two days in prison on bread and water.

January 1987

JARUZELSKI IN ROME, RADICALS IN WARSAW. The Italian Government, before any other western government, invited General Jaruzelski to Rome, thereby giving political credence to the suffocator of Solidarnosc's renewed vigour, granting him economic credit and facilitating the stipulation of gigantic contracts with Italian firms. This double offer of credit was not conditioned by any measure of democratisation or freedom for Polish citizens.

The Radical Party denounced this behaviour by the Italian government with a grand torchlight procession to the hotel where Jaruzelski was staying, which was joined by thousands of Polish refugees. At the same time in Warsaw, Radical militants unfurled a banner, distributed pamphlets and for about an hour managed to broadcast a message in Polish, thanks to a portable apparatus: "Your freedom is ours too".

September 1987

MOSCOW: LEAVE AFGHANISTAN

On September 4, at the exits of the underground in Moscow, Radicals handed out thousands of pamphlets in which young Soviets were invited to refuse military service in Afghanistan. "Only the right to demonstrate against war, gives to all of us, to you and to us, a guarantee of peace; and for you, war is not a mirage in the distant future, but already exists today."

March 1988

AT SPLIT STADIUM

Split, March 31. Among those flocking to the stadium to watch the football match between Yugoslavia and Italy, there were many Radical militants, who unfurled banners promoting Yugoslavia's entry to the Common Market in front of the television cameras. They were arrested, tried and sentenced to paying a fine, then expelled.

August 1988

PRAGUE, TWENTY YEARS LATER

On the twentieth anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Belgian, Italian, Spanish and American Radicals distributed thousands of pamphlets in various parts of the country: "It is not enough to remember" were the words, "Today we are in Czechoslovakia to claim freedom for our persecuted brothers with the strictest non-violence; we who ask for the respect of basic human and civil rights in Czechoslovakia as in every other country".

The Radicals continued undisturbed for two days, until a few were arrested, forced to submit to heavy questioning, and finally obliged to read the text of the pamphlet before a television camera.

On August 18, the non-violent action moved to St. Wenceslas Square, Jan Palach's square, where a twenty metre long banner was unfurled bearing the words: "Spalecneza demokracii; Sovetska vojska Prycze zeme; Svoboda; Liadska prava" (together for democracy; away with the Soviet troops, freedom, civil rights). At the same time, another group was festooning the statue of St. Wenceslas with another banner bearing the word: "Svoboda".

A few minutes later, banners were torn down by the police and the Radicals were arrested. At the police headquarters, the Radicals were obliged to open the banners in front of television cameras. The film on the "dangerous terrorists" was accidentally shown on State television. After a few days, on August 21, thousands of citizens went down to the square on the twentieth anniversary of the Soviet invasion. The spokesman for the Prague Government accused the Radicals at a press conference, of having promoted and aroused Czechoslovakia's first great demonstration since the Soviet invasion.