March 1979

TO SAVE MILLIONS OF LIVES IMMEDIATELY: THE RADICAL PARTY'S CAMPAIGN

The Radical Party began its campaign against extermination by hunger in the South of the world. Following UNICEF'S denouncement concerning the millions of people doomed to die from starvation in the absence of international mobilisation, Radical leader Marco Pannella initiated a fourty-day hunger strike. He asked for an emergency intervention by all governments to save at least 5 million people immediately. The Radicals opposed the traditional strategies based on aid to industrialisation and commerce in the poorer countries which intended to put these countries in a position of guaranteeing their own food security through trade, with an alternative plan. The first strategy had in fact proved a failure, resulting in a growing number of deaths from starvation, exploitation through single crop cultivation, migration by populations from the country to urban ghettos, degradation of territories and corruption. Thus interventions began to be proposed, first and foremost to resolve primary needs, in order to s

ave the greatest number of human lives. The Radical Party also requested all countries to respect Resolution no. 2626 of the United Nations Assembly, which commits governments of industrialised countries to give at least 0.7% of their GDP as public aid for development.

Easter 1979

10.000 PEOPLE FOR LIFE, PEACE AND DISARMAMENT

10.000 people took part in the first march for "Life, Peace and Disarmament", organised by the Radical Party in Rome.

January 1980

FIRST GROUP SATYAGRAHA IN EUROPE

From January to April, hundreds of Radical militants were engaged in an action of "denutrition" (consuming no more than a thousand calories per day, the average amount consumed in underdeveloped countries), which ended in a total hunger strike.

March 1980

THE RADICAL PARTY'S SYMBOL OUTLINED IN BLACK IN SIGN OF MOURNING FOR THOSE EXTERMINATED BY HUNGER

The 23rd Congress of the Radical Party: priority given to all battles against extermination by hunger. As a sign of condolence and mourning, it was decided that the Party's symbol should be "outlined in black" until the governments' policy of death from starvation was defeated.

APPEAL OF 53 NOBEL PRIZEWINNERS: DO NOT KILL, NOT EVEN THROUGH INDIFFERENCE

The Manifesto of 53 Nobel prizewinners against death from starvation and for development, promoted by Radical Euro MPs, was presented simultaneously in Paris, Rome, New York, Brussels and Geneva. "It is essential that everyone gives the value of laws to saving lives, to not killing or exterminating, even through indifference."

The number of Nobel Prizewinners who signed the Manifesto later increased to 113.

July 1981

THE BELGIAN SENATE ADOPTS THE NOBEL MANIFESTO

Brussels: by means of a motion, the Belgian Senate committed the Government to adopting the Nobel Prizewinners' Manifesto and programmes for the development of Third World countries as the focal point of its foreign policy.

July 1981

THE ITALIAN CHAMBER: TO GUARANTEE SURVIVAL

Rome: The Chamber of Deputies committed the Government "to undertake every suitable action to mobilise additional resources...to carry out emergency interventions for 3.000 billion lire...in order to guarantee, as from December 1981, the survival of the greatest possible number of people otherwise doomed to die from starvation".

September 1981

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: 5 MILLION ECUs TO SAVE 5 MILLION PEOPLE

Strasbourg: the European Parliament asked the Commission to work out an emergency strategy aiming to save five million from death through starvation and malnutrition before 1982...and to plan, as a result, an emergency supplementary budget for the year 1981 of five million Ecus (equal to five million USA dollars).

September 1981

PARIS: HUNGER STRIKE BY MARCO PANNELLA FOR THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S OBJECTIVES

Paris: Marco Pannella announced to UNESCO that he would start a hunger strike in support of the European Parliament's objectives. Dozens of support committees for the Manifesto of the Nobel Prizewinners and the non-violent action of Marco Pannella were formed in France.

September 1981

BIRTH OF "FOOD AND DISARMAMENT INTERNATIONAL" IN BRUSSELS

In Brussels the organisation "Food and Disarmament International" was founded. Jean Fabre, ex-Secretary of the Radical Party was elected Secretary. The Nobel Prizewinners for Physics, Hannes Alfven and Abdus Salam, the Belgian member of Parliament, Jean Louis This, the Belgian Senator, Pierre van Roye and the Radical MPs Marco Pannella and Emma Bonino were put in charge of the administration.

November 1981

WILLY BRANDT'S APPEAL FOR THE RESPECT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S DECISIONS

Solemn appeal by Willy Brandt and 150 other European Members of Parliament, for the immediate implementation of the resolutions of the European Parliament which committed Community institutions to allocating 5 million Ecus to save million people from death by starvation. Following this pronouncement, Marco Pannella ended his hunger strike, which had lasted more than 60 days.

November 1981

RADICAL CONGRESS PROCLAIMS THE DUTY TO DISOBEDIENCE

The Radical Party Congress adopted the following "preamble" to its statutes: "it proclaims rights and laws, political as well, of the Radical Party; it proclaims that the respect of these is the fundamental basis for the legitimacy of institutions; it proclaims the duty of civil disobedience, non-collaboration of conscientious objection, of the supreme form of non-violent action in defence of life, human rights and law and justice. It declares that it confers on the Christian and humanist imperative 'Do not kill', an historically absolute legal status, without exception, not even that of legitimate self-defence."

March 1982

"SURVIVAL 82"

Opening of the "Survival 82" campaign. The Dominican priest, Father Jean Cardonnel, joined the Radical Party and initiated a hunger strike of 40 days to solicit the French Government to adopt initiatives against extermination by hunger.

Easter 1982

FOR MILLIONS OF LIVES IMMEDIATELY

50.000 people on the second Easter march in Rome, headed by the Nobel Prizewinner Lord Philip Noel Baker, Betty Williams and Hannes Alfven: "For millions of lives immediately".

April 1982

AGAINST EXTERMINATION BY HUNGER IN EASTERN EUROPE TOO

Simultaneous demonstrations in Moscow, Prague, Budapest, East Berlin and Sofia, of Belgian, French, Italian and Spanish Radical militants to inform citizens in Eastern European countries of the contents of the Nobel Prizewinners Manifesto, and to denounce the Communist Governments' negligible commitment of the to the fight against hunger. Arrests and expulsions.

January June 1983

MARCO PANNELLA'S HUNGER AND THIRST STRIKE

Strikes of hunger and thirst by Marco Pannella. Radical Leader, Marco Pannella, on several occasions undertook the extreme forms of non-violent action, abstaining from eating and drinking in order to denounce the indifference of the political classes in the face of the historic tragedy: the death of more than 30 million people exterminated by hunger in the South of the world, requiring respect for the commitments made publicly by Parliament and by the Government.

July 1983

APPROVED IN BELGIUM: THE "SURVIE" LAW

The Senate of Belgium definitively approved the "Survie" law, which planned for the "creation of a survival fund for the third world; in order to ensure the survival of those who are threatened by starvation, malnutrition and underdevelopment, in Third World regions where the highest mortality rate is encountered."

July 1983

453.000 SIGNATURES IN ITALY FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THREE MILLION LIVES

The Radical Party collected the signatures of 453.000 Italian citizens and 3.166 mayors on a popular petition, which requested Parliament to approve a finalised law with the objective of saving at least three million human lives in zones where starvation is the most atrocious, and to co-ordinate this action for survival with an efficient policy for self-sufficiency and development.

January 1984

APPEAL TO MITTERRAND BY 3.200 FRENCH MAYORS

3.200 French mayors addressed an Appeal to the President of the Republic, in which they requested a vote of law for emergency interventions to save people condemned to death by starvation, within the next twelve months.

April 1984

PROPOSAL OF LAW IN ITALY: 3.000 BILLION LIRE FOR THREE MILLION LIVES

On an initiative proposed by the Radical parliamentary group, a proposal of law for emergency interventions to save 3 million people threatened by death from starvation was presented by the President of the Christian Democrats (the party with a relative majority) and the Presidents of the Socialist, Social Democrat, Liberal and Radical parliamentary groups and 117 members of Parliament, The proposal was for a grant of 3.000 billion lire.

April 1984

INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION TO SUPPORT THE PROPOSAL OF ITALIAN LAWS

An International Convention in Rome on the law proposal presented by Italian MPs against extermination by hunger. Promoted by Food and Disarmament International, by Parliamentarians for World Order and by PARIFA, under the noble aegis of the President of the Italian Republic, who also participated, together with the Presidents of the Italian Senate and the Chamber, a Convention on the proposal of laws against extermination by hunger, under discussion in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, took place in Rome, from April 17 to 19. Participants included the President of the Italian Council and representatives from African countries.

April 1984

EIGHTY THOUSAND FOR THE APPROVAL OF THE LAW

80.OOO people participated in the great March in Rome "for three million lives immediately". They asked the Italian Parliament to approve the proposal of law concerning starvation, presented by 117 parliamentarians.

June 1984

NATIONAL ASSIZES IN PARIS FOR SURVIVAL

"Assises nationales de la Survie et du Développement" in Paris, organised by Food and Disarmament International. In the presence of over 700 people, the Nobel Prizewinners André Cournand, Sean Mac Bridge, George Wald and Maurice Wilkins made speeches.

June 1984

THE APPEAL OF 7.000 MAYORS DELIVERED TO MITTERRAND

A delegation of those promoting the "Survie" campaign was received at the Elysée by Monsieur François Mitterrand. The Nobel Prizewinner Louis Neel and Jean Fabre, the Secretary General of Food and Disarmament International, officially delivered the appeal signed by 7.000 French mayors, which requested the approval of a law to save people otherwise doomed to death from starvation, to the President of the French Republic.

March 1985

APPROVAL OF THE ITALIAN PARLIAMENT: 1.900 BILLION LIRE AGAINST STARVATION, OVER 18 MONTHS

The law "to activate programmes at many levels to be integrated in one or more underdeveloped zones, characterised by a state of endemic emergency and by a high mortality rate" were approved in Italy, and finalised to save the greatest possible number of people, otherwise doomed to death from starvation. The allocation planned for the emergency interventions was 1.900 billion lire. The law required the programmes to be realised over the next 18 months, under the responsibility of a Deputy Secretary of State, nominated to this effect.

May 1985

EMMA BONINO

SECRETARY OF FOOD AND DISARMAMENT INTERNATIONAL

Emma Bonino, Radical member of the European Parliament, was elected Secretary-General of Food and Disarmament International. Jean Fabre was nominated President.

February 1986

MANIFESTO OF HEADS OF STATE: TO MAKE THE DESERT BLOOM

A Manifesto by the Heads of State against extermination by hunger. Food and Disarmament International organised an international round table in Rome during which the Manifesto of the Heads of State against "extermination by hunger, for the right to life, and to freedom", was made public.

June 1986

THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO STOP THE THREAT OF HUNGER

The Italian deputies called for the intervention of the United National Organisation's Security Council. The Italian Chamber of Deputies voted unanimously on a resolution which would oblige the government either to take a series of international initiatives, in particular for the convocation of a European council dedicated to the fight against extermination by hunger, and to inform the Council of Security of the United Nations, on the dangers to security determined by extermination by hunger of millions of people in the south of the world. The resolution requested that the Appeal by Heads of State should be followed up.

April 1987

BRUSSELS: SILENT MARCH AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT HOAX

A silent march against hunger in Brussels, to denounce the lack of application by the Belgian government of the law "survie", approved since 1983. With the participation of 2.000 people, a silent march organised by Food and Disarmament International took place in the centre of Brussels, with which the Belgian Government was asked to respect their commitment to allocate 0.7% of the GDP to public aid and the immediate and correct application of the law "Survie". Four years after its approval, only a questionable part of the allocations had been effectively used and spent.

January 1988

PARIS: 40.000 CANDLES IN MEMORY OF THE 40.000 WHO ARE DYING OF HUNGER

40.000 candles in Paris to remember the 40.000 people who die of hunger each day. A moving demonstration was organised by Food and Disarmament International in Paris on the occasion of President Mitterand's convocation of the Nobel Prizewinners for reflection on the years of 2.000. The blameworthy disinterest of the French Government in the face of active extermination, was denounced. 40.000 candles were lit in the Jardin du Palais Royal to remember those who die daily from hunger.

February 1988

"YOUR MAJESTY, MARTENS HAS CHEATED YOU"

While King Baudouin of Belgium was speaking in the hall of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Emma Bonino, Secretary- General of Food and Disarmament International and Radical member of the European Parliament, raised a board: "Your Majesty, Martens has cheated you!" King Baudouin had in fact signed the "Survie" law in 1983, which emphasised the humanitarian commitment of Belgium in the fight against hunger in the world. Martens, the Prime Minister, had on the other hand always prevented its application and the use of the funds destined for this purpose.

April 1988

MADRID: A CONTRIBUTION FROM SPAIN ALSO, TO SAVE THE STARVING

Madrid: demonstration for survival and development organised by Food and Disarmament International. In Madrid in Plaza Mayor, as in Paris, 40.000 candles were lit as a reminder that extermination by hunger continues, and to denounce the modesty of Spain's contributions to the fight against hunger and for development.