July 1977

NUCLEAR ENERGY ? NO THANK YOU !

Rome: while in all Europe dozens of nuclear energy plants were being built, in Italy the Radical Emma Bonino was among the promoters of the International Convention: "For an Alternative Model for Society, 'No' to the Nuclear Option "which took place in Rome from July 1 to 3. After the Convention over which Professor Aurelio Peccei, President of the "Club di Roma" and Professor Adriano Buzzati Traverso had presided, a League was formed for alternative energy sources as well as the antinuclear protest which later became the Italian Association: "Amici della Terra" and distributed the ecologist manual "Nucleare? No, Grazie!" (Nuclear? No, thank you!).

Over 400 Italian scientists and technologists, signed an appeal calling for the nuclear moratorium.

November 1977

A POLICY FOR THE QUALITY OF LIFE

In its conclusive motion, the Radical Party Congress which was held in Florence during the first few days of November, affirmed: "Deducing that the safeguarding of the environment, of nature and of the quality of life is an objective of primary importance for the Party, identified by the lack of an organic policy in the Italian ruling class for the improvement of the quality of life against pollution, the sophistication of foodstuffs and products, the damage caused by official medicine, uncontrolled demographic development, and hunting of all kinds and for the the right to the free exposal of one's body a great lack in the country's policy, invites the secretary and the executive organs to support the battle which the Radical Associations, Ecological Movements and Naturalist groups present in the Radical milieux are leading in the above mentioned sectors (...)

November 1978

THE GREAT OPTIONS IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE

The annual Radical Congress this time in Genova, approved a political motion which committed the members to promote a campaign for 10 referendums for abrogation. These included those to abrogate the law permitting the construction of nuclear plants without the agreement of the Communes and citizens, and that against hunting.

April 1980

MILLIONS OF SIGNATURES AND THE STATE BUYS CONSENSUS

While in the presence of councillors and notaries the Radical Party collected the authenticated signatures of 500.OOO citizens who did not want nuclear centres to be built without a prior scientific debate and did not want hunters to consider the animal species the private property of their guns, the destiny of nuclear energy centres was decided in Italian style in the Industrial Commission to the chamber of Deputies: since nobody wanted them on their own territory, the State would offer "indemnity" for the risks involved, by buying the consensus of those citizens and Communes who would agree to their installation. The only opposition came from the Radical Party.

January 1981

THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT "FIRES" ON THE REFERENDUMS

In a sentence of dictatorship, the Constitutional Court judged only four of the ten referendums promoted by the Radical Party admissible. Those which "failed" included the one against nuclear energy because, according to the Court, it interfered with the International Treaty "Euroatom", and the one against hunting whose problem was judged "heterogeneous and incomprehensible" to the citizen, because the text was too long!

1982 1983

THE RADICAL PARTY AND THE "AMICI DELLA TERRA" (FRIENDS OF THE EARTH)

The Radical Party contributed financially to the political activity of the ecological association "Amici della terra", whose president and founder was a member of the Party's Federal Secretariat. The Radicals and the "Amici della terra" championed the founding and organisation of a green movement, not only antinuclear but also capable of working out an energy policy based on the saving of energy resources, on a serious in-depth research into alternative energy sources, and on the request for the application of the Merli law to protect the environment from pollution and degradation.

November 1984

GREEN LISTS, BLUE LISTS...

The conclusive motion of the 30th Radical Congress which met in Rome, resolved: "(...)In no case will the Party pursue the other parties in occupying the Communes. The Congress hopes nevertheless that the signs of alternative initiatives and good will shown by the Ecological Movement, will be able to become the presentation of "green" or "blue lists", a genuine antiparty, antimilitarist alternative, the origin of a new political process capable of breaking the balance of strain of traditional politics. The Congress calls on those Radicals and nonRadicals who recognise themselves in this position, to do all they can to ensure this political electoral aperture(...)

June 1985

CIVIL AND GREEN LISTS...

The terms of the administrative and regional elections represented an important appointment for the Radicals. In the Radicals' opinion, the frustration of local autonomies and the occupation of every political space by power, had devastating effects on the use of resources, on essential services, on the environment, on the quality of life, on health. It was time for communes and regions to get rid of parties and to give their place to citizens, promoters of a new green and civilian political entity, which would be able to restore hope and force to political commitment. Through a conscious choice of the party, the electors, numerous throughout Italy, were not only Radicals, but above all citizens, trying their hand at politics for the first time, or with the most varied backgrounds and experience.

April 1986

A MILLION SIGNATURES AGAINST A SECOND CHERNOBYL

When the radioactive cloud from the Ukraine reached Italy in the first few days of May, the Radical Party was campaigning for signatures to promote two referendums on justice and one against hunting. The Radicals immediately set about collecting signatures for three referendums against nuclear energy centres and scientific nuclear research. Under accusation the Euroatom Treaties, with which ENEL, the Italian electricity board, was participating in research on Superphenix, the nuclear reactor of plutonium which is used to make atom bombs.

In a little more than a month almost a million signatures were collected.

November 1986

OZONE EMERGENCY

At the Radical Party's 32nd Congress in Rome, the dramatic problem of saving the ozone layer which protects the earth from solar radiation and prevents the increase of heat was raised, in a report by Professor Fiacco, Lecturer in Physics, Rome University.

March 1987

A COMMITTEE TO PROTECT CONSUMERS

The Radical Committee to Protect Consumers' Rights was formed. The Committee gave priority to the problem of the protection of the ozone layer maintaining that the measures indicated in the Montreal Agreement were insufficient and marginal supplying the Radicals elected to the Chamber with a proposal of law demanding further measures for protection.

October 1987

LA NEW ENERGY POLICY?

On October 18 in Rome as a guest of the Radical Party and scientifically able to show that the greatest defect of nuclear energy was its inconvenience, the French Institute for the evaluation of European energy strategies took part in a Convention on the rational use of energy and on its conservation. Italy had the chance to be the first country in Europe to express itself in favour of a new energy policy.

October 1987

THE GIANT WITH CLAY FEET: SUPERPHENIX

On October 25, a group of militant Radicals went to Malville to demonstrate against the plutonium reactor, Superphenix, which financed to the tune of billions by France, Germany and Italy and still unfinished, was already out of order and losing radioactive liquid. Research on Superphenix was the object of one of the rescinding referendums organised by the Radicals.

November 1987

GREAT ANTINUCLEAR VICTORY

In Italy, on November 8 and 9, the referendum against nuclear energy was at last voted. The results were a plebiscite against nuclear energy and revealed the consistent degree of ecologist culture in Italy: over 80% of the voters did not agree to running the risk of a new accident in exchange for nuclear energy. On the contrary, the referendum against hunting was not voted, once again obstructed by the Constitutional Court.

April 1988

TRANSNATIONAL TO SAVE THE OZONE LAYER

During a press-conference on April 9 in Rome, in which Marco Pannella and Prof. Fiocco participate, a transnational campaign is launched, aimed at saving the ozone layer. It includes a petition addressed to the European Parliament, a Parliamentary motion addressed to the Italian Government, a large-scale information and mobilisation march on May 21 in Rome, and contemporary demonstrations in a major number of European capitals (among which Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, Brussels,...), a collective hunger strike aimed at engaging both national and Community authorities to protect ozone.

October 1988

EEC APPROVES VIENNA

On October 21, 1988 the EEC deposits in New York the deeds for the approval of the Vienna Convention with regard to the protection of the ozone layer. It establishes the restriction for the use of CFC's, with a limit for each member country. The most important decision is that if a country of the Community brings down its own production limit, no other member state is allowed to take it up.