ABSTRACT: The article, published in the central page of the Zagreb daily newspaper "Vecernji list", reported the initiative announced by Marco Pannella to wear the uniform of the Croatian National Guard at the front of Osijek.

(Vecernji list, 14 December 1991)

Marco Pannella, leader of the Transnational Radical Party and member of the European parliament in Strasbourg, has announced his intention of wearing the uniform of the Croatian National Guard by Christmas, and that he will go to the front of Osijek unarmed. Moreover, this well-known pacifist has been fasting for 25 days - fasting is one of his main political weapons - to protest against the non-recognition of the independence of Croatia and Slovenia on an international basis.

When he takes on a commitment, the energetic Pannella is unrestrainable, but he always operates in the strict respect of the radicals' policy, which is based on two principles: nonviolence and Gandhi. Since the beginning of the "Yugo-crisis", Pannella has been severely denouncing the brutal violation of rights on Kosovo, defending the principle of respecting the self-determination of peoples, the democratic independence of Croatia and Slovenia, and has launched an appeal to the international community for the recognition of these two States. He has denounced the aggression of the "greater Serbia" and the indifference of Europe. On the day after the Croatian Sabor (Parliament) proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Croatia, on 25 June, Pannella asked the Italian Parliament to be the first State to recognize it. The Transnational Radical Party intentionally underlined this position also when it decided to hold the second session of the Federal Council in Zagreb between the end of October and the beginn

ing of November at the Hotel Intercontinental. Such session was entirely focused on the Yugoslav crisis.

During the Federal Council, Pannella and a number of representatives of the federal Council were received by Croatian President Franjo Tudjman. The Prime Minister, Franjo Greguric, delivered an address during the Federal Council, while the vice president, Zdravko Tomac, was already a member and automatically became member of the Federal Council, which is formed by representatives from 35 countries. About thirty Croatian parliamentarians and personalities joined the Transnational Radical Party (transparty). There are no doubts that Pannella and the Radicals are great friends of Croatia.

Only three years ago, the communist authorities refused Pannella the authorization to hold the Party's congress in Zagreb (which was later held in Budapest) because, as it explained, the activity of foreign parties was not allowed on Yugoslav territory, and the radicals, like all the organizations that struggle for the defence of human rights, were suspect. "Amnesty International" was also on the "black list".

Marco Pannella (61), born from an Italian father and a Swiss mother, is a law graduate. He worked for a certain period as a lawyer and then moved abroad where he did a variety of jobs, including worker in a shoe factory in Belgium and later as a journalist in Paris and in Italy. In 1955 he took part in the formation of the Italian Radical Party, and seven years later became Secretary of it. The Radical Party has few votes, but stands out for its unconventional attitude toward politics. One example is the case of porn star Cicciolina, who loses no occasion to show her breasts and talk of love, elected at the Italian Parliament as radical candidate. In 1988 the Radical Party became transnational.

Indefatigable and highly charismatic, Pannella struggles with the radicals for the respect of all differences and for the freedom of all: women, sexual minorities, victims of the violence of the States and of juridical repression. The radical political struggles are conducted with the use of demonstrations and referendums, as well as Pannella's hunger strikes. During some of such strikes, Pannella went so far as risking his life (in addition to the sufferance of abstaining from food, considering he has a reputation of being a gourmet). Following certain protests, Pannella has been summoned before the court about a hundred times, but has been convicted only once and arrested twice: in 1968 in Sofia during an antimilitarist demonstration and in 1975 in Rome, when he publicly smoked marijuana to favour the legalization of the consumption of so-called soft drugs.

Pannella is incredibly persistent, he fights passionately for the ideas he believes in, he is an excellent and biting speaker. He lives in the fast lane, sleeping very little and smoking three packets a day of Gauloises.