Chronological index of the activities of the transnational and transdivisional Radical party from 1988 up to the present day
THE TRANSNATIONAL YEARS - 1988/1992
Edited by Danilo Quinto and Gianni Betto
ABSTRACT: These pages are a kind of chronological "index" of Radical Party activities, from when the first decision was taken to become transnational and transparty - at the 34th Congress in Bologna in January 1988 and confirmed at the 35th Congress in Budapest in April 1989 - until today.
Some "moments" or activities from the history or chronicle of the last few years of the party - the reports and motions of the Congresses and Federal Councils, for example - are dealt with more analytically in order to give readers - especially those reading these things for the first time - as clear an idea of developments as possible.
Those who have edited this index, which stops at 13 March 1992, have done so with the support of "Agor".
For easy consultation keywords have been added for reference.
We apologize in advance if some facts and quotations from people who have contributed to the construction of a transnational party over the last few years have been omitted.
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We begin by giving a chronological list of the Congresses and meetings of the Federal Council that have been held since 1988:
- BOLOGNA ORDINARY CONGRESS 2-6 JANUARY 1988
- BRUSSELS FEDERAL COUNCIL 12-14 FEBRUARY 1988
- MADRID FEDERAL COUNCIL 5-9 MAY 1988
- GROTTAFERRATA FEDERAL COUNCIL 20-24 JULY 1988
- JERUSALEM FEDERAL COUNCIL 21-24 NOVEMBER 1988
- TRIESTE-BOHINJ FEDERAL COUNCIL 2-6 JANUARY 1989
- STRASBOURG FEDERAL COUNCIL 16-19 FEBRUARY 1989
- BUDAPEST ORDINARY CONGRESS 22-26 APRIL 1989
- RIMINI ITALIAN CONGRESS 16-18 MAY 1989
- RIMINI FEDERAL COUNCIL 18 MAY 1989
- ROME FEDERAL COUNCIL 1-5 SEPTEMBER 1989
- ROME FEDERAL COUNCIL 2-7 JANUARY 1990
- ROME 2nd ITALIAN CONGRESS 26-29 JANUARY 1990
- ROME 3rd ITALIAN CONGRESS 14-17 FEBRUARY 1991
- ROME Ist FEDERAL COUNCIL MEETING 19-22 SEPTEMBER 1991
- ZAGABRIA 2nd FEDERAL COUNCIL MEETING 31-10/3-11 1991
- ROME 4th ITALIAN CONGRESS 9-12 JANUARY 1992
The Transnational Years 1988/1992
1988
2-6 January '88
Bologna - Italy
ordinary congress
34th RADICAL PARTY CONGRESS
The congress motion reads "the construction of a transnational political force can no longer be postponed. It is the only suitable instrument for affirming the ideals and values and attaining the objectives that have been the raison d'etre of the Radical Party and its political battles for the past thirty years."
The minimum conditions that are indispensable for the existence of the Party and its transnational activity are set out:
1) 4 billion lire from self-financing;
29 at least 3,000 members outside Italy and the setting-up of the first numerous groups in some European countries.
On the transparty front: "The Radical Party, since it has decided to withdraw from electoral competition first and foremost in Italy, gives Radicals the responsibility to continue, with the greatest initiative, to promote new political reforms and electoral political groups capable of being an alternative lay force that may organize the democratic transformation of the institutions."
The motion does not receive the statutory 2/3 majority necessary to make it binding.
The Congress, which elects Sergio Stanzani, First Secretary, and Paolo Vigevano, Treasurer, commits all the elected organs and all Radicals to an exceptional campaign to win new members, and permit the emergence of the transnational Party, for which the bases are considered to exist.
Rome - Italy
10 February '88
Europe
"GENERAL MEETING OF
EUROPEAN PEOPLES" CAMPAIGN
The Foreign Commission of the Chamber of Deputies (and later the Senate) approves a motion asking that the members of the European Parliament and of the Parliaments of the EC member States be convoked in one place to elect a co-president of the European Council and the president of the Commission.
12 February '88
Strasbourg - European Parliament
EUROPE
The absolute majority of the European Parliament signs and votes, on the initiative of the three Radical Party members of the European Parliament, a "solemn declaration", requesting:
1) the attribution of constituent powers to the European Parliament;
2) the direct election by this parliamentary Assembly of the President of the executive Commission of the EC, to date nominated by the EC inter-governmental summit;
3) the election of a permanent President of the European Council (constituted by the Heads of State and Government of the member countries) who, being voted by a majority of European and national Parliaments, reinforces the supranational characteristics of this organism.
12-14 February '88
Brussels - Belgium
federal council
FEDERAL COUNCIL
The report states that " the choice made in Bologna is definitive, there is no going back; it is the result of analyses and assessments carried out by the Party, over a period of time, but its global importance has not yet been recognized and understood".
The Party's plan is "to create a transnational Party": this is the only road that can guarantee continuity, the possibility of carrying on the political struggle in Italy too without being "confused" or "annulled" by the conditions, limits and restrictions imposed by partycracy. Establishing a transnational Party means guaranteeing, especially in Europe, a political force that intends to operate with the same symbol, the same values, the same objectives and the same interests in several countries".
As regards the aims of the Bologna motion, intermediate objectives are established, one of which is to assess in time the validity of the operation of the elected organs: "if by the end of June we have not managed to win at least a further five thousand Italian members and a thousand members from other countries - writes Stanzani - the likelihood of success will be seriously at risk and we will have to convoke an extraordinary Congress". An intermediate date for assessment of the situation is fixed for April: there should be three thousand new members in Italy and at least five to six hundred outside Italy.
This hypothesis is based on the following consideration: "the effects of our initiative can be felt more quickly in Italy than in the other countries, where the work of implanting and investment, the necessary premises for an efficient campaign for new membership, is slower".
The motion approves the reports of the First Secretary and the Treasurer, especially as regards the indications of political priorities - the initiative for the United States of Europe, the affirmation of human rights and the fight against militarism - and the precise objectives set with deadlines for the new membership campaign and self-financing.
The Federal Council does not consider it necessary to regard the Bologna motion as binding and excludes the possibility, proposed by the Secretary, of an extraordinary Congress.
The Federal Council ratifies the secretariat constituted after the Bologna Congress:
Adelaide Aglietta, Emma Bonino, Giuseppe Caldirisi, Basile Guissou (proclaimed by the October 1988 Jerusalem Federal Council), Giovanni Negri, Massimo Teodori, as additional first secretaries;
Francesco Rutelli, Gianfranco Spadaccia and Roberto Cicciomessere, as presidents of the parliamentary Groups in the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the European Parliament (Calderisi and Rutelli were to become members with a different status after the resignation of the latter as President of the Chamber of Deputies Group which took place in May 1988 and the election of Calderisi);
Santiago Castillo, Sergio D'Elia, Gianfranco Dell'Alba, Mario De Stefano, Maria Teresa Di Lascia, Olivier Dupuis, Jean Maurice Duval, Luis Mendao, Sandro Ottoni, Antonio Stango and Andrea Valcarenghi, federal secretaries;
Rene Andreani, Valeria Ferro, Gabriele Paci, Paolo Pietrosanti, Anna Pietrolucci and Danilo Quinto, additional members.
12-14 March '88
Formia - Italy
TRANSNATIONAL
Seminar of the parliamentary Groups and the Party secretariat: facing the decision adopted by the Bologna Congress, the problem arises of the "conversion" in the transnational sense of the activity of the parliamentarians elected in the Radical lists.
18 March '88
Italy
EUROPE
The collection of signatures on two petitions begins, one to the Italian Parliament and the other to the European Parliament, for the "convocation of the General Meeting of the European peoples."
21-25 March '88
Lom - Togo
THIRD WORLD
The EEC-ACP equal rights assembly of Lom, in which Marco Pannella participates, approves a resolution on the "Manifesto of the Heads of State of ACP countries, for the right to life and freedom, and against famine".
25 March '88
Italy
EUROPE
With the European Federalist Movement, signatures begin to be collected for a popular bill demanding a referendum to give constituent powers to the European Parliament.
A pamphlet, a letter to Italian mayors asking for their support, a letter to the European Communes and to the parliamentarians of the twelve EC member countries are written. An appeal is sent to intellectuals and personalities in the entertainment world.
31 March '88
Split - Yugoslavia
YUGOSLAVIA
Demonstration in favour of Yugoslavia entering the EC.
4 April '88
Rome - Italy
NONVIOLENCE
Demonstration twenty years after the assassination of Martin Luther King.
25 April '88
Rome - Italy
CIVIL RIGHTS
Demonstration for Bhagwan's right of entry to Italy.
The Radical Party obtains a tourist visa for Bhagwan from the Italian government, thus complying with a special motion passed in Congress.
April '88
Yugoslavia
YUGOSLAVIA
A petition is launched demanding that Yugoslavia should be allowed to enter the EC; at the same time Radical groups are set up in Ljubjana, Zagreb and Belgrade.
April '88
London - UK
CIVIL RIGHTS
Sergio Stanzani and Massimo Teodori represent the Radical party at the demonstration for homosexual rights.
5-9 May '88
Madrid
federal council
FEDERAL COUNCIL
In the joint report given by the First Secretary and the Treasurer the real size and total value of the Party are underlined: 13 and a half billion lire, of which 3 billion come from direct self-financing (one and a half billion lire from Radio Radicale, one and a half billion from the Party) and ten and a half billion from public financing.
In different ways and capacities, 129 people do paid work for the Party. 41 of these people operate directly within the Party.
The total cost of employing these people is 4 billion lire (including taxes, which for members of parliament alone amount to nearly one billion lire) - a little less than 30 per cent of the total value.
"Radio Radicale" is the Party's strong point, though this is inadequate, since it is also its weakest due to the sepcific nature of the problems to be solved, which seem insurmountable.
The report states, among other things:
"The actual situation of the Radical Party is consistent, articulated and complex. The directive function of the Party is split up and this makes it difficult, or virtually impossible on the one hand, to attribute and assume responsibility with a minimum of continuity. The directive function, split up in this way, is forced to govern itself and is therefore little inclined to work that is coordinated 'from the inside', because it is readier to accept individual suggestions and individual stimuli or directions.
The structure is influenced by the 'institutional element', both because of the decisive contribution given to the development of the Radical Party by that element, for many years, and because of the inevitable effects this has on personal identity.
The same people have remained in the structure for some time and this has had to a certain extent a 'conservative effect'. This effect has not yet led to bureaucratic attitudes and behaviour, except to a minor degree.
The organism, as it stands, is already too complex and 'consolidated' for 'self-government'; it needs a recognized and recognizable 'structure', however limited, and rules which permit it to be managed and run.
The party is an organism created to operate, act, aggregate and involve others, at particular times and towards clearly outlined individual objectives.
As an organism it is not predisposed to 'reflect', arrange and plan: this is the characteristic that most places it in difficulty today when faced with the possibility of an insuperable phase of 'launching', but that requires either a period of transition or a process of 'conversion'.
Years and years of intense, stressful activity, and difficulties that were often thought to be insurmountable and later overcome, but without ever having a degree of stability and security (except in the realm of its own 'specificity'), have resulted in inevitable 'wear and tear'. Although we do not wish to face the problem here of whether after one or more decades it is we who have changed and not the others."
The motion considers the report extremely valuable "for the awareness of the party's real situation, of the seriousness of the problems that it has to face, and the importance of the objectives pursued; it approves and "praises the First Secretary, the Treasurer and the executive organs for the importance, for the exemplary commitment and quality of the action taken".
The Federal Council acknowledges that it is impossible for the Party to achieve the objectives of the Bologna motion by the end of the year.
The Federal Council nominates a commission to choose, from those submitted, the new symbol of the transnational Party. The decision of the Commission will be communicated by the First Secretary in the next Federal Council at Grottaferrata: the new Party symbol is Gandhi's profile, graphically represented through the name "Radical Party" translated into many languages.
12 May '88
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE-POLAND
During Polish Prime Minister Jaruzelsky's visit, a sit-in is held at the Polish Embassy and a rally and nonviolent demonstration for freedom and democracy in Poland is held the following day.
18-25 May '88
Barcelona and Madrid - Spain
Brussels - Belgium
Lisbon - Portugal
Paris - France
Rome - Italy
ECOLOGY
A week's mobilization to "save the ozone layer" is promoted.
28-29 June '88
Hannover - Germany
EUROPE
Demonstration on the occasion of the summit of EC Heads of State and Government, with the participation of Sergio Stanzani and over three hundred militants from Italy.
June '88
Italy
ITALY: LOCAL ELECTIONS
Local elections: Marco Pannella heads a "Lay, Civic and Green List" in Catania (five elected) and is in the list in Trieste (one elected).
19-20 July '88
Rome - Italy
TRANSNATIONAL
Conference-Convention: " 1992: the Europe of the peoples, without frontiers, parties, national states. The transnational party, why, how and who".
20-24 July '88
Grottaferrata - Italy
federal council
FEDERAL COUNCIL.
The Secretary and Treasurer's report refers to the serious financial crisis the Party is going through and, via an analysis of what the self-financing campaign decided on in Bologna and the Brussels programme of initiatives and activities have produced, questions are raised regarding what the transnational, transparty, self-financing party can and must be.
"Does being a transnational party imply a different dimension, and that means not only a different width, but also a different breadth, a different quality, which makes the method of identifying and choosing a single battle, a single objective on which to concentrate and mobilize all available resources actually impracticable?
Does being a transnational party imply different time scales, deeper reflection and more widespread, continuous and extended action?
Does being a transnational party imply research and experimentation only in the field of militancy or should this also regard a different order and a more systematic organization? How much and what of the 'total value' of the Radical Party - three and a half billion lire - pertains to the 'party as such'?
This last question leads directly to the self-financing party, the party that is no longer part of the institutions. How and where can it take shape? What are the components of the party's 'current state' that must and can contribute to satisfying the requirements of the self-financing party?
It is essential to open a debate on these questions for the party, in the party. This is a debate that must and can accompany the self-financing campaign. It would be disastrous for all of us, for the Party, to come to the next Congress without having dealt with and examined this issue, these questions, to find and construct the answers together".
The Secretary and Treasurer, at the same time as launching a special self-financing and membership campaign, proposed the blocking of all activities planned for the implementation of the Bologna motion "in order to attempt to safeguard Party continuity, which was threatened by the serious financial crisis and insufficient membership". The motion thanks the Secretary and Treasurer "for the exceptional value and contribution of achievements, proposals and example given by them" and entrusts them with the task of "preparing even the disbanding of the party, given the drastic financial and membership situation".
The Federal Council appeals both to Party members and "others" to avoid a close-down, "to all democratic people and those who hold dear the right to life and the life of rights", declaring that "first and foremost in the present circumstances the success or failure of the Radical Party plan depends on them."
16 August '88
Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Four groups of Radicals go to four areas of Czechoslovakia - some of them are later expelled for life - to distribute leaflets with the Radical Party symbol on the twentieth anniversary of the "Prague Spring". A demonstration is held in St. Wenceslas Square in Prague on 18 August.
20 August '88
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
The Radical Party and the Helsinki Italian Committee hold a demonstration on the twentieth anniversary of the "Prague Spring".
25-28 August '88
Cracow - Poland
HUMAN RIGHTS
Sergio Stanzani participates in the International Conference on human rights.
16 September '88
Strasbourg - European Parliament
EUROPE
On the initiative of the Radical Party, the European Parliament approves a declaration requesting that from the next European elections every EC citizen can be a candidate in any EC State.
29-30 September '88
Brussels - Belgium
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
International meeting on anti-prohibitionism.
September '88
Italy
EUROPE
In view of the Rhodes summit of EC Heads of State and Government, to be held on 2-3 December, signatures begin to be collected on two petitions for the active and passive right to vote of all citizens in all EC countries, and to defend and affirm the rights of non-EC citizens.
21-24 October '88
Jerusalem - Israel
federal council
FEDERAL COUNCIL
The Secretary and Treasurer tender their resignations. Their resignations are the result of the admission that it is impossible, given the Party's current situation, to carry out the transnational and transparty plan: "if anyone is responsible we are the first and this must also be considered freely, without hindrance".
"In recent months - states Stanzani - I have realized it is impossible to graft onto this Party, as it stands, organizational and working systems that I consider indispensable for the new dimension of the transnational, transparty and self-financing Party and this convinces me of the probable impracticability of the plan as a whole. The great difficulty in taking on powerful political initiatives was something we all have had to face up to, an obstacle to our work which has undermined the potential for united expression and direction."
The Federal Council firmly rejects the Secretary and Treasurer's resignations, "convinced that this is the only way the Party Congress can be held in the most effective manner and appeals to them and to the entire secretariat to follow this line".
Two deliberations are approved:
1. The Federal Council deliberates to give the First Secretary and the Treasurer the mandate to make use of all the administrative and financial documents necessary or fitting for the closing-down of the Party according to the regulations laid down by the Civil Code regarding the liquidation of non-recognized associations, with the explicit mandate to collect or liquidate any and all assets and activities available to the party.
The Federal Council also confers on the First Secretary and Treasurer all powers that they may jointly proceed to devoting all the party's activities - already acquired or to be acquired - to the payment of every party debt, notwithstanding any former deliberation of the Federal Council or the Congress that may have allocated the funds from public financing differently.
2. The Federal Council deliberates to give a mandate to the First Secretary and the Treasurer to set up, with immediate effect, a Foundation to promote the affirmation of the fundamental personal rights in the spirit of the principles that inspire or have inspired the Radical Party's national and transnational action, asking the first Secretary and the Treasurer to carry out all the procedures to establish this Foundation, draw up the statute, choose and nominate the founders and administrators, constitute the assets and set up the headquarters.
October '88
Rome - Italy
HUMAN RIGHTS
Convention on human rights in Cuba.
October '88
Strasbourg - European Parliament
HUMAN RIGHTS
On the initiative of the Radical Party, the Intergroup for human rights in Eastern European countries is set up in the European Parliament.
October '88
Budapest - Hungary
EASTERN EUROPE-HUNGARY
Paolo Pietrosanti and Olivier Dupuis take part in the Congress of Hungarian Young Democrats.
October '88
Rome- Italy
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
The Radical Party and Radical Groups from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, promote an international convention on the theme "Romania: the violations of human rights under Ceausescu".
30 November '88
Brussels - Belgium
EUROPE
A second letter-pamphlet, signed by Stanzani, is sent to around 7,000 members of Parliament of EC countries.
30 November '88
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE - ROMANIA
Demonstration in front of the Romanian Embassy to protest against the policies of the Ceausescu regime.
November '88
Rome - Italy
CIVIL RIGHTS
Thanks to the initiative of the Radical Party, the Chamber of Deputies unanimously approves the "Martinazzoli law", that recognizes the right of every citizen of the EC countries to stand as a candidate in Italy for the elections for the European Parliament.
October-November '88
Italy
EUROPE
"Pannella EC Commissioner" campaign.
13 December '88
Rome-Italy
EASTERN EUROPE-POLAND
A demonstration takes place for the recognition of Solidarnosc on the seventh anniversary of the state of war in Poland.
23 December '88
Rome - Italy
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Torchlight procession "against drug prohibitionism, for the defence of justice, public order, the right to life and citizens' rights".
28 December '88
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE - AFGHANISTAN
Radicals take part in a torchlight procession for solidarity with the Afghan people, peace and freedom in Afghanistan on the ninth anniversary of the Soviet invasion.
December '88
Rome - Italy
CIVIL RIGHTS
Demonstration against the approval of the new Concordat between Italy and the Holy See.
December '88
Rome - Italy
EUROPE
On the initiative of the Radical party and the European Federalist Movement, the Chamber of Deputies unanimously approves the law to hold, at the same time as the European elections, a referendum for European political unity and to give the European Parliament a constituent mandate.
December '88
Italy - Yugoslavia
YUGOSLAVIA
A campaign for an international hunger strike, promoted by Sergio Stanzani, to allow the Radical Party Congress to be held in Zagreb.
The Transnational Years 1988/1992
1989
2-6 January
Trieste - Italy
Bohinj - Yugoslavia
federal council
FEDERAL COUNCIL
In his speech, Stanzani poses the following question: "in the current Italian party and partycratic regime, public financing is essential for an opposition force, namely for a force that does not count on the occupation of institutional positions or that does not identify itself with consolidated interests and centres of power; has the time come for the Radical Party to face the moral problem of the issue of public financing?".
To face 1989
at least 10 billion lire are needed: 5 for Radio Radicale, 5 for the Party. "If we seriously oppose the doubling of public financing - writes Stanzani - is it conceivable to lay the basis of a political initiative capable of raising the hope of obtaining this result? I know that many of you consider this line regarding the money and time necessary for the transnational party to be weak, if not mistaken. You say: the priority is politics, establishing objectives and hence suitable plans for carrying them out; this is the only way to assess our financial requirements, once these have been decided they have some influence on our choice. Theoretically this is an irreprehensible approach. The fact is that in my opinion the choice is more fundamental; it is probably a choice regarding the Party and not so much what the Party must and can do, because I do not think that if this choice had been possible we would not have made it. In our present situation, questioning whether the party should disband remains inevitab
le".
In this Federal Council Marco Pannella recalls the indissoluble link between transnational and transparty, "the Party instrument, as it stands today, does not work. If it is to be maintained, this implies the use of indirect and also direct public financing". He also recalls that the Radical Party has accepted a law on publishing that describes Radio Radicale as a Party organ and that, on this basis, the radio receives public funding. Pannella hopes for "a minute's interruption", to say that "that segment of the theory of practice is dead, that party is dead. We need a moment's break to say 'we are another party', that other party has had its day and was great".
The motion invites the Secretary and Treasurer to convoke the Congress - if possible - in Yugoslavia and also invites them to open the 1989 membership campaign not only in Italy, but also, and especially, in Eastern European and Sahel countries.
2 February '89
Rome - Italy
HUMAN RIGHTS-IRAN
The Radical Party takes part in the sit-in outside the Iranian Embassy, promoted by the League for Human Rights in Iran.
6 February '89
Genoa - Italy
HUMAN RIGHTS
Thanks also to the hunger strike by some Radical militants, political asylum is given to some Romanian refugees on the "Botany Bay".
14 February '89
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Demonstration outside the American Embassy to demand the repatriation of Silvia Baraldini, detained in the US for crimes of association with illegal groups.
16-19 February '89
Strasbourg
federal council
FEDERAL COUNCIL
Two possible lines of action are mentioned in the report:
1) postponing the closing down of the Party, though foreseeing it, by setting objectives and seeking conditions to avoid it (the equivalent of five thousand members in December '86 and the ten thousand in February '87); the necessary "dimension" should be twenty to thirty thousand members and four million dollars self-financing;
2) proceeding directly towards closing down the party, by establishing the organs and procedures, fixing the dates, finding the force to constitute something different and more suitable for achieving the set objectives. The close-down can become merely an action and a moment in a process constituting another and aimed at others.
"Everone - writes Stanzani - must be ready to assume and claim the 'government' of the Party, a 'government' that is primarily economic and financial rather than 'political'".
The motion "overturns" the possible outcomes of a year of arguments and decisions adopted by the previous Federal Council meetings.
It is pointed out that " the Secretary and the Treasurer have proposed to the Federal Council an effective option for a plan of formal close-down and especially for conserving the institution in order to guarantee the Radical Party's continuity of action, via the creation of a Foundation to which the Radical party's heritage is entrusted in an attempt to bring about and in the hope of seeing new external conditions that permit the renewal or re-establishment of the Radical Party"; that "the postponement of the 35th Congress, due to the refusal of the Yugoslav authorities to allow it to be held freely, has resulted in the need - in this case too - to use public financing for this year and next year"; that "the existence or non-existence of the Radical Party can only be decided by men and women, by the citizens, who by becoming members reinforce and relaunch it or - otherwise - bring about its demise for lack of the necessary resources" and it is deliberated "to abandon any plan for a controlled close-down or
any other form substantial prosecution of its existence". "The Radical Party decides to use all its power, without any reservations, not even assets, to promote the party as a useful and necessary means in Europe, Africa, and throughout the world, for achieving the objectives of the right to life and the life of rights". "The Radical Party, after having renounced public financing of its structures and activities for over ten years, and paying out the tens of billions assigned to it for general interests, will use the last available cent to permit the largest number of people to choose and decree its power or its demise".
2 March '89
Brussels - Belgium
ECOLOGY
Demonstration outside the building where the Environment Council meeting is being held in favour of the proposal to reduce the production of CFCs by 100% by 1997.
10 March '89
Rome - Italy
HUMAN RIGHTS - TIBET
Demonstration outside the Chinese Embassy for freedom and the respect of human rights and the natural environment in Tibet.
March '89
Rome - Italy
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
The International Anti-Prohibitionist League is set up.
22-26 April '89
Budapest - Hungary
ordinary congress
35th RADICAL PARTY CONGRESS
In compliance with the motion of the previous Ordinary Congress, which decided that the first transnational Radical Party Congress was to be held outside Italy, the Party organs - that had attempted to hold the 35th Congress in Zagreb, but were refused permission by the Croatian authorities - convoke the Congress at Budapest, in a scenario that prefigures the events that only a few months later were to disrupt the situation in the Socialist countries.
"I wish to express my sincere joy at this extraordinary fact - writes Stanzani in his report - this new spring of liberty and democracy, which this time we hope will not be short-lived and tragically illusory, the opening up of the State and Communist Party of Hungary - at least in its programmes and statements of intention, which contain some partial reforms - to cultural, political and social pluralism, and the need to construct the State of rights, which allowed our Party - for so many years the party of democracy and nonviolence, the party of conscientious objection and human rights, the party of the refusnik and the right to life and liberty - to hold its congress here in Budapest".
The report reads: "The transnational and transparty party can be the beginning of a new path of life and hope, it can be the new party. But to be, the power to be once again what we have been and are as Radicals, as party members, is no longer, can no longer be entrusted only to us, to our powers, our resources, our capacities. There is a need for others, many others, who are not Radicals and have never been members, to join us and support us and take our place, and many of these must have been born and have grown up in different countries". "Time is our worst, most implacable enemy; we must select and choose very short-term objectives, because this is the only margin we have to achieve the necessary conditions to be able to continue. I am thinking of at least functional, better constructed and differentiated solutions. This is especially necessary in 'local' situations, for which 'regional' rather than 'national' references can be established, more appropriate for overcoming the restraints and limits impose
d by the pressure and intervention of the 'state' organization in the individual countries and also more suited to perceiving the 'real' and significant facts of the natural, political, civil, social, traditional and economic environment in which one lives. The 'central' party organization has the same need, it must reinforce its overall capacity for management and political control, by entrusting the choice and comparison of individual initiatives increasingly to the autonomous initiative of federal meetings, both at central and regional level, and by reserving for the Congress (perhaps to be convoked evry two years) the prerogative of decisions that are binding for all members. The party set-up, its organization, structure, and functioning, must ensure its essential character as a nonviolent political force, a nonviolent party of militants, on a transnational scale, it must be upheld and supported by 'services' that require experience, skills, structural and organizational references, investments and costs
not compatible with the set-up of 'the party as such', without damaging and prejudicing that organization, that differentiation, that essentiality and that flexibility, which are indispensable for it to function correctly and efficiently. It is therefore necessary to consider if and how the 'services' may be provided via the establishment of a centre of activity distinct from the party, that is not only autonomous, but also has a different character and organization, and objectives and tasks that enable it to receive private financial contributions directly. We cannot escape from a direct and cruel confrontation with our enemy - time. The party organs that will be elected will nevertheless have to face the need to begin to alienate the party assets, since, however immediate and adequate the response in Italy, Hungary and other countries to our appeal, the need for money will be even more immediate".
The motion states that "when the knowledge for deliberating and choosing is ensured, the transnational and transparty Radical Party responds to the need of the ruling classes and of the dissidents in our society and in our time".
The motion "... gives the Italian supporters the recognition they deserve for their absolutely essential and decisive contribution to the life of the party and the success of the Congress"; "it denounces those who continue to make it appear that the party wants freely to choose its own dissolution. The Radical Party has for some time, and with increasing precision and decision, rigour and energy, documented the situation of failure, whose ostracisms, mystifications, anti-democratic use of state and private powers, have reduced the human and financial resources of the party itself. The Secretary and Treasurer's reports have proved and prove that - if nothing exceptional happens - over the next few weeks the existence and assets of the Party will be progressively and rapidly annulled".
"The Congress delegates all statutory powers to the First Secretary, the Treasurer, as well as the Party Chairman and the Chairman of the Federal Council, for all decisions regarding the life and assets of the Radical Party, should violence manage to prevail over our resistance. And to this end, changes the statute of the party with this temporary and final regulation".
The Congress re-elects Sergio Stanzani and Paolo Vigevano to the posts of First Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Maurizio Turco is elected Vice-Treasurer and Bruno Zevi is elected Honorary President of the Party.
14 May '89
Rome - Italy
RADICAL PARTY-PCI
A meeting takes place between Sergio Stanzani and Achille Occhetto in the Italian Communist Party headquarters.
In the joint statement it is agreed that it is "timely, and in some cases urgent, to accelerate and increase the activity of information, consultation and, in some cases, important common actions. The affirmation of human, civil and political rights, of the State of rights and of political democracy - as method and content - can gain impetus and strength of implementation if the two parties and their members collaborate on certain objectives in this field". On the one hand Occhetto "expresses the hope that the Radical Party may soon overcome the difficulties that beset it with the responsible support of those who recognize its value for democracy", and on the other, Stanzani "expresses the hope and conviction that all democratic people may appreciate and support the renewal taking place in the Communist Party, its new objectives for reform and an alternative, as an essential contribution towards overcoming the serious crisis and problems of Italian society".
16-18 May '89
Rimini - Italy
Italian Congress
1st ITALIAN RADICAL PARTY
CONGRESS
"The task" of the Italian Congress - the commitments and activities of the transnational Party are not deliberated here - is to affirm, with the greatest theoretical clarity, that being a member of the Radical Party is not incompatible with membership of other parties, in multi-party and two-party states as well as those based on a one-party system.
The Congress reaffirms, in view of the coming European elections, the Party's non-participation "as such" in political elections in Italy. Thus there is no element of "competition" with the other national parties or with existing international parties and thus there is no formal obstacle to membership of the (transnational and transparty) Radical Party.
18 May '89
Rimini - Italy
federal council
FEDERAL COUNCIL
This is the meeting of the installation of the Federal Council, in which those elected at the Budapest Congress and the members of parliament and ex-secretaries or members of the secretariats having Radical Party membership at the date of convocation take part.
Marco Pannella is elected chairman of the Federal Council.
9 June '89
Berlin - East Germany
EASTERN EUROPE-THE BERLIN WALL
Leonid Pliusc, representative of the Ukraine Helsinki Alliance, and Radical Party member, is arrested during a demonstration in front of the Berlin wall.
16 June '89
Budapest - Hungary
EASTERN EUROPE-HUNGARY
Emma Bonino and Sergio Stanzani attend the funeral of Imre Nagy, Minister of the Hungarian government hanged in 1956.
28-30 June '89
Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
Sergio Stanzani goes to Slovenia, invited by Slovenian Young Socialists: he explains the Radical Party proposal for the entry of Yugoslavia and Hungary into the EC.
June '89
Italy
REFERENDUMS
Referendums on hunting and pesticides, promoted by the Radicals.
June '89
Italy
EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
For the first time the decision taken at the Bologna Congress, not to put forward party lists for elections, is applied.
Individual members of the Radical Party are supporting the presentation of "new electoral entities" (as in the case of Marco Taradash with the Anti-Prohibitionist List", which has one candidate elected, and of Adelaide Aglietta - who is elected - Franco Corleone and Francesco Rutelli with the "Rainbow Greens"), or they are standing in lists promoted by other groups (such as Marco Pannella, who is with the "Liberal, Republican, Federalist" list, and Giovanni Negri, with the Social Democratic Party).
The Party acts as a "service" for its own members and their ventures.
June '89
Italy
EUROPE
Thanks to the common campaign of the Radical Party and the European Federalist Movement, Italy is the only country which holds the referendum requested by the European parliament for the assignment of constituent powers at the same time as the European elections.
July '89
Italy
DEATH PENALTY
The Radicals make a major contribution to the campaign which leads to the saving of Paula Cooper's life.
31 July-2 August '89
Rome - Italy
TRANSNATIONAL
Seminar of the secretariat and those elected in Radical lists, during which debate centres on the decisions of the Budapest congress, the activities of the transnational party and the very serious economic problems it faces.
1-5 September
Rome - Italy
FEDERAL COUNCIL
In the report, the secretary and treasurer make two proposals to the Federal Council:
1) The First Secretary, Treasurer, Party Chairman and Chairman of the Federal Council take on "full powers". The Federal Council commits them to a single transnational venture (with a major "Assizes" to be held in Moscow the following spring). No Congress to be called for January. If successfully carried out, the venture should determine those "new conditions" required to ensure the existence of the Party. On the other hand, failure would in effect mean the definitive end of the Party.
2) There shall be no recourse to "full powers", as it is felt possible and necessary to continue as per "the norms of statute" until Congress, which, in the meantime, should be called for January '90. This proposal would first and foremost allow the Party a period of "reflection" on what and how the "other party" should be, this "new Party", a transnational and transdivisional Radical Party, able to exist "outside the institutions".
Three scenarios are put forward, all of which have in common an economic/financial parameter: state funding, the conditions for collecting state funding, the duration of the legislature in Italy are all essential factors.
First scenario: the Party continues its activities until the end of the current legislature of the Italian parliament,thereby going beyond the mechanism contained in the Budapest motion for the winding up of the Party.
This scenario takes the Party back to "normality" and does away with any possible objection to the payment of state funding,
allowing its practical use in both 1990 and 1991, through the bringing forward of relative sums. A certain consequence would be the winding up of the Party and of Radical Radio not later than the first few months of 1992; the budget of the Party and the Radio station would at the end be balanced, but with the total, effective loss of direct or indirect possessions belonging to both.
Second scenario: sets the end of the winding up procedure for the beginning of 1990: this choice allows for the collection of state funding for 1990, and not for 1991 or 1992.
This scenario draws its political justification from the conviction that it is not practical to convert "in a continuous manner" a Party "working within the institutions"into a self-financing Party capable of existing and functioning in a state of real autonomy, and that to attempt to bring this Party into being it is indispensable to determine a "continuity solution". This scenario proposes that the FC adopt this conviction as its own, bringing forward as far as is possible the date of the winding up of the Party, promoting and encouraging the creation of "autonomous instances" of radical enterprise, in Italy and elsewhere, to which the business of taking up a different constitutive procedure may be entrusted.
Third scenario: this postpones the date to the end of the legislature (1992) and allows for the collection of state funding for the entire duration of the legislature, providing an early election is not called.
The interpretation of the mechanism of the congress motion is less "technical", allowing together with the assumption of "full powers" a greater, wider-ranging ability to evaluate and launch initiatives, no longer limited merely to the aspects directly bound up with the actual process of winding up. In this manner the suppositions which may lead to the assumption of "full powers" change, becoming less bound up with the predominance of objective elements - with particular reference to finance and economic matters - and more open to assessments and observations of a truly political nature. On one hand, this entails the FC pronouncing itself on political motivations which may lead to the assumption of "full powers", and on the other, it calls for greater discretionary powers for those who assume full powers in the management of a process no longer conditioned solely by technical aspects, but also by political assessment and opportunity.
Unlike the others, this scenario does not "do without" the financing and public funding amounting to over 9 billion lire.
As in the previous scenario, this scenario lays down the transfer of the headquarters and broadcasting activities to another body in order to build a technical services centre, financially self-sufficient, capable of managing itself and existing as a suitably structured and equipped "autonomous instance" in the service of the Party and of others. Apart from giving up its own rights and prerogatives on the headquarters and broadcasting activities, the Party also renounces half of the annual estimated income from advertising and other broadcasting services, but, at the same time, making use of the services that the centre may provide and being freed from current expenditure for this purpose and the payment of sums for the installments of the mortgage contracted for the building where headquarters is situated.
Recourse to "full powers" removes all expenditure relative to the operation of statutory bodies. Expenditure is limited solely to activities carried out by "the four" and by other companions who, with the setting up of a "working commission", are called to work with them and who accept to do so out of "a sense of political participation".
This scenario calls for the immediate suppression of the current political and organizational structure and lays down for "limited" operational management of "full powers", with a political commitment concentrated on the orientation, promotion and support of the abilities of "others" to determine, with its own initiatives and
activities, the new process of reconstituting the Party; the use of "full powers"must occur with this dimension in mind, exclusively earmarking the use and destination of all available residual resources.
These "full powers" can and must go on for two years.
In choosing the third scenario, the problem of Radical Radio (concerning the assessment of the balance sheet of the two partners, Party and Radio station) is and continues to be political rather than economic or financial: it is vital and fundamental that Radical Radio is turned into an economically self-sufficient "autonomous instance" for initiatives. We may set ourselves two goals to be achieved by the end of 1990: to start immediately a campaign for self-financing; to obtain formal recognition as a "public service". This means taking up a battle for Radical Radio, as the Party's only voice in Italy.
The motion "takes note of the fact that as yet the procedure laid down at the Budapest Congress has not commenced, despite the clear and speedy advance of often noted and denounced anti-democratic tendencies and their consequences". It makes an appeal to "others", "to all democrats, that they may commit themselves, formally if possible, to sustain the struggle of the Radical Party, which is and will continue to be ever more irreplaceable and imperative".
The FC thus pronounces itself in favour of a strategy based on the third scenario placed before it.
Emma Bonino is elected Party Chairman
September '89
Rome - Italy
DEATH PENALTY
The Radical Party joins the "world week against capital punishment" proclaimed by "Amnesty International" and by the"Coordinamento Non Uccidere".
6 October '89
Budapest - Hungary
EASTERN EUROPE-HUNGARY
Sergio Stanzani attends the Congress of the Socialist Worker's Party.
14 October '89
Rome - Italy
CIVIL RIGHTS
Marco Pannella speaks at the first extraordinary European congress of the Italian Transsexual Movement.
19 October '89
Budapest - Hungary
Madrid - Spain
Moscow - Soviet Union
Prague - Czechoslovakia
Rome - Italy
Warsaw - Poland
NONVIOLENCE
Giovanni Negri and Marco Pannella begin a hunger strike for an indefinite period in favour of the reinstatement of legality and information in Italy and Spain for the forthcoming elections in those countries. Demonstrations in various European capitals, East and West.
October '89
Rome - Italy
ITALY: LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
For the first time the "Anti-prohibitionist List" stands, in elections for the Rome council. Pannella (later replaced by Luigi Cerina) is elected, after during the previous weeks he had launched a proposal for a "Nathan list".
Radical members, including Francesco Rutelli, stand in the elections in a joint Green List.
October '89
Spain
SPANISH ELECTIONS
An Anti-prohibitionist list stands in the Spanish general elections ("Lista Antiprohibicionista sobre Droga - Grupo de Radicales eu Madrid").
23 October '89
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE - BERLIN WALL
Demonstrations against the Berlin Wall.
29 October '89
Budapest - Hungary
HUNGARY
Anne Losonczy, Radical Party delegate, attends the Congress of the Free Democrats.
15 November '89
Belgrade - Yugoslavia
Budapest - Hungary
Brussels - Belgium
Lisbon - Portugal
Madrid - Spain
Moscow - Soviet Union
Prague - Czechoslovakia
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
Demonstrations outside Romanian embassies to mark the second anniversary of the Brasov popular uprising and to protest against the repressive politics of the Ceausescu regime.
Fifteen Radicals arrested and immediately tried in Moscow.
17 November '89
Strasbourg - European Parliament
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
Adelaide Aglietta puts forward two resolutions on the Romanian situation.
23 November '89
Brussels - Belgium
Budapest - Hungary
Lisbon - Portugal
Madrid - Spain
Moscow - Soviet Union
Rome - Italy
Warsaw - Poland
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Demonstrations outside Czechoslovakian embassies to protest against the arrest of John Bok, a Radical militant, during a previous demonstration.
29 November '89
Bogota - Colombia
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM-COLOMBIA
Emma Bonino and Marco Pannella meet with politicians and journalists during their week-long stay in Colombia to try to arrange the next FC in that country.
14 December '89
Rome - Italy
TRANSNATIONAL
Announcement of the assumption of "full congressional powers".
The Radical Party announces that "by the end of the year a formal and political answer will be given to the proven fact that the Radical Party is a victim of systematic violence and in Italy is being pushed into clandestinity. Extraordinary management of the Radical Party will have as its goal and basis the relaunch of the transnational and transdivisional party, in Italy and abroad".
For the whole of 1990, the assumption of full powers will entail a de facto suspension of the Radical Party's activities, with the exception of ventures regarding Eastern European countries. The First Secretary, Treasurer, Party Chairman and Chairman of the Federal Council will be committed on one hand to the task of improving the Party's financial and economic situation, on the other to the task of getting the Italian parliament to pass a law recognizing Radical Radio as "an enterprise carrying out information and general interest activities", thereby allowing it an autonomous existence.
The "full congressional powers" attributed to Sergio Stanzani, Paolo Vigevano, Emma Bonino and Marco Pannella mark the start of a new and different condition of "extraordinary legality", and also a "separation" of the (transnational and transdivisional) Party from the previously extant Party. Inaddition, this marks the conclusion of a "period of theory of praxis", in the hope and need that this conclusion is also the beginning of a new stage in the Party's existence, to be constructed in a different, broader direction in the conviction that the Party has within itself enough strength to survive all but the violence of power expressed as a lack of the essential conditions of right and democracy.
18 December '89
Moscow - Soviet Union
EASTERN EUROPE - USSR
Antonio Stango and Bruno Zevi attend the funeral of Andrej Sacharov as representatives of the Radical Party.
19 December '89
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
Demonstration outside the Romanian Embassy in favour of democracy.
20 December '89
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
Formation of the Radical Association for a United States of Europe.
25 December '89
Bucharest - Romania
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
Antonio Stango meets leaders of the National Salvation Front (FSN).
For weeks, Radical Radio has been promoting a wide-ranging information campaign on events in Romania.
29 December '89
Moscow - Soviet Union
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Three Radical militants arrested while protesting against the refusal of the Moscow authorities to grant Evghenja Debrjanskaja the necessary authorization to come to Italy for the Federal Council.
The Transnational Years 1988/1992
1990
7 January '90
Rome - Italy
FEDERAL COUNCIL
The report emphasizes that not by chance "in the current situation of great difficulty for the Party, are appeals to others more direct, more explicit and more determined".
We are reminded how the "situation in Italy has led to a last-minute suspension of the assumption of full powers". Stanzani writes: "Over these past two years we have come to learn of the Party's incompatibility (in its then form within the institutions) with the transnational and transdivisional ideal and of the decision not to stand our own lists inelections. We also take note of the end of a period of our history, the conclusion of the 'period of theory of praxis' which with great success allowed for the growth of the Party.The thought of winding down, a function of this line of reasoning, is only a prop in the current climate of economic and financial crisis of which we have already heard time and time again. This option has as its point of reference the availability of the Party's public and private resources, in relation to the duration of the legislature in Italy and the condition of ventures undertaken in broadcasting indirectly by the Party. All this in the conviction that the curren
t set-up and support from members and self-financing alone is not sufficient for the Party's essential political requirements".
The Budapest Congress, activity in favour of human rights,the spread of democratization and European union in countries of Central and Eastern Europe have together led to "abandonment of the closure option" and subsequently to "full congressional powers".
The alternative to this solution would have had to come to fruition through the evolution of conditions in Italy. Once again Stanzani writes: "I have always been convinced that a transdivisional nature has to be a preliminary feature, in other words an essential premise, for the building of a transnational party".
The assumption of full powers "involves annulment of the previous structures and the start of a stage which may lead to the refoundation and building of the 'new party' or else its winding down. Assistant first secretaries, members of the secretariat and all those holding political responsibility shall leave their position and their functions. Starting from 1 January every position of responsibility in the Party will be dissolved, with the exception of six people who will remain in an administrative capacity (whose collaboration is required by law and statutory regulations)". "The main responsibility facing the deployment of full statutory powers is that of constantly, continuously guaranteeing an economic situation in which the winding down of the party is possible, without tipping into bankruptcy. Problems for the new 'course' centre on membership, the contribution of supporters and self-financing, in the knowledge that a main priority is to dialogue with members of other political groups an
d forces, other parties, with their membership of the Party and their expertise serving to fill the gap in the information shortfall which until now has prevented greater understanding of the value, harmony and imperative need of the Radical Party's move to a transnational and transdivisional emphasis".
Achille Occhetto's speech: although an important and serious contribution, the speech made by the general secretary of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) did not provide commitment to tackling the subject put by the Radical Party at the top of the agenda: the PCI's recognition of a non-competitive transnational and transdivisional force and a request for Communists to join up with this 'new' organization, and a source of hope for the 'new-style' PCI".
The motion: "In the most solemn and urgent manner possible, all Radicals and all democrats should take note that membership targets to ensure a new life for the Radical Party, as opposed to its disappearance, run at one thousand new members in two weeks, five thousand by February, ten thousand by the end of March, fifty thousand before the beginning of next year.
Without taking our collective and individual responsibilities, in which membership is equivalent to a storm of truth and good will, in the current climate lacking in knowledge, information, democracy, assured rights and equality of rights, this hope would without a doubt be dashed, and those who knowingly do not join would in actual fact be choosing to destroy, to wipe out this Party and this hope".
6 January '90
Rome - Italy
DEATH PENALTY
Demonstration called by the Radical Party Federal Council to protest at the death penalty outside the Christian Democrat headquarters.
16 January '90
Athens - Greece
Belgrade - Yugoslavia
Brussels - Belgium
Budapest - Hungary
Bucharest - Romania
Lisbon - Portugal
Madrid - Spain
Moscow - USSR
Paris - France
Rome - Italy
DEATH PENALTY
Delivery to Czechoslovakian embassies of the appeal letter for John Bok, on hunger strike since 11 January in favour of the repeal of the death penalty in Czechoslovakia.
16 January '90
Romania
DEATH PENALTY
The Radical Party promotes an appeal letter to the Romanian authorities calling for the non-application of the death penalty on national territory.
17 January '90
Strasbourg - European Parliament
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Adelaide Aglietta is elected chairman of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Romania and Bulgaria.
22 January '90
Strasbourg - European Parliament
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Marco Taradash and Carole Tongue, a Labour Euro-MP, put forward a resolution proposal to the European parliament on the problems of drug trafficking in Eastern Europe.
26-29 January '90
Rome - Italy
ITALIAN CONGRESS OF THE RADICAL PARTY
The main topic at Congress is the "dialogue" with the Communists, with Cesare Salvi speaking on behalf of the PCI. Marco Pannella looks forward to having at least one Communist member of the Radical Party in each of Italy's municipalities.
Salvi answers: "the Radical appeal to the Communists will not go unheard".
6 February '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
J. Costin and Alenichev, two members of the Radical Party, begin a fast for a multi-party system in the Soviet Union.
8 February '90
Rome - Italy
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
"Cambio 16", a Spanish weekly paper, organizes a round table on the drugs problem, "Prohibitionists and Anti-prohibitionists face-to-face". Emma Bonino attends.
9 February '90
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Sergio D'Elia attends the conference on penitentiary law promoted by the "Enzo Tortora" International Foundation for Justice.
17 February '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Assembly on "anti-prohibitionism, the Anglo-American model, Europe, sexual minority groups, the death penalty and Tibet".
18 February '90
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Marco Pannella meets inmates at Rebibbia prison, who ask the Radical Party to defend the prison law and to commit itself to pardon as a reparative measure for the inequality produced by the introduction of the new penal procedural code for those sentenced under the old system. Fifty inmates join the Radical Party.
20 February '90
Slovenia - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
In Ljubljana Emma Bonino, Marco Pannella and Sergio Stanzani meet leaders of the "Party of Democratic Renewal", led by Milan Kucan, candidate for the Slovenian presidency.
22 February '90
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
Marco Pannella speaks at a public presentation of the transnational Radical Party.
23 February '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Radical demonstration in Moscow for conscientious objection on the day of the Soviet Army celebrations.
23 February '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
First demonstration of Soviet gays and lesbians, organized by the Radicals.
28 February-5 March
Burkina Faso
BURKINA FASO
A Radical delegation headed by Marco Pannella attends the Congress of the Burkina Faso Popular Front.
February-March '90
Bucharest - Romania
ROMANIA
Antonio Stango and Violeta Barrascu meet leaders and figures of independent political parties and social and cultural groups, as well as the directors of the Romanian media.
February-March '90
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Sergio Stanzani receives around a thousand telegrams from prisons: prisoners are choosing the Radical Party as their voice and as a protector of their causes and appeals.
2 March '90
Rome - Italy
RADICAL RADIO
Radical Radio stops broadcasting, as an extraordinary momentum gathers inside and outside parliament for the passage of an ad hoc law.
3 March '90
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
The new headquarters of the transnational Radical Party opens in Zagreb. Croatian Radicals prepare to fight the first democratic elections in forty years, standing in a coalition with other Croatian movements.
3 March '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Meeting of the "Muscovite Tribune", the most important debating chamber for the Soviet reformist intelligentsia,including members of the Supreme Soviet of the inter-regional (Radical) group of Afanasiev, Yeltsin and Popov. Marino Busdachin is asked to speak.
March '90
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
All month, a Radical table out in Zagreb's Square of Flowers petitioning for support of a United States of Europe.
10 March '90
Rome - Italy
TIBET
Demonstration outside the Chinese embassy in favour of recognition of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
10 March '90
Leningrad - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Radicals take part in the Leningrad demonstration of democratic opposition groups calling for free elections and voicing their disapproval of opposition to Gorbachev's plan for a presidential republic.
10 March '90
Hungary
EASTERN EUROPE-HUNGARY
Anne Losonczy, a member of the Radical Party Federal Council and of the foreign commission of the alliance of Free Hungarian Democrats, speaks at the International Congress for pan-European union chaired by Otto Von Hasburg.
11 March '90
Vilnius - Lithuania
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Radical demonstration; meeting with members of the Lithuanian parliament on the day that Lithuania declares its independence.
12 March '90
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
Thirty or so Croatian Radicals demonstrate against the Markovic government bill on borders.
16 March '90
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Marco Pannella and Sergio Stanzani speak at the Conference to defend the prison law.
16 March '90
New York - USA
JUSTICE
Emma Bonino makes a prison visit to Silvia Baraldini, sentenced to 43 years imprisonment for crimes of a political nature.
16 March '90
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
ELECTIONS IN CROATIA
Official presentation of the European and Green list, an electoral coalition promoted amongst others by the Zagreb Radical Association for a United States of Europe.
18 March '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
The first public assembly held by Moscow Radicals.
20 March '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
The leader of inter-regional deputies, Afanasiev, meets the Radicals.
23 March '90
Baku - URSS
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Radicals demonstrate for democracy in Lithuania.
24 March '90
Rome - Italy
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Twenty-four-hour anti-prohibitionist demonstration in Piazza Navona, ending in an assembly with Taradash and Pannella.
31 March '90
Brussels - Belgium
Budapest - Hungary
Moscow - USSR
Prague - Czechoslovakia
Rome - Italy
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Outside Soviet Embassies, demonstrations for the "Yes to dialogue, no to violence" campaign concerning the situation in Lithuania.
March '90
Bologna - Italy
RADICAL PARTY-PCI
Marco Pannella holds an assembly during the Italian Communist Party Congress.
March '90
Hungary
EASTERN EUROPE-HUNGARY
Questionnaire on "Hungary and Europe" distributed to 10,000 figures in the political, cultural, business and legal world.
1 April '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Radicals attend the founding congress of the Soviet Liberal-Democratic party.
8 April '90
Croatia - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
A Radical ecological event held at the Krka river in Dalmatia.
9 April '90
Great Britain
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Anti-prohibitionist conference held on the fringe of Margaret Thatcher's prohibitionist summit.
9 April '90
Rome - Italy
REFERENDUM
The Radicals begin collecting signatures for the three referendums on electoral reform.
11 April '90
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE - KOSOVO
Radical demonstration for respect of human rights in Kosovo.
14 April '90
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-KOSOVO
Press conference held by the Radical Association for a United States of Europe on food poisoning in Kosovo.
24 April '90
Budapest - Hungary
EASTERN EUROPE-HUNGARY
Radical assembly.
25 April '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Three hundred people take part in the first anti-prohibitionist demonstration to be held in the USSR. Arnold Trebach, Lorenzo Strik Lievers and Marino Busdachin speak.The assembly takes place in the rooms of the rector of Moscow's Institute of Historical Archives, made available by the rector, Yuri Afanasiev.
27 April '90
Turin - Italy
ECOLOGY
Demonstration by the Radical Party and the Lay Green Civic Anti-Prohibitionist List outside the French Consulate to protest against the Superphoenix plutonium reactor.
29 April '90
Brno - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
First assembly held by Moravian Radicals.
29 April '90
Bucharest - Romania
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
Antonio Stango speaks at an assembly on the subjects of nonviolence and a United States of Europe.
30 April '90
Prague-Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Radical assembly.
30 April '90
Rome - Italy
RADICAL RADIO
Andreotti, the prime minister, receives a Radical delegation for talks on the situation of Radical Radio.
April '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
ELECTIONS IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Radical members stand in elections for the federal chamber.
2 May '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
DEATH PENALTY
Following a long campaign undertaken by Czechoslovakian Radicals, the federal parliament abolishes capital punishment, replacing it with life imprisonment. Several prisoners at Rebibbia take part in the campaign by fasting for a day.
6 May '90
Kiev - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Together with democratic parties, Radicals take part in the drawing up of a document against the economic blockade of Lithuania.
12 May '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE - USSR
Soviet Radicals are active in the International Conference against Drugs.
19 May '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
President Havel receives Emma Bonino, Giovanni Negri, Bruno Zevi and Radicals who had been expelled from Czechoslovakia for life.
23 May '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Radical assembly.
26 May '90
Bucharest - Romania
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
Demonstration held outside Czechoslovakian embassies and consulates by the Radical Party and the Radical Association for a United States of Europe in favour of dialogue between the USSR and Lithuania.
30 May '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE - LITHUANIA
Radical demonstrations throughout Czechoslovakia outside Soviet embassies and consulates in protest at events in Lithuania. A radical delegation meets the Lithuanian president, Landsbergis, during his visit to Prague.
May '90
Italy
ITALY: LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
Local government elections: "Anti-prohibitionist lists" stand in every region, with six candidates elected. The "Rainbow Greens" stand under their own symbol in 11 regions, and together with the "Sole che ride" Greens in remaining areas. Emma Bonino, Domenico Modugno and Marco Pannella set up "Open Lists" respectively in Bra, Abruzzo and Agrigento.
3 June '90
Rome - Italy
CHINA
On the anniversary of the Tienanmen Square massacre, the Radical Party organizes a demonstration outside the Embassy of the Chinese People's Republic.
7 June '90
Rome - Italy
EUROPE
Sergio Stanzani meets Giovanni Vigo, secretary of the EMF, to talk about the problems of European Union.
8 June '90
Moscow - USSR
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
Seventy-six members of the Soviet sign an appeal for the recognition of the right to conscientious objection promoted by Alexander Kalinin, a member of the Soviet, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and of the transnational Radical Party.
10 June '90
Sofia - Bulgaria
EASTERN EUROPE-BULGARIA
Adelaide Aglietta attends the Bulgarian elections as an international observer.
15 June '90
Rome - Italy
SOUTH AFRICA
A motion that originated with the Radicals for reducing sanctions on South Africa is presented to the Chamber of Deputies by the Christian Democrats, Republicans and Social Democrats.
16 June '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE - ROMANIA
Radical Party demonstration outside the Romanian embassy calling for "Liberty, democracy and nonviolence".
15-17 June '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
TRANSNATIONAL
Radical Party seminar on the subject: "the transnational Radical Party and the new Europe". Czechoslovakian members and sympathizers are joined by members arriving from Budapest, Moscow, Leningrad, Vilnius, Skopje, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Bucharest.
27 June '90
Copenhagen - Denmark
HUMAN RIGHTS
Nikolay Khramov speaks on behalf of the Radical Party at the Amnesty International "International Conference on Human Rights".
July '90
Rome - Italy
TRANSNATIONAL
The new Radical Party headquarters are opened.
July '90
Rome - Italy
EUROPE
Thanks to Radical pressure, a special commission on Community policies is inaugurated at the Chamber of Deputies.
10 July '90
Pristina - Kosovo
EASTERN EUROPE-KOSOVO
The militia brandishing machine guns prohibits a Radical demonstration. Hairullah Gorani and leaders of all Albanian democratic parties meet Marino Busdachin.
10 July '90
Strasbourg - European Parliament
SOUTH AFRICA
Marco Pannella proposes a resolution to the European Parliament for the ANC and Nelson Mandela to fall in line with the requirements of nonviolence and for the EC to begin the process of abandoning sanctions.
Eighty members of the European parliament sign the resolution.
11 July '90
Skopje/Kumanovo - Macedonia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
Debates organized by the Radical Party and by Macedonian Radicals.
20 July '90
Moscow - USSR
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
A bill on conscientious objection is presented in Moscow. The group of Soviet members who put forward the bill is coordinated by the Radical Alexander Kalinin.
27-29 July '90
Rome - Italy
ITALY
Meeting of those elected to parliament on Radical lists and of Radical Party parliamentarians.
August '90
Reggio Emilia - Italy
JUSTICE
Carduccio Parizzi, a Radical, an elected member of the Regional Council for the Emilia Romagna region, visits a psychiatric prison hospital and uncovers the case of a terminally ill prisoner suffering from AIDS. With a series of press conferences, the sending of telegrams to the overseeing magistrate and parliamentary questions the Radicals start to resolve the case.
1 August '90
Baku - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
A Radical Association is set up.
2 August '90
Rome - Italy
REFERENDUM
In three months the Radicals gather 100,000 signatures for the referendums on electoral procedure in favour of a uninominal system for the Senate and a single preference vote for the Chamber of Deputies.
2 August '90
Budapest - Hungary
EASTERN EUROPE - HUNGARY
Radical assembly.
2 August '90
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
GULF CRISIS
Protest demonstration of Croatian Radicals against the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
8 August '90
Rome - Italy
RADICAL RADIO
Parliament passes a law recognizing Radical Radio as "an enterprise broadcasting information and items of general interest", allowing the station to receive a state contribution of 20 billion lire by 1992.
5 August '90
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
More than 4,000 signatures gathered in a few days for the petition aimed at the Yugoslav government in favour of the passing of a law legalizing a civilian service as an alternative to military service.
17 August '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Legal recognition of the Radical Association for a United States of Europe, with its headquarters in Prague.
23 August '90
Rome - Italy
GULF CRISIS
Gulf Crisis: a majority at the Chamber of Deputies agrees on the addition of four Radical amendments to its motion.
31 August '90
Modena - Italy
ESPERANTO
Marco Pannella speaks at the Congress of the Italian Esperantist Federation.
July-September
Italy
JUSTICE
Radical members of parliament and regional councils conduct inspection visits to 23 penal institutions.
1 September '90
Leningrad - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE - USSR
Radical Party conference on the topic: "The transnational Radical Party for democracy and human rights. Four petitions to build a state of rights".
1 September '90
Rome - Italy
GULF CRISIS
Demonstration under the banner: "Stop the world's Saddam Husseins: with a 'Helsinki' for the Mediterranean and the Middle East".
2 September '90
Leningrad - USSR
HUMAN RIGHTS
Lorenzo Strik Lievers and Marino Busdachin attend the second International Conference on Human Rights.
4 September '90
Budapest - Hungary
EASTERN EUROPE - HUNGARY
Radical Party meeting with a delegation from the Romanian Ecologist/Humanist Party.
5 September '90
Modena - Italy
RADICAL PARTY-PCI
For the first time a Radical, Marco Pannella, attends the"Festival dell'Unità".
5 September '90
Modena - Italy
ITALY
Assembly of Radical Party members from the North and the Centre-North.
5 September '90
Leningrad - USSR
HUMAN RIGHTS
The Radicals take part in the demonstration for human rights in front of the Winter Palace. Photos of the Radical banner appear in the main newspapers.
7 September '90
Strasbourg - European Parliament
GULF CRISIS-EUROPE
Marco Pannella sends a letter to the President of the European Parliament asking for the convocation of an extraordinary session to deliberate on the Gulf crisis and on German reunification in relation to the construction of European union. More than one hundred parliamentarians undersign the letter.
17 September '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE - USSR
Radical demonstration for a law on political parties.
21 September '90
Belgrade - Yugoslavia
YUGOSLAVIA
The Belgrade Radicals organize a conference on the subject:
"The transnational Radical Party. The Federalist and nonviolent International for a United States of Europe founded on democracy and justice". Marco Pannella takes part.
22 September '90
Belgrade - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
Marco Pannella holds a press conference.
24 September '90
Zagreb
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
Marco Pannella and a Radical delegation meet the leaders of the Party for Democratic Renewal-League of Croatian Communists and the leaders of the Croatian Liberal-Social Party.
28 September '90
Luxembourg
DEATH PENALTY
On the initiative of Marco Taradash, the EEC-ACP assembly approves a motion calling for a three-year moratorium on all death penalties.
7 October '90
Moscow - USSR
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
One thousand people take part in a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Defence, promoted by the Radicals, in favour of the right to conscientious objection. Alexander Kalinin, Radical deputy in the Soviet of Moscow, gives the opening speech.
9 October '90
Brussels - Belgium
Budapest - Hungary
Moscow - USSR
Prague - Czechoslovakia
Rome - Italy
CIVIL RIGHTS
Radical Party demonstrations in front of the Polish Embassies in support of the women of Poland and the right to abortion.
10 October '90
Moscow - USSR
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
Zolotuhin, deputy in the Supreme Soviet, presents the Radical bill for the right to conscientious objection and civilian service in the USSR.
10 October '90
Moscow - USSR
CIVIL RIGHTS
The Soviet Radicals organize a demonstration for the civil rights of prostitutes, in particular their right to health care and free, guaranteed access to contraceptives.
11 October '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EUROPE
Torchlight procession "For the adhesion of Czechoslovakia to the European Community and for the United States of Europe".
12 October '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Meeting between the Radical Party and the Communist Party of the USSR, in view of the legalization of political parties.
12 October '90
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Demonstration organized by the Radical Party in support of pardon and in defence of the prison law.
17 October '90
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Debate at the Radical Party offices on "the Soviet Union, Nationalism, and Federalism", with the participation of about fifteen leading figures from Russia.
19 October '90
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Assembly at Rebibbia prison with hunger-striking prisoners. Sergio Stanzani, Sergio D'Elia, Alessandro Tessari and Renè Andreani take part. Press conference at the Chamber of Deputies.
21 October '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Congress of Radical Party members in Czechoslovakia.
25 October '90
Moscow - USSR
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
Demonstration in front of the Moscow military recruitment station, in support of conscientious objection.
28 October '90
Rome - Italy
EUROPE
Demonstration by the Radical Party and the Federalists on the occasion of the European summit.
2 November '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Marino Busdachin speaks at the Conference of the liberal section of the people's deputies of the Mossoviet.
3 November '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
The Radical Party promotes the foundation of the organizing Committee for the demilitarization campaign in the USSR.
5 November '90
New York - USA
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Emma Bonino and Marco Taradash are arrested for the crime of distribution of clean syringes.
6 November '90
Budapest - Hungary
Brussels - Belgium
Moscow - USSR
Prague - Czechoslovakia
CIVIL RIGHTS
Demonstration in front of the Romanian Embassies for the Doru Braia case.
6 November '90
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Week of initiatives in the prisons and outside in support of pardon and in defence of the Gozzini law.
9 November '90
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EUROPE
Two days of Radical initiatives for the adhesion of Czechoslovakia to the European Community and in favour of the United States of Europe, organised by the Czechoslovakian Radicals and by the Radical Association for the United States of Europe (ARSUE), with the adhesion of the Civic Forum and of other organizations.
9 November '90
Timosoara - Romania
EASTERN EUROPE - ROMANIA
Around eighty people take part in the first meeting with the Radical Party. Olivier Dupuis present.
10 November '90
Baku - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
A Radical delegation pays homage to the 500 identified victims of the massacre carried out by the Red Army on 20 January 1989.
11 November '90
Baku - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Assembly with Marino Busdachin and the Rector of the University.
12 November '90
Baku - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Meeting with the Vice-President of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan.
12 November '90
Moscow - USSR
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
A number of military deputies from Leningrad unexpectedly present the Radical bill on conscientious objection to Gorbachev.
12 November '90
Bucharest - Romania
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
A European Parliament delegation, including Adelaide Aglietta and Marco Pannella, meet leading Romanian politicians.
13 November '90
Baku - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Meeting between the Radical Party and the Mussavat, the party for the independence of the Republic, and with the Communist Party.
13 November '90
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
A Government decree freezes the prison law for a period of five years. Prisoners in over 40 jails begin a hunger strike. Radio Radicale becomes the organ of information and communication for the initiatives of the prisoners. An appeal for the defence of the prison law is broadcast. Franco Corleone goes on hunger strike.
14 November '90
Bucharest - Romania
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
Assembly with Marco Pannella
15 November '90
Tbilisi - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Radical assembly.
16 November '90
Tbilisi - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Meetings between the Radical Party and the Green Party of Georgia, the National Democratic Party and the Democratic Party for the Independence of Georgia.
16 November '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Activists from the Radical Party and from other organizations block the military district of Moscow with a nonviolent picket. Seven of them are arrested, and the Radical deputy Kalinin is kicked and punched.
17 November '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
"Pravda" publishes a violent attack on the Radical Party because of its anti-militarist initiatives.
20 November '90
Zagreb - Yugoslavia
EASTERN EUROPE-YUGOSLAVIA
Radical assembly.
23-25 November '90
Athens - Greece
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
First Congress of the International Anti-Prohibitionist League.
24 November '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
The Radicals take part in the meeting organized by Amnesty International.
24 November '90
Sfintu Gheorghe - Romania
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
Radical Party meeting. Olivier Dupuis takes part.
30 November '90
Rome - Italy
CIVIL RIGHTS
Exhibition of photographs on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the approval of the Fortuna-Baslini law on divorce, which gives rise to demonstrations in some of the major Italian cities and to the inauguration of the Party headquarters in Rome, in the presence of the President of the Senate.
November '90
Strasbourg - European Parliament
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Adelaide Aglietta is elected as President of the Green Group at the European Parliament.
1 December '90
Rome - Italy
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Anti-prohibitionist torchlight procession on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the divorce law.
10 December '90
Leningrad - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Demonstration of Radicals and Christian Democrats in favour of civil rights in the armed forces.
11 December '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
The Soviet Radicals, led by the deputy Kalinin, take part in the meeting organized by the Supreme Soviet with the democratic parties on the proposed new Federal Treaty of the Soviet Union.
13 December '90
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Appeal by the Soviet Radicals to the Supreme Soviet for freedom and democracy in the Baltic Republics.
14 December '90
Rome - Italy
EUROPE
Demonstration by the Radical Party and the Federalists on the occasion of the European summit.
14 December '90
Moscow - USSR
DEATH PENALTY
Alexander Kalinin speaks against the death penalty at the Congress of Russian Deputies.
18 December '90
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Press conference held by the Radical Party and the Enzo Tortora International Foundation for Justice for the presentation of a denunciation to the Public Prosecutor's Office of the illegal media campaign against the prison law. Sergio Stanzani, Valeria Ferro, Giandomenico Caiazza and Sergio D'Elia take part.
31 December '90
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Sergio Stanzani visits prisoners at Rebibbia prison.
The Transnational Years 1988/1992
1991
9 January '91
Salerno - Italy
JUSTICE
Radical Party delegation inspects Fuorni prison, where inmates have written to Marco Pannella reporting serious acts of violence against them.
14 January '91
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Radical demonstration in Red Square against the violence of the Red Army in Lithuania. Four Radicals arrested.
14 January '91
Leningrad - USSR
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
The elite of the Leningrad intelligentsia back the Radical proposal on conscientious objection.
14 January '91
Budapest - Hungary
EASTERN EUROPE-HUNGARY
Olivier Dupuis meets an EMIG (Association of Hungarians from Transylvania) delegation.
15 January '91
Brno - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Demonstration against the Soviet intervention in Lithuania.
16-19 January '91
Brussels - Belgium
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
International Conference on the subject of "Prohibitionism or Anti-Prohibitionism on Drugs", organized by the Free University of Brussels and the Radical Anti-Prohibitionist Organization.
17 January '91
Rome - Italy
GULF CRISIS
The Italian Chamber of Deputies approves, in the form of a recommendation, a resolution on the situation in the "gulf" presented by the European Federalist Group deputies.
Amongst other things, the resolution calls upon the UN Security Council and the Eropean Community to carry out, in accordance with the powers entrusted to them by resolution 678, a large-scale information campaign aimed at the people of Iraq and the Arab and international world, in defence of justice and peace, of the decisions of the UN and the independence of Kuwait, with the denunciation of the crimes, past present or future, of the Iraqi regime, in order to destabilize the dictatorial and criminal violence of the regime; a conference on the rights of the individual and on peace in the Mediterranean area and the Middle East; an international agreement is proposed for the control of the arms trade and for the establishment of an international register of the sale of the major weapon systems.
A similar resolution is promoted by deputies belonging to the Radical Party and presented the following week in the European Parliament.
19 January '91
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Over one hundred Radical Party members and activists from the whole Soviet Union take part in the first Radical assembly of 1991. The assembly is opened by Alexander Kalinin, deputy in the Mossoviet and member of the Radical Party.
20 January '91
Moscow - USSR
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR
Around fifty Radicals take part with the symbol of Gandhi in the great demonstration against the violence perpetrated by the Red Army in the last few days.
20 January '91
Rome - Italy
GULF CRISIS
The Radicals demonstrate in front of the Israeli Embassy to show their solidarity with the Israeli people and to ask the Israeli gvernment not to respond to the Iraqi missile attcks.
23 January '91
Tirgu Mures - Romania
EASTERN EUROPE-ROMANIA
Radical assembly.
27 January '91
Rome - Italy
ISRAEL
Demonstration in front of the Holy See for the immediate recognition of the State of Israel.
2 Febraury '91
Moscow - USSR
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
Oleg Gorscenin, member of the Radical Party, is released after ten months in prison for conscientious objection.
3 February '91
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Seminar of Radicals in Czechoslovakia.
14-17 February '91
Rome - Italy
Italian Congress
III Italian Congress of the Radical Party
The report contains a presentation of the Radical Party political project for 1991, which can be summed up as follows:
The Radical Party project for 1991 has as its aim the constitution of a self-financing, direct-membership transnational and cross-party force.
This aim involves the practice of a method aimed at setting up a true supernational "party of action", a "place of nonviolent action" where all activists will be able to work, through nonviolent demonstrations, for the simultaneous approval, "at the same time on the same day", of the same legislative text prepared by the parliamentarians of the countries who are interested and involved in the political initiative of the Radical Party.
The Party undertakes to pursue this objective, through this method, aware that the policy must translate knowledge concerning the great problems of the future of humanity into collective awareness, the assumption of responsibility and decesion-making capacities - in short, into power.
It is therefore necessary to carry out a political project which alows the Party to esatblish relations with the political leaders of other countries, avove all with the countries of Europe.
In order to mobilize and gather together the parliamentarians and the international political leaders who are the addressees of the project, the Party must undertake a "publishing venture".
Such an undertaking, never before attempted by any organization, is extremely complex and ambitious.
The initial aim is to reach, in Western and Eastern Europe, the parliamentarians and the elected representatives of legislative assemblies, or assemblies with political responsibility and influence, either "national", "federal", or "regional", which have autonomous powers. This means reaching and communicating with around 35,000 elected representatives in around 300 seats in 35 states, as well as the European Parliament.
The issues covered in the publications might, for example, be the following: the application of the death penalty and the use of torture; the quality of life, the ecological safeguard of the planet, the question of waste disposal in Europe, the greenhouse effect, and safeguard of the ozone layer of the earth's atmosphere, deforestation, and the use of chemicals in agriculture; the relaunching, through the upholding of "poistive law", of the proposal to give coherent strength to international law and to reform the role of the UN; the conversion of military spending to projects in favour of the one billion people threatened by famine, and consequently the continuation of the activities which following the "Nobel Prize Winners Manifesto"; the political union of the states of Europe, an instrument for the abandonment of nationalism and language or race barriers; anti-prohibitionism against crime caused by the illegal drugs market; anti-totalitarianism and the upholding of human rights; the abolition of firearms
licences; the abolition of prisons; penal law; the need for an auxiliary language to encourage a process of language acquisition and to force those who speak the hegemonic language to use a second language; the demographic question, an ecological solution to demographic problems; abortion; sex education.
This initiative is intended on one hand to make known the political agenda of the transnational Party, and on the other hand to create interest, discussion and debate in order to bring together, around the agenda or around specific issues, the action of transnational and transdivisional groups of parliamentarians and of other political leaders.
The venture is also unprecedented, in the history of the Party, in terms of the extent of the financial requirements: the cost for each mailing will be not less than 435,000 - 522,000 dollars, which means that the total cost for 6-8 issues will amount to between 2,609,000 and 4,348,000 dollars.
On the basis of the 1991 budget, the Party has 2,609,000 dollars to invest inthe project, and could in theory call on assets deriving from the "Italian link".
We therefore require the contribution of "others", of the fifth thousand members, who by joining would give organized form to an idea and would contribute to the creation of the "place of nonviolent action" which the Radical Party aims to be, in practice and not merely in theory.
19 February '91
Strasbourg - European Parliament
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Marco Taradash is elected Vice-President of the Committee of Inquiry into organized crime related to drugs trafficking.
22 February '91
Tbilisi - Georgia
EASTERN EUROPE - EX-USSR
The Radicals take part in the 3rd Congress of the Georgian Independence Party.
27 February '91
Moscow - USSR
GULF CRISIS
Demonstration in front of the Kuwaiti Embassy for the affirmation and the respect of the rights of the individual in the Middle East.
February '91
Budapest - Hungary
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Marco Taradash hold a press conference on the anti-prohibitionist issue.
9 March '91
Rome - Italy
DISARMAMENT
Debate at the Radical Party headquarters on the subject "Against the approaching crisis: a treaty on the non-proliferation of conventional arms", in support of international regulation of arms exports.
31 March - 2 April '91
Tirana - Albania
ALBANIA
Marco Panella, together with a European Parliament delegation, takes part in the supervision of the first free elections in Albania.
5 April '91
Rome - Italy
HUMAN RIGHTS
Roberto Cicciomessere and Giovani Negri hold a press conference on the massacre of the Kurds in Iraq.
15 April '91
New York - USA
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Emma Bonino and Marco Taradash are arrested for the second time for distributing syringes without authorization, violating the laws in force in the state of New York.
23 April '91
Budapest - Hungary
EASTERN EUROPE-HUNGARY
Assembly and inauguration of the new central offices.
28 April '91
Peking - China
CHINA-TIBET
Together with a delegation from the Italian Parliament, Giovanni Negri visits China and asks the Chinese Government to respect the rights of the Chinese and Tibetan people.
April '91
Rimini - Italy
TRANSNATIONAL-TRANSDIVISIONAL
Seminar on "The nature of the party in European real democracy; on the transnational and transdivisional project of the Radical Party; on the relationship between the Radical Party, the Italian political forces, and the proposal for a democratic constituent parliament".
1 May '91
Pristina - Kosovo
KOSOVO
Peace caravan in Kosovo organized by the Greens of Europe and Serbia and the Yugoslavian Radicals.
3 May '91
Prague - Czechoslovakia
DEATH PENALTY
Demonstration on the anniversary of the abolition of the death penalty by the Czechoslovakian Federal Assembly.
5 May '91
Moscow - USSR
USSR
Demonstration outside the Kremlin against the violence in Armenia and Azerbaijan.
11 May '91
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
First Congress of Radicals in Czechoslovakia.
14 May '91
Rome - Italy
DISARMAMENT
On the initiative of the Radical Party, the Italian Chamber of Deputies approves a motion presented by Emma Bonino asking for the creation of a treaty on the non-proliferation of conventional arms and in particular of means of mass destruction.
14 May '91
Moscow - USSR
CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
A petition in support of alternative civilian service is launched.
15 May '91
Strasbourg - European Parliament
AIDS - ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
The European Parliament approves the "Europe against Aids" plan and accepts a number of emendments presented by Marco Taradash, including the proposal for the distribution of sterylized self-blocking syringes.
23 May '91
Prague - Czechoslovakia
HUMAN RIGHTS-TIBET
Demonstration for the respect of the human rights violated by the Chinese Communist regime in Tibet.
16 May '91
Rome - Italy
HUMAN RIGHTS-CHINA
Demonstration in front of Palazzo Chigi against the visit by the Italian Foreign Minister De Michelis to China.
24 May '91
Prague - Czechoslovakia
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Information campaign on anti-prohibitionism.
3 June '91
Moscow - USSR
USSR
Demonstration outside the Mossoviet in defence of the democratic political rights of the Moscow citizens called to vote in the direct election of the new Mayor.
9 June '91
Italy
REFERENDUM
Referendum on the proposal for a single-preference electoral system - 80% of the population voted in favour - the only referendum approved by the Constitutional Court of the three presented, one by the Radicals, with proposals for a single-seat system for the Senate and the Communes.
19 June '91
Karlovj Vary - Czechoslovakia
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Conference-assembly on the subject "Legalization of Drugs: the Anti-Prohibtionist Proposal".
26 June '91
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
The Radical Party urges the immediate recognition of the Republics of Croatia and Slovenia by the international community.
29 June '91
Nova Gorica - Slovenia
EASTERN EUROPE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
Roberto Cicciomessere goes to Slovenia to examine the situation in the Republic after the federal army intervention.
29 June '91
Ljubljana - Slovenia
EX-YUGOSLAVIA
Marco Pannella meets Milan Kucan, President of the Republic of Slovenia.
3 July '91
Rome - Italy
JUSTICE
Sergio Stanzani and Sergio D'Elia meet Nicolò Amato, Head of the Prison Administration Department, to discuss the situation of inmates suffering from Aids.
3 July '91
Israel
ISRAEL
The Keren - the World Jewish Organization, whose aim is to raise funds for the reforestation of the Negev desert - dedicates a forest in Israel to Marco Pannella and the Radical Party.
July '91
Prague - Czechoslovakia
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
Marco Taradash discusses the subject of anti-prohibitionism with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic.
18 July '91
Rome - Italy
TRANSNATIONAL
Press conference to present the Radical Party "project" illustrated by Sergio Stanzani in the report to the 3rd Italian Congress.
In the first few months of the year the Party carried out a technical-organizational and political feasibility study on the "venture". In May the first issue of the twelve-page newspaper, written in Italian and translated into fourteen languages, was produced and sent to over 40,000 members of the democratic assemblies of the world and to around 250,000 other people.
23 July '91
Rome - Italy
ITALY: INSTITUTIONAL CRISIS
Marco Pannella, in a press conference, calls for the resignation of the President of the Republic, Francesco Cossiga.
In August, Pannella presents a formal accusation of the President of the Republic, for repeated attacks on the constitution, to the Committee for Prosecution Procedures of the Chamber of Deputies.
Six months later, in February 1992, the accusation is withdrawn because of the delaying tactics carried out by the Committee, particularly by the Chairman, Macis (PDS).
31 July '91
Bergen - Norway
ESPERANTO
Giorgio Pagano takes part, in the name of the Radical Party, in the World Esperanto Congress.
19 August '91
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE-USSR COUP
A few hours after the coup in the Soviet Union, Marco Pannella calls on Italy and the European Community to refuse to recognize the new government. The convocation of the Italian Parliament is urged. A demonstration is held in front of the Soviet Embassy.
23 August '91
Rome - Italy
DEATH PENALTY
Shortly after the end of the coup, the First Secretary of the Radical Party, Sergio Stanzani, launches an appeal for the abolition of the death penalty in the Soviet Union.
13 September '91
Rome - Italy
HUMAN RIGHTS-CHINA/TIBET
Demonstration on the occasion of the announced visit to China of the President of the Council of Ministers, Giulio Andreotti; in defence of human rights in China and Tibet.
19-22 September '91
Rome - Italy
FEDERAL COUNCIL
FIRST SESSION OF THE FEDERAL COUNCIL
Much of the report is devoted to the launch of the "project" (by the opening day of the Federal Council, three issues of the newspaper, each published in fifteen languages, had been produced, and two of them had already been sent out). "It is too early - writes Stanzani - to judge the results, especially in view of the dramatic events which have taken place in several of the countries of Europe (the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Albania), the summer recess of the parliaments of almost all countries, and the doubts about the delivery of the newspaper to all addressees (300,000 copies for each issue, including 40,000 parliamentarians in four continents). What is important is to respect the mandate given to us and the firm belief that there are no political alternatives to the "project", for no problem can be solved only at national level - solutions must be found at an international, or at least a European level. A number of initiatives, such as the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty, have shown t
he great capacity for supernational collaboration; however, if the project is to succeed, new members must join the party and take an active part, especially in other countries - they must form the transnational force to realize the "great hope".
Marco Pannella announces his intention to begin a hunger strike, a nonviolent action for the recognition of the independence of the Republics and the autonomous regions of the ex-Yugoslavia - chosen by the people of these areas through democratic procedures - and for true democracy and the respect of the rights of the individual and of minorities throughout the area, including in Serbia itself.
This is the aim of the motion approved and subsequently presented in the European Parliament and in all the parliaments of European countries in which members of the Radical Party are represented.
The announcement and the mobilization of the Party for "the right to life and the life of rights" in the ex-Yugoslavia lead to the decision to hold the second session of the Federal Council in Zagreb, where the Radical Party had attempted to hold the XXXV Congress (eventually held in Budapest).
6 October '91
Nachod - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Paolo Pietrosanti and Richard Stochar take part in the "Mitink" for comprehension and tolerance amongst nations, organized by the ROI-Civic Initiative.
7 October '91
Rome - Italy
NONVIOLENCE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
Marco Pannella resumes his hunger strike for the recognition of the independence of Croatia and Slovenia, for the rights of the Albanian population of Kosovo, against the faint-heartedness of the European Parliament and the Italian government.
8 October '91
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
Demonstration outside the Yugoslavian embassy:
1) denunciation of the presence in Rome of a "Yugoslavian ambassador" representing federal institutions which no longer have any legal or constitutional validity;
2) protest against the occupation and the destruction of the territories and the cities of the Republic of Croatia.
20 October '91
Zagreb - Croatia
NONVIOLENCE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
One hundred and fifty young Croatians begin a hunger strike, encouraged by the nonviolent initiative of Marco Pannella. The hunger strike extends to the whole of Europe.
October '91
Italy
REFERENDUMS
The referendum campaign
The Radical party's attention to Italian issues, to the Italian "reservoir" - as it is defined in the Budapest motion - comes from the awareness that it must increase the Italian contribution to the constitution of the "New Party". It is in this context that we should interpret the Party's referendum campaign and the decision to take part with determination, and not merely in order to legitimize and support the initiative of others, considering also that this initiative has to a large extent been supported, and in some cases promoted and animated, by authoritative and important Radicals.
The Radical Party is collecting signatures for nine referendums:
a) the three referendums promoted by the "Segni Committee": electoral system for the Senate and the Communes;
b) the three referendums promoted by the "Giannini Committee"; the restriction of the influence of the parties in public administration;
c) two referendums promoted by the Radical Party (on public financing of parties and on the drugs law), one by the "Friends of the Earth" on environmental controls to be carried out by Local Health Boards.
The Radical Party has also collected signatures for a bill to extend to the Chamber of Deputies the electoral system which would come into force for the Senate if the referendums on the subject were to obtain the consensus of the electorate (the proposal is for an English-style single-seat system modified by proportional representation for 25% of seats).
31 October - 3 November '91
Zagreb - Croatia
federal council
SECOND SESSION OF THE FEDERAL COUNCIL
In the motion it is observed that the project for the construction of a great transnational and transdivisional Radical Party seems to have got well under way and at this point a wide and regular contribution from the Federal Council and all its members has become possible, as well as necessary - in particular those members who have been elected democratically in their own countries, or in the European Parliament. There are two basic reasons behind this extension of the directive powers in the process of formation of the new Radical Party:
a) the dramatic and tragic events taking place around the world, and in particular in European and Western societies themselves (with the spread of violence and chaos, in the very heart of Europe, whilst vast areas of the world, beginning with China, are oppressed by dictatorial regimes), which confirm the necessity for a great transnational and transdivisional party capable of planning and building a new democratic and tolerant order in the world and in all its territories;
b) the initial results of the distribution to over fifty thousand parliamentarians of the first two issues of "the New party" and the activities of the Radical Party during the same period on the issue of human and political rights, which have led very quickly to the adhesion to the Party of scores of political leaders and members of parliament, including the Prime Minister of the Croatian Republic, Franjo Greguric, the Deputy Prime Minister, Zdravko Tomac, the ministers Drazen Budisa and Vlado Veselica, the President of the exiled Parliament of Kosovo, Sulejman Ugljanin, the European Commissioner Carlo Ripa di Meana, the Italian minister Carlo Tognoli, as well as parliamentarians from Russia, the Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Italy, the European Parliament, democratic and nonviolent political figures from twenty countries, and the Nobel prize winners Mairead Maguire Corrigan and George Wald.
The Federal Council of the Radical Party
- approves and accepts the report and the accounts of the Radical Party, presented by the First Secretary Sergio Stanzani and the Treasurer Paolo Vigevano, in solido with the President of the Party, Emma Bonino and the President of the Federal Council, Marco Pannella;
- notes the urgent need to increase immediately the political and parliamentary force of the Party, both for the general and specific goals we are pursuing, and to move at the beginning of 1992 to the campaign for fifty thousand new members around the world, an essential requirement for the development and the strengthening of the struggle for the right to life and the life of rights, on all fronts, from the struggle for liberty to that for peace, from the ecological struggle to the demographic struggle;
- therefore commits the organs of the Party and all activists, as well as the members of the Federal Council, to work in the next few days towards recruiting as many new members as possible, parliamentarians and leading political and cultural figures, in order to demonstrate to the democratic parliamentarians of the whole world that hundreds of their colleagues have already taken the opportunity to give life together to a transnational and transdivisional political force, based on Ghandian nonviolence and civil, human and political rights, the foundation and the means to build a new international democratic order for the peoples of the world;
- notes the confirmation of the central role of the Radical Party in the democratic struggle against the partycratic regime in Italy, despite the ostracism, the false information, the corruption and the violence which are rife, thanks to the strength and the generous determination of little more than three thousand members, to whom the Radical Party owes its continued existence and its activity in every other country;
- welcomes the resumption of the nonviolent initiatives in support of democratic and institutional struggles, in particular with the Russian comrades in the Mossoviet, on the initiative of Alexander Kalinin, and then the initiative of Marco Pannella in support of the Radical struggle for the defence of justice and the rights of the individuals and the peoples of the ex-Yugoslavia;
- encourages all activists and members of the Federal Council, the whole Party, to support the hunger strike that comrades in many parliaments have promised to undertake in support of democracy, liberty and peace, and in defence of the Republics of the ex-Yugoslavia, in particular Croatia, under fire from the coup-seeking army and the racist policies of the Serbian government and the blind and faint-hearted policies of Europe, which upholds through words alone the great values of liberty and tolerance.
8 November '91
Rome - Italy
EASTERN EUROPE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
Demonstration outside the embassy of the ex-Yugoslavia.
15 November '91
Brussels - Belgium
Budapest - Hungary
Madrid - Spain
Moscow - Soviet Union
Rome Italy
EASTERN EUROPE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
Demonstrations for the recognition of the ex-Yugoslavia.
27 November '91
Strasbourg - European Parliament
ANTI-PROHIBITIONISM
The European Parliament Committee of Inquiry on the spread of drugs-related organized crime approves a resolution which lays the foundation for profound reform of the drugs policies followed and supported up to now by all the national parliaments of the EC. This result is due to the efforts of the anti-prohibitionists in the European Parliament, above all to Marco Taradash.
9-10 December '91
Maastricht - Holland
Strasbourg - France
EUROPE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
For an end to the war in Croatia and for the recognition of the rights of the citizens of the ex-Yugoslavia, in line with the initiatives taken in Brussels, Budapest, Moscow, Prague, Rome, and Zagreb and with Pannella's hunger strike, the Radical Party prepares two demonstrations on the occasion of the EC summit.
The demonstrations have the following aims:
1) to denounce the blind and faint-hearted conduct of the European Community; 2) to denounce the European Community's policy of "equidistance", which puts both the aggressors and the victims of aggression on the same level; 3) to call for the immediate recognition of Croatia and Slovenia; to call for the recognition of the Parliament and the Government of Kosovo as the legitimate representatives of the people of Kosovo and the admission to the Hague Conference of the legitimate representative of Kosovo; 4) to call for the withdrawal from Belgrade of the ambassadors in the ex-Yugoslavia.
18 December '91
Togo
TOGO
Emma Bonino is a member of the delegation from the Italian Parliament which visits the country after the coup d'état.
27 December '91
Osijek - ex-Yugoslavia
NONVIOLENCE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
The nonviolent action of the Radical militants in Croatia in the last week of 1991 is intended, on one hand, to demonstrate, in the face of the indifference and the cynicism of the European governments, the urgent need to stop the war being waged by Milosevic's army, and on the other hand to anticipate forms of defence and international solidarity which do not involve the use of arms. The Radicals also aim to send a message for dialogue and democracy to the soldiers of the ex-federal army, above all Serbians, who are the main victims of oppression and hatred.
The nonviolent action - the Radical Party representatives stayed on the war front for more than ten days - was undertaken by Marco Pannella, Roberto Cicciomessere, Lorenzo Strik Lievers, Alessandro Tessari, Olivier Dupuis, Lucio Bertè, Sandro Ottoni, Josip Pinezic, and Renato Fiorelli. Pannella and Dupuis, unarmed and wearing the uniform of the Croatian army, spent the night of 31 December with the Croatian defence troops.
The Transnational Years 1988/1992
1992
3 January '92
Italy
EASTERN EUROPE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
The Radical Party launches an appeal to Italian parliamentarians for the recognition of Croatia and Slovenia and against the Serbian aggression.
9-12 January '92
Rome - Italy
Italian Congress
IV ITALIAN CONGRESS OF THE RADICAL PARTY
The opening of the Congress is preceded, on the afternoon of 9 January, by the presentation to the Court of Cassation of the signatures gathered for the referendums promoted by the Radical Party and by a demonstration outside the Constitutional Court for the opening of the campaign of defence of the nine referendums against the partycratic legal policies of the Court.
The Congress, introduced by a report read by Marco Panella, is divided into two commissions: 1) the situation in the ex-Yugoslavia, the institutional and nonviolent initiatives of the Radicals; 2) political prospects, including the pre-election situation in Italy.
The Congress elects a committee - formed of fifteen people and one representative of each Radical association, and all Italian parliamentarians and regional councillors who belong to the Radical Party - whose task is to co-ordinate the initiatives of Italian Radicals.
10 January '92
Zagreb
EASTERN EUROPE - EX-YUGOSLAVIA
Seven (Serbian) desertors from the federal army join the Radical Party.
23 January '92
Rome - Italy
DEATH PENALTY
After the execution of Eduardo Diaz Betancourt, a demonstration against capital punishment is held outside the Cuban Embassy.
25 January '92
Moscow - ex-USSR
EX-USSR
Emma Bonino takes part in the assembly of Radicals from the Republics of the ex-USSR.
25-27 January '92
Prague - Czechoslovakia
Rome - Italy
HUMAN RIGHTS - CHINA/TIBET
Mobilization against the visit to Italy of the Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng.
29 January '92
Prague - Czechoslovakia
EASTERN EUROPE-CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Demonstration on the occasion of the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
4 February '92
Rome - Italy
HUMAN RIGHTS-SRI LANKA
Support for the demonstration for the respect of human rights in Sri Lanka, organized by the "Movement for Democracy".
18 February '92
Abidjan - Ivory Coast
IVORY COAST
Police arrest Francis Wodie, national secretary of the Workers' Party, member-by-right of the Federal Council of the Radical Party, together with other members of the opposition parties. Stanzani and Bonino send a letter to the President and the Prime Minister of the Ivory Coast calling for the respect of the civil and political rights of the people arrested.
22 February '92
Italy
ITALY-ELECTIONS
The Radical Party agrees to Massimo Severo Giannini's request to use the old party-symbol (the rose in the clenched fist) in order to exempt the "Lista Referendaria" from the presentation of signatures necessary for new lists.
2 March '92
Rome - Italy
ITALY-ELECTIONS
Presentation of the lists for the Italian general elections of 5-6 April.
The Radical Party is not standing, confirming the decision taken at the Bologna Congress and reiterated at the Budapest Congress, already put into practice in the 1989 European elections and the subsequent local elections.
Many members of the Radical Party are standing in other lists: the "Lista Referendaria", the "Greens", the Socialist Party, the "Lega Democratica per Trieste", the PDS, the "Federalists - Pensioners - Union Valdotene" list, the Liberal Party, the "Partito dell'Amore", and the "Lista Pannella".
The First Secretary of the Radical Party is not standing in any list.
13 March '92
Strasbourg - European Parliament
DEATH PENALTY
The European Parliament approves a resolution for the abolition of the death penalty presented by Adelaide Aglietta. The Radical Party campaign for the abolition of the death penalty in the USSR, launched immediately after the failed coup of August 1991, has taken on two lines: a "parliamentary" line and an "international" line. For all those who have taken part in this campaign, to set out from Moscow, which until recently was considered "the Evil Empire", has meant offering an example of tolerance and civilized law to Washington and to the democratic countries which still maintain the death penalty.
The political events in the ex-USSR, in particular the resignation of Gorbachev and the difficult birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States, have forced us to review some of the stages of the campaign. Through ambassadors in the various European capitals, we have sent Yeltsin a request for a meeting to deliver the signatures in support of the Manifesto-Appeal. Now the next step is the Radical Party Congress of 1 May, where the "International Parliamentary Campaign for the Abolition of the Death Penaly in the World by the Year 2000" will be discussed and organized.
The parliamentarians who have signed the Manifesto-Appeal (over 600 by 1 March 1992) come from the following countries and areas: Africa, including Lamizan Sangoulè, former President of Burkina Faso; Austria; Belgium, including the Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies, Jean Mottard, and the minister Elie Deworme; Canada; Czechoslovakia, including the Deputy Prime Minister Jozef Miklosko and the President of the Czech Parliament Dagmar Buresova, whilst President Havel is favouable to the initiative but as head of state cannot express his opinion through a petition; Croatia, including the Deputy Prime Minister Zdravko Tomac and the minister Vladimir Veselica, both members of the Federal Council of the Radical Party, and Ivica Percan, Vice-President of Parliament; Denmark; Finland; France, including Michel Dreyfus-Schmidt, Vice-President of the Senate; Greece; England; Ireland, including Garret Fitzgerald, former Prime Minister, and ministers Desmond O'Malley and Robert Molloy; Israel; Italy, including Fla
minio Piccoli, President of the Foreign Commission and former President of the Christian Democrat International; Latvia, including the Foreign Minister Janis Jurkans and the government representative in Moscow, Janis Petris; Malta, including the minister Ugo Mifsud Bonnicci; Norway; Holland; the European Parliament; Poland, Romania, including the Vice-Presidents of the Senate Karoly Kiraly and Vasile Mois and the Minister of the Environment Marcian Bleahu; Slovenia, including Zoran Thaler, Deputy Foreign Minister and member of the Federal Council of the Radical Party; the USA, including the Governor of the State of New York, Mario Cuomo; Sweden; Switzerland; Germany, including Gregor Gysi, Secretary of the SPD; Hungary, including the former minister Rezso Nyers and the minister Ferenc Jozsef Nagy, whilst the President of the Republic, Arpad Goncz, has given his support although he has not 5}6e. signed, due to his position; ex-Soviet Union, including Yuri Afanesev, member of the dissolved Supreme Soviet.
Amognst the well-known personalities who have signed the appeal (around 200 all over the world) are the following: Gore Vidal, Noam Chomsky, Coretta Scott King, the Nobel prize winners Abdus Salam, Elie Wiesel and Mairead Maguire Corrigan, Elena Bonner-Sacharova, Antonino Zichichi and Marcello Mastroianni, Francois Fejtö and Henri Laborit, Clark Ramsey, former Justice Minister in the Kennedy administration, and Nick Harman, "Economist" editorial-writer.
