by Maria Grazia Bruzzone

ABSTRACT: Emma Bonino answers the appeal launched by Chiara Ingrao and signed by 110 members of Parliament, containing the request to welcome 100,000 refugees from Bosnia in the holiday houses that are not used in winter, stating that it is necessary to "impose peace, the right for every person to remain in his country, in his home, to impose the right not to be a refugee. By all means".

(LA STAMPA, 8 November 1992)

ROME. "Let's welcome 100,000 hungry and homeless refugees from Bosnia. These people could die in the coming winter. Let's have them spend the winter in our Country. The government should open the frontiers and organize the transportation, while the local boards and the families could organize the reception. There is an abundance in Italy of holidays homes that are not used during the winter". The Association for Peace launches an appeal among the parliamentarians of Montecitorio to save the Bosnian refugees, sentenced to death by the cold Balkanic winter, proposing to have them spend the winter in the holiday homes. The appeal has been signed by 110 members of parliament, from various parties: PDS, Rifondazione, La Rete, but also many Christian democrats, Greens and even a representative of the Lega. But the radical Emma Bonino does not agree. And to explain the reasons for which she has not signed the appeal, she sends an open letter to the secretary of the association, Chiara Ingrao, and the colleagues who

have signed. Thus stirring a fiery debate among the pacifists. Says Bonino, "can you imagine the mayor of Viareggio or Santa Marinella seizing vacant houses? It's almost ridiculous. The charitable associations may well carry out their job, but I expect political initiatives of the members of Parliament", she explains. And sarcastically adds, "why the refugees from Yugoslavia rather than those from Somalia?" The reality is that the Chamber Foreign Affairs Commission is going on a mission in Zagreb and Belgrade, but will avoid Sarajevo because the government refuses to accredit us. Also, there has never been a policy for Yugoslavia. Pannella and the radicals have been left isolated".

The answer of the daughter of Pietro Ingrao is even less humurous. "No one is talking about seizing homes. What we are suggesting is voluntary initiatives. We rely on the solidarity of the people. Every day, our association receives hundreds of phone calls from people who are willing to have Bosnian children stay with them". A solidarity which could induce the Italians to offer their holiday homes? "Why not? Houses, but also empty hotels. Fraternity is not a myth: how many people know that 6 thousand Italians send a cheque for 100,000 lire every month to a Palestinian child? Also, it would be a temporary solution. The truth is that since Mrs Boniver left her office, no one has been worrying about the refugees. And saying ,'why not the Somalis' is the usual way to do nothing".

"The fact that 200,000 refugees risk dying is a fact confirmed by the U.N. and Unicef" - insists Chiara Ingrao mentioning the appeal. And among the bordering countries, Italy is the one that has welcomed the smallest number of refugees. Our proposal is that children and old people be made to live in camps, hotels and private homes from here to March". There follows the list of signatories, the most prominent being D'Alema and Iotti, Livia Turco and Walter Veltroni, almost all the representatives of La Rete", from Orlando to Galasso and Nando Dalla Chiesa, Rutelli e Boato among the Greens, Lauricella and Nencini among the (few) socialist, the Christian Democrats Fracanzani, Michelini, Mattarella and Carli. And many others.

Maria Grazia Bruzzone

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OPEN LETTER BY EMMA BONINO TO CHIARA INGRAO AND THE 110 COLLEAGUES WHO SIGNED THE APPEAL PROMOTED BY THE ASSOCIATION FOR PEACE ON THE RECEPTION OF 100,000 BOSNIAN REFUGEES.

Dear Chiara, Dear colleagues,

Precisely the anguish I feel for the tragedy of Yugoslavia urges me to make public the reasons for which I did not sign the appeal of the Association for Peace on the reception of 100,000 refugees from Bosnia, which you promoted and signed.

Some of these reasons concern the past: many things could have been done and have not been done to avoid reaching this point - first of all, the simple and clear fact of taking a stance against the Serbian expansionism. Barely a few months ago, Marco Pannella and the Radical Party have been left isolated in their nonviolent stance by those who obviously feared to lose their useless political virginity, finding themselves side to side with other nationalisms. And yet, every policy, including a policy of peace, calls for a clear-cut choice. A choice which one must have the courage to make at the appropriate moment.

Other and more significant reasons concern the contents of the proposal. Such proposal suggests to welcome 100,000 refugees "for a pre-established period" until March, without wondering what will happen in March. Will you, will the Association for Peace, give your assent to operations of compulsory repatriation of the refugees, possibly in wagons sealed with lead? Obviously not. Why then depict the initiative as a temporary measure? Once again, it would take the courage to tell the truth to the public opinion, in other words, that if we really want to welcome the refugees, then we have to give them political asylum, rights, permanent housing, working prospects. Are we in a position to materially guarantee all this? As regards the spirit of the initiative: is there that climate of solidarity in the country which you mentioned in the document, according to which the owners of holiday homes or hotels are willing to welcome the refugees? Once again, obviously not. In fact, it is great wonder that even a single m

ember of Parliament of the Lega signed the appeal: this is really an excellent opportunity for Bossi's party to blow on the wind of intolerance.

Another question which regards those who are excluded from the initiative. Unfortunately, not only Bosnia is affected by the tragedy of the refugees from war and violence of every kind. My mind immediately focused on the people of Somalia, where it is winter (a winter made of cold weather, hunger and death) and toward which we Italians have serious and direct responsibilities. Our colonial past, our support to the despicable dictatorship of Siad Barre. Is the geographic proximity with our borders a criterion for which to choose those to be helped? Or is the colour of the skin?

Lastly, the future. We radicals continue to believe in an active nonviolence. We believe that a good amount of information, acts of political and material information against the aggressors, can be effective in the solution of the conflicts - even if serious measures are needed, not the useless mise en scène of the NATO and WEU warships sent in the Adriatic to witness the daily situation of an embargo which exists only on paper. We also believe, nonetheless, that cowardice is even worse than violence, and we wonder about the purpose of the armies, including our own, if no one is willing to use them to stop massacres such as the ones occurring in Yugoslavia. It is like paying the carabinieri and the police to witness every form of crime in the streets without moving a finger.

The Association for Peace has denounced the hazards of military adventures abroad to such a point that it does not realize that in the entire West, both the military and the politicians are too reluctant to use force in the only circumstance which can justify it: to reinstate the rule of law. In Bosnia and elsewhere.

Imposing peace, imposing the right for every individual to remain in his country, in his home, imposing the right not to be a refugee. By every means. This is what we need to ask, now.

Emma Bonino

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THE APPEAL BY CHIARA INGRAO, SIGNED BY 110 MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

THE TERRIBLE WINTER IN THE BALKANS

Let's save 100,000 Bosnians sentenced to death

The winter in the Balkans is a terrible thing.

In a couple of days' time, in Bosnia the snow, the rain and the cold will attack a defenceless population, and among these many are starving and homeless. Presently in Bosnia, at least 200,000 people live in emergency shelters, in parks, forests, mountains. In the months to come, most of these people, especially children and aged people, will risk their life. It is an atrocious death sentence, an effect of the unacceptable war based on "ethnic cleansing" which no one can witness as a passive onlooker.

Even the cease-fire - which we continue to confide in - can do little at this point in the short term; the reconstruction of minimum living conditions will call for time, and the initiative to stop the war cannot represent an alternative to the initiative to save the population. In the face of such urgency and emergency, Italy, which is, among the countries that border Yugoslavia, the one that welcomes the smallest number of refugees, cannot continue to maintain that it is necessary to send aid rather than welcome the refugees, nor can it wait for some sort of European agreement deciding on the shares of refugees. The U.N., the UNICEF, the Red Cross, continue to launch desperate appeals: they are mostly unheeded.

We want to answer and urge others to answer.

Our proposal is very simple: we ask 100,000 refugees from Bosnia to be rescued from a death sentence, by having them spend the winter in our country. We ask for children and old people, women and men, to be welcomed in refugee camps, in hotels, in private homes, from now until March. The government must launch the operation by opening the borders and organizing the transport of the people, but the local boards and the single families can do much to organize the reception. Italy is a country in which there is an abundance of holiday homes that are vacant during the winter, which could become a useful resource in this case.

This is no doubt an act of generosity which our country can carry out, but it is above all a duty of civil and moral hospitality in the face of a tragedy which involves our neighbours.

To date, 11o members of Parliament have signed

PDS: Ingrao-Lorenzetti-Fredda-Calzolaio-D'Alema-Colaianni-Iotti-Turco-Marri-Giannotti-Trupia-Caccavari-Innocenti-Bordon-Mussi-Monello-Larizza-Tarantelli-Senese-Biricotti-Angelini-Melilla-Zagatti-Masini-Alveti-Cesetti-Evangelisti-Grassi-Prevosto-Chiaventi-Longo-Rinaldi-Ghezzi-Strada-Giovanni Di Pietro-Prisco-Bassanini-Soriero-Serra-Simona Dalla Chiesa-Trabacchini-Veltroni-Turci.

RIFONDAZIONE COMUNISTA: Ramon Mantovani-Russo Spena-Goracci-Azzolina Bergonzi Calini-Guerra Tripodi-Piero Mita-Dolino-Speranza-Sarritzu.

LA RETE: Bertezzolo-Nuccio-Novelli-Gambale-Nando Dalla Chiesa-Fava-Galasso-Orlando-Carlo Palermo-Piscitello-Polichino-Giuntella.

GREENS: Turroni-Boato-Rutelli-Ronchi-Lino De Benedetti-Giuliari-Apuzzo-Bettin-Crippa-Leccese-Mattioli-Paissan-Pecoraro-Scanio-Pierone-Pratese-Scalia.

PSI: Olivo-Lauricella-Marte Ferrari-Nencini-Stornello.

DC: Lusetti-Vairo-Caccia-Francesco Ferrari-Caroli-Fronza Crepaz-Garavaglia-Fracanzani-Carli-Gelpi-Margutti-Michelini-Mattarella-La Russa-Nicotra-Bicocchi-Teresio Delfino-Savio.

LEGA NORD: Enzo Flego.

PSDI: Antonio Ciampaglia.