ABSTRACT: The day after being elected secretary of the Radical Party, Emma Bonino (1) answers questions on the conclusion of the radical congress (Rome, 4-8 February 1993), on the periodical self-financing campaigns, on the many times when the very existence of the radical party was in danger, on corruption, on abortion, on the massive adhesion of parliamentarians from all parties.

(IL GIORNO, 10 February 1993)

Emma Bonino lost no time, and twenty-four hours after the tearful and difficult conclusion of the radical congress, she is already sitting at her desk at the party's headquarters in Via di Torre Argentina. She has had a hectic day, to say the least. The secretary-elect has a heap of problems to face and a heavy task indeed. But what's worse, the outcome is far from predictable. Succeeding in guaranteeing the survival of the party is an almost desperate feat. Bonino knows that, and that is why she had initially refused. She didn't feel up to it. But then she gave in and accepted this "nuisance" by "spirit of service".

Q: Mrs Bonino, once again you couldn't say no to Pannella (2). You resisted awhile, but then you had to give in.

BONINO - Actually, the question wasn't saying "yes" or "no" to Pannella.

Q: But he was the one who sponsored you against your own will, and in the end he won as usual.

BONINO - Obviously Pannella is a fundamental point of reference for all of us radicals. But he doesn't want to force our consciences in any way. If anything, he wants us to give the best of ourselves, even when the task seems impossible or difficult to achieve. This is what Marco did in this case, at a moment when I was strongly tempted to recover some of my personal freedom. But my decision was also partly encouraged by the urging of my comrades at the congress.

Q: Don't you think this congress, with the ritual threat to close the party (which is always avoided) and your initial refusal and then acceptance to be secretary, ultimately boils down to the "usual radical routine"?

BONINO - I think the expression "radical routine" is misplaced. There was nothing predictable in the premises, development and conclusions of the congress. Every decision made in these days and these sleepless nights has involved high costs, in terms of responsibilities. Even my giving in and my fear of accepting the task, were the result of that stress.

Q: Pannella seems to believe the radical party has come to a dead end...

BONINO - That is incorrect. Marco is working for the survival of the party. For months he worked to reach thirty thousand memberships for the congress. And I think now too he will abide by the resolution passed. It is a document that, while not terribly optimistic, does leave some space for initiative. And I will struggle to the very end.

Q: How?

BONINO - There is little choice: the congress resolution sets an inevitable objective and deadline: "the achievement of at least thirty thousand memberships in Italy, or the equivalent financial resources, by February 28th". There is less than a month to go. If we miss the objective, I will have to close the radical party. Therefore I'll do my very best for the membership campaign. It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to succeed, but I'll try.

Q: Will you ask other political forces for help? Which, if any?

BONINO - No, we shall not ask other parties for their help. We will ask the people. People are in bad need of new certainties in order to overcome the terrifying spectacle of Kickback City. It is our precise duty to try to meet these needs and expectations without making any false or sensational promises, as many seem to be doing.

Q: Claudio Martelli (3) says the radical party represents "the first embryo" of the democratic party. Do you agree?

BONINO - Pannella was extremely clear on this point, and I agree with him: the radical party is more than an "embryo". It is the model to follow in order to achieve that renewal of democracy which each one of us is hoping for. Whether it's called radical party or something else is irrelevant. The important thing is having clear objectives and pursuing them clearly.

Q: But why are so many parties 'wooing' the radical party then?

BONINO - For many reasons, which we should analyse and understand. But so much interest basically represents the start of a debate on the renewal of politics and of the institutions. By joining the radical party, Martelli, for instance, is opening a debate. He is asking questions and expects an answer, just as he is willing to answer our questions and demands. Clearly, the fact that Rino Nicolosi and other christian democratic MPs have joined the RP is a fact of enormous political and cultural importance.

Q: Some say that so much interest for the radical party is a result of the fact that the radical party supports the Amato cabinet, and that it is the respectable face of the old political nomenclature which is trying to launder itself.

BONINO - Our detractors are those who try to intimidate the government by saying they want to topple it but are dead scared that the Amato government will really fall. For months we have being witnessing this irresponsible game, carried out by the very ones who reprimand us for supporting the executive. It's the usual "cross-party" at work, which has done so much damage to the country...

Q: Speaking of "cross-party" and fake opposition, you have always been highly critical with respect to the democratic party of the left. And yet Occhetto's (4) revolution should have made the radicals and the PDS come closer.

BONINO - The PDS could be an endless reservoir of energies, if only its leaders didn't commit so many mistakes. Occhetto doesn't believe in the possibility of creating a truly alternative lay democratic force. He clings to ludicrous projects--a concoction of socialist International, greens and republicans. All this will delay the possibility of renewing politics...I believe that is a very serious responsibility.

Translator's notes

(1) BONINO EMMA. (Bra 1948). President of the Radical Party, former member of the European Parliament, as of 1976 member of the Italian Parliament. Among the promoters of the CISA (Information Centre on Sterilization and Abortion) and active militant in the campaign against clandestine abortion. She was tried and acquitted in Florence. Participated in the conduction, on a national and international scale, of the campaign on World Hunger. Among the founding members of "Food and Disarmament International", promoted the circulation of the Manifesto of Nobel Laureates.

(2) PANNELLA MARCO. Pannella Giacinto, known as Marco. (Teramo 1930). Currently President of the Radical Party's Federal Council, which he is one of the founders of. At twenty national university representative of the Liberal Party, at twenty-two President of the UGI, the union of lay university students, at twenty-three President of the UNURI, national union of Italian university students. At twenty-four he advocates, in the context of the students' movement and of the Liberal party, the foundation of the new radical party, which arises in 1954 following the confluence of prestigious intellectuals and minor democratic political groups. He is active in the party, except for a period (1960-1963) in which he is correspondent for "Il Giorno" in Paris, where he established contacts with the Algerian resistance. Back in Italy, he commits himself to the reconstruction of the radical Party, dissolved by its leadership following the advent of the centre-left. Under his indisputable leadership, the party succeeds in

promoting (and winning) relevant civil rights battles, working for the introduction of divorce, conscientious objection, important reforms of family law, etc, in Italy. He struggles for the abrogation of the Concordat between Church and State. Arrested in Sofia in 1968 as he is demonstrating in defence of Czechoslovakia, which has been invaded by Stalin. He opens the party to the newly-born homosexual organizations (FUORI), promotes the formation of the first environmentalist groups. The new radical party organizes difficult campaigns, proposing several referendums (about twenty throughout the years) for the moralization of the country and of politics, against public funds to the parties, against nuclear plants, etc., but in particular for a deep renewal of the administration of justice. Because of these battles, all carried out with strictly nonviolent methods according to the Gandhian model - but Pannella's Gandhi is neither a mystic nor an ideologue; rather, an intransigent and yet flexible politician - h

e has been through trials which he has for the most part won. As of 1976, year in which he first runs for Parliament, he is always elected at the Chamber of Deputies, twice at the Senate, twice at the European Parliament. Several times candidates and local councillor in Rome, Naples, Trieste, Catania, where he carried out exemplary and demonstrative campaigns and initiatives. Whenever necessary, he has resorted to the weapon of the hunger strike, not only in Italy but also in Europe, in particular during the major campaign against world hunger, for which he mobilized one hundred Nobel laureates and preeminent personalities in the fields of science and culture in order to obtain a radical change in the management of the funds allotted to developing countries. On 30 September 1981 he obtains at the European parliament the passage of a resolution in this sense, and after it several other similar laws in the Italian and Belgian Parliament. In January 1987 he runs for President of the European Parliament, obtaini

ng 61 votes. Currently, as the radical party has pledged to no longer compete with its own lists in national elections, he is striving for the creation of a "transnational" cross-party, in view of a federal development of the United States of Europe and with the objective of promoting civil rights throughout the world.

(3) CLAUDIO MARTELLI. Socialist former Minister of Justice.

(4) OCCHETTO ACHILLE. (Turin 1936). Italian politician. At first exponent of Ingrao's group, he then shifted to Berlinguer's centre. He became secretary of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1988, succeeding Alessandro Natta. After launching the idea of a major "Constituent" of the left with all reformist forces, he then decided to change only the name of the party ("Democratic Party of the Left").