10 January - Italy: Rome / Russia: Moscow - Human Rights, Chechnya
Demonstrations are held simultaneously in Rome and Moscow, to put an end to the massacres in Chechnya and to obtain respect for human and civil rights throughout Russia. In Moscow one thousand people, including dozens of Radical activists, protest with activists from the Committee of the Mothers of Russian Soldiers, Memoria and deputies belonging to "Choice of Russia", in Teatralnaja Square; while other Radicals demonstrate outside the Russian Embassy in Rome. The Moscow protest is covered by CNN.
13/20 January - Chechnya: Grozny - Human Rights
Antonio Stango, member of the Radical Secretariat, Chairman of the Helsinki Committee in Italy and member of the CSCE, Commission of the Italian Government, and Nikolaj Khramov, RP general councillor, go to Chechnya and Ingushetija, to collect evidence of the tragic events there and to attend a series of meetings with parliamentarians and human rights groups. It is the first time that political representatives from the West visit the area.
12 January - Belgium: Brussels - European Union
Emma Bonino's speech to the European Parliament.
Emma Bonino, who in the new EC Executive holds the portfolios of Humanitarian Aid and Fisheries and Consumer Affairs, announces that she will visit Sarajevo, Rwanda and Chechnya in the next few weeks, to render the humanitarian presence of the European Union more "visible" in those countries.
25 January - Russia: Moscow - Antimilitarism
Radical activists, together with the Committee of Mothers of Russian Soldiers and the Antimilitarist Youth Movement, hold a demonstration during which they lay a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in memory of Russian soldiers who have been "Victims of militarism, from Stalin to Gracev". (Ministry of Defence). APR97
26 January - Italy: San Patrignano - Antiprohibitiobism, VI CoRA Congress
The VI coRA Congress is held at San Patrignano, a community for the treatment of drug addiction, upon the invitation of its founder Muccioli, who has always contested antiprohibitionist theories.
Pannella and Muccioli at San Patrignano
26/29 January - Bosnia-Herzegovina: Sarajevo - Meetings
Following a series of meetings Sandro Ottoni, member of the Secretariat, and Tanja Rizman, journalist and Radical activist, enrol several political personalities in the RP, including a member of the Collegiate Presidency, the Government Secretary, two Ministers, a Vice-Minister, the Chairman of the Municipal Council, the Bosnian Consul in Milan, and many other Bosnian citizens. Contemporaneously, members of the Radical Party meet informally with European Commissioner Emma Bonino during her official visit to Sarajevo.
31 January - Bosnia-Herzegovina - Human Rights
While visiting Sarajevo, Mostar and Srebrenica, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Emma Bonino denounces the disappearance of ten thousand Muslims who were fleeing the enclaves under siege.
Emma Bonino on an Humanitarian Aid mission
14 February - Italy - Human Rights, Salman Rushdie
On the 6th anniversary of the fatwah - the death sentence handed down to Salman Rushdie by Khomeini - the Radical Party and Hands off Cain campaign for honorary citizenship to be conferred on the author by a number of Italian cities.
14 February - Former Yugoslavia / Voivodina - Membership
The entire leadership of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Voivodina (VMDK) - sixteen people including the President Andras Agoston - join the Radical Party.
14 February - Russia - Conscientious Objection
Russian Radical antimilitarists present a petition at the State Duma and the Council of the Federation, and to the President "For the right to refuse military service and against militarism". The petition also requested that the alternative service should be wholly civilian "no construction gangs"; that all beliefs, not only religious ones, should be considered valid reasons for obtaining the right to an alternative civilian service; that the period of civilian service should be the same as for military service.
19/26 February - Russia: Moscow - Antimilitarism, Chechnya
Radical demonstrations "Against the War in Chechnya" continue, with one week of intense mobilization in the form of press conferences and the distribution of leaflets, undertaken with other organizations.
23 February - Russia: Moscow / Ukraine: Kiev / Sweden: Stockholm / Italy: Rome / Germany: Bonn / United Kingdom: London - Antimilitarism, Chechnya
In Moscow, on the day of the "Defender of the Motherland", the Radical Party, the Committee of Mothers of Russian Soldiers, Quakers Peace & Service, Memoria and other associations, organize a demonstration without precedent outside the Ministry of Defence: a "die-in", during which demonstrators lie down on the ground in silence, playing dead to symbolize the war victims in Chechnya. They also ask for the approval of civil rights legislation.
Moscow
Similar demonstrations take place outside the Russian embassies in the other European capitals, with the participation of Quakers Peace & Service in London, the Gruenen in Bonn, and the Swedish Society for Peace and Arbitration in Stockholm.
28 February - Italy: Rome - International Language, Esperanto
The RP and the Esperanto Radikala Asocio organize a masked demonstration outside the Ministry of Education, carrying a banner reading "Stop the Esperanto Masquerade, Minister", and asking for a decision to introduce a study on the teaching of the international language in Italian schools.
4/9 March - Bosnia-Herzegovina - Sarajevo
Olivier Dupuis and Sandro Ottoni meet with Prime Minister Haris Silajdzic, three members of the Presidency and the President of the Parliament, in Sarajevo, to define and promote a campaign to obtain Bosnia-Herzegovina's immediate accession to the European Union.
9 March - Italy: Rome - Death Penalty
Subsequent to the decision to reintroduce the death penalty in New York, the Radical Party, Hands off Cain and No Peace without Justice organize a protest by abolitionist parliamentarians outside the Italian Chamber of Deputies. MPs from all parties sign a motion asking the Italian Government to promote at the UN the moratorium on executions and the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
A week of nonviolent initiatives in favour of the Tibetan cause, promoted by the Radical Party, Italia-Tibet and associations formed by Tibetans in exile.
500 people go on a hunger strike (in relays, for five days); protests are staged outside Chinese embassies in dozens of cities. The objective of the mobilization is the opening of a Sino-Tibetan Conference under the aegis of the United Nations.
On 10 March, on the 36th anniversary of the revolt in Lhasa and simultaneously with the nonviolent march undertaken by Tibetans from Dharamsala to New Delhi, the Radical Party and the pro-Tibet committees throughout the world, march in single-file through 42 cities in support of Tibet - presently occupied by the Chinese - and for democracy in China.
Pro-Tibet demonstrations in Rome and Brussels
Mont Blanc - Italy: The Tibetan flag and that of the Radical Party are planted on Europe's highest peak
18 March - Russia: Moscow - Assembly
Public meeting is held by the RP on the antimilitarist and pro-Tibet campaigns, and preparations made for the Conference on the abolition of the death penalty.
7/8 April - Italy: Rome - XXXVII Congress of the Radical Party
Despite the successes achieved since the February 1993 Congress and the General Council held in Sofia the same year, including: the establishment of the International Tribunal for war-crimes in the Former Yugoslavia; the inauguration of UN procedures to establish the International Court; and the opening of a UN debate for a moratorium on executions (despite a vote to the contrary), the Congress, aware of the extreme lack of "economic resources", which can no longer be guaranteed by the crucial contributions from Italian members and supporters", maintains that "if the Radical Party were to continue under the present conditions it would be reduced to a passive witness, and hence to an excuse for violence and surrender. The Congress therefore decides to initiate "a profound revision of the Party's means, structures and work methods" and to this end delegates its own statutory powers to the Secretary, Treasurer and President of the Party for a maximum of one year, to take joint action governed by unanimous decisions".
Motion of the XXXVII RP Congress
9 April - Italy: Rome - Palm Sunday March
Thousands of citizens demonstrate in St. Peter's Square for the suspension of executions world-wide and for the institution of the International Court, also asking the Pope to reiterate his no to the death penalty.
dida: Quirinal Palace, Rome
Italian President Scalfaro shakes hands with the Dalai Lama's representative
before the Palm Sunday March. Left, Emma Bonino
14 April - EP: Brussels - Former Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Eighty-four MEPs from all groups sign a petition, promoted by the RP and addressed to the Bosnian authorities and to the European Union, calling for the necessary steps to be taken for Bosnia-Herzegovina's immediate admission to the EU.
Nikolaj Khramov, co-ordinator of the Radical antimilitarist campaign in Russia, is attacked at night and taken to hospital suffering from head wounds and concussion. The police arrest his assailants, but release them almost immediately. It is the second time in a few months that a Radical activist has been attacked in Moscow.
Nikolaj Khramov
Interview with Mamuka Tsagareli
2 May - Croatia: Zagreb - Former Yugoslavia
Serb missiles attack the Croatian capital, provoking many casualties. Radio Radicale receives constant reports from the RP office in the city, and is the first to broadcast the news. The Radical Party asks the International Tribunal to immediately start investigating the Kraijna leaders responsible for the aggression.
Historical reference:
May, Croatia. Sudden Croatian offensive, which
leads to the retaking of Kraijna and the exodus of 200,000 Serbs to Bosnia.
13 May - Russia: Moscow - Antimilitarism, "ARA"
Constituent assembly of the ARA - Associazione Radicale Antimilitarista.
Historical reference:
14 May, France. Neo-Gaullist Jacques Chirac
is elected President.
18 May - EP: Brussels - Ebola Virus, EP Resolution
Following an epidemic caused by the Ebola virus in Zaire, and on the initiative of the Radical Party, the European Parliament passes a resolution providing for urgent countermeasures and preventive action to be taken.
The initiative is part of the campaign that the RP has been conducting since 1993; namely, to equip the International Community with greater powers and a larger budget to deal with and, more importantly, to prevent pandemic diseases such as AIDS.
18 May - Bulgaria: Skopje - Human rights, Albanian Minority
Michele Boselli, Sandro Ottoni and Darinka Kircheva of the Radical Party meet with leaders of the various government and opposition parties in Macedonia. The Radical appeal for the accession of Bosnia-Herzegovina to the European Union has been signed by 3 members of the Macedonian Parliament and by Peter Gosev, President of the Democratic Party and former Prime Minister. The considerable Albanian minority in Macedonia, which in fact amounts to one quarter of the population, expresses its growing dissatisfaction with the Macedonian Government. (ANR 6074)
Cuban President Fidel Castro frees six political prisoners, hours after European Commissioner Emma Bonino concludes her mission in Cuba.
Havana, Cuba. Bonino with Castro
The Radical Party, and Bonino herself when she was Secretary, had conducted an international campaign for the release of the prisoners.
"The Radical Party will continue its campaign, so that the release of the six political prisoners does not remain an isolated incident but constitutes the first of a series of actions recognizing human rights, and, consequently, the conversion of the Castro regime to a democracy". (ANR 6068)
May - Lithuania: Vilnius - Tibet
Olivier Dupuis, Massimo Lensi and Piero Verni, Chairman of the Italia-Tibet association, take part in the second World Conference of Parliamentarians for Tibet. During the proceedings, in which a hundred parliamentarians from over 20 countries participate, several meetings are held with important personalities like Samdhong RIMPOCHE, President of the Tibetan Parliament in exile, and Tempa TSERING, Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Information of the Tibetan Government in exile.
29 May - Bosnia: Bihac - Izet Muhamedagic
Deputy Minister of Justice Izet Muhamedagic, general councillor and member of the Radical Party for several years, dies when the helicopter he is travelling is hit by a missile.
30 May - Various Cities - Former Yugoslavia
Outside the embassies of the self-styled "Federal Yugoslav Republic" in Brussels, Rome, Kiev, Moscow, Sofia, Budapest and Madrid, the Radical Party holds demonstrations in memory of Izet Muhamedagic, and to denounce the people who order and carry out the crimes in the Former Yugoslavia.
5 June - Bosnia-Herzegovina: Sarajevo - Federalism, Former Yugoslavia
The President of the Bosnian Parliament, Miro Lazovic, pledges the wholehearted support of Bosnian, Serb and Croatian parliamentarians (present in the besieged city) for the Radical initiative calling for Bosnia-Herzegovina’s immediate accession to the European Union.
Lazovic and dozens of deputies urge national and European parliamentarians to support the Radical appeal, already signed by over 80 MEPs (including Marco Pannella, Otto von Habsburg, José Maria Mendiluce, Wilfred Martens, Jean-François Hory, Doris Pack, Bernard Kouchner, Catherine Lalumière, Alex Langer, Daniel Cohn-Bendit) and 170 national deputies.
16 June - EP: Strasbourg - Death Penalty, EP Resolution
On the initiative of reformist MEPs Marco PANNELLA and Gianfranco DELL’ALBA, the European Parliament unanimously passes a resolution asking the Council, the Commission and Member States: "to do everything in their power to see that the UN General Assembly approves, at its 50th Plenary Session, the institution of a universal moratorium on executions as the first step towards the complete abolition of the death penalty."
In the same resolution the EP calls upon the Governor of Pennsylvania "to grant a stay of execution to Mr. Abu-Jamal and a rehearing of his trial".
20 June - Chechnya: Grozny - Human Rights, Nonviolence
Three members of the Radical Party and a number of Chechen citizens, offer themselves as hostages to the Chechen terrorists who, having abandoned the hospital in Budennovsk, are just outside Grozny.
The Radicals are Duma deputies Valerij BORSCEV (YABLOKO) and Julij RYBAKOV (CHOICE OF RUSSIA), and journalist Julia KALININA (several times Chechnya correspondent for the daily Moskovskij Komsomoletz). They are held for one day then freed with all the other hostages.
Valerij Borscev and Julij Rybakov
20 June - UN: New York - Radical Party
The Radical Party is the first NGO in the world to be granted Category 1 Consultative Status at the UN, thus becoming one of the 42 international organizations which, like the Red Cross or Amnesty International, have the right to make formal proposals at the UN and to present them directly to the Secretary-General.
New York. The UN building
22 June - Belgium: Brussels - Human Rights, China
After receiving information from an official source in the Tibetan Government in exile, the Radical Party denounces the military authorities of the People’s Republic of China for kidnapping a six-year-old Tibetan boy, Gedun Choekyi Nima, recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second highest religious authority in Mahayana Buddhism. The Radicals launch a campaign to free Gedun Ghoekyi Nima.
The postcard distributed by the RP for the release of Gedun Choekyi Nima, the Tibetan boy of six kidnapped by Beijing, after being identified as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama.
26 June - France: Cannes - Federalism, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Over 600 people demonstrate outside the Palais des Festivals in Cannes during a European Council meeting. They call for Bosnia’s accession to the European Union, with the aim of putting a stop to Serb aggression. Many MEPs take the floor during the demonstration, including Marco Pannella, Gianfranco Dell’Alba, Alex Langer, Bernard Kouchner, José Maria Mendiluce and Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the transnational Radical Party.
A parallel demonstration is held at Ventimiglia on the Franco-Italian border, after the French authorities stop two buses carrying about one hundred Croatian, Bosnian, Albanian and Italian demonstrators to prevent them from reaching Cannes.
Franco-Italian border
In the afternoon the MEPs and the Secretary of the Radical Party are received by Jacques Chirac, President of the Council of Europe, and French Foreign Minister Hervé de Charette.
Bernard Kouchner expounded, on behalf of his colleagues, the argument in favour of Bosnia’s immediate accession to the European Union. Regarding the position of the EC - which has kept its distance from aggressors and victims alike - expressed by Chirac, Marco Pannella said that he hoped the EC President would not discover that the attitude adopted by the Union was the same as that taken by Europe in the thirties, i.e., the Europe of Chamberlain and Daladier. Words that Chirac would later repeat when criticizing the EU’s attitude on this issue.
Historical references:
- July, Bosnia. Bosnian Serb troops, led by General Mladic, attack several fronts and take Srebrenica, massacring civilians and driving out the Muslim population.
- Sepa also falls. The Croatian army launches a counteroffensive, retaking large areas of north-east Bosnia.
5 July - Italy - Alexander Langer
Alexander Langer, Green MEP and several times member of the Radical Party, commits suicide.
13 July - Turkey: Ankara - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Meetings
RP general councillors Massimo Lensi and Michele Boselli are received by Yildirim Aktuna, Minister of Information and spokesman for the Turkish Government, and a number of parliamentarians, following the positive reaction from over 80 deputies and various ministers in Turkey who signed the appeal for Bosnia-Herzegovina’s immediate accession to the European Union, launched by the RP in dozens of parliaments and governments. At the various meetings both parties stressed the need to open an EU debate on Turkey’s integration into Europe.
13 July - EP: Strasbourg - Tibet, EP Resolution
On the initiative of MEPs Marco PANNELLA, Pierre PRADIER, Gianfranco DELL’ALBA, Noël MAMERE and Dominique SAINT-PIERRE (members of the Radical Party, ARE Group), James MOORHOUSE (PPE Group) and Adelaide AGLIETTA (Green Group), the EP approves, by a wide majority, a "revolutionary" resolution on Tibet. For the first time, in fact, the European Parliament goes beyond condemning the violation of human rights to denounce, in no uncertain terms, the illegal invasion and occupation of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China.
In particular, the European Parliament
a. asks the Chinese authorities:
- to immediately release Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, a boy of six, recognized by the Dalai Lama as the latest reincarnation of the Panchen Lama;
- to immediately cease its "population transfers" in Tibet;
b. asks the European institutions:
- to undertake all possible initiatives that will help to solve the Tibetan question through political dialogue;
c. asks the Chinese and Tibetan authorities:
- to open negotiations based on political dialogue;
d. expresses its support for the efforts of the Dalai Lama to restore, with peaceful methods, the cultural and religious freedom and the political autonomy of the Tibetan people;
e. expresses its support for the Tibetan people and hopes for the establishment of formal relations between the Tibetan Parliament in exile and the European Parliament.
17 July - Italy: Rome / Belgium: Brussels - Bosnia-Herzegovina
Several hundred Radical activists hold simultaneous demonstrations outside Palazzo Chigi (seat of government) in Rome, and the assembly of Foreign Ministers in Brussels, for Bosnia’s proposed accession to the EU to be examined without delay, and in support of Chirac’s proposal that Europe should play a more important role in solving the crisis.
July - EP: Strasbourg - Bosnia-Herzegovina, EP Resolution
On the initiative of Marco PANNELLA, the EP Commission for Foreign Affairs approves a motion concerning the policy to be adopted towards Bosnia-Herzegovina, in which, for the first time, the European Parliament denounces the aggressors.
21 July - Russia: Moscow - Aggression
Another Radical activist is attacked. Sergej VORONTSOV, a committed antimilitarist, is beaten up by five strangers while the police stand and watch. The RP reports the attack to both the Moscow authorities and the European Parliament.
21 July - Various Capitals - Bosnia-Herzegovina
Nonviolent "die-ins" are staged outside the seats of government in Paris, London, Bonn, Madrid, Dublin, The Hague, Prague and Rome, during which the participants lie down, feigning death, on blue rugs the same colour as the flags of both the United Nations and the European Union. The "die-in" aims to:
- obtain the guaranteed protection of the defenceless Bosnian people, victims of bloodthirsty aggression;
- strengthen the proposal made by President Jacques Chirac;
- ensure that all diplomatic relations are broken off with the Belgrade regime;
- see that the proposal for Bosnia-Herzegovina’s immediate membership of the European Union is accepted without delay;
- obtain maximum support for the Tribunal for war crimes;
- bring war criminals Milosevic, Karadzic and Mladic to justice;
- obtain liberty and liberation for the Serbs.
28 July - India: Dharamsala - Tibet
The visit of Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the RP, and Piero Verni, President of the Italia-Tibet association, who were received by the Dalai Lama, the President of the Tibetan Parliament, Samdhong Rimpoche, and the Head of the Department of Information and International Relations, Tempa Tsering, ended with the delegation establishing a programme of initiatives to be undertaken in the coming months.
August - Italy - Death Penalty
The "Giro d’Italia" (Italian Tour) against the death penalty, organized by Hands off Cain, permits the issue to be discussed with mayors and local authorities in a large number of towns and cities.
4 August - Bosnia-Herzegovina: Sarajevo - Democracy
Radicals mobilize and launch appeals through the mass media for the reinstatement of Haris Silaidzic, obliged to resign by the prevailing fundamentalist/Muslim factions within the Bosnian leadership.
Historical references:
- August, Bosnia. Serbs bomb Sarajevo and NATO retaliates with a heavy air attack. The international Tribunal in The Hague formally indicts Bosnian/Serb leaders Karadzic and Mladic for war crimes.
12/22 August - Russia: Moscow - Bosnia-Herzegovina
Ten days of Radical mobilization for Bosnia’s accession to the European Union, during which stands are set up and signatures collected, and demonstrations are held outside the mission of the European Commission in Moscow.
13 August - EP: Strasbourg - International Criminal Court, EP Resolution
The European Parliament approves, by a large majority, a resolution presented by MEPs Jean-François HORY, Marco PANNELLA, Gianfranco DELL’ALBA, Pierre PRADIER and Dominique SAINT-PIERRE, all of whom belong to the Radical Party, for the establishment of the permanent International Criminal Court and for the Ad Hoc Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda to begin functioning at the earliest.
27 August - Italy: Rome - Antiprohibitionism, Nonviolence
Marco Pannella and other Radical activists distribute marijuana at the Porta Portese flea market. They are arrested but released a few hours later, to await trial.
Pannella distributing marijuana
Historical references:
- 8 September, Geneva. The warring parties agree to the plan of the Contact Group, which provides for an independent Bosnian State, divided into two largely autonomous parts (51% to the Croatian-Muslim Federation, 49% to the Bosnian Serbs). It is further agreed that Sarajevo must remain united under the administration of the Croatian-Muslim Federation and that Mostar must be reunited, also under a single administration. It is agreed that an international force, composed of troops from NATO, Islamic countries and Russia, will be sent to Bosnia.
21 September - Italy: Rome - Tibet
During a press conference at the Rome headquarters of the Radical Party, Samdhong Rimpoche, President of the Tibetan Parliament in exile, together with Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the RP, Nicola Molè, President of the Province of Terni, and Piero Verni, President of Italia-Tibet, reports on his meetings with various Italian authorities and expresses his support for Italian parliamentarians engaged in forming the Intergroup for Tibet.
2 October - Italy: Rome / Russia: Moscow - Nonviolence
On the anniversary of the birth of "Mahatma" Gandhi, the Radical Party takes part in the official celebrations, carrying a wreath of flowers and Ghandi’s image: the symbol of the Radical Party.
4 October - Various Countries - Human Rights, Cuba
The RP holds a series of press conferences in New York, Rome and Madrid, to publicize the case of Francisco Chaviano Gonzalez, President of the National Council for Civil Rights in Cuba and a member of the Radical Party. Chaviano, who was sentenced to 15 years following a mock trial and is presently being held in the "Combinado del Este" prison, has been on a hunger strike for 20 days to obtain a fair trial. The RP is launching an appeal for his release and urging people to send postcards to Fidel Castro, asking that all Cuban political prisoners be freed. An international body is also set up to defend Gonzales.
The RP postcard asking for Chaviano’s release
13 October - EP: Strasbourg - Cuba, EP Resolution
On the initiative of MEPs PANNELLA and DELL’ALBA, who belong to the Radical Party, the European Parliament approves an emergency resolution concerning the case of Francisco CHAVIANO GONZALEZ, a political prisoner who has been on a hunger strike for 30 days now. The EP asks, among other things, that the Cuban authorities engage themselves to ensure that CHAVIANO is tried by a civil court; that all his defence rights are guaranteed; that he is released from prison to await trial.
Furthermore, the EP asks that the Cuban Penal Code be revised to conform with universally recognized legal principles and that the death penalty be abolished.
19 October - Ukraine - Death Penalty
The RP hails the Government’s decision - without precedent in the former Soviet territory - to suspend executions for an unspecified period, stressing the importance of the role played by the recently appointed Minister of Justice Sergej GOLOVATYJ, a staunch abolitionist and member of the Radical Party for many years, and by the dozens of Radical activists who, by setting up stands, collecting signatures, demonstrating, launching appeals, holding conferences and embarking on numerous other abolitionist initiatives, contributed to the historical decision.
Kiev, Ukraine.
A Radical stand for collecting signatures to abolish the death penalty
Historical References:
- November, Former Yugoslavia. The final peace talks are held in Dayton, Ohio. The resulting Accords provide for the return, guaranteed by the UN, of eastern Slavonia to Croatia. The peace treaty is signed in Paris on 14 December. The embargo against the Yugoslav Federation is lifted.
19/23 October - Cuba: Havana - Human Rights
A delegation from the RP, composed of Sandro OTTONI, Begoña RODRIGUEZ and Tanja RIZMAN, meets with several leading Cuban dissidents and relatives of political prisoner Francisco CHAVIANO, who has been forced to stop his hunger strike for health reasons: "His wife Ana AGUILILLA was able to see him a few hours after he came out of isolation, where he had been kept for 25 days because of his hunger strike to obtain a retrial and decent prison conditions. Only the day before, they had beaten him and left him lying naked on the wet floor of his cell. He has an ulcer but they won’t give him medicine; the food is disgusting and scarce, and now they’ve put him back with the common criminals". Generally speaking, "Cuban dissidents are systematically persecuted to prevent them from conducting any activities aimed at democratizing the country. The entire population is oppressed by an Orwellian police state which obtains its "consensus" with bad quality rum and laughable perks, and unrelentingly represses any freedom of opinion. Here, everything that is not compulsory is banned".
A number of leading Cuban dissidents who have spent many years in prison, including Elizardo SANCHEZ, Francisco CHIAVANO himself, his wife and the leaders of his organization, join the Radical Party.
The Radical delegation is stopped and searched at the airport, before leaving the country. All documents received from the dissidents are confiscated on the pretext that they constituted a violation of the law on "counterrevolutionary propaganda".
27 October - Italy: Rome / Russia: Moscow - Tibet
We see the first results of an initiative for the approval of parliamentary motions in favour of Sino-Tibetan negotiations, launched in September by sending letters to the Presidents of dozens of parliaments throughout the world and to hundreds of parliamentary groups.
The Radical Party presents, in the Russian Duma and in the Italian Parliament, identical motions asking that negotiations to be opened between the Chinese Government and Tibet; that human rights be respected in Tibet; that the Tibetan issue be placed on the agenda of the UN Assembly. In Italy the motion has 60 signatories (first signatory Lorenzo STRIK LIEVERS, Reformist deputy and member of the Radical Party).
The Duma, on the other hand, flatly refuses to discuss the motion, presented by deputy Karakys ARAKCHAA, a member of "New Regional Policy".
Karakys Arakchaa
The Luxembourg Parliament approves a similar motion a few days later.
28 October - EP: Brussels - Tibet, Amendments
On the initiative of the Radical Party the European Parliament approves three amendments, presented by MEP Gianfranco DELL'ALBA, concerning a budget for initiatives providing information and support for Tibetan exiles.
25 November - Spain: Madrid - Death Penalty, International Court
Olivier DUPUIS, Secretary of the RP, and Sergio D'ELIA, Secretary of the Citizens' and Parliamentarians' League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty World-wide by 2000, are received by Spanish Foreign Minister Javier SOLANA. The Minister engaged himself to do everything in his power to have the proposal for a universal moratorium on executions placed on the agenda of the UN General Assembly.
Concerning the establishment of the permanent International Criminal Court the Minister engaged himself, also as President of the European Union, to propose a joint initiative to EU Foreign Ministers, aimed at overcoming the obstacles that still prevent the Permanent Court from being instituted.
30 November - UN: New York - Permanent International Criminal Court
A UN ComPrep is set up for the Plenipotentiary Conference to establish the International Court, despite opposition from China, Cuba, Japan and India. The first meeting of the Committee is scheduled for 25 March 1996. (TNF no.0)
2 December - Various countries - Tibet, China, Cuba
A new Radical initiative is launched in parliaments throughout the world: hundreds of faxes and letters are sent to dozens of parliamentary groups and leaders, as a back-up for three appeals launched by the RP: the first addressed to the UN Secretary-General, asking him to receive the Dalai Lama at the earliest; the second proposing Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, 1996; the third asking for the release of Cuban political prisoner Francisco Chaviano.
1979: Beijing. China
Wei Jingsheng, leader of the "Wall of Democracy", on trial
6/11 December - Russia: Moscow - Antimilitarism
The Constitution of the Russian Federation affirms the right to an alternative civilian service but, after one year, the Duma has still not passed corresponding law.
To avoid further delays, activists from the RP and the ARA demonstrate outside the Parliament and distribute leaflets to deputies while the bill is being discussed - yet again. Sit-ins and meetings are to prove ineffective, however, after the Communists and Zhirinovsky's Liberal-Democrats refuse to vote: the passage of the bill is deferred.
Moscow, Russia
RP and ARA demonstration outside the Duma
8 December - Moldavia - Death Penalty
The Moldavian Parliament votes unanimously to abolish the death penalty. The RP welcomes the decision and acknowledges the contribution made by Radical abolitionists in the country.
14/15 December - EP: Strasbourg - Tibet
Tibetan communities in exile, Tibet support groups and the Radical Party gather together for the first time at a seminar. They arrange to hold a European pro-Tibet demonstration in Brussels on 10 March 1996, in support of which at least 500 municipal councils and local bodies throughout Europe will be asked to hoist the Tibetan flag on their buildings.
Thirty-six cities in 13 European countries have already joined the initiative, including Sarajevo (Bosnia), Vukovar and Osijek (Croatia), Rome and Turin (Italy), Chisinau (Moldavia) Subotica (Yugoslavia), Poznan and Cracow (Poland), Korosten and Mariupol (Ukraine), Carpentras and Evreux (France), Huy (Belgium), Durazzo (Albania), Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic).
Brussels. Belgium. EU headquarters
From left to right: Leoluca Orlando (Mayor of Palermo), Olivier Dupuis
(RP Secretary), Tempa Tsering (Head of the Department of Information and
International Relations of the Tibetan Government in exile)
15/17 December - Italy: Rome - Hands off Cain Congress
At the congress of the Hands off Cain League, federated with the Radical Party, it is decided, among other things, to strengthen the international campaign "10 countries, 100 cities, 100,000 signatures for the UN to stop the death penalty" that aims to obtain a universal moratorium on executions by 1996. Various other initiatives and events are planned to expand the group of countries that will support the proposal at the next session of the UNGA.
19 December - EP: Strasbourg - China, EP Resolution
On the initiative of Marco PANNELLA, Noël MAMERE and Gianfranco DELL'ALBA, the "Alleanza Radicale Europea", members of the Radical Party, James MOORHOUSE (PPE), Adelaide AGLIETTA (Greens) and Jessica LARIVE (Liberali), the European Parliament approves a resolution condemning the Chinese Authorities for interfering in the designation of the Panchen Lama.
In another resolution, the EP denounces the latest heavy - and completely unjustified - sentence inflicted on Wei Jeingsheng. (ACP7904)
19 December - Various Countries - Media, "Free Tibet" Fax
The first issue of Libertà Per Il Tibet (Free Tibet), a weekly newsletter on the Radical Party campaigns for the freedom of Tibet and democracy in China, is published. The newsletter will be faxed to hundreds of activists and groups supporting the Tibetan cause.
28 December - Italy: Rome - Antiprohibitionism, Civil Disobedience
A guest on the Italian TV programme "Italia in Diretta" (Italy Live), Marco Pannella surprises the host Alda D'Eusanio by offering her a packet containing 200g of hashish. The gesture provokes a strong reaction from public opinion, and charges are later brought against Pannella.
During a live broadcast, TV host D'Eusanio shows viewers the packet of hashish given to her by Marco Pannella