Historical reference:
January, Bosnia-Herzegovina. NATO troops deployed to Bosnia. Tension is still rife in Mostar - divided between Croatians and Muslims - and Sarajevo.
10 JANUARY - Cuba: Punto del Este - F. Chaviano
Francisco Chaviano Gonzales, President of the National Council of Civil Rights in Cuba, who is serving a 15-year sentence in Punto del Este prison for having provided information on the disappearance of the valseros (boat people) and who joined the Radical Party this year, writes a long letter to Emma Bonino and the Radical Party. In this letter, he expresses his thanks for the initiatives undertaken in his favour, accuses the Castro regime of being completely closed, denounces the prison conditions in which he and his fellow inmates - who have been given heavy sentences for the mildest offences - are forced to live, then calls on the European Union to continue opening up to Cuba, but in a less ingenuous and more decisive way.
Francisco Chaviano Gonzales
JANUARY - Belgium - Brussels - Antiprohibitionism, CoRA
A branch of the Coordinamento Radicale Antiproibizionista (CoRA) is founded in Belgium, as an international "transmitter" for the CoRA. The organization aims to legalize all banned drugs, and counts many political personalities, doctors, jurists and citizens among its members. Coordinated by Michel Hancisse and Eric Picard, the CoRA intends to follow the work of the Belgian Parliamentary Commission on Drugs and the activities of other institutions, and to effect rigorous controls and criticisms of same through articles in the Belgian press.
Eric Picard and Michel Hancisse
Historical reference:
14 January, Portugal. Socialist Jorge Sampaio takes over from Mario Soares as President (with 53.8% of the vote).
24 JANUARY - France: Paris - Human Rights, Wei Jingsheng
Olivier Dupuis and Paolo Atzori consign to Marie Holsman, President of the "Casa cinese della Democrazia", 123 nominations collected by the Radical Party from parliamentarians and university professors, proposing Wei Jingsheng as a candidate for the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize. (Those who favoured Wei Jingsheng included: Jose Maria Gil Robles, Vice President of the EP, Abel Matutes Juan, President of the EP Commission for Foreign Affairs and Fernando Savater, writer and philosopher.)
26,27,28 JANUARY - Italy: Rome, Hotel Ergife - Antiprohibitionism, VII CoRA Congress
In the approved motion, after acknowledging the successful collection of over half a million signatures in Italy for a referendum on the legalization of soft drugs, the Congress considers that "the international refoundation of the CoRA can no longer be delayed, since it would adapt the rationale and structure of the original association to the aims and ambitions for which it has not only been willing, but has also known how, to fight", so that "before June 1996 the first International Congress of the CoRA can be held in Brussels. In the event that this objective cannot be achieved, the Congress hereby mandates its elected organs to proceed with the liquidation of the CoRA".
Enzo Cucco, Carmelo Palma and Fabrizio Starace were elected and invested with statutory powers, with a view to the refoundation of the statute in an international sense.
30 JANUARY - Italy: Rome - Nonviolence
On the anniversary of "Mahatma" Gandhi’s death, a debate is held on the relevance of Gandhian nonviolence today, in which Marco Pannella, MEP, K.N. Bakshi, the Indian Ambassador to Rome, and historian Gianni Sofri take part. The debate is opened by Paolo Pietrosanti, member of the RP General Council
31 JANUARY - Belgium: Brussels - Tibet
The initial target of 100 cities is reached when Brussels agrees to join the "Una bandiera per Tibet" (A Flag for Tibet) campaign, promoted by the Radical Party and asking the mayors of European cities to hoist the flag of Tibet on 10 March. The campaign will continue with Radical activists and Tibet Support Groups mobilizing in dozens of towns to convince as many as 500 European mayors to fly the Tibetan flag.
2 FEBRUARY - Spain: Madrid - Death Penalty, International Criminal Court (ICC)
The Head of the Spanish Government, Felipe Gonzalez, receives at the Moncloa a Radical Party delegation composed of Marco Pannella, MEP, Emma Bonino, European Commissioner, and Olivier Dupuis, Party Secretary.
During the meeting Gonzalez confirms that Spain will cosponsor at the UN General Assembly both the universal moratorium on executions and the summoning of a Diplomatic Conference to institute the permanent International Criminal Court.
Felipe Gonzalez and Emma Bonino
Later the delegation met with Pedro Rota, the editor of the Spanish daily El Mundo, and several prominent members of the staff. After showing particular interest in the "Free Tibet" campaign, Rota decided not only to fly the Tibetan flag from the El Mundo building on 10 March, but also to devote ample coverage to the issue of Tibet in his newspaper.
8 FEBRUARY - Spain - Media, Tibet
The Spanish daily El Mundo (circulation 300,000) publishes a long article on the pro-Tibet campaigns underway. In an interview with RP Secretary Olivier Dupuis, Ana Alonso Montes stresses the importance and urgency of the political initiative for Tibet and gives an overview of the most pressing problems, from the Panchen Lama to the internal situation in Tibet. With Marco Pannella, MEP, and Emma Bonino, European Commissioner, Montes analyses the institutional work to be done in the coming months. Lastly, she reminds readers of the demonstration in Brussels on 10 March and confirms, with Wangchen Rinpoche from the "House of Tibet" in Barcelona, that Spain will participate. More articles are to be published in the following weeks.
8 FEBRUARY - U.S.A.: Baton Rouge - Death Penalty
A delegation led by Sergio D’Elia, Secretary of Hands off Cain, visits Angola Prison, the maximum security penitentiary where executions are carried out in Louisiana. The participants are able to visit the prison, death row and the death house with its gurney where lethal injections are administered. They also meet two condemned prisoners. D’Elia writes a detailed reportage for the Italian weekly Panorama (published on 19 February).
FEBRUARY - United Nations - ICC
Radicals begin collecting signatures from parliamentarians throughout the world, on an appeal addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and to the members of the PrepCom for the establishment of the International Criminal Court.
The PrepCom is scheduled to meet at two sessions, in March and in August, to define the mechanics of the Court’s establishment, but mainly to draft the Statute. The appeal, which will be distributed in many parliaments in all parts of the globe, is intended to circumvent the danger of red-tape and further delays preventing the realization of the "first juridical section of a new body of international law".
11 FEBRUARY - Russia: Moscow - Tibet, Antimilitarism
About 120 people take part in the public assembly held by the RP at the Soil Research Institute, during which the Radical campaign for human rights in Tibet was presented - with the participation of Navang Rabgyal, the Dalai Lama’s representative in Russia - as well as the marches that will be held simultaneously in Moscow, Brussels and Washington. Subsequently the activities of the ARA (Associazione Radicale Antimilitarista) in favour of conscientious objectors and concerning the war in Chechnya, and initiatives supporting the international language and the abolition of the death penalty world-wide, were explained and discussed.
The proceedings were covered by three television networks and several journalists. (TBF)
19/25 FEBRUARY - Cuba: Havana - Human Rights
Begonia Rodriguez, a Spanish Radical activist, meets several Cuban opposition leaders. She is then arrested and spends twenty-four hours in prison before being deported.
Begonia Rodriguez
27 FEBRUARY - EP: Brussels - Tibet
A meeting is held in the Salle Eastmann to organize the pro-Tibet demonstration planned for 10 March, during which Dawa Thondup, the Dalai Lama’s representative in Paris, and Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the RP, take the floor. (TBF)
Historical reference:
3 March, Spain. José Maria Aznar and his Popular Party win the elections by a narrow majority, and he will form a new government in May.
The number of European mayors who have agreed to support the "Una bandiera per il Tibet" (A Flag for Tibet) campaign reaches the second target of 500; in fact, 508 mayors agree to fly the Tibetan flag, including those from seven European capitals: Budapest, Brussels, Chisinau, Rome, Sarajevo, Vilnius and Vaduz.
10 MARCH - Belgium: Brussels / Other Capitals - Tibet
Over six thousand people take part in the first European march to free Tibet. It is backed up by many other acts of solidarity in Europe, like the one undertaken by mayors - now numbering almost 600 - who are participating in the "Una bandiera per il Tibet" campaign, and the thousands of citizens who are displaying the Tibetan flag on their balconies. These are just some of the results of the large-scale mobilization on which Tibetan communities in Europe, Tibet Support Groups and the Radical Party are collaborating.
Similar demonstrations are held in Moscow and other capitals.
400 people gather in Washington, embarking on a "March for Freedom in Tibet" whose final destination is the UN building in New York.
Over 600 cities and world capitals take part in the "Tibetan flag" campaign, despite the fact that the Ministries of the Interior and prefectures of several countries, following considerable pressure from China, have done everything in their power to block the initiatives and prevent the mayors from raising the flag.
MARCH - EP - Antiprohibitionism, Nonviolence
Marco Pannella, MEP elected on the Reformist list, resigns, so that he can be tried for numerous acts of civil disobedience violating the Italian drug laws.
MARCH/APRIL - UN: Geneva - Human Rights
For the first time since it was recognized as an NGO with category 1 consultative status, the transnational, transparty Radical Party participates in a session of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva; in fact, a Radical delegation plays an active role in the work done by the Commission during the 52th Session.
In five papers and two speeches the Radical delegation confronts the issues of human rights in Tibet, China and Kosovo; pandemic diseases; and a moratorium on the death penalty.
Wei Shanshan
The delegation was composed of Radicals Marino Busdachin (rapporteur), Olivier Dupuis and Marino Sikora; Tashi Wangdi, Foreign Minister of the Tibetan Government in exile; Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama's official representative; Tempa Tsering, Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Information of the Tibetan Government in exile; Wei Shanshan, the sister of Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, and many other personalities.
Historical reference:
April. Tension between Great Britain and her European partners over the "Mad Cow" disease.
12 APRIL - France: Paris - Human Rights, Wei Jingsheng
Representatives of the Federation for Democracy in China and the Radical Party decide to launch, along with the New York-based organization Human Rights in China, a new campaign to have Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng nominated for the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.
Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the Radical Party elected on the Pannella - Reformists at the EP list, succeeds Marco Pannella as a member of the European Parliament.
Olivier Dupuis
19 APRILE - U.S.A.: New York - International Language
The Radical Party and the Universala Esperanto-Asocio present to the ECOSOC a document on an auxiliary language, which after pointing out that translation costs at the UN amount to at least one fifth of the total budget, recommends that an auxiliary language, and more specifically Esperanto, be adopted. TNF
20 APRIL - Czech Republic: Prague - Human Rights, Tibet
About 70 activists from the RP and other organizations demonstrate outside the Foreign Ministry during the Chinese Foreign Minister’s official visit.
On his arrival at Prague airport, the Chinese diplomat was welcomed by several activists who, disguised as journalists, were waving two large Tibetan flags; he received a similar welcome in Prerov where five people waved Tibetan flags in the hotel where official meetings were being held.
20 APRIL - EP: Strasbourg - Human Rights, Tibet, EP Resolution
On the initiative of the Alleanza Radicale Europea (European Radical Alliance,) Green and Liberal parliamentary groups, and with the support of all groups except for the Unione Per l’Europa (Union for Europe), the European Parliament passes a resolution calling upon the EU and Member States to support the resolution on the violations of human rights in China and Tibet due for discussion at the UN in Geneva in the next few days.
22/23 APRIL - Various Capitals / UN: Geneva - Tibet
The day before the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva was to vote on the resolution condemning the violations of human rights in China and Tibet, "dialogue demonstrations" were held by the RP, numerous Tibet Support Groups and Chinese dissident organizations, outside the Foreign Ministries in Paris, Brussels, Rome and Moscow, to persuade the respective governments to support the aforesaid resolution.
25 APRIL - U.S.A.: New York - Tibet
The 500-kilometre "March for the Freedom of Tibet", which began in Washington on 10 March, ends outside the UN building in New York, on the seventh birthday of the Panchen Lama who has been kidnapped and is being held in isolation by the Chinese authorities.
25 April 1996 Washington-New York "March for the Freedom of Tibet" Reaches its Destination
This was an important day in the struggle for the Tibetan cause. The march, which had begun on 10 March outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington and covered 500 kilometres, ended in front of the UN building on the seventh birthday of the Panchen Lama, who has been kidnapped and is being held in isolation by the Chinese authorities.
Tibet Day in Manhattan began when the foghorn of the Staten Island ferry announced the arrival in Battery Park of the marchers led by the Dalai Lama’s elder brother Thubten Jigme Norbu and the Buddhist monk Palden Gyasto, who has spent 30 of his 64 years in Chinese prisons. Against the inspiring backdrop of the Statue of Liberty, several hundred nonviolent demonstrators waved Tibetan and American flags and chanted "Free Tibet now", "China out of Tibet", "China Shame on You". The demonstrators then embarked on the last stretch of the march, proceeding downtown in an orderly fashion and coming to a halt outside the UN building, where many speakers, including Rinchen Darlo, the Dalai Lama’s representative in New York, Bruchung K. Tsering, Head of the Department of International Relations of the Tibetan Government, and Michele Boselli of the Radical Party, took part in the gathering. The highlight of Tibet Day in New York came a few hours later when the demonstrators converged on the Metropolitan Community Church to participate in an inter-denominational service held by officiants from several major religions, and prayed together for the young Panchen Lama. Officiants included Rabbi Joel Goor from the Jewish Synagogue, Rev. Barrie Shepherd from the Presbyterian Church, Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid from the Muslim Mosque, and the venerable Lamas Pema and Lobsang Ngodup. The service ended with the entire congregation singing "We Shall Overcome", the last verse of which was sung in Tibetan. (ACT 1359 TBF no.21)
During his visit to Italy, the Dalai Lama grants a long audience to a delegation from the Radical Party. The Tibetan Buddhist leader and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, thanked the Radical Party for its long, unswerving commitment to the Tibetan cause. His Holiness and Marco Pannella also discussed the possibility of holding a world Satyagraha in 1998, for freedom in Tibet and democracy in China.
Marco Pannella and the Dalai Lama
22 MAY - Asia - Media, "Voice of Tibet"
Paolo Vigevano, director of Radio Radicale, and Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the RP, announce the inauguration of "Voice of Tibet", a new radio station that will broadcast, on short wave bands, a daily 15-minute news programme in the two main Tibetan dialects, for listeners in Tibet and other parts of Asia.
23 MAY - EP: Strasbourg - Tibet
The European Parliament approves a resolution for the respect of human rights in Tibet, presented by the Radical, Green, Popular, Socialists and ELDR Groups.
Historical reference:
26 May, Albania. Elections takes place in an extremely tense climate. President Berisha’s party wins but the Socialists (former Communists) claim that the elections were rigged and refuse to recognize the results. The economic situation remains dramatic: only 10% of industrial workers are employed; the pro capita income is approx. £33 per month.
28 MAY - Italy: Rome - Death Penalty
Hands off Cain and parliamentarians from various groups successfully take up the cause of Pietro Venezia, currently being held at Rebibbia Prison (Italy) and awaiting extradition to the U.S. where he is accused of murder; in fact, the Italian Constitutional Court, called upon to pronounce its verdict on the Venezia case, affirms that extradition to countries that apply the death penalty is forbidden.
MAY/JUNE - Italy - Tibet, Assemblies
The RP holds public assemblies in the Veneto and Piedmont. Freedom in Tibet and several Radical initiatives are discussed in Vicenza (31 May), Padua (1 June), Verona and Turin (2 June). The assemblies are chaired by Olivier Dupuis, RP Secretary and MEP.
4/5 JUNE - Russia: Moscow - RP Assembly, Panchen Lama
On 4 June, the anniversary of the Tien-an-men Square massacre, Radicals organize in downtown Piazza Pushkin a stand for the distribution of Tibetan flags and postcards requesting the release of the Panchen Lama.
The next day about 80 people take part in an assembly at the Memorial Society, opened by Nicolaj Khramov and Navang Rabgyal, the Dalai Lama’s representative in Russia, the C.I.S. and Mongolia. The assembly decides to continue with Radical initiatives in favour of Tibet, and also to relaunch the petition for the abolition of national service in Russia by 2000.
4 JUNE - Italy: Tuscany - Human Rights, China
On the anniversary of the Tien-an-men massacre, the ARPA (Associazione Radicale Pensiero ed Azione) in Florence organizes stands in the streets of Arezzo, Grosseto, Livorno, Lucca, Pisa, Siena and Florence itself, to distribute information on human rights in China.
8 JUNE - Croatia: Zagreb - RP Assembly, Tibet
Fifty or so people take part in the statutory assembly of the TRS, the Radical association in Croatia, together with RP Secretary Olivier Dupuis, deputy Zdravko Tomac and the Dalai Lama’s representative Paljor Tsering. Tomac, who is also President of the Zagreb City Council, resigns as President of the TRS, due to work commitments. Croatian deputy Tereza Ganza Aras is elected President in his place, and Marina Sikora, Vice President.
On the previous day, a public conference was organized in Split by the local Tibet Support Group - still in the process of being set up - during which Tsering, Ganza Aras, Dupuis and Sikora took the floor.
15/17 JUNE - Germany: Bonn - Tibet
A Radical delegation led by the Secretary, takes part in the "Second International Conference of Tibet Support Groups". In his speech Olivier Dupuis once again invited the Dalai Lama, who took part in the proceedings, to organize a world Satyagraha with the Radical Party.
20 JUNE - EP: Strasbourg - China. Environment, EP Resolution
EP resolution against nuclear tests in China, presented by Noël Mamere and Olivier Dupuis, MEPs and members of the ARE Group, and other parliamentary groups.
21 JUNE - EP: Strasbourg - Human Rights, Wei Jingsheng, EP Resolution
The European Parliament adopts an important resolution concerning Wei Jingsheng, who has recently been sentenced - again - to 15 years imprisonment. The resolution, presented by the Radical, Green and Liberal groups, asks the Chinese Government to immediately grant Wei Jingsheng a retrial open to international observers. The EP also asks for the release of all dissidents and the immediate closure of the laogai (forced labour camps), and calls on the Chinese Government to allow international human rights organizations to visit inmates in Chinese prisons.
22/23 JUNE - Italy: Florence - V ERA Congress
The Fifth Congress of the ERA (Esperanto Radikala Asocio), bearing in mind the following achievements:
- Ministerial Circular 126 that, for the first time, fully informs Italian schools about Esperanto;
- the 105 schools, in 29 countries, connected through the Fundapax Project approved and partly financed by UNESCO;
- the European Commission’s approval and funding (55%) of the informative project "The Costs of (Non-) Communication in Europe";
appoints the Organs to undertake a campaign to obtain financing and human resources, considering that there is a real possibility of Esperanto being adopted as the official auxiliary international language in Europe in 2005 and in the world in 2020.
Elected organs: Leo Solari, President; Giorgio Pagano, Secretary; Daniela Giglioli, Treasurer.
JUNE - Various Countries - Media, "No Peace Without Justice" Newsletter
In the month of June the organization No Peace Without Justice, with the help of EU funding, sends to over 20,000 parliamentarians in the world a newsletter giving a brief history of the establishment of the Ad Hoc Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and of the permanent International Criminal Court. This first issue of the newsletter is accompanied by an appeal asking that the UN PrepCom convene, without further delay, a Plenipotentiary Conference to establish the ICC. To date over 400 parliamentarians from over 30 countries have signed the appeal.
JUNE - Europe - Antiprohibitionism
The CoRA launches "PAA - PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR ANTIPROHIBITIONIST ACTION", a European campaign for the legalization of drugs and the revision of international conventions on drugs, directed at parliamentarians elected to European and national Parliaments.
JUNE - Belgium - Antiprohibitionism
The CoRA launches an appeal signed by deputies and personalities for the legalization of drugs and the decriminalization of drug-users, addressed to the Belgian Parliamentary Commission that is revising the drugs law on the initiative of Patrick Moirau, Socialist deputy and supporter of CoRA. Dozens of politicians, doctors and professors support the initiative, including Nobel Physics Prize Winner Ilya Prigogine.
28 JUNE - Russia: Moscow - Antiprohibitionism
Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the transnational Radical Party and MEP, presents the Russian translation of the book Stop Prohibitionism. The Radical Answer to Drugs published by the CoRA, at the Russian/American press headquarters in Moscow.
Following in the footsteps of the European Parliament and the Luxembourg and German parliaments, the Belgian Parliament adopts a long and detailed resolution on the situation in Tibet. The RP announces the promotion of similar initiatives in dozens of other parliaments.
29-30 JUNE - Russia: Moscow - Antimilitarism, First ARA Congress
Over 100 people participate in the First ARA (Associazione Radicale Antimilitarista) Congress attended by Radical Secretary Olivier Dupuis, deputies from the Duma (Parliament) and members of the Committee of Mothers of Russian Soldiers and other antimilitarist organizations. The ARA has been active since May 1995. The final motion passed by the first Congress:
- confirms that the ARA will continue to campaign for a nondiscriminating, democratic law on an alternative civilian service, calling for a referendum if necessary;
- supports President Yeltsin’s initiative to introduce a professional army in 2000;
- welcomes the fact that comrade Vadim Hesse has been acquitted of failing to report for military service;
- supports the international campaign for the release of Alexander Nikitin, a former captain in the Soviet Navy and activist of the environmental organization known as the Bellona Foundation, arrested on "spying" charges;
- calls on the Radical Party to relaunch its antimilitarist initiative, starting with large-scale ARA and RP membership campaigns.
Elected organs: President, Valerij Bortschev (deputy): Secretary, Nikolaj Khramov; Treasurer, Ilja Zanegin.
On the initiative of RP Treasurer Danilo Quinto a new means of self-financing is to be experimented with. In the following months a "call-centre" will be set up, in which dozens of telephone operators, aided by computers, will solicit contributions and new members. The "call-centre" should alleviate - to some degree - the financial crisis that besets the RP, by bringing in a few hundred million lira in Italy.
The "call-centre"
Historical reference:
3 July, Russia. Yeltsin is elected President (53.8%), defeating the Neo-Communist Zuganov (40.3%)
17 JULY - Italy: Rome - Antiprohibitionism
Following a hunger strike by Turin municipal councillor Carmelo Palma and other CoRA activists in Italy, the Minister for Social Affairs, Livia Turco, engages herself to issue a circular amending various paragraphs of a recent decree law on drug addiction that forbids private doctors to prescribe methadone to cure drug addiction, reserving this prerogative for doctors authorized by the State. While awaiting this circular, which would simply honour the results of the referendum on drugs held in 1993, the CoRA intends to contest the decree law at all juridical levels.
18 JULY - EP: Strasbourg - Taiwan, EP Resolution
Welcoming the considerable progress made on the democratic front by Taiwan and its having established, despite the provocation and aggression to which it has been forced to submit, a peaceful dialogue with the People’s Republic of China, the European Parliament adopts a resolution calling on the Council and Member States to adopt a series of measures to extend Taiwan’s participation at the United Nations and in other international institutions. The EP resolution, which was passed despite opposition from Socialist and Communist groups, was presented by Laurila and Reding EPP, and supported by Dell’Alba and Dupuis (ARE), and Liberal and Green MEPs.
18 JULY - EP: Strasbourg - Former Yugoslavia, EP Resolution
In a resolution promoted by Radicals, the European Parliament stresses the need to arrest and judge war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
20/27 JULY - Czech Republic: Prague - International Language
Speaking at the Congress of the World Esperantist Union, Olivier Dupuis proposes presenting in the European Parliament an emergency resolution for the introduction of Esperanto as a "bridge" language that would also function as a juridical reference, as early as 1999; and a parliamentary appeal addressed to the UN and to UNESCO, for the introduction of Esperanto in these institutions and in their respective agencies.
During the Congress Dupuis and Marino Busdachin meet with World Esperantist Union exponents Prof. Lee Chong-Yeong (President), Mark Fettes (Secretary) and Hans Erasmus (Head of Relations with European Institutions) to define a number of joint initiatives.
22 JULY - Czech Republic: Prague - Conference
Prof. Zbynek Zboril and the Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University, invite Radical exponent Marino Busdachin, the party’s representative at the UN, and Czech Radicals Olga Cechurova, John Bok and Jan Jarab, to hold a conference on RP initiatives. About 30 students and several journalists take part in the debate.
The same day, a meeting between Czech members and Dupuis, Busdachin and Marina Sikora is organized to discuss current Radical campaigns.
23 JULY - Italy: Rome - Antiprohibitionism
The Italian Constitutional Court confirms that even supplying drugs gratis to third parties is a crime. The sentence is pronounced in relation to an act of civil disobedience by Marco Pannella who, in August 1995, was arrested for distributing - free of charge - small quantities of marijuana during a demonstration. The doubt raised by the investigating magistrate, in keeping with the outcome of the 1993 Radical referendum that decriminalizes the possession of small quantities of soft drugs, was dismissed by the Court. Now the magistrature can start proceedings against Pannella.
26 July - U.S.A.: Atlanta - Death Penalty
A large group of Italian athletes present at the Olympic Games (virtually the entire fencing team, walkers and marathon runners - about 30 in all) support the Hands off Cain initiative by trying to visit death row in Atlanta Prison: a token gesture in favour of the request for a moratorium on executions addressed to the United Nations. The prison governor refused to authorize the visit, however.
30 JULY - Italy - International Language
A decree issued by the Ministry of Education appoints the ERA (Esperanto Radikala Asocio) to organize a refresher course on the International Language, open to all Italian teachers, on the theme: "Italian Fundapax: Acquiring New Skills for Teaching Foreign Languages and for Intercultural Education". The course will held at the Radical Party’s headquarters in Rome, beginning in November.
JULY - Brussels - Appeal via Computer
The RP launches an appeal, via computer, to the European Parliament and to the Mediator of the Union, asking that the citizens’ rights guaranteed by the European Union be made accessible through the Internet. The appeal also asks that citizens be granted the possibility of sending petitions and denouncements to the European Parliament and the Mediator, via computer, to an Internet address.
1 AUGUST - Italy: Rome - Antiprohibitionism, CoRA
Thanks to the all-important contribution made by the CoRA, numerous elected representatives of the Ulivo Party (Italian Socialist, Popular and Catholic Coalition) and the Chairman of the Commission himself, the Senate Health Commission abrogates the norm permitting only doctors authorized by the State to prescribe methadone. Now private doctors are allowed to continue with methadone-based cures. The decree law containing said norm is due for examination by the Senate in September.
7/15 AUGUST - India: Dharamsala - Tibet
During the second week of August, RP Secretary Olivier Dupuis and European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Emma Bonino, go to Dharamsala to meet with his Holiness the Dalai Lama, and with members of the Tibetan Government in exile and Secretaries of various Departments. The purpose of the visit is to discuss political initiatives to be undertaken in the coming months.
10 AUGUST - India: New Delhi - Burma (now Myanmar)
Olivier Dupuis is invited by George Fernandes, deputy and leader of the Samata Party to speak at the "Conference on the Security of India and on Burma", during which he stresses the urgent need to "reform the Indian economy so that it might become, at the earliest, a real alternative to the Chinese market for foreign, and particularly European, investors".
12/30 AUGUST - UN: Geneva - Human Rights, Minorities
An RP delegation (including US Senator John Nimrod) participates in the work of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, and members take the floor with regard to human rights in Iraq and racial discrimination against Assyrians, Kurds and the people of Turkmenistan. Moreover, reports are presented on the population transfers in Tibet and on the abuse of the rights of several peoples (Sanjak, Chechen and Ingush, Tartars in Crimea, and the peoples of East Turkestan, Papua, Eastern Timor, Kosovo, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Burma, Lakota Nation and Rwanda).
21 AUGUST - UN: New York - ICC
While the second Session of the PrepCom (12/30 August) for the Statute of the permanent International Criminal Court is underway, the Chairman of the Committee, Adriaan Bos, receives a delegation from the Radical Party and No Peace Without Justice, led by Marino Busdachin who consigned to him an appeal signed by 400 parliamentarians from 36 countries, asking that the Diplomatic Conference to establish the Court be held by December 1998. The proposal was accepted at the end of the Session, and a recommendation made to the General Assembly.
From left to right: Marino Busdachin, Adriaan Bos and William Pace
5 SEPTEMBER - Italy: Turin - Antiprohibitionism
The Turin Municipal Council approves a motion presented by Councillor Carmelo Palma, national co-ordinator of the CoRA, asking Parliament to swiftly adopt laws decriminalizing the use of soft drugs and permitting the administration of heroin and other "hard" substances to drug addicts.
Fifteen MEPs sign a declaration supporting the initiative and CoRA activists present similar motions in all the major Italian cities.
References:
14 September, Bosnia-Herzegovina. At the elections the nationalist parties (Muslim, Serb, Croatian) obtain absolute majorities in their respective parliaments. The three Presidents meet to reach an agreement on the future functioning of the institutions. Alija Izetbegovic will head the joint presidency of the Federation for two years.
19 SEPTEMPER - EP: Strasbourg - ICC, EP Resolution
The European Parliament unanimously approves a resolution, promoted by the RP, calling upon the Institutions of the Union and Member States to do everything in their power to have the UN General Assembly underwrite the recommendations of the PrepCom and, consequently, set a date for the Plenipotentiary Diplomatic Conference that will establish the permanent International Criminal Court, before the end of 1998.
19 SEPTEMBER - Russia: Moscow - Antimilitarism
The Secretary of the ARA (Associazione Radicale Antimilitarista) Nikolaj Khramov is interrogated by the police following an inquiry into the ARA’s activities, provoked by its having distributed flyers inviting citizens to refuse to do military service. Khramov, stressing that the flyer merely provided information on the constitutional right of citizens to conscientious objection and suggested they use that right as a form of nonviolent - and legal - protest against the war in Chechnya, states that he is perfectly willing to stand trial.
Nikolaj Khramov
19 September - EP: Strasbourg - Human Rights, Alexander Nikitin
The European Parliament once again urgently requests the release of Alexander Nikitin, detained by the Russian authorities in St. Petersburg since February. Nikitin was arrested "for having participated in the writing of a report by the Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian environmental organization, on the pollution caused by nuclear plants and by the nuclear submarines of the Russian fleet, particularly in the Kola peninsula". The EP document requests that "the Russian authorities give a complete and detailed explanation of the charges against Alexander Nikitin, and communicate the date set for a fair trial before a civilian court", and also asks for his immediate release while awaiting trial".
Radical Secretary Olivier Dupuis takes the floor to underline the significance of the case not only with respect to the political persecution of Nikitin but also with regard to the attempt to hide the truth about nuclear waste that from the Kola peninsula is spreading through the Barents Sea and threatens to contaminate Scandinavia.
20 SEPTEMBER - EP: Strasbourg - Human Rights, Romania
The European Parliament approves a resolution, presented by the Alleanza Radicale Europea (Radical European Alliance) group, the Green group and the Confederation of the Unitary Left, condemning the decision of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies to inflict heavier punishments for all homosexual relationships between consenting adults; and calling upon the Romanian Government to respect its commitment with the Council of Europe to totally eliminate, by law, the repression of homosexuality.
22 SEPTEMBER - Slovakia (Rep. of): Bratislava - Meetings
An RP delegation, including Marina Sikora and Olga Cechurova, meets many deputies and political figures to illustrate the Radical initiatives currently underway. While Dusan Slobodnik, member of the ruling party and Chairman of the parliamentary Commission for Foreign Affairs, is sceptical about initiatives in support of Tibet undertaken by a small country like Slovakia, the Radical proposal is supported by various opposition groups.
24 SEPTEMBER - U.S.A.: New York - Tibet
While U.S. President Bill Clinton and the Chinese Foreign Minister are speaking at the UN, activists from the Radical Party and many Tibet Support Groups gather at Ralphe Bunche Park to ask the UN to take immediate action to stop the destruction of Tibet.
24 SEPTEMBER - Italy: Tuscany - Antiprohibitionism
As part of the campaign to support the referendum for the legalization of soft drugs, the antiprohibitionist/judiciary initiatives undertaken by Marco Pannella and the presentation of antiprohibitionist motions to municipal councils, acts of civil disobedience, such as smoking hashish in public or pretending to do so, are carried out in Florence and six other Tuscan cities. In some cases the police intervene, confiscating the drug and taking down the particulars of the activists. The action, which involves dozens of passers-by, receives wide media coverage.
25 SEPTEMBER - EP: Brussels - Tibet, EP Amendments
Just as the Commission for Foreign Affairs is about to vote on the proposed budget for 1997, an important amendment in favour of Tibetan refugees, presented by MEPs Dupuis and Dell’Alba (ARE) and supported by rapporteur McMillan-Scott EPP, is approved, despite opposition from the Socialist MEPs in the person of the honourable Sakellariou. This same opposition is shown with regard to the issue of international justice, and succeeds in preventing the approval of a number of amendments, particularly those in favour of the institution of the permanent International Criminal Court.
26 SEPTEMBER - Luxembourg - ICC
During the proceedings of the ACP/EU Joint Assembly (65 countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, plus the representatives of the European Union) a resolution (presented by Bernard Castagnède on behalf of the Alleanza Radicale Europea) is passed, which calls on the 65 States that have signed the Lomé Convention to jointly advocate the renewal of the mandate of the PrepCom of the International Court and the implementation of the decision to convene, by December 1998, a Diplomatic Conference to establish the Court.
27 SEPTEMBER - Luxembourg - Death Penalty
On the initiative of the Radical Party, the ACP/EU Joint Assembly approves a resolution in favour of the introduction of a universal moratorium on executions. The resolution calls on Member States to immediately adopt a three-year moratorium (38 out of 65 still allow for the death penalty) and to cosponsor a similar resolution for a universal moratorium on executions for presentation at the United Nations.
29 SEPTEMBER /2 OCTOBER - Various Countries - Nonviolence, China
A mass hunger and "dialogue" strike is undertaken (from one to three days) by 1,438 people in 31 countries, including numerous parliamentarians, dozens of representatives of the Tibetan and Chinese peoples in exile, hundreds of members of Tibet Support Groups, the RP and dozens of other organizations; hundreds of ordinary citizens, and many prominent personalities, such as Wei Shanshan, sister of Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, Michael To, President of the FDC (Federation for a Democratic China), Chope Paljor Tsering and Navang Rabgyal, the Dalai Lama’s representatives in Budapest and Moscow, respectively; and Michael Bachmann of the Committee of One Hundred for Tibet.
The nonviolent action aims to obtain the release of the young Panchen Lama and Wei Jingsheng through the intervention of various governments. It ends, on "Mahatma" Gandhi’s birthday, with press conferences and demonstrations outside the Foreign Ministries in Budapest, Rome, Prague and many other cities.
Wei Jingsheng (1979) and the Panchen Lama
Historical references:
1 October. The UN lifts the trade embargo on the Yugoslav Federation.
11 OCTOBER - Belgium: Brussels - Nobel Prize, Wei Jingsheng
The Radical Party welcomes the Nobel Committee’s having chosen to award the 1996 Peace Prize to Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta: two people who symbolize the nonviolent struggle of the inhabitants of Eastern Timor against the fierce oppression of the Indonesian dictatorship. The RP also announces that already over 500 parliamentarians and university professors have endorsed the candidacy of Wei Jingsheng for the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. The aim is to obtain 2,000 endorsements before 31 January 1997.
23/24 OCTOBER - EP: Strasbourg - Meetings, Tibet
During the Dalai Lama’s official visit to the European Parliament and following his important speech - contested by the Chinese authorities - Tensin Gyatso meets with Marco Pannella and Olivier Dupuis. During their talks they discussed in detail the Radical proposal for a world Satyagraha in 1998 for the freedom of Tibet.
From left to right: Olivier Dupuis, the Dalai Lama and Marco Pannella
24 OCTOBER - EP: Strasbourg - EP Amendments
MEPs Dell’Alba and Dupuis of the ARE group propose various amendments to the financial law of the European Union for 1997, which will make it possible for secondary budgets to be allotted to various initiatives linked to Radical political campaigns..
25 OCTOBER - EP: Strasbourg - Sacharov Prize, Wei Jingsheng
On the initiative of the Alleanza Radicale Europea group and the Liberale e Riformatore???Liberal and Reformist group, the European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize to Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng.
Wei Jingsheng (1998)
The Secretary of the RP comments: "The awarding of the Sakharov Prize to Wei Jingsheng, symbol of the struggle for democracy in China and for a dialogue with the Tibetans, is a great victory for all those people in the world who are fighting for the establishment of democracy in China and for the freedom of Tibet".
28 OCTOBER - U.K. / France - Media, ICC
An international appeal, signed by personalities from the world of politics and culture and promoted by the transnational Radical Party and No Peace Without Justice, is published in the form of an advertisement in the Herald Tribune and later in Le Monde (3 November); it is accompanied by a parliamentarians’ appeal to the UN Secretary-General and to the PrepCom, signed by over 600 people. The international press, from The New York Times to Le Monde itself, comments on the appeals in various articles and declares that it favours the International Criminal Court.
Historical reference:
3 November, Romania. Emil Costantinescu (leader of the opposition party CDR - Romanian Democratic Convention) is elected President, defeating Jon Iliescu’s Party for Social Democracy.
3 NOVEMBER - Croatia: Zagreb - Meetings
A Radical delegation (Marina Sikora and Sandro Ottoni) takes part in the work of the Third Congress of the Party for Democratic Action - Croatian Section, the largest Bosnian minority party in Croatia. Sikora reminds participants of the initiatives carried out by the RP for a fair peace in the former Yugoslavia and calls on all congresspeople to support the appeal for the International Criminal Court, and the other Radical campaigns presently underway. A number of deputies present sign the appeal.
11 NOVEMBER - Italy: Rome - Human Rights, Cuba
At a press conference Marco Pannella explains the initiative undertaken by about sixty Catholic Cuban exiles who have come to Rome for an audience with the Pope so that "the Pope and the Catholic Church might not forget the lack of freedom that still exists in Cuba". Deputy Marco Taradash presents a letter addressed to Pope Woytila, signed by various Italian opposition leaders (Silvio Berlusconi, Gianfranco Fini and others), which censures the welcome given to Cuban dictator Castro in Italy.
Lastly, Laura Gonzales, Chairperson of the Committee for Human Rights in Cuba, presents various protest initiatives organized by Cuban exiles, including the display of a banner bearing the signatures of 82 Cuban political prisoners during the Pope’s blessing at St. Peter’s, on a Sunday.
13 NOVEMBER - UN: New York - ICC
The Chairman of the 51st General Assembly, Tazali Ismail, receives a delegation from No Peace Without Justice and the Radical Party (Adelaide Aglietta, MEP and member of the Green group, Gianfranco Dell’Alba, MEP and member of the ARE, Marino Busdachin, Secretary of No Peace Without Justice, David Phillips, Director of the European Center for Common Ground, journalist Maria Giovanna Maglie of Hands off Cain, Tania Karanosios, Human Rights Coordinator of Parliamentarians for Global Action, Bill Pace, Coordinator of the NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court, Marco Perduca of the Radical Party) which presents him with two Appeals signed by parliamentarians and prominent political figures: one for the institution of the ICC before the end of 1998; and the second for war criminals to be brought to international justice.
14 NOVEMBER - Belgium: Brussels - Antiprohibitionism
CoRA co-ordinators Eric Picard and Michel Hancisse, and former Senator Boel, present at a press conference the CoRA appeal deposited at the Belgian Parliament and signed by 409 prominent figures from the world of culture and politics, in favour of the legalization and controlled production, sale and consumption of drugs.
15 NOVEMBER - Italy: Tuscany - Human Rights, Cuba
Nonviolent Radicals demonstrate outside the prefectures in many Tuscan cities, and deliver protests objecting to the respect shown to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro by the highest Italian officials, while thousands of dissidents languish in Cuban prisons.
16 NOVEMBER - Italy: Rome - Human Rights, China, Tibet
The Radical Party, along with exponents of the "Samantabadhra" Tibetan Buddhist Centre in Rome and its counterpart in Pomaia, demonstrate with flags and banners at the FAO Conference and the Quirinal Palace (Residence of the Italian President), during Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng’s official visit. The activists denounce the occupation of Tibet and the tens of thousands of political prisoners being held in the People’s Republic of China.
Historical reference:
17 November, Serbia. The opposition parties (in the Zajedno, Together coalition) triumph in local elections in 14 cities, including Belgrade. The electoral commission declares the results void. A long period of demonstrations begins, mostly in Belgrade, asking for Milosevic’s resignation and the validation of the voting results. Thanks to the OSCE’s intervention, these results would be confirmed by the Serb Parliament in February 1997.
17 NOVEMBER - Italy: Rome - Human Rights, Cuba
At a press conference and in various newspaper interviews European Commissioner Emma Bonino declares that she is absolutely astounded by the welcome given to Fidel Castro by Italy. The Radical leader supplies the press with a list of 16 of the most serious cases of political persecution in Cuba (including Francisco Chaviano, member of the Radical Party), and finds it incredible that the International Community, and Italy in particular, should have "broken up a front that has united against the United States instead of Havana". Bonino describes as "incoherent" the reactions of those who, using the Helms-Burton Law as a pretext, forget "what the Castro regime signifies".
Historical references:
19 November, Poland. Former Communist Kwasniewski is elected President.
20 NOVEMBER - Croatia: Zagreb - Media, Democracy
A show of solidarity by the Radical Party for Radio 101 of Zagreb, following government manoeuvres to close down the historic democratic broadcasting station. RP Secretary Oliver Dupuis sends a long telegram that is read repeatedly over the radio.
24 NOVEMBER - Russia: Moscow - Death Penalty
An important international conference for the abolition of the death penalty is organized by Hands off Cain, Memorial, and the Presidential Committees for Pardon and for Human Rights, at the Don Turista Congress Centre. The approved final motion reiterates the request to heads of State, starting with Yeltsin, to stop state vengeance. Full support is pledged to the bill, presented by Duma deputy Bortschev, asking Russia and the Justice Minster of Ukraine, Golovaty, to respect the moratorium requested by the Council of Europe.
Italy, which recently confirmed its abolitionist stance through Foreign Minister Dini and through a Senate motion engaging the Government to ask the United Nations to impose a moratorium on executions, is represented at the Conference by five senators. The Italian delegation also meets with representatives of the Russian Government and the Parliament.
Historical reference:
25 November, Ireland. Divorce is legalized following a referendum.
27 NOVEBER - Czech Republic: Prague - Antiprohibitionism
A press conference is held by Olga Cechurova, Jan Jarab and Paolo Pietrosanti from the RP and Milan Gelnar from the publishing firm Argo, to present the Czech translation of the book Stop Prohibitionism. The Radical Answer to Drugs. The translation of this international work by the CoRA will be published by Argo and distributed throughout Czech Republic.
27 NOVEMBER - Italy - Antiprohibitionism
The initiative involving the presentation of agendas at municipal councils so that they might ask Parliament to issue new antiprohibitionist laws on drugs, continues. Following Turin’s example, similar texts are approved by the municipal councils and local administrations of: Abbiategrasso, Alfonsine, Arezzo, Campobasso, Certaldo, Gaeta, the Province of Naples, the 5th & 13th Districts of Rome, the Council of Zone 3 in Milan.
28 NOVEMBER - Ukraine: Kiev - Death Penalty
During the proceedings of the Seminar on the abolition of the death penalty, organized by the Council of Europe and the Ukraine Justice Ministry, 15 or so activists from the RP and Amnesty International display placards against the death penalty in the conference room. During a meeting with Borys Olinynyk, Ukraine deputy and head of the delegation at the Council of Europe, the nonviolent activists are informed that Ukraine intends to abolish the death penalty from the new Penal Code presently being drawn up.
Later, a delegation composed of members of Hands off Cain and the Italian Senate met with Justice Minister Sergei Golvaty to analyse the death penalty situation in Ukraine, and the results of the Moscow Conference.
3 DECEMBER - Czech Republic: Prague - Tibet, Meetings
Paolo Pietrosanti of the RP General Council and Olga Cechurova, head of Radical activities in the Czech Republic, meet with Jaroslav Basta, member of the Social Democratic Party and Deputy Chairman of the Defence Commission in the Czech Parliament, and Cestmir Hofhanzl, deputy of the Civic Democratic Alliance. Both deputies commit themselves to supporting parliamentary initiatives for freedom in Tibet and democracy in China.
4 DECEMBER - EU: Brussels, Human Rights, Cuba
The Council of the European Union defines its position towards Cuba, in a document establishing that "parallel to the progress made towards democracy, the European Union will give its support and will explore the use of the appropriate means at its disposal to that end, including (...) the intensification of economic Cupertino".
Concerning this, Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the RP and MEP of the ARE group, made the following statement:
"By accepting, although still somewhat hesitantly, the Spanish Government’s new policy regarding relations with Cuba, the Council has made it possible to create the premises for a real transition towards democracy and the respect of human rights, and for the ‘retirement’ of the last Latin American dictator".
5/7 DECEMBER - Belgium: Brussels - VIII CoRA Congress
Dozens of activists and personalities take part in the Congress held at the European Parliament over the weekend, including Ilya Prigogyne (Nobel Physics Laureate), Emma Bonino (European Commissioner), Hedy d’Ancona (former Health Minister of the Netherlands), Marco Pannella (Radical leader). When the Congress ended, the participants demonstrated outside the French Embassy in Brussels, to denounce the French Governments domestic and foreign policies on drugs.
The approved motion establishes the CoRA as a "political, transnational, militant, nonviolent organization of antiprohibitionists in Europe".
9/10 DECEMBER - Various Countries - Nonviolence, Human Rights
On the occasion of the "World Day for Human Rights" new nonviolent "dialogue" initiatives were undertaken with Foreign Ministries for the release of Wei Jingsheng and the young Panchen Lama. In 24-hour "walk arounds" dozens of activists from the RP and Tibet Support Groups, in relays and wearing placards, walked non-stop around the Foreign Ministries in Brussels, Budapest, Rome, Vienna, Sofia, Paris, New York, and conducted other "walk arounds" in various cities in France and Italy.
12 DECEMBER - EP: Strasbourg, 1996 - Human Rights, Maldives
Over 30 MEPs belonging to various groups address an appeal to the President of the Republic of Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, for the release of a number of European citizens sentenced to life imprisonment there for possessing ridiculously small quantities of hashish. The appeal, promoted by Reformist MEPs Dell’Alba and Dupuis, urges the repatriation of the European citizens on the grounds that life sentences are completely unwarranted for such a minor offence.
16 DECEMBER - Russia - Alexander Nikitin
Alexander Nikitin, the activist of the environmental organization Bellona Foundation accused of "spying" by the Russian Federal Security Service after drawing up a report on the nuclear waste produced by the Russian Navy, is released after being detained for 10 months pending trial in St. Petersburg. He is freed as a result of an international campaign, in which the RP also participated by obtaining, among other things, an EP resolution in Nikitin’s favour.
18 DECEMBER - U.S.A.: Virginia - Death Penalty, Joseph O’Dell
Thanks to widespread international mobilization, in which the RP and Hands off Cain participate, and to the intervention of Pope John Paul II, the death sentence hanging over Joseph O’Dell’s head is suspended. O’Dell has spent eleven years on death row, awaiting his definitive sentence, despite the fact that DNA tests carried out after he was first sentenced have proved his innocence beyond all shadow of doubt.
Rome, Italy. American Embassy Sergio D’Elia (second from the right), Secretary of Hands off Cain
18 DECEMBER - UN: New York - ICC
The 51st UN General Assembly approves by consensus a resolution decreeing the convocation of a Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries to define a "Treaty for the establishment of an International Criminal Court" before the end of 1998; and stipulating that PrepComs be held for a period of nine weeks between 1997 and the Spring of 1998. Italian diplomacy in general, and Italian Ambassador Fulci in New York in particular, must be given credit for having steered those states in favour of the Court through the negotiations, and for having repeatedly offered to host the Conference over the last three years.
Francesco Paolo Fulci
18 DECEMBER - EP: Brussels - Antimilitarism
The EP Foreign Affairs Commission approves a report by MEP Olivier Dupuis (ARE) on the elaboration of a project for a "European Corps of Civilian and Military Units" that would be engaged in establishing peace and in peace-keeping operations, and allow Europe to control arms exports.
26 DECEMBER - World Wide Web - Antiprohibitionism
The Radical Party uses its web site to launch an appeal against the prohibition of alcohol in Muslim countries.