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39° Congress of The Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty. General Motion


GENERAL MOTION

The 39th Congress of the Nonviolent, Transnational and Transparty Radical Party, convened in Chianciano on 17-20 February 2011

notes


that the Manifesto-Appeal and its goals, proposed exactly thirty years ago by the Party – now officially named Transnational, Transparty and Nonviolent Radical Party – as received and undersigned by over 140 Nobel Laureates, still reflect the dramatic, historical, compelling matters afflicting the contemporary world;

emphasizes

the tragic, topical nature of what the signatory Nobel Laureates stated in 1981:

“We need to rebel against the false realism which induces people to resign themselves as though it were fatal, to what instead belongs to the responsibility of politics and the "established disorder". We need to fight realistically so that the possible is done and not consumed, perhaps forever.

“If world powers are responsible, they are not the only ones. If the unarmed would not resign themselves to being inert, if they would be more numerous in declaring non-obedience to other laws than this basic law of the rights of men and people, that in the first place is Justice, and the right to life; if the unarmed would go and organize themselves using their few but long lasting weapons of political democracy and the great non-violent "Gandhian" actions, fixing themselves and imposing the choice of objectives from time to time limited and adequate; if this would happen, it would be certain, just as today it is certainly possible, that our times would not be catastrophic.

“If mass media, if the powerful who decided to honor us with the acknowledgements we received, decided to listen and cause others to listen to our voice and actions, and the voice and actions of those who are working along the same lines, elsewhere in the world; if women and men, if peoples had access to knowledge and information, undoubtedly the future would look different from what is looming and seems destined for everybody, everywhere in the world. But only in this case. We need to choose, act, create now.”

notes

that the Nonviolent, Transnational and Transparty Radical Party has acted along the lines it indicated and the goals it had set for itself; today, perhaps more certainly and exhaustively, it observes that the political indications of that Manifesto have not been followed up; that in itself this brings and imposes to the first session of the Congress and the Party, perhaps unreasonable and extremely ambitious responsibilities and objectives;

confirms

those goals and submits them again to the Party, with the resolve to deepen and expand their content in order to strengthen and revamp this long lived, long term project; hence, it re-proposes as an integral part of this motion, its own Statute and preamble, the Manifesto of Ventotene and the document convening the first session of the 39th Congress;

takes stock

with concern that, nine years after the Congress of Tirana, the core project from those days, the creation of a World Organization “of” Democracies, while being more necessary than ever, did lag and still lags behind and distressingly keeps making steps backward, on a cultural, ideal, institutional and political level, too;

therefore, calls on

all militants and participants asking them to immediately circulate this knowledge and awareness, first and foremost aimed at promptly strengthening the Party’s action and function, in the light of the explosion of democratic revolts – juxtaposed to the blindness and surrender shown by increasingly “real” Democracies – and, on the other hand, for the first time, of the demands from large communities of people who do not want eliminate or literally kill the American or Israeli “enemy” but simply ask for the respect of democratic legality: first and foremost, the legality of international law, theoretically and legally superior over that of national states;

appeals to

the reasonableness of top officials of world politics, for they take stock of the unstoppable demand for democracy that is emerging everywhere, and of the unquestionable priority of universal human rights – against the anti-historic and dangerous illusions of the perpetuation, even under a democratic disguise, of the states and national systems, by now structurally incapable not only of guaranteeing democracy but even progress and wellbeing, as Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto Rossi and Eugenio Colorni prophetically anticipated with the Manifesto of Ventotene in 1941;

stresses

its condemnation for the flagrant and, by now, systematic international illegality, following the failure to observe and enforce the founding Charters of the United Nations and the European Union; at the same time, a grave attempt to reduce to a “real democracy” that world which was long acknowledged as “free world” is currently underway”;

moreover, it denounces

the irresponsible, unlawful behavior of the international community vis-a-vis certain states and situations, even when these are formally recognized as non-democratic and non compliant with the rule of law.

The risk of a progressive bureaucratization of supra- or international jurisdictions, often ignored and unused, is the prime cause of a deterioration of the international rule of law and the consequent violation or denial of human rights. Winston Churchill’s solemn warning, when he addressed the democratic states in 1946, is more topical than ever. He stated that “the Society of Nations has not failed because its principles have been defeated; it failed because those principles were not followed by the very States that had founded it. It failed because those governments were afraid to face reality and act promptly. This disaster shall never happen again”

The nonviolent uprising that has suddenly exploded across North Africa and the middle-eastern Arab world including Iran, has revealed to the entire world a demand for democracy and human rights against dictatorships and authoritarian regimes in those countries, despite a widespread, stubborn general opinion according to which this peaceful revolt would be incompatible with the Arab-Islamic world.

Europe and the democratic West, which have been supporting those regimes for decades, on the grounds of realpolitik and a misunderstood notion of "stability", were caught by surprise: they seem to be incapable of responding to such demands, exposing this extraordinary opportunity for democratic change to new risks of fundamentalist, totalitarian drifts.

Therefore, the Congress

does stress

the urgent need to establish a European Homeland and, in a Kantian sense, a global Homeland, also through resources like international law: this includes 23 jurisdictions which can be activated, also theoretically, as a legislative source against the illegality of Europe and the United Nations;

reaffirms

that only the formal ascertainment and sanctioning of those responsible for the Iraqi war could somehow redeem, in the eyes of the world public opinion, the just force of attraction of democracy and the rule of law. In this respect, it is fair to underline that lately, almost simultaneously, quite different personalities like Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld prompted an investigation on the causes of the Iraqi war. At last, even at top levels of liability - or even complicity - there seems to surface a desire to disclose the truth on the decision to wage that war, preventing a diplomatic effort that could have persuaded Saddam Hussein to go into exile. Indeed, there have been some recent developments, like the request to indict top British and American authorities. The former state secretary of the Bush Administration, Colin Powell, requested ‘an inquiry about the role of civil and military intelligence agencies (CIA and DIA), for having imposed this historic lie, i.e. the sure existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to provoke and justify the war; this happened precisely when Hans Blix and El Baradei and their UN observers did ascertain and inform London and Washington about the sudden, full collaboration from Iraq in their search efforts. In his memories, Donald Rumsfeld accuses President Bush for having ordered torture against alleged terrorists: some prestigious human rights organizations – like Amnesty International - even hypothesized and prompted a writ of arrest against Bush for having infringed the Convention on Torture on the part of those countries which ratified it. For all these reasons and to avoid every possible risk, Bush allegedly postponed or cancelled a trip to Switzerland.

Finally, as results from never denied public statements by defense ministry top officials, like the Director General John Day and the Premier's Office Director, Gus O'Donnell – other than the US Undersecretary Ellen Tauscher who first disclosed this circumstance – it might well be proven that the Chilcot inquiry commission on the Iraqi war received pressure from the UK Government not to look for the actual reasons of the war waged on 20 March 2003.
If in America and in the UK the search for truth proceeds, time has come that in Italy too, although the right and left of regime do converge on this aspect as well, an inquiry commission on the Iraqi conflict is set up.

Moreover, the Congress

adopts

the proposal put forward by the liberal cultural movement "Società libera", to simultaneously organize in several European cities, next October, the fourth edition of the International Rally for Freedom, especially dedicated to the Iranian, Uyghur, Burmese and Tibetan peoples. The Party shall endeavor to make the rally most successful, with as many attendees as possible; it will be a venue to gather ideas, forces and people for the transnational construction and strengthening of the party itself, everywhere in the world;

salutes

the congress attendees, with testimonials from Egypt, Tunisia and from the different nationalities of Iran and Iraq, China and Vietnam; over the years, they paid an extremely high price for their active, democratic struggle, being sent into exile or imprisoned. This proves that a decade old participation and membership to the Nonviolent, Transnational and Transparty Radical Party on the part of those who, in this way, too, struggle for the affirmation of fundamental human rights, can contribute to a growing awareness and consolidation of a common political will, a foundation and a prerequisite to strengthen the Party of radical nonviolence. In particular, the Congress

gladly welcomes

the presence in Chianciano of Biram Dah Abeid, a human rights militant, radical executive and leader of the anti-slavery movement in Mauritania; he was released just on the eve of the congress from the prison of Nouakchott where he had been detained for his fight against slavery and discrimination; the Congress acknowledges the government of Mauritania for having expressed with Abeid’s release, a first and clear sign of their will to enforce anti-slavery laws in Mauritania;

remembers

with sorrow and emotion, comrade David Kato Kisule, member of the radical Association Certi Diritti; after announcing his attendance, he was brutally assassinated in Uganda, where he bravely fought especially for the human rights of homosexuals; just a brutal, violent death, officially stigmatized even by the European Parliament as well as by several countries, could prevent David from joining his transnational radical comrades in Chianciano; we will forever remember him with sorrow and pride;

thanks

all those who – despite their important personal, professional and political difficulties and engagements – decided to attend the entire proceedings; through their presence, they made our meeting politically successful and spiritually strong; the Congress thanks the representatives and militants of democratic, liberal, federalist and nonviolent organizations from about 30 nations for their decision to become Party members during the congress itself (1); finally, a special thank you to Radio Radicale for fully airing, live and on the internet, the entire congress session: they allowed thousands of people to listen and carefully appreciate the content, quality and quantity of four days of debate. The Congress

entrusts

its executive bodies with the task to convene a second session by November 2011 to mobilize, meanwhile, those who are already committed to the search for truth about the Iraqi war and all forces committed to people’s and democratic revolts; to this end, it calls on members, militants and supporters to make their best efforts to expand the Nonviolent, Transnational and Transparty Radical Party membership: as the degraded reality of the European and Italian Parliament proves, being dominated by political parties, the fight for human rights, freedom and democracy can be pursued only through the key contributions made by members and militants;

authorizes

the presidency of the Party Senate to formally amend the present text.

  1. The Congress underlines the importance of contributions and new members gathered in Chianciano; they include representatives from institutions, organizations as well as from the democratic, liberal, federalist and nonviolent forces of Albania, Azerbaijan, western Baluchistan, Burkina Faso, Cabinda, Cambodia, Croatia, Egypt, Southern Cameroons, China, Croatia, East Turkistan, Iceland, Iraqi Kurdistan, Kyrgizstan, Laos, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Ogaden, Democratic Republic of Congo, Russia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sindh, Tibet, Uganda, Vietnam.

As to the financial statements, “the first session of the 39th Congress of the Nonviolent, Transnational and Transparty Radical Party held in Chianciano Terme on 17-20 February 2011 approves the legal representative’s report and the 2006-2010 balance sheet, along with the relevant auditors’ report”.