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August
1988
PRAGUE, TWENTY YEARS LATER
On the twentieth anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia,
Belgian, Italian, Spanish and American Radicals distributed thousands
of pamphlets in various parts of the country: "It is not enough to remember"
were the words, "Today we are in Czechoslovakia to claim freedom for our
persecuted brothers with the strictest non-violence; we who ask for the
respect of basic human and civil rights in Czechoslovakia as in every
other country".
The Radicals continued undisturbed for two days, until a few were arrested,
forced to submit to heavy questioning, and finally obliged to read the
text of the pamphlet before a television camera.
On August 18, the non-violent action moved to St. Wenceslas Square, Jan
Palach's square, where a twenty metre long banner was unfurled bearing
the words: "Spalecneza demokracii; Sovetska vojska Prycze zeme; Svoboda;
Liadska prava" (together for democracy; away with the Soviet troops, freedom,
civil rights). At the same time, another group was festooning the statue
of St. Wenceslas with another banner bearing the word: "Svoboda".
A few minutes later, banners were torn down by the police and the Radicals
were arrested. At the police headquarters, the Radicals were obliged to
open the banners in front of television cameras. The film on the "dangerous
terrorists" was accidentally shown on State television. After a few days,
on August 21, thousands of citizens went down to the square on the twentieth
anniversary of the Soviet invasion. The spokesman for the Prague Government
accused the Radicals at a press conference, of having promoted and aroused
Czechoslovakia's first great demonstration since the Soviet invasion.
March
1988
AT SPLIT STADIUM
Split, March 31. Among those flocking to the stadium to watch the football
match between Yugoslavia and Italy, there were many Radical militants,
who unfurled banners promoting Yugoslavia's entry to the Common Market
in front of the television cameras. They were arrested, tried and sentenced
to paying a fine, then expelled.
September 1987
MOSCOW: LEAVE AFGHANISTAN
On September 4, at the exits of the underground in Moscow, Radicals handed
out thousands of pamphlets in which young Soviets were invited to refuse
military service in Afghanistan. "Only the right to demonstrate against
war, gives to all of us, to you and to us, a guarantee of peace; and for
you, war is not a mirage in the distant future, but already exists today."
January
1987
JARUZELSKI IN ROME, RADICALS IN WARSAW
The Italian Government, before any other western government, invited General
Jaruzelski to Rome, thereby giving political credence to the suffocator
of Solidarnosc's renewed vigour, granting him economic credit and facilitating
the stipulation of gigantic contracts with Italian firms. This double
offer of credit was not conditioned by any measure of democratisation
or freedom for Polish citizens.
The Radical Party denounced this behaviour by the Italian government with
a grand torchlight procession to the hotel where Jaruzelski was staying,
which was joined by thousands of Polish refugees. At the same time in
Warsaw, Radical militants unfurled a banner, distributed pamphlets and
for about an hour managed to broadcast a message in Polish, thanks to
a portable apparatus: "Your freedom is ours too".
June 1986
SENSATIONAL DEMONSTRATION AT THE POUP CONGRESS
The tenth Congress of the POUP (Polish Communist Party), celebrated the
triumph of Jaruzelski's normalization in Gorbachev's presence. On June
30, at exactly the time when the Soviet premier was starting his speech
from the congress platform, eight Radicals: Italian, Spanish, Belgian
and French, including the Italian Radical parliamentarian Corleone, unfurled
a banner right in front of the headquarters of the POUP Congress in Warsaw,
and began to give out pamphlets which demanded the release of 250 political
prisoners and a thousand conscientious objectors, from jail. They were
arrested, given an emergency trial, sentenced and expelled after two days
in prison on bread and water.
September 1985
YUGOSLAVIA IN THE EEC
Italian French and Belgian Radicals distributed more than 50.000 pamphlets
and stickers for Yugoslavia's entry to the EEC and for freedom of expression
in Belgrade, Dubrovnik, and Zagreb. After three days of distributing pamphlets,
the Radicals were arrested, tried and expelled.
August
1985
HIROSHIMA, FORTY YEARS LATER
Hiroshima, forty years later. In 14 Eastern and Western capitals, dozens
of Radicals, Italians, French, Belgians and Spanish, demonstrated at the
same time on August 5 in Washington, Moscow, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest,
East Berlin, Athens, Ankara, Brussels and Belgrade. They were asking for
extraordinary measures against extermination by hunger in the south of
the world, and new international regulations for the right to conscientious
objection. Amongst other things, the pamphlet distributed in different
languages affirmed: "There will be no peace or security as long as there
is no opposition to extermination by hunger and war. There will be no
peace, no security, no reciprocal trust, while millions of people, reduced
or subjected to dictatorship, in Eastern Europe, as in the South of the
world, are denied the right to know, to speak, to determine the choice
of their own countries, by removing nationalism, racism, and the armed
insecurity on which classes and bureaucracies build their power over peoples.

We affirm that the governments of our countries with parliamentary regimes,
will not be able to avenge our democratic supremacy while their options
are conditioned and often determined by the interests of the military
industrial complex, while they deny the full exercise of the right to
profess conscientious objection to all those who are trying to open up
the difficult but necessary road to the conception of a society and a
defence based on life and rights."
The simultaneous demonstration in 14 countries indicated a swerve in the
direction of traditional pacifism. The Radicals proposed a new view of
the problems of defence and security, which transferred attention from
problems exclusively linked to armament to those associated with underdevelopment
and the State of Rights.
In Moscow, the police isolated the demonstrators from the citizens who
were standing in Red Square. People were stopped and arrested in Ankara,
Belgrade, Brussels and East Berlin.
October 1983
TO ST. WENCESLAS SQUARE FOR DISARMAMENT
On October 21, 1983, A Day for Disarmament and Peace was proclaimed by
the UN. The Radicals celebrated it in a non-ritual way by returning to
Eastern Europe to ask for disarmament in the East as in the West. A coach
full of Radical militants reached the Czech border on October 21. It was
held up by the police, who however, did not succeed in preventing them
from presiding at the frontier all night long and the following morning,
October 22. At 1.00 p.m. on October 22, three Radical militants unrolled
a great banner showing the words "Life, Peace, Disarmament", in Wenceslas
Square in Prague, and started to give out pamphlets in Czech. Shortly
afterwards, they were arrested and expelled.
April
1982
"LIFE, BREAD, DISARMAMENT"
On April 19, 1982, the Radicals demonstrated, simultaneously in all the
capitals of the Soviet Empire. At 11.30 huge banners were unfurled on
which could be read, "Life, bread and disarmament", in various languages;
and this was how they began their distribution of pamphlets: to save 40
million human beings exterminated by starvation every year; for grants
to immediately save people otherwise destined to certain death; and to
denounce the lack of international initiatives for aid to underdeveloped
countries in Eastern Europe. French, Spanish, Italian and Belgian militants
demonstrated in Moscow, Prague, East Berlin, Sofia, Budapest, and Bucarest.
Not in Warsaw because of the imposition of martial law which prevented
foreigners from entering the country. All the non-violent demonstrators
were stopped and expelled.
September 1968
INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA: THE FIRST NON-VIOLENT ACTION IN EASTERN EUROPE
The first non-violent action in various Eastern European capitals was
carried out as an immediate response to the invasion of Czechoslovakia
by the USSR on August 21, 1968.
It was promoted by War Resistance International and the Radical Party.
In Sofia, Radical Secretary Marco Pannella, together with a group of militants,
distributed pamphlets severely condemning the Soviet invasion and "Socialist"
countries' role in the brutal suffocation of the Prague Spring.
The Radicals were arrested, submitted to harsh interrogation and expelled.
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