The Nonviolent Radical Party (NRP) backs up Nobel Peace Prize bid of Venerable Thich Quang Do

Rome-Brussels, January 24/31 – Several Italian and European parliamentarians teamed up to support Nobel Peace Prize bid of Venerable Thich Quang Do, one of most influent Vietnamese dissidents and Deputy Chair of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church. The initiative started by the radicals MEPs has gathered support from 60 European colleagues and 67 MPs from the entire Italian political spectrum. The Venerable is currently under house arrest and has already served a 25-year detention for his peaceful advocacy of religious freedom, democracy and human rights in Vietnam and overseas. By endorsing the pro-Thich Quang Do international appeal, which has already been signed by a large number of Representatives of the Congress of the United States and Member of French National Assembly, the NRP hopes to give a boost to the “First World Satyagraha for Peace, Democracy, Freedom and Justice”. (A. Russomando)

Radicals at the European Parliament (EP)

A radical success: EP to name main press room after Anna Politkovskaja

Strasbourg, January 14 – Following the idea of Marco Pannella and Marco Cappato, the EP has decided to dedicate the main press room to the memory of Anna Politkovskaja, the Russian journalist slain on 7th October 2006 as she was informing the public about situations – in Russia, Georgia and Chechnya – to which the European institutions have too often turned a blind eye. Entitling the press room to Mrs. Politkvoskaja is not enough, but it is nonetheless a significant tribute to her memory, her courage in facing human rights abuses. It is also a way to pay tribute to all the journalists who lost their lives and those who risks so much every day to give citizens the precious good of knowledge. (L.Lipparini)

Libya: Pannella and Cappato on the dreadful mass deportations

According to Libyan press agency Jana and from Arabic newspaper “al Sharq al-Awsat”, in January 18 2008, Lybia started a massive deportation of all immigrants without residence permit. Two millions foreigners live in the country, including refugees from Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia and Darfur, out of around six millions Libyan citizens. The vast majority of the refugees has no valid document; Tripoli is thus about to begin an unprecedented mass deportation. Pannella and Cappato asked the European Commission (EC) to intervene urgently to make sure that the EU maintains its pledge on the funds granted to Libya through the AENEAS project, which was set up to train Libyan authorities on immigrants’ first assistance. The two MEPs demanded that the transfer of such funds be subordinate to the respect of human rights which should be monitored with ad-hoc inspections. (L.Lipparini)

Death penalty in Afghanistan: Pannella and Cappato urged Commission to intervene

Following the 23 years old Afghan journalist Perwiz Kambakhsh sentence to death for insulting Islam and circulating articles in his university on the role of women in the Kuran, Pannella and Cappato urged the EC to intercede with the Afghan authorities. Considering the financial and political support of the EU to Afghanistan, the EU presence in Kabul, and the recent approval of a Moratorium on the death penalty by the United Nation General Assembly, on January 30 they tabled a written question to ask what was the Commission’s plan to keep the sentence from being executed. (L.Lipparini)

Pannella and Cappato on the precarious human rights’ situation in Iran

Negative news from Iran reported the execution of several people including four political activists detained in Karoon prison. The regime also hung a bloodied prisoner while still on a stretcher and several drug dealers. A woman accused of adultery was also stoned to death. On January 21 Pannella and Cappato tabled a written question addressed to the EC to call on the EU to set up programmes to help dissidents. They also appealed to the international community to ask for there to comply with a Resolution passed last December in New York by the UN on a moratorium on the death penalty. (L.Lipparini)

EP to host an exhibition on cannabis, the most useful and most persecuted plant

From 18 to 21 February, during the Strasbourg plenary session, the EP will hold an exhibition on cannabis. The history, the thousand uses and the industrial employ will be illustrated. The exhibition, which is promoted by Marco Cappato MEP, wants to draw attention to the numerous characteristics of cannabis, probably the most useful and the most persecuted of all plants. The exhibition is also a way to pay tribute to Plino De Toffol, a member of the Radical Party from the Italian city of Belluno, who was a candidate at local elections and who died in 2002 at the age of 48 following a 1 year and half sentence of detention for cultivating cannabis. He didn’t use neither to smoke nor to sell the product, he just cultivated it. The Court ruled a not appealable sentence. Nowadays the persecution is focussing on all products derived from cannabis. In the early 20th century Italy was the second producing country in the world. Ignorance, prejudices and the prohibitionist policies of the last few decades have criminalised, in the name of the war on drug, entire industrial sectors. Indeed, from cannabis we may obtain tissues, paper, paint, oil, cosmetics, food and medicines. Many legal activities exist, but they are treated with suspicious, restriction and intolerance. The EP is no exception. The idea of holding an exhibition on cannabis in the EP had to face the same suspicious and timorous culture before it could obtain the go-ahead from the officials of the EP. However, the exhibition will be affected by limitations and prohibitions, as the image of the marijuana leaf must be neither exposed nor printed on documents, because it is a “controversial element”. Art works made with cannabis, cosmetic products, samples of tofu and beer drawn from cannabis, tissues, music and fact sheets on the radical policies on anti-prohibitionism will be part of the exhibition. (L.Lipparini)