Marco Pannella

NON-VIOLENT INITIATIVE FOR THE UN MORATORIUM ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

From September 2nd 2007, Marco Pannella and other Radical exponents will resume their  HUNGER STRIKE.

JOIN IN!   COMPLETE THE FORM at this link  http://www.radicali.it/scioperomoratoria2/form.php

Following the hunger and thirst strike for “Hands Off Saddam” and the indefinite hunger strike (which started on April 16th and was suspended on June 18th), from midnight on September 2nd, Marco Pannella and other directors and militant radicals have started a new hunger strike.  The hunger  strike is “to defend the right/duty of the 62nd UN General Assembly (beginning September 24th) to present and debate the proposal for the Universal Moratorium on Capital Punishment.” Those participating in the hunger strike are:  Marco Pannella, Lucio Bertè, Guido Biancardi, Sergio D'Elia, Marco Perduca, Michele Rana, Alessandro Rosasco, Antonio Stango, Claudia Sterzi, Valter Vecellio, Dominique Velati.  

MARCO PANNELLA'S ANNOUNCEMENT (made following a meeting at the Radical Party headquarters on August 31, 2007)

From the day after tomorrow, September 2nd, the Radical Movement, the Non-Violent Radical Transnational Party, and Hands Off Cain will resume their non-violent initiative. This is to defend the right/duty of the 62nd UN General Assembly (beginning September 24th) to present and debate the proposal for the Universal Moratorium, a right that has been consistently denied for the last ten years.  

We must be clear!  

The big international mobilisation to make the 61st General Assembly overcome a ten year ostracism and finally vote on the Universal Moratorium did not reach its objective. Once again. Presenting the proposal for the Universal Moratorium was delayed for the umpteenth time until the next AGM. The proposed moratorium has been repeatedly supported by the European Parliament, the Parliament and Government of Italy, and 90 other UN member states.  

All the events- the many UN member states changing their anti-abolitionist stance (fifty countries out of approximately 192), the emotion resulting from the trial and execution of the dictator Saddam Hussein, the apparent change of opinion of the bureaucratic apparatus of the Council of Europe's (primarily responsible, from 1994 to today, for the effective obstruction of the Universal Moratorium at the UN General Assembly)- were for nothing.  

The news that we have confirms that serious errors and delays are being repeated in the choice of method and apparatus, and in the implementation of the official objective to propose the vote on the Moratorium at the beginning of the 62nd General Assembly. The Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi himself, in presenting the award for "Abolitionist of the Year" to Rwandan President Kagame yesterday, clearly expressed his concern regarding the difficulties ahead, despite the obvious reduction- both in number and in standing- of the countries still employing capital punishment.

The resumption of the hunger strike will bring about an immediate institutional and political reaction by Parliaments and Governments, both European and Transnational. The Radical parliamentarians of the RNP are prepared for this response.