1st episode
If 1 Italian out of 3 did not go to vote in the 2022 general elections, it is the fault of the young, who no longer care about politics. Justification or a matter of perception, both are distant from reality if you do not understand that today doing politics does not correspond only to having a party card in your pocket. While it is true that activism has adapted to new forms of communication and a new type of voter, more fluid and less afraid of the idea of changing the symbol on which to trace the X, it is equally true that the more traditional militancy exists and resists. Between Millennials and Gen Z, who keeps alive the much-desired active policy, considered endangered?
Roberto, 29, a humanistic degree, a podcast and many collaborations with online newspapers. Parallel, a passion for the politics of liberal and radical areas, with the approach and enthusiasm of a "dreamer".
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What do you dream about?
I dream of a politics that has perhaps not yet been built, a politics that is made by making itself.
When did you meet politics?
I crossed paths with the liberal universe in my teens. I remember Pannella and his idea of a free world: I was fascinated by his words full of "free freedom", of the strongly Enlightenment conception. I flirted with history, with the idea of a market predominant in the state, Regan-Thatcherian style, taking note of the positive and negative sides. I appreciated Renzi’s idea of a new policy, today I identify myself with the project of +Europa.
Tell me the most important militant experience for you.
At the age of 24, I ran as a city councilor in my city: I had in my pocket both the +Europa and the Radical cards. Campaigning in the markets, among the people, was important: I understood that convincing people hurts. We live in the world of consumption, where someone buys and someone sells, even ideas: often the politician becomes a commercial company and is not good. That experience helped me to understand what I don’t want to be.
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However, the idea of a united Europe is not having one of its best moments.
The project of Spinelli, De Gasperi, Adenauer, Schuman is not far from the daily life of each of us. Today we can travel without passports, without changing currency; we can go on Erasmus, buy goods from every corner of the continent without problems; and request a refund if our plane is delayed. They seem small things, which we take for granted: if you need greater safeguards, Europe is there, every day.
Many personalities from the radical world have converged in +Europa: one name above all, Emma Bonino. Do you, and Pannella mentioned earlier, represent a way of doing politics that is now extinct?
Nobody has lived politics as they have; they are an inspiration, even though I know that you are not likable by acting that way. It amuses me: I feel free from the concept of political-commercial. As Marco Pannella said: "You have to be unpopular not to be anti-popular".
Yet it seems that the radical area is unable to impose itself in different ways, on different themes, other than civil disobedience.
Civil disobedience is not useless, but it is not enough: it serves to have visibility, then it is necessary to build something more. I moved away from that experience because I perceived an old way of doing politics: the ideal was lost and ideology remained.
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+Europa has not yet had great electoral results: are you afraid it will remain on the sidelines?
I do not feel on the margins, of course I would like +Europa to take 40% in the next elections! Any minority, whether majority or opposition, can do important things. A container of water can be contaminated with a few drops of ink.
How do you live with the stereotype of radical chic?
But what does it mean to be radical chic?! Let’s look on Wikipedia: "...belonging to the upper middle class... political tendency akin to the radical left or otherwise opposed to the real class". Those who use this expression are not liberal, they can not untie ideas and appearance. I live very well, really! It is a contradiction only in the mind of those who say it.
Give me a top 3 of the prejudices a young liberal often faces.
I can only think of one giant: “Are you liberal? You’re a right-wing person”.
And a top 3 must-have?
Of course the real liberal must have at least one regimental tie in the closet! Joking aside: You must believe in the great container of freedom and tolerance, applied to every aspect of life. As the state of New Hampshire motto says: Live Free or Die.
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Do you consider yourself a black swan, as a young man engaged in politics?
I recognize myself in this category: everywhere you fly I find only black swans.
What does politics mean to you?
Fighting so that not only your country but all humanity can progress. It means dreaming of a better collective in which to live.
Illustration by Gloria Dozio - Acrimònia Studios
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