Italian Radicals
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| Italian Radicals Radicali Italiani |
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|---|---|
 Italian National Party |
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| Leader | Rita Bernardini |
| Founded | December 11, 1955 |
| Headquarters | Via di Torre Argentina, 76 00186 Rome |
| Coalition | L'Unione |
| Political ideology | Liberalism, Libertarianism, Social liberalism (on ethical matters), Radicalism, Anti-clericalism, Secularism |
| International affiliation | none |
| European affiliation | European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party |
| European Parliament Group | Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe |
| Membership | 2,000 (2006) |
| Official newspaper | Notizie Radicali (online news) Radio Radicale (FM radio) |
| Website | http://www.radicali.it |
| See also | Politics of Italy |
Do not confuse the Italian Radicals with the Transnational Radical Party. See Italian Radicals (disambiguation).
Italian Radicals (Radicali Italiani) are an Italian political group that describe themselves as a "liberale, liberista e libertario" political movement (liberista means "in favour of the free market", "libertarian" in the American sense; libertario, here, denotes a form of social liberalism concerning moral issues, with some ideological connection with historical left-libertarianism).
It was founded on 14 July 2001, and ever since then the party's secretary has been Daniele Capezzone, replaced by Rita Bernardini in 2006. The party intends to be Italy's national incarnation of the Transnational Radical Party. That is the continuation of the Radical Party founded in 1955 by the left-wing of Italian Liberal Party, relaunched in the 60s by Marco Pannella, and transformed into the Transnational Radical Party in 1989.
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[edit] Structure
Radicali Italiani is affiliated with the Radical Party (Partito Radicale), also known as the Transnational Radical Party. Unlike the nonviolent Radical Party proper, a non-governmental organization working at the UN level, which by statute does not participate in national political competitions, all affiliated groups may take part in elections.
The Radical Party having become a transnational NGO, in 1992 its Italian members reorganised themselves into the Pannella List (Lista Pannella); after a new reorganisation the party named itself Bonino List (Lista Bonino) first and then Italian Radicals (Radicali Italiani), in 2001.
[edit] Alliances
The Radical Party had historically been considered a leftist political movement. When Italian media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi entered the political arena in 1994, Radicals decided to support his policies, albeit critically and without becoming directly involved in his governmental cabinets, in the hope of a "liberal revolution". Consequently, some regarded them as being a right-wing movement. However, since the late 90s, Radicals have not been part of any major coalition. Typically, Radicals are viewed as leftist by right-wing people, and rightist by left-wing people.
During the Spring 2005 electoral campaign, the Italian Radicals took the unprecedented step of asking at the same time formal recognition from - and acceptance into- both major coalitions, the right-wing House of Freedoms and the left-wing Union, regardless of their respective political platforms. The Italian Radicals' request was turned down by both coalitions.
On November 17, 2005, the Italian Radicals established an alliance with the Italian Democratic Socialists, and formed a new and wider "Secular, Socialist, Liberal, Radical" movement, that should be part of the left-wing coalition L'Unione for the general election of 2006. The symbol and name of the new political movement is the Rose in the Fist, former symbol of the Radical party in the 1970s and 1980s, and the current symbol of Socialist International.
In the elections the list scored only 2.6%, much lesser than the electoral sum of the two parties before the alliace (Radicals alone took 2.3% in European Parliament election, 2004). It seemed that the Radicals lost voters in their strongholds in the North to Forza Italia, while the Socialists lost ground in the South, where they are more radicated, to the Olive Tree parties (see electoral results of the Rose in the Fist).
[edit] Party program
The Radicals are an atypical party for Italy: they are, among other things, the only party with a clear anti-clerical agenda, whereas most other parties prefer not to tread on the toes of the powerful catholic church. They are also vocal on human rights and legalisation of soft drugs, which has at times been the main issue in the movement. However, they have been in favour of military interventions in Kosovo, they are staunchly pro-American and are in favour of more freedom in the market.
Among the current party campaigns are the following:
- Support of civil unions.
- Abolition of the Concordato, the treaty between Italy and the Vatican, perceived to be too favourable to the latter in economic and institutional terms.
- Legalization of soft drugs.
- Support for democracy in the Middle East and the world, support for inclusion of Israel and Turkey in the European Union, and defence of democracy in Iraq, even with troops (Radicals opposed the invasion of Iraq by US, but were in favour of Saddam's exile)
- Abolition of professional guilds.
- Improvement of jail system and amnesty.
- Free access to IVF (strictly limited in Italy).
- Research freedom (including bio-tech research).
- Chemical abortion (still banned in Italy).
- Generalized adoption of Esperanto as an international auxiliary language.
[edit] Names and symbols
The Italian Radicals have gone through several names and symbols including:
- the French Marianne
- the Rose in the Fist (as the Socialist International logo),
- Gandhi made of "Radical Party" letters, see Transnational Radical Party
- From 1990 on, as Antiproibizionisti
- As Pannella List
- As Bonino List, named after prominent EU former commissioner Emma Bonino
 The Rose in the fist. |
 One of the Italian Radicals' former symbols, the Lista Bonino. |
[edit] Schisms
Over the years dissenting groups have emerged from Italy's radical area, and have been taking different stands than those of Marco Pannella's Radicali on a variety of issues. Notable in that respect were Giuseppe Rippa's Movimento Federativo Radicale ("Federal Radical Movement") and in 2005 Benedetto Della Vedova's Liberal Reformers.
[edit] Leadership
- Secretary: Daniele Capezzone (2001-06), Rita Bernardini (2006-...)
- President: Benedetto Della Vedova / Rita Bernardini / Luca Coscioni (2001-03), Luca Coscioni (2003-06), Maria Antonietta Coscioni (2006-...)
- Treasurer: Danilo Quinto (2001-03), Rita Bernardini (2003-06), Elisabetta Zamparutti (2006-...)
[edit] See also
- Liberalism
- Contributions to liberal theory
- Liberalism worldwide
- List of liberal parties
- Liberal democracy
- Liberalism and radicalism in Italy
[edit] External links
- Italian Radicals official site
- Transnational Radical Party official site
- Official web site of Associazione Luca Coscioni
- The official radio of the party
- Web site of a Radical review
- Official web site of Riformatori Liberali
- A huge list of Italian radical sites
- Appeal to Marco Pannella on overpopulation
