Emilio Lonardo

Emilio Lonardo (born 14 December 1958, in Avellino, Italy) is an Italian writer, politician, ecologist.

Biography

Emilio Lonardo was born in Avellino, a town near Naples, on 14 December 1958, the third child and son of two teachers. In 1971 his family moved to Bologna, where his elder brothers attended the University of Bologna School of Medicine and Surgery. He attended the upper-school focusing on humanities “Marco Minghetti” and received a degree in Political Science before earning a masters degree in European Union law.

Ecology

In 1980, Lonardo helped found Legambiente,^[1] the largest Italian ecologist association and based in Rome. He was for two years on the editorial staff of the monthly "La Nuova Ecologia", which was based in Milan. From 1987 to 1996 he was the chairperson of a public utilities group that has become one of the largest Italian utilities sector companies, HERA S.p.A.. He has been the chairperson of the Municipality of Bologna Commission, primarily involved in city planning and the environment.^[2]

Meditation

After the turn of the century he met John Earl Coleman, a prominent Vipassana meditation teacher, and became a follower of the traditional Burmese teacher Sayagi U Ba Khin.

Politics

In the 1970s he was General Secretary of Federazione Giovanile Socialista di Bologna. He joined the youth movement Movimento del '77, and lead the delegation of Federazione Giovanile Socialista at the funeral of the student Francesco Lorusso, who was shot and killed during a street meeting on March 11, 1977 by a bullet fired by a policeman. In 2004 he was elected in the Bologna Municipal Council for Democratici di Sinistra Party. In 2009, his re-election was marked by support from more than just the party receiving the third highest vote that election to the council.^[3] But his battles about the transparency of political privileges prompted the Democratic Party to work against his nomination in the next election.^[4]^[5] He is also member of the Fabian Society.

Books

His first book, Sulla rotta dei ribelli,^[6] analyzes the causes of the Italian ruling class political crisis and presents potential solutions expressed through the biographies of political rebels and the recollections of his journeys in Cuba and in South-East Asia.^[7]