Lorenzo Marsili | |
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Marsili in 2023 | |
Born | Lorenzo Marsili 1984 (age 39–40) Rome, Italy |
Nationality | Italian |
Alma mater | University of London |
Occupation(s) | Social entrepreneur, political activist |
Lorenzo Marsili (born 1984) is an Italian philosopher, political activist, and social entrepreneur.
Life and career
Marsili was born in Rome, Italy. At 21, after graduating in philosophy from the University of London, he established the Postanalytic Group in protest against the hegemony of analytical philosophy in the UK. Soon after he founded the quarterly cultural review Naked Punch together with contributors such as Noam Chomsky, Gayatry Spivak and Jacques Ranciere.
After spending time in China and obtaining a second degree from the School of Oriental and African Studies he launched Transnational Dialogues, an exchange program between Chinese and European artists and activists. In 2007, on the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, he established pan-European network European Alternatives, developing it into an international NGO with offices in London, Berlin, Paris and Rome. He established Transeuropa Festival and was the artistic director of the first four editions.
In 2013 he launched the European Media Initiative, gathering 200,000 signatures to demand an EU directive on media freedom.
In 2016, he became one of the initiators of the pan-European movement DiEM25, together with Yanis Varoufakis.
In 2023 he became the founding director of the Berggruen Institute Europe Center, headquartered at Casa dei Tre Oci in Venice, Italy.
He writes for various European newspapers, including The Guardian, Il Sole 24 Ore, El Diario, Al Jazeera, Il manifesto, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Huffington Post, OpenDemocracy. Marsili appears as a guest on Italian national TV (Rai3 and La7), Al Jazeera and was host of TalkReal, a nomadic Europe-wide talk show.
Political views
Marsili is a staunch advocate of transnationalism and of the construction of a new cultural and political vision beyond the nation state. In his books Il Terzo Spazio and Citizens of Nowhere he responds directly to the crisis of the European Union and the rise of the nationalist right by proposing a third way between the maintaining the status quo and accepting the demise of the European project. Marsili has argued that "the nation-state is not the solution, but part of the problem", while strongly criticising the existing structures of the European Union. He has been defined as "the Italian response to the euro-sceptics", and is an outspoken advocate of the need for pan-European political parties.
In a booklet written together with Niccolo Milanese, he has argued for the need of a pan-European constituent process to draft new Treaties for the European Union. In his books Planetary Politics and La tua patria è il mondo intero (Your motherland is the entire world), he outlines a comprehensive transnational vision merging European cosmopolitanism with Chinese thought.
In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, Marsili called for a "European republic of equals" where every citizen could enjoy the same social protections, benefit from the same economic support and pay the same taxes.
Bibliography
In English
- Towards a transnational democracy in Europe (with Niccolò Milanese), European Alternatives, 2015
- Citizens of Nowhere, Zed Books, 2018 (ISBN 978-1786993694)
- Planetary Politics, Polity, 2020 (ISBN 978-1509544776)
In Italian
- Il terzo spazio (with Yanis Varoufakis), Laterza, 2017 (ISBN 978-8858128282)
- La tua patria è il mondo intero, Laterza, 2019 (ISBN 978-8858138649)
In German
- Wir heimatlosen Weltbürger, Suhrkamp Verlag, 2018 (ISBN 978-3- 518-12736-0)
References
- "the collective lounge". thecollectivelounge.blogspot.de. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- "AV ONLINE - [20 § Interviste] Intervista a Lorenzo Marsili (Naked Punch) (Valerio Cruciani)". www.amnesiavivace.it. ISSN 1722-2737. Archived from the original on 2016-10-06. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- stránok, BSP Magnetica, s.r.o. - výroba webových. "e-artnow.org: Announcement detail view". www.e-artnow.org. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - "Homage to Belgrade: reflections on the 2015 Transeuropa festival". openDemocracy. 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- "A Unified EU Policy on Pluralism? UK citizens set to join the debate". Media Policy Project. 2013-03-12. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- freespeechtv (2013-04-06), NCMR 2013: Lorenzo Marsili, retrieved 2016-11-30
- "Marsili: Remain to change is DiEM's message [Interview]". Political Critique. 2016-06-23. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- "Leading activists, artists, scholars and political figures take central role in DiEM25". openDemocracy. 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- Marsili, Lorenzo (2017). Il Terzo Spazio - oltre establishment e populismo. Bari, Italy: Laterza. ISBN 978-8858128282.
- ^ Marsili, Lorenzo; Niccolo, Milanese (February 2020). "Towards a transnational democracy for Europe" (PDF). European Alternatives. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
- "A tennis court oath for Europe". openDemocracy. 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- Pedersini, Marco (2013-11-22). "L'alternativa italiana agli anti euro - Panorama". Panorama (in Italian). Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- "After Brexit, nobody is speaking up for Europeans". The Independent. 2016-06-29. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
- "Elites have failed us. It is time to create a European republic". The Guardian. 2020-05-10. Retrieved 2020-05-11.