Mattarella: Pannella bequeaths values even to those who did not share his battles
The President of the Republic: the Radical leader 'animated the chamber of Montecitorio also with memorable oratorical marathons aimed at underlining the urgency of problems that were not on the agenda at the time'
Key points
A political personality whose battles left a wealth of values even to those who did not share those battles. It is with this image that the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella remembered the radical leader Marco Pannella ten years after his death.
"Marco Pannella," Mattarella stressed, "was a political personality who left his mark on the history of the Republic. In remembering him ten years after his death, we can recognise the weight of his battles, often conducted from minority positions but capable of activating paths of innovation and reform".
Mattarella: "Pannella leader against the tide"
"Pannella," continued the Head of State, "was a leader against the tide, unconventional and, nevertheless, not unexpected. Bearer of a radical interpretation of liberal thought, he came from a long experience of leadership of Italian university students. He brought his critique and his ideas to the centre of public debate also in unprecedented ways, inspired by the Gandhian lesson: hunger and thirst strikes, practices of civil disobedience, non-violent protests, thus paving the way for new languages and new forms of participation,' Mattarella continued.
"He also enlivened the chamber of Montecitorio with memorable direct oratory marathons"
"One of the founders and then leader of the Radical Party, several times an Italia and European parliamentarian", Mattarella recalls that Pannella "also animated the chamber of Montecitorio with memorable oratorical marathons aimed at underlining the urgency of problems that were not on the agenda at the time".
"He linked his name to referendum campaigns"
Not to mention the constant attempt to give the people a say. "Pannella," adds the President of the Republic, "has linked his name to referendum campaigns that have represented turning points in social life, with the use of popular referendums as a lever for political action. The theme of civil rights, as an expansion of constitutional freedoms, has been the thread that has linked his many experiences and alliances over time,' the Head of State says again.
