Lorenzo Marsili

Lorenzo Marsili (born 1984) is a philosopher, political activist and social entrepreneur.

Lorenzo Marsili in 2017

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[1] in protest against the hegemony of analytical philosophy in the UK. Soon after he founded the quarterly cultural review Naked Punch[2] 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,[3] 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.[4]

In 2013 he launched the European Media Initiative, gathering 200,000 signatures to demand an EU directive on media freedom.[5][6]

In 2016, he became one of the initiators of the pan-European movement DiEM25, together with Yanis Varoufakis.[7][8]

He writes for various European newspapers, including The Guardian, El Diario, El País, Al Jazeera, Neues Deutschland, Il manifesto, Il Fatto Quotidiano, Huffington Post, OpenDemocracy. Marsili appears as a guest on Italian national TV (Rai3 and La7), Al Jazeera and is 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.[9] Marsili has argued that "the nation-state is not the solution, but part of the problem",[10] while strongly criticising the existing structures of the European Union.[11] He has been defined as "the Italian response to the euro-sceptics",[12] and is an outspoken advocate of the need for pan-European political parties.[13]

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.[14] In his book La tua patria è il mondo intero, he outlines a comprehensive transnational vision merging European cosmopolitanism with Chinese thought.

In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, Marsili and Ulrike Guérot 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.[15]

Bibliography

In English

  • Towards a transnational democracy in Europe (with Niccolò Milanese), European Alternatives, 2015
  • Citizens of Nowhere, Zed Books, 2018 (ISBN 978-1786993694)

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 Weltburger, Suhrkamp Verlag, 2018 (ISBN 978-3- 518-12736-0)
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References
  1. "the collective lounge". thecollectivelounge.blogspot.de. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  2. "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.
  3. stránok, BSP Magnetica, s.r.o. - výroba webových. "e-artnow.org: Announcement detail view". www.e-artnow.org. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  4. "Homage to Belgrade: reflections on the 2015 Transeuropa festival". openDemocracy. 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  5. "A Unified EU Policy on Pluralism? UK citizens set to join the debate". Media Policy Project. 2013-03-12. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  6. freespeechtv (2013-04-06), NCMR 2013: Lorenzo Marsili, retrieved 2016-11-30
  7. "Marsili: Remain to change is DiEM's message [Interview]". Political Critique. 2016-06-23. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  8. "Leading activists, artists, scholars and political figures take central role in DiEM25". openDemocracy. 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  9. Marsili, Lorenzo (2017). Il Terzo Spazio - oltre establishment e populismo. Bari, Italy: Laterza. ISBN 978-8858128282.
  10. Marsili, Lorenzo; Niccolo, Milanese (2014). Towards a transnational democracy for Europe (PDF). EA.
  11. "A tennis court oath for Europe". openDemocracy. 2015-03-04. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  12. Pedersini, Marco (2013-11-22). "L'alternativa italiana agli anti euro - Panorama". Panorama (in Italian). Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  13. "After Brexit, nobody is speaking up for Europeans". The Independent. 2016-06-29. Retrieved 2016-11-30.
  14. Marsili, Lorenzo (2011). Towards a Transnational Democracy for Europe (PDF). European Alternatives.
  15. "Elites have failed us. It is time to create a European republic". The Guardian. 2020-05-10. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
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