Lorenzo Marsili

Lorenzo Marsili (born 1984) is an author, political activist and social entrepreneur.

Life and activity

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, Jacques Ranciere and others.

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 becomes one of the initiators of pan-European movement DiEM25 together with Yanis Varoufakis.^[7][8]

He writes for various European newspapers, including El Diario, El País, Neues Deutschland, Il manifesto, La Repubblica, Huffington Post, OpenDemocracy. He is a guest on Italian national TV LA7, on Al Jazeera and is host of TalkReal, a nomadic Europe-wide talk show.

Political thought

Marsili is regarded as a critical pro-European voice. He has argued that "the nation-state is not the solution, but part of the problem^[9]", while strongly criticising the existing structures of the European Union.^[10] He has been defined "the Italian response to the euro-sceptics^[11]" and is an outspoken advocate of the need for pan-European political parties.^[12]

Controversy

He has been accused by the Daily Mail of working for "a European Marxist super-state".^[13]

References