Gianni Tognoni

in Peuples/Popoli/Peoples/Pueblos, n. 8 (October 1986)

The Italian League has often found itself collectively reflecting on the direction and meaning of its activities in the international political context and in the specific context of the Italian reality.
An official summary of the qualifying points of the theoretical reflection and the lines of concrete commitment was formulated at the National Congress held in Rome last November. The text of this basic document is available to all those interested. In relation to the objectives established for this brief note, it was deemed opportune to summarise the position of the Italian League in relation above all to the Italian context, which seems to offer a scenario of possible general interest.
1. The Italian League moves in a political framework characterised by a progressive cancellation of the concept and practice of ‘opposition’. Parties and trade unions seem to be increasingly preoccupied with finding conditions of participation in the management of power in a society in which hypotheses of transformation towards more concrete and generally usable forms of real democracy seem to count less and less, to the point of appearing even impractical in reflection and debate. What is traditionally defined as the left seems to be engaged in a process of homogenisation with the other political and social forces, as a condition for acceptance in the management of the economic and political balances imposed by the market situation and alliances. This process is particularly evident in international politics, which is becoming less and less the object of theoretical and practical mobilisation by mass movements.
2. The framework outlined in the previous point can be characterised as a loss of memory and planning capacity with respect to a perspective of liberation and self-determination of peoples. Symmetrically, the position of the Italian League can be defined as the assumption of a role that is first and foremost the preservation and development of memory in a national and international society in which the principles and the practice of the Universal Declaration of Rights and the Liberation of Peoples are not a purely verbal exercise, but a reference platform for political and social action in which today fidelity to a perspective of liberation risks being increasingly connoted negatively, not positively, in terms of utopia.
3. This position of the Italian League constitutes its strength and at the same time its possible ambiguity or precariousness. As the bearer, in its name, or in its programmatic declarations, in its initiatives, of a memory of a future of liberation, the League has progressively assumed the role of a place of confluence and recognition of all those who, inside and outside of parties and mass organisations, maintain a nostalgia for a political and cultural action in which the principles of the Universal Declaration have more than just formal importance.
On the other hand, this confluence is mainly translated into a solidarity gathering of scattered minorities, without succeeding in transforming itself into an innovative project, capable of giving back a systematic, politically and culturally visible breath to a memory and praxis of liberation.
4. The situation thus outlined represents a radical challenge for the Italian League’s self-awareness, and consequently for its strategy of activities, alliances, choice of priorities… One no longer moves in an already ‘favourable’ or supportive political and cultural context, one is called upon to become a formulator of ideas, of hypotheses, to be a point of aggregation for emerging movements and forces, to assume roles of research and planning, to act as a stimulus for the creation of networks of reflection and action capable of bringing into the conscience of the country a perspective not only of management and balance, but of transformation. The Italian League finds itself in this perspective ever closer to and interacting with the lines of commitment, reflection and research of the International Foundation in its path of attention to/connection with the new subjects of history.
5. With the obvious difficulties encountered in this process of reinterpreting itself and its own role, the Italian League has remained faithful to its original vocation of being a militant presence, and has pursued its reflection through involvement in the ambiguity of the cultural and political situations in which it has found itself operating. The main strands of commitment in which this activity has been realised are currently the creation of new local Leagues, as an experimental place for the aggregation of new subjects and their involvement in a logic of peoples’ liberation; a growing presence in the sphere of Italian cooperation, and specifically in the activity of non-governmental organisations, for their orientation in the sense of the Universal Declaration; a leading and timely presence on all occasions when the international situation requires attention not only in terms of solidarity but also of political reflection on the rights of all peoples to self-determination; an internal training activity, to increase the degree of autonomy and originality of reflection; a very active commitment to the peace movement; the formation of a working group, reflection, initiative specifically oriented to the role of women in the liberation processes; the relationship with the Liberation Movements, through the establishment of specific support committees (El Salvador, Palestine, South Africa…), the development of specific lines of reflection and research in the field of technology transfer, as a means of contact with various Italian realities in the university and cooperation field; the development of contacts with centres of reflection and research in the Mediterranean area; attention to the problems of exile and immigrants.
Tognoni, Gianni
in: Peuples/Popoli/Peoples/Pueblos, n. 8 (October 1986)