The political parable of Emma Bonino: the libertarian challenges, the governments from Prodi to Letta and the failed race at Colle. All the stages.
«Girls, nothing is impossible but nothing is free». It was his first motto, when he raged in the squares of 1968 with a flowered skirt, clogs and an imperative: overthrow the system. Failing to do so, Emma Bonino she applied the warning to herself with radical rigor. And within that system she bolted, moving from one chair to another, from one honor to another, but always with the libertarian aura of those who are against power.
With suffering, we are sure, but nothing is free. The wren of steelas her university friends called her, passed away yesterday at the age of 78, crushed by the lethal after-effects of a lung tumor that seemed to have been eradicated.
From street challenges to state funerals
He wanted to put it behind him by continuing to smoke those cigarettes that had provoked him. Not a winning therapy. Impulsive and divisive as per the Pannella school of politics, in recent times she had become sweeter (her friends said «Incredible, now she even listens to you») with her head wrapped in beautiful oriental turbans. Sergio Mattarella defined it as “a point of reference”, Giorgia Meloni he sensed in her «the strong and recognizable voice of politics». He will have a state funeral on Tuesday or Wednesday. Never married, she leaves behind Rugiada and Aurora, two foster daughters.
Tireless activist, undisputed protagonist of Italian public life, she won and lost numerous radical battles in favor of women: supporting role in the one on divorce where Marco Pannella he was the undisputed leader (1974), he was central in the campaign on the legalization of abortion (1978). Since then there has been no humanitarian battle in which he has not participated, always on the side of rights even when it came to desires. And always with four cardinal points to guide it: secularism inclined to atheism, rosé liberal socialism (lib-lab), guaranteeism without discussions, the courage to put your face to it. Before dying he would also have liked to obtain the liberalization of narcotics and euthanasia.
Luckily nothing to do.
Perpetual navigation within the system
Never had any doubts Emma BoninoIndeed, he knew how to live with contradictions.
When the European Union began to show its rope it founded a party named after +Europe. When the migratory invasion began to create violence and degradation, it pushed the accelerator for migrants’ rights.
When radical Islamism cast its shadow over the old continent, she went to Cairo to study the Arabic language and culture. Every impulse was a duty, every humanitarian claim a priority, «because rights are defended and cared for day by day. It’s like riding a bicycle, if you don’t move you fall.”
She fell several times but always stood up. And here is the secret of his success: having made everyone believe that he was perpetually “against” while sailing with the wind of power at his back. She was the closest Italian woman to the chair after Nilde Iotti (13 legislatures). In the 70s Bonino entered the Chamber with Radical Party; in the 1980s she consolidated herself as a leader (she participated in 7 legislatures in total); in 1994 she was also elected with the votes of Forza Italia, then indicated as European Commissioner for humanitarian aid and fisheries by Silvio Berlusconi who had a weakness for her determination. A guest appearance on Canale 5 was memorable: «I danced the boogie and the tango just to deal with some issues of the Radical Party». Once she arrived in Brussels, she took possession of the office and declared: «In any case, between fishermen and fish, I stand with the fish».
In the 2000s she was a senator (two legislatures) within the coalition led by the Democratic Party, then with +Europa and Action.
At the top of world diplomacy
There is no seat that has not welcomed her: Minister of European Policies and Trade and Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies Romano ProdiForeign Minister with Enrico Letta. Plus four sessions as an MEP, delegate for Italy to the UN, leader of the “Food and disarmament international” fund against world hunger supported by Pope John Paul II and then by Pope Francis. In her free moments she was honored by George Soros with the Open Society Prize. Always on the easy side.
Not bad for the girl born in Bra (Cuneo) in 1948 to a housewife and a wood merchant, who moved to Milan to study and graduated in Languages at Bocconi with a thesis on the autobiography of Malcolm And of the magnetic charm of Pannella, with whom he had a love-hate relationship, between shoulder-to-shoulder battles and Homeric arguments. It was he who brought her to Parliament and Emma showed up among the grandparents of the republic with an outfit never seen before (Andean pullover, flowered skirt and clogs) which made Sandro Pertini: «Here’s the brat from Montecitorio».
Not exactly a career with obstacles, however illuminated by four arrests, usually considered medals for an activist. And in any case testimonies of his courage. The second in Warsaw, while demonstrating with Solidarnosc, against the communist regime in Poland. The third in New York while distributing sterile syringes during an anti-prohibitionist struggle. The fourth in Kabul with the entire EU delegation for a protest against the Taliban regime. But he is the first to remain in history: in 1975 he reported himself for having facilitated clandestine abortions, then prohibited by Italian law. He remained in prison for three weeks and that gesture was the match that started the fire abortion law.
The bitterness of the missed hill and the final pride
A life on the front line, with a worry: twice he tried to get elected to the Quirinale and twice he failed. In 1999 Bonino ran for office with posters and commercials that today would be considered sexist. Slogan under the photo: «The right man».
He won Carlo Azeglio Ciampishe got 15 votes. In 2013 the polls put her in the lead: 32%, with Mario Draghi trailing at 26%. But he got the wrong sponsor: Mario Monti and the usual crowd of left-wing artists (Geppi Cucciari, Marco Bellocchio, Alessandro Gassman). Result: Napolitano encore. He considered it an affront. A few years later in an interview he dismissed the matter with this sentence: «Throughout my career they told me: one day they will make a monument to you. I would have preferred to be loved less and voted more.”
Never a doubt, never a second thought. But at least once she apologized: a supporter of President Giovanni Leone’s resignation after Camilla Cederna’s fake news, shortly before he died she wrote him a letter of apology. Emma Bonino was on a completely different side but she was tough and honest. It is not surprising that after treatment for lung cancer she started smoking again.
To those who blamed her she replied: “I don’t want sermons, I want to live like this.” Pope Franciswho went to visit her (he had a weakness for atheists) in the beautiful house in Campo de’ Fiori, consoled her: “Hold on, the bad grass never dies.” It was an accomplishment.
