Marco Pannella

Marco Pannella (born Giacinto Pannella; 2 May 1930 – 19 May 2016) was an Italian politician, journalist and activist. He was well known in his country for his nonviolence and civil rights' campaigns, like the right to divorce, the right to abortion, the legalization of cannabis and the abolition of nuclear power. Internationally, he supported human rights and self-determination causes, like the Tibetan independence and persecution of Christians in Vietnam. He was the historic leader of the Radical Party, the first political organization of Italian Radicals in the post-World War II period, founded in 1955. Between 1979 and 2009, he was a Member of the European Parliament, where he sat as a full member in the Committee on Legal Affairs, in the Committee on Budgetary Control and in the Delegation for relations with Israel. He was also President of the Nonviolent Radical Party. He is considered to have been a left-libertarian and liberal socialist. Early life Pannella was born in Teramo (Abruzzo) from an Italian father and a Swiss mother on 2 May 1930. He attended the classical lyceum Julius Caesar in Rome. In 1955 Pannella graduated with a degree in law from the University of Urbino.