Alessandro Di Battista (born 4 August 1978) is an Italian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, activist and writer, deputy of the XVII Legislature of the Italian Republic. He was part of the

Five Stars Movement The Five Star Movement ( it, Movimento 5 Stelle , M5S) is a political party in Italy. Its leader and president is Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy from 2018 until 2021. The M5S was founded on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian an ...

from 2009 to 2021. He left the movement in February 2021 because he was against the formation of the

Draghi government The Draghi government was the 67th government of the Italy, Italian Republic, led by former President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi. It was in office between 13 February 2021 and 22 October 2022. The Draghi government was formed f ...

Biography

Di Battista was born in Rome to parents of Civita Castellana. His father, Vittorio Di Battista, was an entrepreneur in the healthcare sector and municipal councilor for the

Italian Social Movement The Italian Social Movement ( it, Movimento Sociale Italiano, MSI) was a neo-fascist political party in Italy. A far-right party, it presented itself until the 1990s as the defender of Italian fascism's legacy, and later moved towards national ...

. Di Battista graduated high school from Liceo Scientifico Statale Farnesina located in Rome. Later on, he graduated from the University of Roma Tre with a dissertation ''A multi-speed European monetary union as a realistic strategy''. He also obtained the Level 2 Master in International Protection of Human Rights from

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...

. Later in 2010 he worked for a year as a cooperator in Guatemala, and also collaborated with educational projects in other countries such as Chile. On 11 February 2021, Di Battista announced his resignation from the 5 Star Movement, as he opposed the group's decision of being part of the new government formed by

Mario Draghi Mario Draghi (; born 3 September 1947) is an Italian economist, academic, banker and civil servant who served as prime minister of Italy from February 2021 to October 2022. Prior to his appointment as prime minister, he served as President of ...

, during the

2021 Italian government crisis The 2021 Italian government crisis was a political event in Italy that began in January 2021 and ended the following month. It includes the events that follow the announcement of Matteo Renzi, leader of Italia Viva (IV) and former Prime Ministe ...

Political activity

In 2008, Di Battista was a candidate with the list of Friends of

Beppe Grillo Giuseppe Piero "Beppe" Grillo (; born 21 July 1948) is an Italian comedian, actor, blogger, and politician. He has been involved in politics since 2009 as the co-founder (together with Gianroberto Casaleggio) of the Italian Five Star Movement ...

to the municipal authorities of Rome. Later on he joined the 5 Star Movement and became a spokesman for

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. Later in December 2012 he became a candidate for the parliamentarians of the 5 Star Movement, but did not win. The following year in 2013, he won the race for deputy of the 5 Star Movement. From 7 May 2013 to July 2015 he was vice president of the commission for Foreign and Community Affairs. On 7 August 2016, with the coast to coast Constitution, he went on a motorcycle tour to promote the "No" to the referendum on the Renzi-Boschi constitutional reform. On 20 November 2017 he announced that he will not stand for re-election to the next parliamentary elections of 2018, but will remain in the 5 Star Movement. Battista accused

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

of having ties with the

Italian Mafia Organized crime in Italy and its criminal organizations have been prevalent in Italy, especially Southern Italy, for centuries and have affected the social and economic life of many Italian regions since at least the 19th century. There are six ...

, leading to a corrupt system while he was in power, stating he has only made it more powerful. He expressed approval for Donald Trump's foreign policy, stating that he did better than the "coup organizer" Obama. Nicknamed "the Five Star Che Guevara", he was one of the leaders of the most radical wing of the movement. He is considered an

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...

and

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...

, even if he considers outdated the ideological categories of the twentieth century. He cites inspirational figures such as

Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , , ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, linguist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a ...

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, filmmaker, writer and intellectual who also distinguished himself as a journalist, novelist, translator, playwright, visual artist and actor. He is considered one of ...

and

Eduardo Galeano Eduardo Hughes Galeano (; 3 September 1940 – 13 April 2015) was a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist considered, among other things, "global soccer's pre-eminent man of letters" and "a literary giant of the Latin American left". Galean ...

. In 2020 he accused John Elkann and Fiat of owning 15 newspapers and having privileges like a Royal family. During the

, he announced he would not vote to support a Draghi government. After the 5 Star Movement decided to support and be part of the

, Di Battista announced in a video that he would abandon the movement. He also declared that the Draghi Cabinet had been a work of

Gianni Letta Gianni Letta (born 15 April 1935) is an Italian journalist and politician. He is a close advisor of Silvio Berlusconi and a member of the advisory board of Goldman Sachs International. Biography After graduating in law, he started working as a ...

and he will not found another political party nor lead the set of deputies expelled out of 5 Star Movement. In May 2021 he opened his blog without a political party.

Journalist and writing activity

Di Battista has written a number of books, mostly about politics and his travel experiences in South America. After his parliamentary activity, he started collaborating with

Il Fatto Quotidiano ''il Fatto Quotidiano'' (English: "The Daily Fact") is an Italian daily newspaper owned by ''Editoriale Il Fatto SpA'' published in Rome, Italy. It was founded on 23 September 2009 and was edited by Antonio Padellaro until 2015, when Marco Trav ...

, providing documentaries and journalistic coverage on foreign world areas, as well as podcasts and interviews.

Controversies

On 14 February 2015, in an article published by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Di Battista is ranked as winner for the "biggest lie" of the year, pronounced by a politician in 2014. In the article, it is reported a sentence told by Di Battista in a rally in which, describing the political situation in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, he said that "60% of the country is in the hands of

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...

, and the rest of the country is suffering with

Ebola Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after becom ...

", thesis rejected both by the NYT and the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

. Di Battista declared that "for the world peace, thankfully we have Putin". On 22 February 2022, Di Battista declared "Russia is not invading Ukraine" and "that Putin wants everything but a war".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Battista, Alessandro 1978 births Living people Deputies of Legislature XVII of Italy Five Star Movement politicians 21st-century Italian politicians