Luigi Manconi (born 21 February 1948) is an Italian academic and politician, former

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Biography

Manconi graduated in Political Sciences at the University of Milan and started teaching Sociology in the University of Palermo and the IULM University of Milan.

Journalistic career

In the

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 420px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ease tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the ...

, Manconi founded and directed, together with

Massimo Cacciari Massimo Cacciari (; born 5 June 1944) is an Italian philosopher, politician and public intellectual. Biography Born in Venice, Cacciari graduated in philosophy from the University of Padua (1967), where he also received his doctorate, writing a ...

and

Rossana Rossanda Rossana Rossanda (23 April 1924 – 20 September 2020) was an Italian communist politician, journalist, and feminist. Biography Rossanda was born in Pula, then part of Italy. She studied in Milan and was a student of philosopher Antonio Banfi. ...

, the magazine ''Antigone''. He was a columnist and commentator for Italian newspapers, such as

Il Messaggero ''Il Messaggero'' (Italian : "The Messenger") is an Italian newspaper based in Rome, Italy. It has been in circulation since 1878. History and profile ''Il Messaggero'' was founded in December 1878. On 1 January 1879, the first issue of ''Il M ...

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

; he is currently a columnist for Il Foglio and

La Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...

Political career

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, Manconi was elected, as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

on the list of the

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

, and again elected in the following elections. He took part in the work of numerous commissions on the issues that have always characterized his militancy and his research activities: justice and guarantee, individual freedoms and social guarantees, and the autonomy of the person. In 2005, Manconi joined the Democrats of the Left for which he was head of the national civil rights department and a member of the national leadership. He was

undersecretary Undersecretary (or under secretary) is a title for a person who works for and has a lower rank than a secretary (person in charge). It is used in the executive branch of government, with different meanings in different political systems, and is al ...

of state for

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

in the Prodi II Cabinet from 2006 to 2008. In

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, Manconi was elected

in the list of the

and was appointed president of the Human rights Commission of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. A former exponent of the No on the occasion of the constitutional referendum of 4 December 2016, on 23 October 2017 Manconi did not participate in the votes of confidence on ''

Rosatellum The Italian electoral law of 2017, colloquially known by the nickname ''Rosatellum bis'' or simply ''Rosatellum'' after Ettore Rosato, the Democratic Party (PD) leader in the Chamber of Deputies who first proposed the new law, is a parallel voti ...

'', the new electoral law. In October and December 2017 he launched the initiative of a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...

for the approval of the

jus soli ''Jus soli'' ( , , ; meaning "right of soil"), commonly referred to as birthright citizenship, is the right of anyone born in the territory of a state to nationality or citizenship. ''Jus soli'' was part of the English common law, in contras ...

law, which did not reach the quorum in the Senate. On 2 February 2018,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019. He previously served as prime minister of Italy from December ...

appointed Manconi as coordinator of the Office for the Promotion of Equal Treatment and the Removal of Discrimination established within the Department for Equal Opportunities.

Personal life

He is the father of three children: Davide, Giacomo, and Giulia, the latter had by his second wife, journalist Bianca Berlinguer. Since 2007 he has suffered from a severe form of low vision caused by several factors, including

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye rem ...

retinal detachment Retinal detachment is a disorder of the eye in which the retina peels away from its underlying layer of support tissue. Initial detachment may be localized, but without rapid treatment the entire retina may detach, leading to vision loss and blin ...

, and severe

myopia Near-sightedness, also known as myopia and short-sightedness, is an eye disease where light focuses in front of, instead of on, the retina. As a result, distant objects appear blurry while close objects appear normal. Other symptoms may include ...

External links

*Files about his parliamentary activities (in Italian)
XII
legislature 1948 births Living people People from Sassari 20th-century Italian politicians 21st-century Italian politicians Federation of the Greens politicians Democrats of the Left politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians {{Italy-politician-DemocraticPartyItaly-stub University of Milan alumni Members of the Senate of the Republic (Italy) Academic staff of the IULM University of Milan Academic staff of the University of Palermo Candidates for President of Italy