Mariateresa Di Lascia (3 January 1954 – 10 September 1994) was an Italian politician and writer, activist, human rights' supporter and advocate of non-violence.

Biography

Di Lascia was born in Rocchetta Sant'Antonio, Italy. She attended college in the

University of Naples The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

. She was studying of Medicine with the goal of becoming a lay missionary. However within three years she had become so involved in her political activism that she left university.

Political activity

Di Lascia joined the Radical Party in 1975. In 1982 she was elected as the national deputy secretary of the party under the leadership of

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 ab ...

. Her initial activism was aimed at eliminating hunger. She coordinated the ''Survival 82'' campaign mobilising mayors in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

to support laws against hunger. Di Lascia was an environmental activist, acting to remove and prevent nuclear power in Italy. She proposed penitentiary reform in 1990 and the abolition of the death penalty in 1993. Di Lascia created a campaign to support victims of the war of the former Yugoslavia with

Adriano Sofri Adriano Sofri (born 1 August 1942) is an Italian intellectual, a journalist and a writer. The former leader of the autonomist movement ''Lotta Continua'' ("Continuous Struggle") in the 1960s, he was arrested in 1988 and sentenced to 22 years of ...

in 1993. She also demonstrated about the liberation of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

at the Human Rights Conference in Vienna the same year. Di Lascia was in favour of Hahnemannian homeopathic medicine and in 1991 she founded the Homeopathic Patients Association (APO) as well as advocating for its legislation. The association is based in Naples. Di Lascia was the editor and a contributor for the newspaper ''Radical News'' in 1985 and 1986. Her articles were on ecology, medicine, justice and political current affairs. She also aired shows on both Radio Radicale and on Tele Roma 56.

Personal life

Lascia died in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

on 10 September 1994, at the age of 40. Her death, of cancer, came just a few months after marrying Sergio D'Elia. Her first novel was ''Passage in Shadow'' which won the

Strega Prize The Strega Prize ( it, Premio Strega ) is the most prestigious Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published ...

in 1995.

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Lascia, Mariateresa 1954 births 1994 deaths Italian women non-fiction writers 20th-century Italian women politicians 20th-century Italian women writers Nonviolence advocates Radical Party (Italy) politicians Italian Radicals politicians Anti–death penalty activists Italian environmentalists Italian human rights activists 20th-century Italian non-fiction writers Italian political writers Deaths from cancer in Lazio