I met Pannella sometime in the mid 70's at an EFLRY seminar.(for younger readers this was some time before LYMEC was formed). He talked about Gueseppe Mazzini and the unification of Italy, his successful campaign for divorce law reform and the upcoming campaign for abortion .He had joined the Italian Liberal Party in his youth and was a student leader. In 1956 the broke with the party -then led by Giovanni Malagodi a man prominent in Liberal International and often quoted by Jeremy Thorpe. Pannella along with others on the left helped to form the Radical Party.
Renzi pays homage to the “Lion of Liberty”Tributes for the leader came pouring in from his political colleagues, led by the prime minister, Matteo Renzi, who said: “He was a great political leader, a radical who left his mark on the history of this country, fighting battles that were sometimes controversial but always bravely and without any hidden agendas. I pay tribute on behalf of myself and the government to this warrior and lion of liberty.”
As he Guardian says, he was 'good at annoying people' but had real achievements to his name, their obituary begins
For the past 40 years, the Italian radical politician and civil rights activist Marco Pannella, who has died aged 86, was at the forefront of Italian politics on issues such as divorce, abortion, prison conditions, world hunger, world peace, Europeanism, the decriminalisation of drugs (he was briefly arrested for smoking a joint in public) and sexual reform.
