ABSTRACT: What are the problems, the difficulties of those who, having never carried out any political activity, now decide to take up this activity, attracted by the "fracture" that has arisen in the "old system"? Giglio is "happy" to participate, "with bitter feelings", but his decision is "far from simple". Pannella (1) is an "old flame". He judges Marco "a person with great mental rigour", "courageous". Italy "desperately needs men who are radically faithful to their ideas". In other words, "if Marco Pannella did not exist we would have to invent him", and Italy owes im a lot.

(1994 - IL QUOTIDIANO RADICALE, 12 November 1993)

An electronic engineering company specialized in advanced sectors (Space, Defense, Banks, Telecommunications). That is the field of activity of Giancarlo Giglio, entrepreneur, or rather, "self-made man", currently also treasurer of Alleanza Democratic as well as member of the Radical Party.

"We ultimately dealt with the most complicated things for our proven inability to be part of the corruption system".

One of the greatest problems produced by the party system, says Giglio, was the "negative selection of the political and bureaucratic personnel. For years and years only the "reliable" people, i.e. the wise guys, and the corrupt, made advances in their career. For the others there was no space.

When did you decide to enter politics?

When I realized a fracture in the old system could be created. When it was worth it. In a certain sense, I felt like my father when he entered the Resistance: he was happy it had started, happy to participate, but with some bitter feelings for not having done anything before. But it's not simple: I realized it's a real problem to engage in politics while remaining in civil society. It's a balance difficult to achieve. The reason lies also in the current organization of the political activity. You're surrounded by professionals. In other words, either you devote all your energies or nothing. In particular, I find the technique of the political meeting extremely frustrating. Each person delivers his little speech (often prepared beforehand) and there is no real dialogue among the various interlocutors".

And so being a good entrepreneur you became treasurer....

Ultimately this is a way of paying back my old debt with politics.

Is your decision to join the Radical Party also away of paying back a debt?

Marco Pannella is an old flame of mine. True that until recently I never did any active political activity. But it's true that I have always taken a strong interest in politics, and I have always participated in the political events, albeit passively. Radio Radicale, for instance, is a typically Italian thing. As far as I'm concerned it's the only Radio I listen to. In the morning I wake up and listen to the press review of Radio Radicale: it's the typical point of reference.

What do you think of Marco Pannella?

Marco is a person I appreciate tremendously. Obviously he has his own defects, and I can see them better now that I know him. But he possesses great mental rigour. This is rare fact. Many say it's tiring to follow Marco's speeches, so filled with parentheses. I think it's fascinating. Those parentheses always have a meaning. When I hear them, when we talk together, I'm fascinated by the course of his reasoning. I like him, intellectually. Also, Marco is a courageous man, and courageous men must be loved. He's a man who never does anything for his personal interest. This makes him unique. I am surrounded by newcomers of politics, and people honestly motivated by good and useful intentions. In spite of this, I see that too often their opinions are influenced by reasons of political convenience. This is wrong. I believe instead that Italy needs men radically faithful to their ideas and principles, to the end, regardless of the consequences.

That is the attitude that is most lacking in Italy. In other words, if Pannella didn't exist we'd need to invent him. And objectively I think Italian society would be different if Marco hadn't been there. It's different in many respects: divorce, abortion, but not only. Marco means other things as well. For instance, I like the fact that he defends just causes regardless of the chances of succeeding.

For instance?

For instance when he defends the current Parliament (is there anything more unpopular than that?) or when he refuses to fight the powerful men of the past. He fought them before, when they seemed invincible. He's right: it's easy to attack people who are no longer capable of fighting. People find it hard to understand that. In this case there will come the time when his merits will be acknowledged.

(1) Treasurer of Alleanza Democratic

(2) PANNELLA MARCO. Pannella Giacinto, known as Marco. (Teramo 1930). Currently President of the Radical Party's Federal Council, which he is one of the founders of. At twenty national university representative of the Liberal Party, at twenty-two President of the UGI, the union of lay university students, at twenty-three President of the UNURI, national union of Italian university students. At twenty-four he advocates, in the context of the students' movement and of the Liberal party, the foundation of the new radical party, which arises in 1954 following the confluence of prestigious intellectuals and minor democratic political groups. He is active in the party, except for a period (1960-1963) in which he is correspondent for "Il Giorno" in Paris, where he established contacts with the Algerian resistance. Back in Italy, he commits himself to the reconstruction of the radical Party, dissolved by its leadership following the advent of the centre-left. Under his indisputable leadership, the party succeeds in

promoting (and winning) relevant civil rights battles, working for the introduction of divorce, conscientious objection, important reforms of family law, etc, in Italy. He struggles for the abrogation of the Concordat between Church and State. Arrested in Sofia in 1968 as he is demonstrating in defence of Czechoslovakia, which has been invaded by Stalin. He opens the party to the newly-born homosexual organizations (FUORI), promotes the formation of the first environmentalist groups. The new radical party organizes difficult campaigns, proposing several referendums (about twenty throughout the years) for the moralization of the country and of politics, against public funds to the parties, against nuclear plants, etc., but in particular for a deep renewal of the administration of justice. Because of these battles, all carried out with strictly nonviolent methods according to the Gandhian model - but Pannella's Gandhi is neither a mystic nor an ideologue; rather, an intransigent and yet flexible politician - h

e has been through trials which he has for the most part won. As of 1976, year in which he first runs for Parliament, he is always elected at the Chamber of Deputies, twice at the Senate, twice at the European Parliament. Several times candidates and local councillor in Rome, Naples, Trieste, Catania, where he carried out exemplary and demonstrative campaigns and initiatives. Whenever necessary, he has resorted to the weapon of the hunger strike, not only in Italy but also in Europe, in particular during the major campaign against world hunger, for which he mobilized one hundred Nobel laureates and preeminent personalities in the fields of science and culture in order to obtain a radical change in the management of the funds allotted to developing countries. On 30 September 1981 he obtains at the European parliament the passage of a resolution in this sense, and after it several other similar laws in the Italian and Belgian Parliament. In January 1987 he runs for President of the European Parliament, obtaini

ng 61 votes. Currently, as the radical party has pledged to no longer compete with its own lists in national elections, he is striving for the creation of a "transnational" cross-party, in view of a federal development of the United States of Europe and with the objective of promoting civil rights throughout the world.