Disappearance
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The philosopher and mentor of the Italian extreme left passed away in Paris on the night of December 15-16. He was 90 years old.
The meeting had been scheduled, some twenty years ago, at his Roman apartment in Trastevere for a last-page portrait. Sentenced in the mid-80s to twelve years in prison mainly for “subversive association,” Toni Negri was then on parole, voluntarily returning to Italy in 1997 to serve his sentence after spending fourteen years in France, protected by the Mitterrand doctrine. The philosopher, who was one of the main mentors of the Italian extreme left from the 1960s, accepted the interview principle before politely but firmly refusing any questions about his individual and family journey, his thoughts and feelings about half a century of commitment to the political doctrine and revolutionary action.
“It doesn’t matter what Toni Negri feels, what matters is the dynamics of collective struggle,” he repeated without giving the slightest hint of personal confession. For him, everything was thus a matter of concepts, analysis of capitalism and reflections on communism, considerations on the state and evocation of the struggle of the oppressed. Even football, of which he was passionate, was not exempt from a reading in terms of class struggle. The portrait project was eventually abandoned.
Antonio “Toni” Negri passed away in Paris, where he had returned to live for several years, on the night of December 15-16, 2023. In Italy, the news of his death, at 90 years old
