Radix Italy, sister organisation to Radix UK, has been launched at a conference in Padua.
Radix co-founder Joe Zammit-Lucia was there and described the purpose of Radix as undermining ivory towers.
“We exist to spread new thinking,” he said. “To break down tribal politics and bring people together from all political parties and none. To direct their energies towards capitalising on the many opportunities that lie before us – opportunities that our outdated post-war institutions seem unable to harness. Institutions that today seem tired, out of date and no longer fit for purpose.”
He said that the politics of left against right are now “as outdated as the horse-drawn buggy – cute as a nostalgic tourist attraction, but totally unfit for the modern world.”
“The political energy of today does not come from either the left or the right. They are both conservative forces stuck in looking backwards rather than forwards. No. The refreshing political energy of today comes from those who do not define themselves either as left or as right. They are not bound by the quasi-religious ideologies of old ideas.
“They are instead focused on building a prosperous future in the contemporary world. They want to see a politics of their citizens rather than a politics of the parties. They want to understand how technology and the new society can improve their lives and their opportunities rather than listen to tales of woe and destruction as to how technology will replace their jobs.
“They are driven by the concerns of today – how to create a more even spread of wealth and prosperity, how to protect the environment in which we all have to live and which is essential to our livelihoods, how they can be active participants in civic life, how to have their voices heard in the increasingly remote and stifling bureaucracies of London, Rome and Brussels. How we can use the incredible energy of our times as a force for good.
“That is what the radical centre is about. It is about breaking out of the frustrating stagnation of the status quo. A status quo supported by vested interest groups that will defend their privileges to the death.”
Joe’s full address can be found here.
