Libertarian Movement (Italy)

The Libertarian Movement (, ML) is a political party in Italy which espouses a typically libertarian platform, namely minimal regulation of society, free markets, strong defense of natural rights of liberty and property, non-interventionism in foreign policy and laissez-faire freedom of trade and travel to all foreign countries. Its founders are Leonardo Facco and Giorgio Fidenato. Fidenato left the movement on April 15, 2020 after a dispute arose from Fidenato's endorsement of the Covid related policies by the Italian government. The party has as its symbol two black hands shaking and a yellow background in reference to its membership in the anarcho-capitalist.
ML was started as a cultural association on 24 September 2005 in Treviglio with the writing of the Manifesto and Constitution of the Libertarian Movement by Facco. Two years after, ML was transformed into a party by Facco, Fidenato and Marcello Mazzilli. The party's goal is to defend life, liberty and property of each individual within a strong free market system. The party has its registered office in the municipality of Pordenone.
The party supports both the Padanian and the Venetian independence movements. Among other things, Facco is editor of the pro-independence and libertarian online newspaper L'Indipendenza. Both Facco (who has been a leader of the libertarian faction within Lega Nord in the 1990s) and Fidenato have participated in events and demonstrations organized by separatist parties as the Padanian Union, the Alpine Padanian Union and Veneto State. In November 2011, Facco proposed the creation of an Independentist Libertarian Movement (MLI) which would support all the separatist movements and parties active around Italy. In the run-up of a conference of free independentists organized by L'Indipendenza, Fidenato, who had been long in favour of the dissolution of Italy, endorsed the proposal.
Ideology
ML takes inspiration from the classical liberalism of John Locke and the Founding Fathers of the United States conjugated to the 19th-century American individualist anarchist strand of Benjamin Tucker, Henry David Thoreau and Lysander Spooner. On the economy, ML takes inspiration from the Austrian School and the theoretic formulation of philosopher and economist Murray Rothbard. The actions in favor of tax resistance, free entrepreneurship and political non-voting also recall the agorist reflections by Samuel Edward Konkin III, although ML does not officially identify itself in programmatic positions and spectrum of the American left-libertarians. ML also includes some aspects from the American model of liberty (minarchism) theorized by Robert Nozick and the Objectivism philosophy described in novels by Ayn Rand. ML refers to freedom of association of the anarchist federalism, anarcho-capitalist free market society and to the Jeffersonian limited government of classical liberalism.
ML holds an anti-federalist stance on European integration. It is against the transformation of the European Union into a federation, preferring the voluntary accession and the unanimity of a confederation. The term "federalism" as it is used by ML means decentralization and fiscal federalism as opposed to the Italian highly centralized state. Party icons include Ferdinando Galiani, Cesare Beccaria, Filippo Mazzei, Emerico Amari, Carlo Cattaneo, Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, Luigi Einaudi, Bruno Leoni and Gianfranco Miglio. Despite being officially a party, ML has spoken in favor of non-voting. A party slogan says: "Neither right nor left, nor centrist. Simply free is better".
Political actions
Against the withholding tax
Battle to sow GMO maize
Giorgio Fidenato and ML favor the free cultivation and commercialization of GMO seeds and food. They support no limits to GMOs in Italy, consumer freedom to choose their own products and freedom of private scientific research as long as it respect the natural human rights and it does not use public money.
In this respect, Fidenato and his Federated Farmers () were subjected to threats and acts of violent vandalism in their headquarters by an anti-globalization and environmentalist group for their position on GMO maize. The Italian Radicals referred in Parliament on the issue.
Publications
Through his Leonardo Facco Editore publishing house, Facco issues two magazines: Enclave and I Fogli di Enclave. The Scientific Committee of Enclave includes Walter Block, David D. Friedman, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, John Hospers, Antonio Martino, Pierre Lemieux, Tibor Machan, Jan Narveson, Wendy McElroy, Ralph Raico, Robert Sirico and Thomas Szasz.

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