Franco Rocchetta
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Franco Rocchetta (born
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, 12 April 1947) is an Italian politician, entrepreneur, philologist and history populariser, who is usually described as the "father" of present-day Venetian nationalism and independentism.


Early life and political career

Since his university years, Rocchetta has been a Venetist, a Europeanist, and a passionate of historical, archeological and linguistic studies, and, as such, he was active in Radical and
green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...
movements. Before coming of age, he was investigated for separatist writings on walls and for his solidarity with
South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...
ean activists. During the 1960s he was a member of the
Italian Republican Party The Italian Republican Party (, PRI) is a political party in Italy established in 1895, which makes it the oldest political party still active in the country. The PRI identifies with 19th-century classical radicalism, as well as Mazzinianism, a ...
and the
Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party (, PCI) was a communist and democratic socialist political party in Italy. It was established in Livorno as the Communist Party of Italy (, PCd'I) on 21 January 1921, when it seceded from the Italian Socialist Part ...
, which he left in order to join '' Lotta Continua'' in 1969. In 1978 Rocchetta founded the "Venetian Philological Society" (of which he was elected president).


Liga Veneta and Lega Nord

In 1980 Rocchetta, who had been a candidate in the list led by Valdostan Union in the
1979 European Parliament election The 1979 European Parliament election was a series of parliamentary elections held across all 9 (at the time) European Community member states. They were the first European elections to be held, allowing citizens to elect 410 MEPs to the Eur ...
, was instrumental in the foundation of
Liga Veneta Liga Veneta (; ; abbr. LV), whose complete name is (), is a regionalist political party active in Veneto. The LV, whose ideology combines Venetian nationalism and support for fiscal federalism, was established in 1979 under the slogan "farthe ...
, whose goal was to reorganise an independent Venetian Republic within a federal Europe. Rocchetta was thus Liga Veneta's long-time national president and practical leader, having seized party's control over Achille Tramarin in 1984 and having been elected to the Regional Council of Veneto in
1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
. Having been a founding member of
Lega Nord Lega Nord (LN; ), whose complete name is (), is a right-wing politics, right-wing, federalism, federalist, populism, populist and conservatism, conservative list of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy. In the run-up to the 201 ...
, along with Umberto Bossi, Franco Castellazzi, Giorgio Conca, Gipo Farassino, Riccardo Fragassi,
Marilena Marin Marilena Marin (born 24 July 1947) is an Italian Venetian nationalism, Venetist politician. A native of Conegliano, she was a founding member of Liga Veneta in 1978–1980 and, after a party purge in 1984, she was elected national secretary of th ...
, Bruno Ravera, Francesco Speroni and Carla Uccelli, in 1989, Rocchetta led Liga Veneta into Lega Nord, which became a federation from a confederation, in 1991. During the party's founding federal congress, he was elected federal president, a role he would keep until 1994. In the 1992 general election he was first elected to the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...
and, after the 1994 general election, he joined Berlusconi I Cabinet as undersecretary of Foreign Affairs. In July 1994, after years of juxtaposition with federal secretary Bossi on several institutional, organisational, ethnic, ethic and economic issues, Rocchetta left the party before the end of a congress in which his wife and protégé Marilena Marin was replaced by Fabrizio Comencini as national secretary. After his exit from Lega Nord, he unsuccessfully launched Liga Nathion Veneta. He later joined the Federalists and Liberal Democrats and National Alliance, prior to leaving politics.


Post-Lega Nord activity

Having left the
Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...
following the 1996 general election, Rocchetta, while continuing to be an active spokesman for Venetian nationalism, focused on
pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...
and
antimilitarism Antimilitarism (also spelt anti-militarism) is a doctrine that opposes war, relying heavily on a critical theory of imperialism and was an explicit goal of the First and Second International. Whereas pacifism is the doctrine that disputes (especi ...
. In particular, in 1999 he went to
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
for what he described as a "mission of peace", along with some
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
pacifists, notably including Luca Casarini, Gianfranco Bettin and Vitaliano Della Sala. With his "Center for International Studies" dedicated to Paolo Sarpi, Rocchetta organised several initiatives with representatives of
minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...
, notably including those with Ibrahim Rugova in favour of a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Kosovo. In 1999 Rocchetta was instrumental in the awarding to Rugova of the honorary citizenship of
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
by then-mayor Massimo Cacciari. Between the 1990s and the 2000s Rocchetta was
honorary consul A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...
of the
Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...
in Venice. In 2013 Rocchetta returned to active politics after virtually 20 years of absence from the political scene as a member of Plebiscite 2013, a cross-party committee which organised the 2014 referendum on Veneto's independence, which saw the participation of 63.2% of eligible voters and the support of 89.1% among them. Later on Rocchetta, along with Andrea Arman and Giovanni Dalla-Valle, distanced from the Venetist organisation over disagreements with the "Delegation of Ten". In the 2014 centre-left primary election for selecting the candidate for President of Veneto, Rocchetta voted for Simonetta Rubinato, who lost to Alessandra Moretti.


2014 arrest for alleged terrorism

On 2 April 2014, ten days after the 2014 Venetian independence referendum was held, Rocchetta was arrested, along with a group of Venetian separatists (including leading members of the Venetian Most Serene Government and the European Federalist Free Entrepreneurs), for suspected crimes including criminal association for terrorism and subversion of the democratic order. On 18 April Rocchetta, who had declared his innocence and pacifism since the beginning, was released from prison as a tribunal in
Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...
did not uphold the accusations.


See also

* 2014 Venetian independence referendum


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocchetta, Franco 1947 births Living people Lega Nord politicians Venetist politicians Members of the Regional Council of Veneto 20th-century Italian politicians 21st-century Italian politicians Venetian independence activists