This year marks (precisely on July 3rd) the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Alex Langer, who took his own life near Florence in 1995, perhaps out of disappointment (after so many battles for interethnic coexistence and peace in the Balkans following the breakup of Yugoslavia). Many articles have been published for the occasion, many old and new books about him. Having arrived at ecology and the idea of “ecological conversion” (a concept also taken up by Pope Francis), like others, from his activism in Lotta Continua, Langer still represents a source of inspiration for those who hope for a concrete utopia made of nonviolence, sharing, equity. Born in 1946 to a German-speaking family in Vipiteno, he chose to study at an Italian high school and promoted from a young age the rejection of exclusive ethnic belonging. His experience in a border land profoundly influenced his thinking. A bridge builder, wall jumper, frontier explorer, “He knew – Franco Lorenzoni wrote among other things in a long article published on July 1st in ‘Internazionale’ – that there is no single History with a capital H, capable of encompassing the many lowercase histories that inhabit near and distant regions. His ability to embrace, compare and keep in mind different points of view constituted his way of approaching people and things in the world, together with a passion for precision in details and for languages”. Most of the texts by and about Langer can be found on the website of the foundation dedicated to him (alexanderlanger.org). On Raiplay it is possible to watch a 50-minute program (“Alexander Langer: the concrete utopia”). We remember here the importance of Alex Langer’s thought with an article by Aurelio Angelini.
(In the opening image, Alex Langer – Alexander Langer Foundation archive)
The founding of the Italian Greens in 1986, together with Massimo Scalia, Gianni Mattioli and other intellectuals, represents a moment of paradigmatic rupture in the Italian political landscape. Langer contributes to defining “the movement’s identity through the” development of a platform that integrates environmental issues with social ones, anticipating by decades the concept of “”climate justice””.
