Venetian Nationalism - People and Movements

People and Movements

Prominent Venetists have included Goffredo Parise, Franco Rocchetta (founder of Liga Veneta), Ettore Beggiato (who wrote a book titled 1866: la grande truffa, meaning "1866: the great swindle"), Sabino Acquaviva (who perfaced the book of Beggiato), Fabio Padovan, Giorgio Lago, Flaminio De Poli, Giampaolo Borsetto, Ivone Cacciavillani, Fabrizio Comencini, Gian Paolo Gobbo, Manuela Dal Lago, Luca Zaia, Flavio Tosi, Giorgio Vido, Giorgio Panto, Patrik Riondato, Loris Palmerini, and, to some extent, Giancarlo Galan, Massimo Cacciari and Mario Rigoni Stern.

In November 2009 the Corriere del Veneto, the regional edition of the Corriere della Sera in Veneto, published a broad overview of what it described as "Venetist galaxy". The newspaper counted around 20 notable Venetist organizations: along the four major Venetist parties of the time (Liga Veneta–Lega Nord, Liga Veneta Repubblica, North-East Project and Venetian National Party), a large variety of minor political parties, movements, cultural associations and trade unions were listed.

A prominent Venetist cultural association is Raixe Venete (Venetian Roots), which organizes every year the well-known Festa dei Veneti in Cittadella. The association has strong links with separatists from all over Europe and especially from the Basque Country. At the Festa dei Veneti, Venetists of every political colour, politicians of different political parties (including non-Venetist, both right and left), Venetist associations, actors, comedians, flag-wavers, musicians (notably including Herman Medrano), rock bands, and many people meet at the beginning of September every year. In November 2009 Raixe Venete organized a demonstration in Venice in support of the teaching of Venetian in schools: a wide range of people took part, from Roberto Ciambetti, leader of Liga Veneta–Lega Nord in the Regional Council of Veneto, to Luca Casarini, a former far-left anti-globalization activist and leader of the Tute Bianche in Veneto.

The European Federalist Free Entrepreneurs (LIFE) was formed in 1994 by a group of Venetist entrepreneurs (Fabio Padovan, Diego Cancian, etc.) who opposed the "fiscal and bureaucratic oppression" of the "Venetian people" by Italy and demanded fiscal federalism and autonomy for the region. In particular, they decided to organize themselves as a trade union, saying that they were the most oppressed workers in Italy.

Another notable association is Venetians Movement and was founded in 2006 by Patrik Riondato. Initially it presented itself as a cross-party political movement which aimed to promote independence in a democratic and nonviolent way. However, in 2010 it took part to the founding of the Party of the Venetians, a coalition of Venetist parties ranging from the centre-right to the far-left, which was later merged into Veneto State.

Among the youth, the strongest organization is Independentist Youth, whose most representative figures are Giacomo Mirto and Stefano Danieli.

Other six leading although small groups are the self-proclaimed Venetian Most Serene Government (VSG), whose main leaders include Luigi Faccia and late Giuseppe Segato, Self-Government of the Venetian People led by Loris Palmerini, Venetian State of Vittorio Selmo, the Venetian National Liberation Movement (MLNV) led by Sergio Bortotto, the Venetian National Government of Gabriele De Pieri, and Self-Government of Venetia of Daniele Quaglia.

On the cultural side, it is worth of mention the Milizia Veneta (Venetian Militia), in practice a corp of people who perform historic representations of the Venetian army (including flag-raising at the Festa dei Veneti), Europa Veneta, Par San Marco and Veneti Eventi.

The Venetist movement has also several publications, notably including Quaderni Veneti and Gaxeta Veneta, a webmagazine.