position of absolute disaffection with politics, and so this probably
played a role, but I considered Félix’s activism to be an obstacle, an
excess of generosity in a situation that did not deserve it and from which
he had little to gain.GM:That is really very interesting. I thought that basically this struggle of
the Greens did not entirely remain a dead letter, that is, do you really think
that their work did not amount to anything? For example, the entire politics
against the GMOs ...Bifo:No, no, and I can even say more, that is, we can say that the
Greens’ thinking and their practice in the last twenty years determined
the modification of what you were discussing quite well. That is, it
became possible to speak of globalization from a critical point of view.
The Greens’ work made us understand that processes don’t only have a
local or national dimension: this is all quite good. I am far from disput-
ing this, but I found unproductive the Greens’ political commitment
in the 1980s. On the other hand, I believe myself to have been
sufficiently commited, in the last five years, in the so-called ‘non-
global’ movement!In fact, I would have been very happy if Félix had
still been with us in those years because I am certain that he would
have been able to make an extraordinary contribution, one that would
have been truly recognized!
But why? Why, in fact, was the Greens’ practice in the 1980s ... I
know the Green world very well, quite sufficiently from inside. My
sister became very involved in those events, they are my friends, I
voted with them, I hung out with them, etc., but what was the Green
world in the 1980s? There were thousands of extraordinary practices:
in therapy, in experimentation on alternative energies, etc. So thou-
sands of extremely interesting daily practices, and on the other hand a
political manoeuvring of the lowest possible order! That is, they never
succeeded, but perhaps it was just as well this way ... The Green move-
ment is not a political movement, but rather a movement for reorient-
ing politics. But when it gets reduced to participation in elections, then
perhaps it is not that good, with the possible exception of the
Germans. To sum it all up, I would say that the parliamentary engage-
ment of the Italian Greens does not reflect at all the importance of
their conceptual contributions. And so I told Félix, ‘But why should
you get involved in all that?’.GM:Write books!Interview with Franco Berardi (Bifo) 1639780230_221192_14_inte.pdf 10/3/08 11:37 AM Page 163