Neverland: Sardinia and the independence project of ProgReS Antonella Seddone (University of Turin) Arianna Giovannini (Leeds Metropolitan University) Paper presented at the PSA 64th Annual International Conference Manchester, 14-16 April 2014 (this paper is a work in progress as the research on which it is based is still on-going — please do not quote without the authors’ permission) Authors’ contact details:
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[email protected] Introduction Among the Italian regions, Sardinia certainly stands out as one with very a distinctive identity, cultural and historical traits. Since the post-war period, a wide number of ethno- regionalist parties have attempted to exploit such distinctiveness, seeking some for of autonomy from the Italian Republic – drawing in particular on the experience of the Partito Sardo d’Azione. However, none of these political forces has managed to gain much public support or political clout either at regional or national level, especially due to the intrinsically divisive and exclusionary nature of their political message and organisation. Within this context, the attention of this paper is focussed on ProgReS (Progetu Repùblica de Sardigna) – one of the ‘youngest’ ERPs in Sardinia. Although born only in 2011, ProgReS has immediately stood out in the Sardinian political context, especially for its ambition to open a new way for independentism based on a new rhetoric of ‘sardismo’, which finds its strength in the grassroots, rather than in the political elite (as in the experience of PSd’Az, for example). Hence, the aim of this article is shed light on this new political actor, in order to understand its structures and organisation, and the way in which it seeks to politicise Sardinian identity.