Italian philosopher Antonio Negri dies at age of 90

The Italian philosopher and left-wing political scientist Antonio Negri, known as Toni, has died at the age of 90.

He died during the night in Paris, as reported by the Italian news agencies ANSA and Adnkronos reported on Saturday.

Negri was regarded in Italy as a pioneer of the left and historical leader of the Marxist movement "Autonomia Operaia" (Workers' Autonomy). He remained politically active until the end.

Negri was born in 1933 in the northern Italian city of Padua. He was raised Catholic by his parents. During his studies, Negri founded workers' councils, organized demonstrations and wrote manifestos. He became a professor of political theory at the age of 33.

Early on, he was regarded as a leading theorist of the Italian radical left in the 1960s and 1970s and as a symbolic figure of the left-wing extremist revolt in Italy. As an ideological pioneer of some left-wing groups, he called for the sabotage of capitalist society. He also wrote several books.

After the assassination of former prime minister Aldo Moro of the Christian Democratic Party by left-wing terrorists in 1978, Negri was arrested the following year due to the new anti-terrorism laws.

In 1983, he managed to be elected to parliament for a radical liberal party. He then enjoyed immunity and fled to France. He handed himself in at the end of the 1990s and served part of his sentence in Italy. Negri was released in 2003 and moved to France, where he lived until his death.