The famed Italian Marxist and political activist Antonio Negri has died at the age of 90. Negri inspired generations of leftist scholars and activists with his writings about the human desire for liberation and the self-organizational capacity of ordinary people to make change. Negri co-authored along with Michael Hardt the seminal book “Empire,” which argued for a contemporary understanding of imperialism beyond the limits of individual nation-states. Democracy Now! interviewed Antonio Negri in Venice, Italy, in 2015, concluding the conversation by asking Negri what gives him hope.

Antonio Negri: “The fact that the new generations, and not only them, have understood that they can fight, that they can move on the terrain of new capacities for action. I believe that these new generations, born out of communicative and intellectual labor, are much freer than our parents or my generation of factory workers. These are social generations, generations who communicate and build their future with language, with the word, with intelligence, and this is hope. Hope lies wholly within people and their ability to determine their own destinies.”