Antonella Bundu
{{Short description|Italian activist}}
Antonella Moro Bundu (born 4 December 1969 in Florence) is an Italian activist. In 2019 she was a candidate to be Mayor of Florence, making her the first black woman to run for mayor of a major Italian city.Sophie Gorman, [https://www.france24.com/en/20190525-antonella-bundu-first-black-woman-mayor-italy-florence-racism-elections-immigration Antonella Bundu: The first black woman to run for mayor of a major Italian city], France 24, 26 June 2019.
At present, she is city council member, leading the left opposition "Sinistra Progetto Comune" group.
Life
Antonella Bundu was born in Florence in 1969,[https://www.firenzecittaaperta.it/antonella-bundu-la-mia-storia/ Sono Antonella Bundu: una donna nera, fiorentina e di sinistra] the daughter of a Florentine mother and a Sierra Leonean father. In the late 1980s she studied in Liverpool, which she recalls as a "politically charged city" after the Toxteth riots: "I was studying black history in the city's libraries, and participated actively in the neightbourhood's protests."Lorenzo Tondo, [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/19/toxteth-to-florence-woman-would-be-mayor-antonella-bundu Resisting the right: the woman who is a beacon of hope in Salvini's Italy], The Guardian, 19 April 2019. Accessed 24 July 2020.
An ex-DJ and activist for Oxfam, Bundu was one of the first on the scene at the 2018 Florence shooting of the Senegalese immigrant Idy Diene. She took part in the anti-racist protests which followed his death, and after making a speech at the Alfieri Theatre was invited to run for mayor on behalf of a radical-left coalition including Power to the People and the Communist Refoundation Party. In the 2019 Mayoral election, she received 14,016 votes (7.29%).[https://www.ansa.it/europee_2019/dati_elettorali/elezioni_dati.html?t=3&x4=8_CM_FIRENZE Dettaglio scrutini]