Freda Meissner-Blau

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Freda Meissner-Blau
Spokeswoman of the Green Party
In office
12 February 1987 – 6 December 1988
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byJohannes Voggenhuber
Personal details
Born(1927-03-11)11 March 1927
Died22 December 2015(2015-12-22) (aged 88)
Political partyThe Greens

Freda Meissner-Blau (11 March 1927 – 22 December 2015) was an Austrian politician, activist, and prominent figurehead in the Austrian environmental movement. She was a founder and the federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party.

Early life

Freda Meissner was born in

Nazi movement. He was deemed an enemy of the state for his outspoken opposition and he fled to the United Kingdom in 1939. To avoid the Nazi reprisal of Sippenhaft
(kin liability), Meissner's parents divorced and the family moved back to Liberec. Meissner continued her education there, and then in Vienna and Dresden. During this time many of Meissner's relatives and friends perished during the war, and Meissner's own experiences witnessing the bombing of Dresden, galvanized her ambition to pursue progressive and activist causes.[1]

Meissner returned to Vienna in 1947 and obtained a leaving certificate before going on to communication studies and journalism, working during her studies for the American occupation in Vienna. She travelled to England that same year to visit her father, before completing nursing school and then finally moving to Frankfurt, Germany to study medicine at the Goethe University Frankfurt. While studying there she met Georges de Pawloff who was working for the French occupation in West Germany. They married in 1953.[2]

Early career

In the early 1950s Meissner and her husband moved to Central Africa, in what was then the

developing world.[3]

She then underwent a career change and in the 1960s she moved to Paris and joined the social science department of

Institute for Advanced Studies. She and Georges gave birth to twins, Alexandra and Nicholas, in 1963.[4]

In 1968 Meissner was again living in Paris, and participated in the movements surrounding the

antiestablishmentarianism. She became estranged from Georges, and their marriage broke up in political disagreement. In 1970 she remarried Paul Blau, with whom she had a long acquaintance and shared many ethical and social outlooks. Paul was a prominent figure in the trade union movement, and was editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung (worker's newspaper) from 1967 to 1970. From 1970 to 1972 he worked as a press and cultural attaché
in Paris.

Activism

Anti-Nuclear movement

The unfinished Zwentendorf Nuclear Facility in 2009, which Meissner-Blau successfully campaigned against in 1978

In 1972 the couple returned to Vienna. Meissner-Blau worked as the Bildungsreferentin (education secretary) for the industrial giant OMV where she took an active role holding seminars and running classes for the working class employees. She came into contact with numerous figures in the union movement and leaders within the Socialist Party of Austria (SPÖ). During the 1970s the issue of nuclear power was at the forefront of environmental activism, and was a particularly contentious issue in Austrian politics. In the late 1970s this issue came to a head with the planned construction of six nuclear power plants, the first of which was the Nuclear Power Facility at Zwentendorf. Opposition to the plant became increasingly vociferous as the plant neared completion in 1978. Meissner-Blau became a prominent leader in the fight against the plant, appearing frequently in the media as a spokesperson for the opposition movement. She was joined by her husband Paul, Stefan Micko, Wolfgang Pekny, and Peter Weish as the main figureheads for the cause.[5]

In 1978, confident of majority public support, the socialist

Second Austrian Republic, and the referendum called for people to vote on whether to commission the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant, by now 98% complete. Kreisky was confident of general support for the plant, and set the referendum date for November 18, 1978.[6]

Meissner-Blau and fellow activists from the 'Initiative of Opponents of Atomic Power' (IOeAG) coordinated the campaign for the "No" vote. The campaign concentrated on the lack of safety precautions at Zwentendorf, though the campaign proclaimed a general rejection of nuclear power. Also highlighted was the proximity of the plant to Vienna (just 40 kilometers), which Meissner-Blau and the IOeAG used to great effect in showing social consequences of a nuclear catastrophe. The campaign was well-organized, enthusiastic and professional. As the campaign wore on it became clear that public opinion was changing. Kreisky, increasingly concerned at the campaign's effectiveness, subsequently attempted to link the poll to a vote of confidence in the Socialist government. Meissner-Blau and fellow campaign leaders were however unswayed by the calls from the Socialists. To the shock of the government and opposition alike, the 'No' vote on election day eked out a slim majority of 50.5%, winning the absolute vote by just 30,068.[7] The loss of the referendum was a severe embarrassment to the SPÖ government, which was compelled in the aftermath to pass laws against any future nuclear development in Austria. Meissner-Blau herself became a well recognized and her campaign vaulted environmental issues into the public spotlight in Austria.[8]

Hainburg Dam

In 1983 the Austrian government under the SPÖ chancellor

Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz.[9]
The petition was successful, and the government was obliged to back down from the plan.

Political career

Green movement and presidential campaign

The green political movement in Austria had originated in the aftermath of the 1978 nuclear referendum, with a green list presenting candidates at the 1983 Austrian Federal Election, but it began in earnest in the aftermath of Hainburg. Up to that point, two main Green political movements were in operation – the Alternative List of Austria (ALÖ) and the United Greens of Austria (VGÖ). The parties were disorganized and fractious, and little consensus could be reached between the two for presenting a united political front. After the victory over the Hainburg dam case, a victory for which neither party could legitimately claim credit, efforts were made in 1984 and 1985 to unify the movement and present a single list for the 1987 elections. Yet the attempt worsened ructions, with the VGÖ declining to amalgamate due to the ideological and inter-personal differences, and the ALÖ dividing into two opposing factions.[10]

In October 1985, the moderate section of the former ALÖ met in Salzburg and formed the Citizen's Parliamentary Initiative (BIP) as an attempt to bring together a more professionalised and less ideologically divided Green political organisation. The meeting was arranged under the auspices of former ALÖ leaders Günther Nenning, Gerhard Heilingbrunner and Michael Mayrhofer. Meissner-Blau and a number of other leading greens figures were in attendance at the first meeting on October 26, 1985. As a well spoken, widely respected and nationally known figure in the environmental movement, Meissner-Blau was nominated by the BIP to run as the first green candidate for the Austrian Presidency at a meeting in Graz on January 6, 1986. In February, the opposing left-wing of the former ALÖ declined to join the BIP, instead forming their own Green political movement – the Green Alternative Rally (GRAS). Momentum appeared to be on the side of the BIP though, as a number of green fractions moved over to join with the BIP. The media gave a large degree of attention to Meissner-Blau in the lead-up to the May Presidential vote. The movement's profile received a significant boost after the Chernobyl disaster in April and government controversy over the government deployment of the Saab 35 Draken fighter airplane. On May 4, Meisser-Blau received 5.5% of the vote.[11] The result, whilst still small, was the best result for the Green movement to that point, and the campaign had cemented Meissner-Blau's position at the apex of that movement.[12]

National Council (Parliament)

In mid-1986 the SPÖ-FPÖ coalition under

Austrian National Council. The alternative green lists run by GRAS and disaffected segments of the VGÖ captured only around 7000 votes, or 0.1%.[14]

Now in parliament the elected members grouped into a formal parliamentary party – the

Austrian Green Party. Meissner-Blau was elected the first federal spokesperson and leader of the party at the inaugural party conference in Klagenfurt on February 12, 1987. The party initially proved to be structurally complex and continued to suffer from factional infighting. Activism by Greens in the late 1980s hampered the image of the parliamentary party, and there emerged a degree of mistrust between the suit-and-tie parliamentary wing and the more activist grass-roots party base.[15] Meissner-Blau however served as a popular and moderating leader of the party. She served on a number of parliamentary committees and through speeches and legislative activism she assisted in establishing a unified parliamentary voice and cultivating a professional image for the group. After two years as leader and securing effective consolidation of the movement, she retired from the party, leaving her parliamentary seat on December 6, 1988.[16]

International Human Rights Tribunal

In June 1995 Meissner-Blau has chaired the first International Human Rights Tribunal in Vienna.[17] Her co-chair was Gerhard Oberschlick, editor of the journal FORVM. Christian Michelides served as attorney general. The tribunal was dedicated to the persecution of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender persons in Austria during the period from 1945 to 1995. An assembly of Austrian human rights activists condemned the Republic of Austria in all seven cases that were brought forward by the LGBT-community. As a consequence of this endeavour and other efforts all discriminating laws against LGBT-persons in Austria have been abolished between 1996 and 2005.

Retirement

Since her resignation from Parliament Meissner-Blau worked and consulted for various international bodies. She also worked as a writer and professional speaker, appearing at various conferences in her retirement. In 1991 she was awarded the Konrad Lorenz Prize for environmental achievement. This was followed by a Lifetime Achievement Nuclear-Free Future Award from the Franz Moll Foundation and being named amongst the first winners of the Save the World Award which were announced in 2009. Her husband Paul died in October 2005. She died on December 22, 2015, at the age of 88.[18] She was cremated at Feuerhalle Simmering.

See also

References

  1. ^ Wiener Zeitung (2004) Freda Meissner-Blau Vienna: Wiener Zeitung
  2. ^ Wiener Zeitung (2004) Freda Meissner-Blau Vienna: Wiener Zeitung
  3. ^ Wiener Zeitung (2004) Freda Meissner-Blau Vienna: Wiener Zeitung
  4. ^ Wiener Zeitung (2004) Freda Meissner-Blau Vienna: Wiener Zeitung
  5. ^ Biegert, Claus (2007) 2007 Lifetime Nuclear Achievement Award Archived 2007-10-30 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Sully, Melanie (1981) Political Parties and Elections in Austria, C.Hurst and Company: London, pp. 168–174
  7. ^ Austrian Ministry of the Interior Federal Referendum Results
  8. ^ Sully, Melanie (1981) Political Parties and Elections in Austria, C.Hurst and Company: London, pp. 168–174
  9. ^ Austrian Ministry of the Interior Federal Citizen's Petitions
  10. ^ Pruckner, Othmar (2005) Eine kurze Geschichte der Grünen. Ereignisse - Persönlichkeiten - Jahreszahlen. Ueberreuter: Vienna. pp. 18–28
  11. ^ Austrian Ministry of the Interior Federal Presidential Results
  12. ^ Pruckner, Othmar (2005) Eine kurze Geschichte der Grünen. Ueberreuter: Vienna, pp. 25–37
  13. ^ Pruckner, Othmar (2005) Eine kurze Geschichte der Grünen. Ueberreuter: Vienna, pp. 30–39
  14. ^ Austrian Ministry of the Interior Federal Election Results, 1986
  15. ^ Schandl, Franz (1996) Die Grünen in Österreich. Entwicklung und Konsolidierung einer politischen Kraft. Promedia Verlag: Vienna.
  16. ^ Parliament of Austria Freda Meissner-Blau
  17. ^ Gerhard Oberschlick: Appell des 'Internationalen Menschenrechts-Tribunals' gegen die Diskriminierung von Homosexuellen und Transsexuellen in den Medien. In: Database on legal information relevant to the audiovisual sector in Europe IRIS Merlin. The Audiovisual Law Information Wizard 1995-7:12/36 [1] Archived 2018-10-28 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "Freda Meissner-Blau verstorben - Wiener Zeitung Online". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-01-01.

External links