Freda Meissner-Blau
Encyclopedia
Freda Meissner-Blau is 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.
in 1927, the youngest of four children. Her mother was from a wealthy family of industrialists. Her father, Dr. Ferdinand Meissner Hohenmeiss, was an economist and journalist. Freda spent her first three years growing up in Reichenberg
(now Liberec
) before the family moved to Linz
where Freda went to school. She grew up in a liberal, educated household and enjoyed nature, culture, and art. The Meissners moved to Vienna
in 1938, where Ferdinand became editor of a newspaper that was critical of the Nazi movement. He was deemed an enemy of the state for his outspoken opposition and he was fled to the United Kingdom in 1939. To avoid Sippenhaft
(blood guilt), Freda's parents divorced and the family moved back to Liberec. Freda continued her education there, and then in Vienna and Dresden. During this time many of Freda's relatives and friends perished during the war
, and Freda's own experiences witnessing the bombing of Dresden galvanized her ambition to pursue progressive and activist causes.
Freda 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. Whilst studying there she met Georges de Pawloff who was working for the French occupation in West Germany. They married in 1953.
, where they both worked for a Germany company operating there. Their first child, Ted Oliver, was born there in 1954. During their time there they bore witness to the bloody independence struggle and the onset of the Congo Crisis
- experiences that would be form the foundation of Freda's commitment to causes in the developing world.
She then underwent a career change and in the 1960s she moved to Paris and joined the social science department of UNESCO
. During her tenure there one of her jobs was to translate corporate documents relating to offers and proposals for the construction of nuclear power
plants. After this exposure she became increasingly interested in the subject, and formed strong opinions on the environmental and social dangers of nuclear power. Subsequently, she became an activist in the anti-nuclear movement. In 1962 she returned with her family to Vienna, where her husband worked for the International Atomic Energy Agency
. Meissner became general secretary of the newly formed Institute for Advanced Studies
. She and Georges gave birth to twins, Alexandra and Nicholas, in 1963.
In 1968 Meissner was again living in Paris, and participated in the movements surrounding the protests of 1968
. She identified herself with a number of progressive and social causes of the time, including women's rights
, civil rights
, environmentalism
, democracy
and antiestablishmentarianism
. She became estranged from Georges, and their marriage broke up in political disagreement. In 1970 she re-married 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.
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 Social Democratic Party of Austria
(SPO). 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.
In 1978, confident of majority public support, the Chancellor of Austria
, Bruno Kreisky
, called a referendum
on the issue of nuclear power in Austria. This was the first referendum called during the 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.
Meissner-Blau and fellow activists from the 'Iniative 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. The loss of the referendum was a severe embarrassment to the SPO 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.
had given approval to a series of plans from Österreichische Donaukraftwerke AG to construct a hydroelectric power plant near Hainburg
. Deemed as a project of particular and special interest to the public, the government bypassed and shortened normal regulatory processes to secure quick approval. The plans were deposited and formal planning began in late 1983, with clearing and earthworks beginning early in 1984. However, the plant was to be located in the middle of what is now the Donau-Auen National Park
- a large and environmentally sensitive flood plain that is one of the last of its size in Europe. By mid-1984 a number of environmental opinion leaders, among them Freda Meissner-Blau, started a campaign which sought to overturn the decision. A Volksbegehren (citizen's petition) was launched and a media campaign began to attempt to inform the public of the environmental risks posed by the project. As a leading figure in the campaign, Meissner-Blau took part in the organization of mass protests during the latter half of 1984, culminating in almost over 8,000 staging a sit-in at the worksite on December 8, 1984. The government attempted to restart work at the site by using federal police to clear the protesters on December 19, however the events escalated into violence and hundreds of protesters were injured. That evening, Meissner-Blau and fellow environmental leaders took part in a mass protest in Vienna, where 40,000 marched against the government. As a result, the government bowed to public pressure, and Meissner-Blau and her husband were part of the opposition representation that negotiated a 'Christmas truce' with the government. Over the Christmas period thousands made a point of holidaying in the Hainburg area. By March 1985, a citizen's petition with 353,906 signatures against the plant was submitted to the parliament by Austrian Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz
. The petition was successful, and the government was obliged to back down from the plan.
, but it began in earnest in 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 for, 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.
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 Heiligenbrunner 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. On May 4, Meisser-Blau received 5.5% of the vote. 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.
collapsed when the junior coalition
partner in government, the Freedom Party of Austria
, elected the controversial Jörg Haider
as their new party leader. Vranitzky determined that his government would not stand with Haider as Vice-Chancellor and early elections were called for November 23, 1986. The pressure for the green movement to present a united front for the election increased, with Günther Nenning attempting to bring together the BIP, VGÖ and GRAS parties onto a single candidates list
. Meissner-Blau emerged as the most popular and uniformly acceptable candidate to lead the list, and she once again assumed leadership of the campaign under the banner The Green Alternative - List Freda Meissner-Blau. Meissner-Blau proved to be a popular and unifying figure in the movement, however she and Nenning were ultimately unsuccessful at uniting all the dissident factions. On October 4, GRAS - the largest green movement not yet committed to running under the Meissner-Blau list - voted on whether to join the main list or run separately under another leader. The left-wing dominated GRAS was heavily divided on the prospect of the moderate Meissner-Blau's leadership, and the final ballot saw left-wing historian Andrea Komlosy receive 222 votes to Meissner-Blau's 150. The loss came as a shock and a considerable disappointment to the Nenning and Meissner-Blau. Yet in spite of this the majority of the green movement continued to rally behind Meissner-Blau's leadership, and a strong campaign was made which presented for the first time a professional and viable political alternative to the Austrian public. The 1986 election
would prove to be a major upset in traditional Austrian politics with both major parties (the SPÖ
and ÖVP
) losing seats to the smaller Greens and FPO. The Greens polled 4.8% (234,028 votes), taking them over the crucial 4% threshold, and 8 candidates (including Meissner-Blau) were elected to the Austrian National Council
. The alternative green lists run by GRAS and disaffected segments of the VGÖ captured only around 7,000 votes, or 0.1%.
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. 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.
in Vienna. 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 absolished between 1996 and 2005.
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 passed away in October 2005.
Early life
Freda Meissner was born in DresdenDresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
in 1927, the youngest of four children. Her mother was from a wealthy family of industrialists. Her father, Dr. Ferdinand Meissner Hohenmeiss, was an economist and journalist. Freda spent her first three years growing up in Reichenberg
Reichenberg
Reichenberg may refer to the following places:*Reichenberg, the German name for Liberec, a town in the Czech Republic*Reichenberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany*Reichenberg, Bavaria, a municipality in Bavaria, Germany...
(now Liberec
Liberec
Liberec is a city in the Czech Republic. Located on the Lusatian Neisse and surrounded by the Jizera Mountains and Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge, it is the fifth-largest city in the Czech Republic....
) before the family moved to Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
where Freda went to school. She grew up in a liberal, educated household and enjoyed nature, culture, and art. The Meissners moved to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1938, where Ferdinand became editor of a newspaper that was critical of the Nazi movement. He was deemed an enemy of the state for his outspoken opposition and he was fled to the United Kingdom in 1939. To avoid Sippenhaft
Sippenhaft
Sippenhaft or Sippenhaftung was a form of collective punishment practised in Nazi Germany towards the end of the Second World War. It was a legalized practice in which relatives of persons accused of crimes against the state were held to share the responsibility for those crimes and subject to...
(blood guilt), Freda's parents divorced and the family moved back to Liberec. Freda continued her education there, and then in Vienna and Dresden. During this time many of Freda's relatives and friends perished during the war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and Freda's own experiences witnessing the bombing of Dresden galvanized her ambition to pursue progressive and activist causes.
Freda returned to Vienna in 1947 and obtained a leaving certificate before going on to communication studies
Communication studies
Communication Studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass...
and journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, 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
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Germany to study medicine at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Whilst studying there she met Georges de Pawloff who was working for the French occupation in West Germany. They married in 1953.
Early career
In the early 1950s Meissner and her husband moved to Central Africa, in what was then the Belgian CongoBelgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
, where they both worked for a Germany company operating there. Their first child, Ted Oliver, was born there in 1954. During their time there they bore witness to the bloody independence struggle and the onset of the Congo Crisis
Congo Crisis
The Congo Crisis was a period of turmoil in the First Republic of the Congo that began with national independence from Belgium and ended with the seizing of power by Joseph Mobutu...
- experiences that would be form the foundation of Freda's commitment to causes in the developing world.
She then underwent a career change and in the 1960s she moved to Paris and joined the social science department of UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. During her tenure there one of her jobs was to translate corporate documents relating to offers and proposals for the construction of nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
plants. After this exposure she became increasingly interested in the subject, and formed strong opinions on the environmental and social dangers of nuclear power. Subsequently, she became an activist in the anti-nuclear movement. In 1962 she returned with her family to Vienna, where her husband worked for the International Atomic Energy Agency
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
. Meissner became general secretary of the newly formed Institute for Advanced Studies
Institute of Advanced Studies (Vienna)
The Institute of Advanced Studies in Vienna, Austria is an independent research institute. It was founded in 1963 by Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Oskar Morgenstern, with the help of the Ford Foundation, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, and the City of Vienna...
. She and Georges gave birth to twins, Alexandra and Nicholas, in 1963.
In 1968 Meissner was again living in Paris, and participated in the movements surrounding the protests of 1968
Protests of 1968
The protests of 1968 consisted of a worldwide series of protests, largely participated in by students and workers.-Background:Background speculations of overall causality vary about the political protests centering on the year 1968. Some argue that protests could be attributed to the social changes...
. She identified herself with a number of progressive and social causes of the time, including women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
, civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
, environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
, democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and antiestablishmentarianism
Antiestablishmentarianism
Antiestablishmentarianism is a policy or attitude that views a nation's power structure as corrupt, repressive, or exploitive....
. She became estranged from Georges, and their marriage broke up in political disagreement. In 1970 she re-married 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
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
movement, and was editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung
Arbeiter-Zeitung (Vienna)
For the Chicago anarchist newspaper, see Arbeiter-Zeitung The Arbeiter-Zeitung was started as a Socialist newspaper on July 12, 1889 by Victor Adler. The paper was banned in 1934 after the Feb. 13 issue , but reappeared on Aug...
(worker's newspaper) from 1967 to 1970. From 1970 to 1972 he worked as a press and cultural attaché
Attaché
Attaché is a French term in diplomacy referring to a person who is assigned to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency...
in Paris.
Anti-Nuclear Movement
In 1972 the couple returned to Vienna. Meissner-Blau worked as the Bildungsreferentin (education secretary) for the industrial giant OMVOMV
OMV is Austria's largest oil-producing, refining and gas station operating company with important activities in other Central European countries...
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 Social Democratic Party of Austria
Social Democratic Party of Austria
The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...
(SPO). 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
Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant
The Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant was the first nuclear plant built in Austria, of 6 nuclear plants originally envisaged. The plant at Zwentendorf, Austria was finished, but never operated. Start-up of the Zwentendorf plant, as well as construction of the other 5 plants, was prevented by a...
at Zwentendorf
Zwentendorf
Zwentendorf an der Donau is a small market municipality in Lower Austria, Austria, with 3,280 inhabitants. It is located at , in the Tullnerfeld on the southern bank of the Danube. The place attained celebrity as the site of the only Austrian nuclear power station, which was established here, but...
. 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.
In 1978, confident of majority public support, the Chancellor of Austria
Chancellor of Austria
The Federal Chancellor is the head of government in Austria. Its deputy is the Vice-Chancellor. Before 1918, the equivalent office was the Minister-President of Austria. The Federal Chancellor is considered to be the most powerful political position in Austrian politics.-Appointment:The...
, Bruno Kreisky
Bruno Kreisky
Bruno Kreisky was an Austrian politician who served as Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1966 and as Chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72 at the end of his chancellorship, he was the oldest acting Chancellor after World War II....
, called a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
on the issue of nuclear power in Austria. This was the first referendum called during the 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.
Meissner-Blau and fellow activists from the 'Iniative 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. The loss of the referendum was a severe embarrassment to the SPO 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.
Hainburg Dam
In 1983 the Austrian government under the SPO's Fred SinowatzFred Sinowatz
Alfred "Fred" Sinowatz was born in Neufeld an der Leitha, Burgenland, Austria. He was an Austrian politician of the Social Democratic Party of Austria , and was Chancellor of Austria from 1983 to 1986.- Career until 1983 :Sinowatz, educated as a historian, was Minister of Education and Art in the...
had given approval to a series of plans from Österreichische Donaukraftwerke AG to construct a hydroelectric power plant near Hainburg
Hainburg
Hainburg may refer to the following places:* Hainburg an der Donau, Lower Austria, Austria* Hainburg, Germany, Hesse, Germany...
. Deemed as a project of particular and special interest to the public, the government bypassed and shortened normal regulatory processes to secure quick approval. The plans were deposited and formal planning began in late 1983, with clearing and earthworks beginning early in 1984. However, the plant was to be located in the middle of what is now the Donau-Auen National Park
Danube-Auen National Park
The Danube-Auen National Park covers 93 square kilometres in Vienna and Lower Austria and is one of the largest remaining floodplains of the Danube in Middle Europe....
- a large and environmentally sensitive flood plain that is one of the last of its size in Europe. By mid-1984 a number of environmental opinion leaders, among them Freda Meissner-Blau, started a campaign which sought to overturn the decision. A Volksbegehren (citizen's petition) was launched and a media campaign began to attempt to inform the public of the environmental risks posed by the project. As a leading figure in the campaign, Meissner-Blau took part in the organization of mass protests during the latter half of 1984, culminating in almost over 8,000 staging a sit-in at the worksite on December 8, 1984. The government attempted to restart work at the site by using federal police to clear the protesters on December 19, however the events escalated into violence and hundreds of protesters were injured. That evening, Meissner-Blau and fellow environmental leaders took part in a mass protest in Vienna, where 40,000 marched against the government. As a result, the government bowed to public pressure, and Meissner-Blau and her husband were part of the opposition representation that negotiated a 'Christmas truce' with the government. Over the Christmas period thousands made a point of holidaying in the Hainburg area. By March 1985, a citizen's petition with 353,906 signatures against the plant was submitted to the parliament by Austrian Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz
Konrad Lorenz
Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch...
. The petition was successful, and the government was obliged to back down from the plan.
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 ElectionAustrian legislative election, 1983
Parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 24 April 1983. The result was a victory for the Social Democratic Party, which won 90 of the 183 seats, and entered into a coalition government with the Freedom Party of Austria. Voter turnout was 92.6%....
, but it began in earnest in 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 for, 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.
In October 1985, the moderate section of the former ALÖ met in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
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
Günther Nenning
DDr. Günther Nenning was a famous Austrian journalist, author and political activist.Günther Nenning was born in Vienna, Austria. After an excellent performance in high school, Nenning served from 1940 to 1945 in the German Wehrmacht...
, Gerhard Heiligenbrunner 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
President of Austria
The President of Austria is the federal head of state of Austria. Though theoretically entrusted with great power by the constitution, in practice the President acts, for the most part, merely as a ceremonial figurehead...
at a meeting in Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
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
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
in April and government controversy over the government deployment of the Saab 35 Draken. On May 4, Meisser-Blau received 5.5% of the vote. 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.
National Council
In mid-1986 the SPÖ-FPÖ coalition under Franz VranitzkyFranz Vranitzky
Franz Vranitzky is an Austrian politician. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria , he was Chancellor of Austria from 1986 to 1997.-Early life and career:...
collapsed when the junior coalition
Coalition
A coalition is a pact or treaty among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
partner in government, the Freedom Party of Austria
Freedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...
, elected the controversial Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
as their new party leader. Vranitzky determined that his government would not stand with Haider as Vice-Chancellor and early elections were called for November 23, 1986. The pressure for the green movement to present a united front for the election increased, with Günther Nenning attempting to bring together the BIP, VGÖ and GRAS parties onto a single candidates list
Party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...
. Meissner-Blau emerged as the most popular and uniformly acceptable candidate to lead the list, and she once again assumed leadership of the campaign under the banner The Green Alternative - List Freda Meissner-Blau. Meissner-Blau proved to be a popular and unifying figure in the movement, however she and Nenning were ultimately unsuccessful at uniting all the dissident factions. On October 4, GRAS - the largest green movement not yet committed to running under the Meissner-Blau list - voted on whether to join the main list or run separately under another leader. The left-wing dominated GRAS was heavily divided on the prospect of the moderate Meissner-Blau's leadership, and the final ballot saw left-wing historian Andrea Komlosy receive 222 votes to Meissner-Blau's 150. The loss came as a shock and a considerable disappointment to the Nenning and Meissner-Blau. Yet in spite of this the majority of the green movement continued to rally behind Meissner-Blau's leadership, and a strong campaign was made which presented for the first time a professional and viable political alternative to the Austrian public. The 1986 election
Austrian legislative election, 1986
Early parliamentary elections were held in Austria on 23 November 1986. They were called by Chancellor Franz Vranitzky of the Social Democratic Party , as he was not prepared to continue the coalition government with new Freedom Party leader Jörg Haider, who had ousted Norbert Steger at the party...
would prove to be a major upset in traditional Austrian politics with both major parties (the SPÖ
SPO
- Technology :SPO: Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Cloud Computing, Office 365. See Microsoft Online Services-Economics:* Secondary Public Offering, an equity capital market instrument...
and ÖVP
OVP
OVP is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:*The Office of the Vice President of the United States*The Office of the Vice President of the Philippines*OVP , a light sub-machine gun developed in Italy...
) losing seats to the smaller Greens and FPO. The Greens polled 4.8% (234,028 votes), taking them over the crucial 4% threshold, and 8 candidates (including Meissner-Blau) were elected to the Austrian National Council
National Council of Austria
The National Council is one of the two houses of the Austrian parliament. According to the constitution, the National Council and the complementary Federal Council are peers...
. The alternative green lists run by GRAS and disaffected segments of the VGÖ captured only around 7,000 votes, or 0.1%.
Now in parliament the elected members grouped into a formal parliamentary party - the Austrian Green Party
Austrian Green Party
The Greens – The Green Alternative is a political party in the Austrian parliament.The party was formed in 1986 with the name Grüne Alternative, following the merger of the more conservative Green party Vereinte Grüne Österreichs and the more progressive party Alternative Liste Österreichs The...
. Meissner-Blau was elected the first federal spokesperson and leader of the party at the inaugural party conference in Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt
-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...
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. 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.
International Human Rights Tribunal
In June 1995 Meissner-Blau has chaired the first International Human Rights TribunalInternational Human Rights Tribunal
The International Human Rights Tribunal took place in Vienna in June of 1995. It was chaired by environmental and human rights activist Freda Meissner-Blau and Gerhard Oberschlick, editor of FORVM, and was dedicated to the persecution of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender persons in...
in Vienna. Her co-chair was Gerhard Oberschlick
Gerhard Oberschlick
Gerhard Fritz Oberschlick is an Austrian essayist. From 1985 to 1995 he was the editor of the political and cultural magazine FORVM. Today he serves as the literary executor of Günther Anders.- Life and career :...
, editor of the journal FORVM
FORVM
FORVM was an Austrian cultural and political magazine, published in Vienna from 1954 till 1995, founded by Friedrich Hansen-Loeve, Felix Hubalek, Alexander Lernet-Holenia und Friedrich Torberg with the financial and logistical support of the Congress for Cultural Freedom...
. Christian Michelides
Christian Michelides
Christian Michelides is an Austrian psychotherapist. He is the director of Lighthouse Wien.-Life and Career:In 1973 Michelides started to work as an opera critic of a provincial newspaper called Südost Tagespost. He earned his high school diploma in 1978...
served as attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
. 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
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
-community. As a consequence of this endeavour and other efforts all discriminating laws against LGBT-persons in Austria have been absolished between 1996 and 2005.
Retirement
Since her resignation from Parliament Meissner-Blau has worked and consulted for various international bodies. She has 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 AwardNuclear-Free Future Award
Since 1998 the Nuclear-Free Future Award is an award given to anti-nuclear activists, organizations and communities. The award is intended to promote the opposition to uranium mining, nuclear weapons and nuclear power....
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 passed away in October 2005.
See also
- Anti-nuclear movement in AustriaAnti-nuclear movement in AustriaConstruction of the first Austrian nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf on the Danube, about 20 miles upstream from the capital, Vienna, began in 1972. Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant was designed as a boiling water reactor with a capacity of 700 MW, that was expected to generate about 10% of the...
- Hildegard BreinerHildegard BreinerHildegard Breiner is from Vorarlberg, Austria, where she and her late husband led the anti-nuclear campaign against Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant in the 1970s. In 1978, an unprecedented 85 percent of the voters in Vorarlberg cast their votes against Zwentendorf, tipping the scales of the...
- The Greens – The Green Alternative
- Nuclear-Free Future AwardNuclear-Free Future AwardSince 1998 the Nuclear-Free Future Award is an award given to anti-nuclear activists, organizations and communities. The award is intended to promote the opposition to uranium mining, nuclear weapons and nuclear power....