This is a specific threat to women in Austria which may concern WIGS.
email addresses for correspondence below.
Sarah
URGENT ALERT FOR ACTION !!
>
> 9 February 2000
>
> Dear women,
>
> Please help us because otherwise most of Austria's women's NGOs
> have to close down. The work of decades can be ruined very soon. Please,
> remember last week's plea. Send us lists of addresses (preferably e-mail)
> of the most important media and politicians in your country!!
>
> Here is our statement which we will ask you to pass on:
>
> & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &
> WOMEN's NGO's THREATENED:
> RIGHT WING AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT ABOLISHES WOMEN'S MINISTRY
> & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &
>
> Most of the Austrian women's organisations and projects are faced
> with the possibility that they will receive no or not enough state funding
> as a result of the controversial right-wing government's decision to
> abolish the Ministry for Women's Affairs. This not only means that women's
> affairs have been demoted to a junior department in a sprawling Ministry of
> Social Affairs but also that the budget will come to about forty per cent
> of last year's level.
> This accords with the overall policy of the new government,
> comprising the conservative People's Party and the populist right-wing
> Freedom Party, which defines its policy with regard to fifty per cent of
> the population basically as an integral part of family policy.
> Vice-chancellor Susanne Riess-Passer claimed in a televised interview on
> February 8, 2000 that the former women's ministry had been merely symbolic
> because it had no budget and no powers (both claims untrue). She used this
> argument to justify the ministry's abolition altogether. There will not be
> a larger budget for women; at least not for independent organisations.
> Discrediting NGOs
> The new coalition partner, the right-wing Freedom Party, is not reticent in
> voicing its opinion on the role of NGOs. For thirty years, they claim, they
> have received funding ? from a government lead by Social Democrats ? for
> doing nothing. This not only discredits the invaluable work done by NGOs in
> Austria (and world-wide) and disregards the recognition NGOs have received
> in all the relevant international bodies like the UN and the EU. It is
> slander.
> Massive protest in Austria Since it became clear that for the first
> time in Europe a party whose members praise the Nazi regime and play down
> its atrocities will be allowed into government, a wave of protest has
> spread across the country. Peaceful demonstrations by thousands of people
> are being held every evening. A big rally will be taking place on February
> 19, 2000. About a quarter of a million demonstrators from all over Austria
> are expected.
> We urge you to support the women's NGOs in their struggle to
> survive and all Austrians who are strictly against allowing racists and
> neo-fascists to govern a country in the European Union!
>
> Please, write letters of protest via E-mail to:
> - The new Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel
> <[log in to unmask]> who is mainly responsible
> for bringing the Freedom Party into government
>
> - To Austrian President Thomas Klestil
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
> MEDIA
> Please, also support us on an international level and address your
> governments to put further pressure on this shameful Austrian Government, ·
> address the media in your country to keep reporting on the situation
>
> MONEY
> Please, help us with donations to get us through this crisis: our
> account:
> Verein autonome österreichische Frauenhäuser WAVE our account number: 610
> 782 021 our bank details: Bank Austria, Mariahilfer Strasse 70, A-1070
> Vienna, Austria, bank code: 20151, international swift code: BKAUATWW
> ____________________
> Thank you very, very much!!
> Verena & Birgit
> WAVE Office
> c/o Information Centre Against Violence
> Austrian Women's Shelter Network
> Hofgasse 9/1/4 A-1050 Vienna, Austria
> phone: ++43-1-5482720 fax: ++43-1-5482720-27 <[log in to unmask]>
> web site: <http://www.wave-network.org >
************
[log in to unmask]
************
Dr S J Colvin
School of European Languages and Cultures (German)
The University of Edinburgh
David Hume Tower
George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9JX
UK
Tel: ++131 6503630
Fax: ++131 6503604
email: [log in to unmask]
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