Petra Kelly

From dKosopedia

Petra Karin Kelly (November 29, 1947 – October 1, 1992), German peace activist and Green politician, was born in Günzburg, Bavaria, Germany in 1947, and lived and studied in the United States between 1959 and 1970. She was born Petra Karin Lehmann, but changed her name to Kelly after her mother married her step-father, an American Army officer. She was educated in a Roman Catholic convent in Günzburg and later attended high school in Georgia, after her family relocated to the United States. She retained her West German citizenship throughout her life.

An admirer of Martin Luther King, Jr., Kelly campaigned for Robert F. Kennedy and Hubert H. Humphrey in the 1968 US elections. She graduated from the School of International Service at American University (Washington, DC), in 1970. While working at the European Commission (Brussels, Belgium, 1971-1983), she participated in numerous peace and environment campaigns in Germany and other countries. Petra Kelly was one of the founders in 1979 of Die Grünen, the German Green Party. Between 1983 and 1990, she was a member of the Bundestag (West German Parliament) for the Greens.

Kelly received the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize) in 1982 "...for forging and implementing a new vision uniting ecological concerns with disarmament, social justice and human rights." (See [1]).

In 1992, the 44 year old Kelly was killed in Bonn, Germany together with ex-general and Green politician 69 year old Gert Bastian. (Details of this event are discussed for instance at [2], [3]). Although officially a murder sucicide, suspicion continues that the two were assassinated.

With the goal of letting Petra Kelly's ideas and political message live on, the Petra Kelly Foundation [4] was founded in 1997 as part of the Heinrich Böll Foundation [5], which also maintains the Petra Kelly Archives [6] [7] and presents, since 1998, the international Petra Kelly Prize [8] for human rights, ecology and non-violent politics.

In the words of her friend, the Dalai Lama: "Petra Kelly was a committed and dedicated person with compassionate concern for the oppressed, the weak and the persecuted in our time. Her spirit and legacy of human solidarity and concern continue to inspire and encourage us all."

References

• The Life and Death of Petra Kelly, by Sara Parkin, Rivers Oram Press/Pandora, 1995 (ISBN 0044409400)
• Thinking Green! Essays on Environmentalism, Feminism, and Nonviolence. 1994. Berkeley, California: Parallax Press. ISBN 0938077627.
• Nonviolence Speaks to Power. 1992. Matsunaga Institute for Peace, University of Hawaii.ISBN 188030905X. online book.
• 'Fighting for Hope 1984. Boston: South End Press. ISBN 0896082164.