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Publicist and politician, Les Verts, Member of the European
Parliament. Known imn his radical student days of the late-1960s
and thereafter as Dany the Red (or “Kýzýl Dany” in Turkish). A
leading advocate of Turkey’s membership in the European Union.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit describes himself
Since January 2002 I am co-president of the Greens/Free European
Alliance Group in the European Parliament.
I was born in Montauban, France on April 4, 1945. I visited the
"Odenwald-Schule" in Oberhambach which I finished with my exam
in 1965. When I returned to France immediately after school,
supported by a German reparation scholarship, I started my
studies in sociology at the University of Nanterre, a suburb of
Paris. I became known for being spokesperson and leader of the
May Revolution in Paris during the ‘Sixties.
I kept my contacts with my leftist friends in Germany and almost
three weeks after the student Benno Ohnesorg was shot in Berlin,
I declared on June 13, 1967 : "After this first victim in
Germany you should not think that the potential for violence is
smaller in other countries." In February 1968, I met Rudi
Dutschke at the Vietnam-congress in Berlin. After the attempted
assassination of Rudi Dutschke, the SDS-chairman Karl Dietrich
Wolff accepted my invitation to speak in Nanterre. That was the
upbeat of the May-riots in Paris 1968. After the riots, the
French government expelled me from France. After 1968, I was
active in Frankfurt - among other things also in the
"Kinderladen"-Movement. I worked in a bookshop, took part in the
establishment of a group called "Revolutionärer Kampf"
(revolutionary fight) and together with Joschka Fischer I was a
member of the Frankfurt Sponti-scene which was exercising the
social revolution by means of squatting, street fighting, and
agitation in companies such as Hoechst and Opel.
The central organ of this scene was the alternative
city-magazine "Pflasterstrand". Since 1978 I work as a publicist
in Frankfurt. I have been responsible editor and publisher of
the magazine "Pflasterstrand". I also belonged to the leading
spokespersons, when the so-called "Scene" declared itself for
the parliamentary system and supported the party of the GREENS
(Die GRÜNEN). After my ban on residence in France was revoked in
1978, I decided to stay in Germany.
In 1984 I became a member of the Green party and there I was one
of the most determined opponents of the eco-socialist
fundamentalism. As a "Realo-Green" I supported the Minister for
environmental affairs of Hessen, Joschka Fischer during his
term. After the change of power in Frankfurt in March 1989, the
newly elected red-green coalition under the Lord Mayor Volker
Hauff, was a new challenge for me. Hauff called three
representatives of the Green Party into his city council and I
was given the responsibility of an honorary city councillor for
the newly established office for multi-cultural affairs. During
the political debates about restrictions of the constitutional
right to seek asylum (1992), I pleaded for a clear immigration
law and liberal rights and regulations for citizenship. At the
party congress of Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN in November 1993, I was
nominated to place 8 only on the party's list for the European
elections which were held on June 12, 1994.
(Shortly before, I had advocated in favour of a military
intervention to support the Bosnian Muslims. Now, this was what
I got for it from the pacifist part of the party.) One of the
two mandates for the Germany Greens, who achieved 10,1%, fell
onto me. Also during my term as a European Parliamentarian, I
remained honorary city councillor in Frankfurt.
In 1999 I became the leading candidate of the French Greens (LES
VERTS) for the European Parliament. LES VERTS achieved 9,72% at
the European elections. For the forthcoming European elections
on June 13, 2004 I will be candidate of the German Greens for
the second time as well as leading candidate of the European
Green Party which has been founded in Rome at the end of
February 2004.
I am member of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the
Media and Sport and substitute in the Committee on external
affairs, safety and defense policy and substitute in the
Committee on Constitutional Affairs.
From 1994 until 2003 I have been hosting the show
"Literaturclub" for the Swiss TV station DRS. I live with my
wife, her elder son and our son in Frankfurt. My hobby is
football.
Some of Daniel Cohn-Bendit’s publications
"Linksradikalismus-Gewaltkur gegen die Alterskrankheit des
Kommunismus", "Agitationsmodell für eine Revolution" (1968),
"Der große Basar" (1976), "Reden über das eigene Land:
Deutschland" (1987 with others), "Wir haben sie so geliebt, die
Revolution" (1987, 2nd edition 1998), "1968: Die letzte
Revolution, die noch nichts vom Ozonloch wusste" (1988, together
with Joschka Fischer, Alexander Gauland, and Jörg Twenhöven),
"Einwanderbares Deutschland oder Vertreibung aus dem
Wohlstandsparadies? (1991, with others), "Heimat Babylon: das
Wagnis der multikulturellen Demokratie" (1992; with Thomas
Schmid), "Petit Dictionaire de l'Euro" (1998 together with
Olivier Duhamel), "Euro für alle. Das Währungs-Wörterbuch" (with
Olivier Duhamel), (in various languages), "Une envie de
politique" (1998, with Lucas Delattre and Guy Herzlich).
"Xénophobies" (1998 with Thomas Schmid). My latest work, "Quand
tu seras président", written together with Bernard Kouchner,
will be published in April 2004.
Films
"C'est la vie" (1991), "Juden in Frankfurt" (1993).
Honours
Honorary degree of doctor of the Catholic University Tilburg,
The Netherlands (1997), "Révélation politique" (honorary degree
for soecial political achievements, awarded by Trombinoscope)
(1998).
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