Vienna Gets Memorial Against Femicide
The Ni-Una-Menos Square at the Alsergrund in Vienna 1090 becomes a central memorial place against femicide in Vienna. On the initiative of the International Women's Movement in South America, the square will be a call for a common struggle against femicide and violence against women.
Vienna will rename a site, which is a call for a common fight against femicide and violence against women. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons; Ogre, CC BY 3.0
In recent years, there has been increased attention to murders of women in Austria. Women in Austria are particularly at risk of being murdered by their (ex)partners and male acquaintances or relatives in an EU comparison.
"In 2021 and 2022 alone, 59 women were murdered - 319 women within 11 years. This is the bitter balance of femicides in Austria, there were a disproportionate number of cases in Vienna," said Viktoria Spielmann, women's spokeswoman of the Green Party Vienna.
The Vienna Greens requested the establishment of the central memorial after a petition by the feminist movement Ni-Una-Menos Austria. Now the Cultural Committee of the City Council has approved its realization, the Greens announced. "The Ni-Una Menos Square is an important sign against all forms of violence against women and girls in public spaces. It is a memorial place for Nadine and all other murdered women in this city," Spielmann said.
Vis-a-vis the square is a tobacconist's shop that was the scene of femicide in March 2021. A man had knocked down his ex-partner Nadine in their tobacconist's, doused her with gasoline, and set her on fire. The 35-year-old died after weeks of treatment. The man was sentenced to life imprisonment and committed to an institution for mentally abnormal offenders.
About Ni Una Menos - Austria
"Ni Una Menos" means "No One More" in English and is the battle slogan of the International Women's Movement in South America. This movement emerged in 2015 as a response to brutal femicides and rising sexual violence in Argentina.
The now international movement is not only against femicides but also against a patriarchal system in which women are oppressed with violence and this is worldwide.