Danielle Grünberg
Danielle Grünberg | |
---|---|
![]() Grünberg in 1985 | |
Born | Danielle Rose Grünberg 20 September 1940 London, UK |
Died | 16 August 2019 Nyons, France | (aged 78)
Other names | Danielle Grunberg, Danielle Gruenberg |
Occupation(s) | Actress, theater director, and activist |
Years active | 1969-2019 |
Known for | Stop Hinkley Expansion Campaign |
Mother | Rita Kernn-Larsen |
Danielle Grünberg (20 September 1940 – 16 August 2019) was a British theatre actress and director, and an activist who participated in the anti-war and anti-nuclear activities and transitioned into the environmental and climate movements. She was one of the founders of the Stop Hinkley Expansion Campaign (SHE), which successfully fought to curtail Britain's nuclear power programme in the 1990s. While in Scotland in 1995, Grünberg became part of the transition town campaign, which she supported after moving to France in 2011. She continued to speak about the environment and climate change until June 2019, two months prior to her death.
Early life and education
[edit]Danielle Rose Grünberg was born on 20 September 1940,[1] in London to Rita Kernn-Larsen and Isaac Grünberg.[2][3] Her mother was a noted Danish Surrealist painter and her father an Austrian-Jewish art dealer.[3][4] The couple travelled from Denmark in 1938 to participate in an exhibition hosted by Peggy Guggenheim for the opening of her Guggenheim Jeune Gallery. The outbreak of World War II caused them to remain in London, where their daughter was born. At the end of the war, the family moved to Saint Jeannet in the south of France.[2][4] In the 1960s, Grünberg returned to the UK and graduated from the Drama Centre London.[5][6]
Career
[edit]Acting (1969–1984)
[edit]After graduating, Grünberg and Brian Ayres, a classmate from the Drama Centre, formed a theatrical troupe and performed "Three Plays for Fun and Laughter" in 1969 at the Arts Laboratory on Drury Lane in London.[5] They presented the programme that autumn at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland.[7] They called their troupe "The Vagrants", advertised themselves as a "professional fringe theatre group", with Grünberg as manager. In 1971, they toured "The Knickers" in London and the Midlands.[8][9] Over the next few years, she and Ayres worked together in Dorset, performing mostly in infant and primary schools and pensioners' homes and touring in Denmark and France.[6][10] In 1975, they formed the Somerset Theatre and Arts Cooperative, one of the only professional theatre groups in the county at the time.[6] Based in Bridgwater,[11] their travelling presentations typically featured acting out nursery rhymes, legends, and folklore with the help of puppets, followed by an improvisational segment, which allowed children to perform their own stories.[12][13] They renamed their mobile troupe "The Emerging Dragon Theatre Group" in the early 1980s. In 1982, the couple were invited to Italy by the National Italian Teacher's Organisation to instruct teachers in Trieste and Udine on how to develop drama courses for youth. Their programme focused on having a student provide a word, which could then spark an improvisational play. After a three-week course in March,[11] Grünberg returned to her post as the theatre director at the Emerging Dragon.[14][15]
Activism (1980–2019)
[edit]Anti-nuclear activism (1980–1990)
[edit]In 1980, Grünberg began involvement in the anti-nuclear movement in Britain, serving as a spokesperson for the Bridgwater Anti-Nuclear Group (BANG). She participated in a protest in Bridgwater over the transport of nuclear waste through the town from the Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Stations to be dumped in the Bristol Channel.[16] The following year, the government announced plans to extend its nuclear power coverage, and the group Alliance against Hinkley C was founded by Grünberg and other activists.[3][17][18] A group of Scandinavian women which included Grünberg, who were taking part in Peace March '82, boarded the Women's Peace Train in Stockholm, Sweden, in the summer of 1982 and made their way to Leningrad. They intended to take part in rallies throughout Russia to protest the arms race.[19] The Scandinavians' activities were carefully controlled and their contact with Soviet citizens was limited.[20] Nevertheless, some members of the group, including Grünberg, who at the time was the national coordinator of the British Women's Peace Alliance; Cees van der Wel, a Dutch journalist; and Jean Stead, a reporter for The Guardian, were allowed to meet the Olga and Yuri Medvedkov , who were founders of the independent peace initiative, the Group to Establish Trust between the USSR and the USA, known as "Trust-Builders".[21] In August, the British government announced plans to build Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.[22] The Alliance against Hinkley C developed a newsletter to protest its construction and raise awareness of the environmental issues of nuclear power usage.[23]
The actress Julie Christie led a delegation of activists, which was organised by Grünberg, on a lobbying trip to the United States in 1984. The delegation included women from each European country where Cruise and Pershing II missiles were deployed. Their aim was to meet congressional members and First Lady Nancy Reagan to protest the presence of US missiles in Europe.[15] In May they met with Richard Burt, assistant secretary of state for European and Canadian affairs, Paul Nitze, chief negotiator of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, as well as some members of Congress.[24] Despite the activists bringing public-opinion polls showing widespread disapproval for the missiles and fears that they made Europeans targets for attack, both Burt and Nitze dismissed their concerns.[25][26] Grünberg remained in the US for several months after the initial meeting,[15] and in September began touring with Luisa Morgantini, an Italian trade union leader, and Heidemarie Dann, a member of the West German Green Party to promote US-Soviet disarmament.[26][27][28] The women spent three weeks travelling to five states – Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Florida, and Texas –[27] speaking to women's groups and university students, urging them to oppose nuclear expansion and back candidates who were in favour of peace in the upcoming election.[26]
In 1986, the Alliance against Hinkley C was renamed as the Stop Hinkley Expansion Campaign (SHE).[18] The organisation was funded by Greenpeace,[29] and Grünberg and the journalist Crispin Aubrey were joint coordinators of the group's programmes.[3][30][31] SHE was one of the main opponents to the construction of a new plant and spent over £50,000 on their opposition campaign.[29] They participated in the 14-month long public inquiry, which ran from the end of 1988 until December 1989,[29][30] into whether Hinkley Point C should be built. Grünberg argued that a new station would be unnecessary if better energy conservation practices were put in place.[30] Among those conservation ideas were installation of better insulation and renewable energy systems which caused less harm to the environment.[32] More than 600 witnesses were called to testify in the inquiry and 22,000 people signed objections to construction of Hinkley C.[30] Despite the opposition, Queen's Counsel Michael Barnes, who conducted the hearings, recommended building the plant in 1990, but said any construction would be delayed until the review of Britain's Nuclear Policy in 1994.[30][33] Grünberg vowed that SHE would continue to oppose the project and advocated for resources to be spent instead on wind and wave power systems.[33] Plans were abandoned to construct Hinkley C or any other new power stations in 1995.[34]
Environmental activism (1990–2019)
[edit]Grünberg began transitioning towards environmental activism in 1990. That year, she travelled to the 5th Citizens Involvement and Public Awareness Conference, held in Riga at the University of Latvia. The conference was held to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster and Grünberg was invited to speak on Stop Hinkley's opposition to creating more nuclear power plants in Britain.[35] She travelled to Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1991 to participate in the commemorations of Chernobyl and to discuss environmental opposition to nuclear expansion.[31] After SHE was successful in warding off the construction of Hinkley C, Grünberg moved to Ullapool, Scotland, and began construction of an ecohouse.[3][36] The house was powered by a wind turbine and water, used recycled newspapers for insulation, and had a wood-burning stove for heat. The 200-square-metre timber frame structure was located on 3 1/2 acres of land, where Grünberg planted an organic vegetable garden and 300 native trees. She intended the house to serve as a model to help others learn how to make their homes more green.[36] She broadcast a weekly radio program "What on Earth Are We up to" on Lochbroom FM, a community radio project which focused on news and cultural events in the Scottish Highlands.[37] In order to raise sufficient funds to complete the construction, she moved to Edinburgh, but in 1998 decided to sell the house because of the exhausting attention required to ensure that the materials she used were made with green technology.[38][39] In 2004, Grünberg hosted an exhibition of her mother's works at the Danish Cultural Institute of Edinburgh to mark the centennial of her birth.[40]
After several years in Edinburgh, Grünberg moved to Kelso in the Scottish Borders, where she worked as a life coach.[41] Around 2008, she moved to Hawick and became involved in the A Greener Hawick group, which was part of the transition town movement.[42][43] The movement aimed to plan for the future by imagining a world without fossil fuels. To prepare for that eventuality, members learned to grow their own food, heat their own homes, and make their own clothes.[42][44] Grünberg was one of A Greener Hawick organisers for the launch of the Hawick pound. The idea was to create a currency for consumers to buy from local merchants and was launched in 2010.[45][46] She toured France over the three years she was involved in the transition movement spreading its philosophy and in 2011, she decided to move to Nyons, France.[47] She continued to advocate for the transition movement and as an ambassador for the campaign in France, spoke frequently on the need to preserve the environment.[48][49] She made one of her last presentations in Nyons at a conference on climate in June 2019.[50]
Death and legacy
[edit]Grünberg died on 16 August 2019, in Nyons, France.[1] Her obituary, written by the SHE activist Jill Sutcliffe, called Grünberg "a force to be reckoned with", and characterised her as a passionate activist with skill in drawing people in to the movements with which she was involved. Sutcliffe said that although Grünberg lived most of her life in Britain, she was "never very British".[3]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ a b Acte de décès 2019.
- ^ a b Peggy Guggenheim Collection 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Sutcliffe 2020.
- ^ a b Michalska 2023.
- ^ a b The Stage 1969, p. 8.
- ^ a b c Western Daily Press 1977, p. 11.
- ^ MacMillan & Carnegie 1988, p. 125.
- ^ The Stage 1971, p. 29.
- ^ Seaton 1971, p. 13.
- ^ Shepton Mallet Journal 1975, p. 2.
- ^ a b Aubrey 1982, p. 8.
- ^ Somerset Guardian and Standard 1975, p. 4.
- ^ The Wells Journal 1979, p. 2.
- ^ Roussopoulos 1986, p. 268.
- ^ a b c The Evening Post 1984, p. 6.
- ^ Western Daily Press 1980, p. 10.
- ^ Western Daily Press 1981, p. 9.
- ^ a b Stop Hinkley 2020.
- ^ Fort Worth Star-Telegram 1982, p. 3.
- ^ Rose 1985, pp. 179, 230.
- ^ Roussopoulos 1986, pp. 267–268.
- ^ Stokes 1982, p. 3.
- ^ Bruce 1984, p. 15.
- ^ Cuniberti 1984, p. V-1.
- ^ Cuniberti 1984, p. V-7.
- ^ a b c Reaves 1984, p. 15A.
- ^ a b Williams 1984, p. 3B.
- ^ Hansen, Helm & Reichherzer 2015, pp. 62–63.
- ^ a b c Roberts 1991, p. 54.
- ^ a b c d e Shepton Mallet Journal 1989, p. 5.
- ^ a b The Evening Post 1991, p. 11.
- ^ The Evening Post 1990b, p. 11.
- ^ a b The Evening Post 1990a, p. 2.
- ^ Fagan & Arthur 1995.
- ^ Jones 1990, p. 5.
- ^ a b Aberdeen Press and Journal 1996, p. 25.
- ^ Harris 1995, p. 13.
- ^ Dawson 1998, p. 10.
- ^ Jackson 1998, p. 10.
- ^ Mansfield 2004, p. 29.
- ^ Raikes 2003, p. 4.
- ^ a b The Southern Reporter 2008.
- ^ Lesley 2012, p. 24.
- ^ Ross 2010b, p. 10.
- ^ BBC News 2010.
- ^ Ross 2010a, p. 14.
- ^ Transition France 2011.
- ^ Fatou 2011, p. 6.
- ^ Ensemble Ici 2018.
- ^ Le Dauphiné libéré 2019.
Bibliography
[edit]- "Acte de décès à Nyons (26110) pour l'année 2019" [Death Certificates of Nyons (26110) for the Year 2019]. Acte de décès (in French). Drôme, France. 16 August 2019. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
- "A Greener Hawick for a Greener World". The Southern Reporter. Selkirk, Scotland. 26 June 2008. – via Gale A180611006 (subscription required)
- "Anti-Nuclear". Western Daily Press. Bristol, England. 10 July 1980. p. 10. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Interview avec Danielle Grunberg" [Interview with Danielle Grünberg]. Transition France (in French). Toulouse, France: Transition Network. 2011. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- Aubrey, Crispin (1 March 1982). "Italian Invitation for Drama Teachers". The Evening Post. Bristol, Avon. p. 8. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- Bruce, Malcolm (February–March 1984). "The Oxford Review" (PDF). Scram. 40. Edinburgh, Scotland: Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace: 14–15. ISSN 0140-7341. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- "Chernobyl Remembered". The Evening Post. Bristol, Avon. 12 April 1991. p. 11. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Chit Chat: Arts Lab". The Stage. No. 4610. London, UK. 21 August 1969. p. 8. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Cuniberti, Betty (2 February 1984). "Women Cross Ocean Seeking Peace in World". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. pp. V-1, V-7. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Danielle Grünberg vient parler du climat aujourd'hui" [Danielle Grünberg Comes to Talk about Climate Today]. Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). Grenoble, France. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- "Danielle's U.S. Peace Mission". The Evening Post. Bristol, Avon. 19 January 1984. p. 6. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- Dawson, Tim (6 September 1998). "Eco Home Stays True to Nature; Property". Sunday Times. London, UK. p. 10. – via Gale A72136797 (subscription required)
- "Debate". Western Daily Press. Bristol, England. 19 February 1981. p. 9. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Down in the Forest..." Western Daily Press. Bristol, England. 9 September 1977. p. 11. Retrieved 25 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Dragon Steals the Show". Wells Journal. Wells, Somerset. 22 March 1979. p. 2. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Energy Team Plugs in to Electric Monster". The Evening Post. Bristol, Avon. 21 September 1990. p. 11. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
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- Fatou, T. (December 2011). "Pour positiver l'avenir: la ville en transition" [To the Positive Future: The City in Transition]. Le Magazine Grande-Synthe (in French). No. 323. Grande-Synthe, France: Maison communale de Grande-Synthe. p. 6. ISSN 0292-0174. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- Hansen, Jan; Helm, Christian; Reichherzer, Frank (2015). Making Sense of the Americas: How protest Related to America in the 1980s and Beyond. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Campus Verlag. ISBN 978-3-593-50480-3.
- Harris, Gillian (19 July 1995). "Fresh Airwaves". The Scotsman. No. 47366. Edinburgh, Scotland. p. 13. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Hinkley Point Nuclear Timeline". Stop Hinkley. Yeabridge, South Petherton: Stop Hinkley Organization. 2020. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- "Hinkley Public Inquiry Finishes". Shepton Mallet Journal. Shepton Mallet, Somerset. 7 December 1989. p. 5. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- Jackson, Penny (11 July 1998). "Property: Eco-Idyll in the Highlands; For Sale: A House with Breathing Walls". The Independent. London, UK. p. 10. – via Gale A66788813 (subscription required)
- Jones, Tim (16 October 1990). "Soviet Trip for N-Site Protest Leader". The Evening Post. Bristol, Avon. p. 5. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- Lesley, E. (October 2012). Building the Local Food Movement (PDF). Scotland's First Annual Local Food Gathering 24–25 October 2009, Dunbar, Scotland. Falkland, Fife: Centre for Stewardship. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 June 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- MacMillan, Joyce; Carnegie, John (1988). The Traverse Theatre Story 1963–1988. London, UK: Methuen. ISBN 978-0-413-19250-9.
- Mansfield, Susan (13 December 2004). "Reviews: Rita Kernn-Larsen". The Scotsman. Edinburgh, Scotland. p. 29. – via Gale A126062508 (subscription required)
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- "New Centre". Aberdeen Press and Journal. No. 44088. Aberdeen, Scotland. 22 July 1996. p. 25. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "N-Plant Protests Go on". The Evening Post. Bristol, Avon. 8 September 1990. p. 2. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "Protesters from West Tour USSR". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas. Associated Press. 18 July 1982. p. 3. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
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- Reaves, Gayle (26 September 1984). "Peace Activists Warn of Missiles on European Soil". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas. p. 15A. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
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- Roberts, Jane (March 1991). "Clarity, Ambivalence or Confusion? An Assessment of Pressure Group Motives at the Hinkley Point 'C' Public Inquiry". Energy & Environment. 2 (1). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publishing: 45–67. doi:10.1177/0958305X9100200103. ISSN 0958-305X. JSTOR 43734099. OCLC 6066755770. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- Rose, Clive (1985). Campaigns against Western Defence: NATO's Adversaries and Critics (1st ed.). New York, New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-11469-5.
- Ross, Peter (26 September 2010b). "A Town Called Transition". Scotland on Sunday. Edinburgh, Scotland. p. 10. – via Gale A238392054 (subscription required)
- Ross, Peter (21 March 2010a). "Take Note of the Hawick Pound". Scotland on Sunday. Edinburgh, Scotland. p. 14. – via Gale A221741115 (subscription required)
- Roussopoulos, Dimitrios I. (1986). The Coming of World War Three. Vol. 1: From Protest to Resistance/The International War System. Montreal, Quebec: Black Rose Books. ISBN 978-0-920057-03-2.
- Seaton, Ray (25 November 1971). "Curtain up on Theatre Group's Schools Plan". Express & Star. No. 30119. Wolverhampton, UK. p. 13. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- Stokes, Ray (4 October 1982). "Now It's Hinkley Point No 4". The Evening Post. Bristol, Avon. p. 3. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- Sutcliffe, Jill (28 January 2020). "Stop Hinkley Are Very Sorry to Learn of the Death of One of Our Founders, Danielle Grunberg". Stop Hinkley. Yeabridge, South Petherton: Stop Hinkley Organization. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 25 May 2024.
- "Theatre and Arts Group Aims to Be Different". Shepton Mallet Journal. Shepton Mallet, Somerset. 18 September 1975. p. 2. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- "The Borders Town of Hawick Is to Launch Its Own 'Pound'". BBC News. London, UK. 10 March 2010. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- "'The Knickers'". The Stage. No. 4702. London, UK. 27 May 1971. p. 29. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via The British Newspaper Archive.
- "This Theatre Visits the People". Somerset Guardian and Standard. Frome, Somerset. 19 September 1975. p. 4. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- Williams, Edgar (11 September 1984). "2 European Women Begin Tour for Peace". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. p. 3B. Retrieved 26 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
[edit]- Video of Grünberg speaking about Transition Towns, (in French) 2011.
- 1940 births
- 2019 deaths
- Actresses from London
- Alumni of the Drama Centre London
- British stage actors
- British theatre directors
- British women theatre directors
- British anti–nuclear weapons activists
- British anti–nuclear power activists
- British environmentalists
- British emigrants to France
- British people of Austrian-Jewish descent
- British people of Danish descent
- 20th-century British actresses
- Activists from London
- British women environmentalists