Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen (born 22 February 1984 in

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (behind Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2022, the city proper had a population of 180,863 while Odense Municipality had a population of 20 ...

) is a former member of the

Danish parliament The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands a ...

for the Red-Green Alliance. Schmidt-Nielsen has been referred to as the "new queen of the Red-Green Alliance" by parts of the press.Sjølie, Marie Louise (2007-05-24)
''Revolution hver eneste dag''

Dagbladet Information ''Information'' (), full name: ''Dagbladet Information'' (), is a Danish newspaper published Monday through Saturday. History and profile ''Dagbladet Information'' was established and published by the Danish resistance movement in 1943 during ...

. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.Rømer, Mikael (2007-11-16)
''Enhedslistens nye dronning rykker ind''

Ekstra Bladet ''Ekstra Bladet'' is a Danish tabloid newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen.About
(in Danish) ''E ...

. Retrieved on 2008-04-06. She now serves as secretary general for

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

. Schmidt-Nielsen grew up on

Fyn Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

and currently lives in

Nørrebro Nørrebro (, ) is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is northwest of the city centre, beyond the location of the old Northern Gate (''Nørreport''), which, until dismantled in 1856, was near the current Nørreport station ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. She has been active in politics since 1997,''Find din kandidat: Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen''
.

Danmarks Radio DR (), officially the Danish Broadcasting Corporation in English, is a Danish public-service radio and television broadcasting company. Founded in 1925 as a public-service organization, it is Denmark's oldest and largest electronic media enterp ...

. Retrieved on 2008-04-06 and she was vice chairman of the national interest group for students at the Danish

gymnasiums A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...

from 2002 to 2003. At the Red-Green Alliance's annual meeting in May 2006, she was elected into the executive committee of the party with 147 votes — receiving more votes than any other candidate. She was reelected in 2007. She holds a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

from

Roskilde University Roskilde University ( da, Roskilde Universitet, abbreviated RUC or RU) is a Danish public university founded in 1972 and located in Trekroner in the Eastern part of Roskilde. The university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD deg ...

2007.

Political career

Activism

Schmidt-Nielsen has made herself noted as a political

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

, and has participated in demonstrations at summits in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

and

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

.''Enhedslistens nye prinsesse''
(2007-11-14).

TV 2 (Denmark) TV 2 (''TV to'') is a Danish government-owned broadcast and subscription television station in Denmark based in Odense, Funen. History Since 1949, Danmarks Radio had been the sole provider of television in Denmark. Wanting to end the monopoly, ...

. Retrieved on 2008-04-06. As spokesperson for the activist group ''Velfærdsmissionen'' ( en, The Welfare Mission) she participated in dumping 200 kg of pasta and 40 liters of ketchup on the staircase leading to the Ministry of Finance in a protest against cutbacks in the State education grants. In March 2007, Schmidt-Nielsen reported the

Aller Press Aller Media is a magazine publisher in the Nordic countries, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. It publishes ''Elle'', ''Cafe'', ''Familie Journalen'', '' Femina'', ''Allers'' and ''Se og Hør''. History Aller Media was founded in Copenhagen ...

owned pornographic magazine, ''Super,'' to the police for its use in procuring prostitutes. The background of the report was an article in the tabloid newspaper B.T. on the magazine's monthly contest in which the prize was a half hour in the company of a prostitute. The report was later withdrawn when Aller called the contest off. On 30 October 2007, Schmidt-Nielsen and fellow feminists hung red stockings on a clothesline at the entry to the Ministry of Social Welfare, with the stated intention of encouraging minister

Karen Jespersen Karen Moustgaard Jespersen (born 17 January 1947 in Copenhagen) is a Danish journalist and former politician representing the party Venstre. Early life Born in Copenhagen, she's the daughter of labourer Knud Jespersen and delicatessen owner Anna J ...

to more actively attempt to solve gender equality issues. The following day, a group of members of the Red-Green Alliance including Schmidt-Nielsen planted bushes in the park

Ørstedsparken Ørstedsparken is a public park in central Copenhagen, Denmark. One in a series of parks which were laid out on the grounds of the Fortifications of Copenhagen (17th century), old fortification ring after it was decommissioned in the 1870s, the par ...

in central Copenhagen as a symbolic protest against harassment of the male gay population in Copenhagen and as a manifestation of sexual liberal-mindedness.Rømer, Mikael (2007-10-31)
''Der skal være plads til sex i det fri''
.

Ekstra Bladet ''Ekstra Bladet'' is a Danish tabloid newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen.About
(in Danish) ''E ...

. Retrieved on 2008-04-06. Previously, plantation had been removed from the park to discourage people from having sex in the park. The party also launched an initiative against hate-crimes. On 5 November 2007, Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen launched a proposal for "modernizing" copyright, which included appointing a commission to redesign the copyright law to allow distributing copyrighted material and to compensate artists for the resulting loss of income.''Toppolitiker henter piratkopier''
(2007-11-05).

Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been independe ...

. Retrieved on 2008-04-07. The proposal received significant attention from the media, when she simultaneously confessed to having illegally downloaded and distributed music illegally on the internet and stated that she had no intention to cease doing so.

Elections

Schmidt-Nielsen ran for the municipal council of

Copenhagen Municipality Copenhagen Municipality ( da, Københavns Kommune), also known in English as the Municipality of Copenhagen, located in the Capital Region of Denmark, is the largest of the four municipalities that constitute the City of Copenhagen (), the other ...

in the 2005 elections, but was not elected. When in March 2007,

Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil Pernille Rosenkrantz-Theil (born 17 January 1977 in Skælskør) is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Social Democrats political party. From 2019 to 2022, she has served as Minister of Children and Education. She was e ...

announced that she would not run for re-election to the Folketing, Schmidt-Nielsen took over her position as the party's top candidate in the metropolitan constituency.''Enhedslisten med ny frontfigur''
2007-05-06.

. Retrieved on 2008-04-08. At the 2007 parliamentary election, she stood for election on issues such as increased social welfare and a struggle against discrimination. On 12 November 2007, Schmidt-Nielsen participated in a debate for party leaders on TV 2 on the evening before the election as the youngest candidate ever to participate in a nationally televised debate for Danish party leaders.Nilsson, Kirsten (2007-11-13)
''Bendtsen bad Enhedslistens spidskandidat hente kaffe''
.

. Retrieved on 2008-04-08. Prior to the debate, the leader of the Conservative People's Party,

Bendt Bendtsen Bendt Bendtsen (born 25 March 1954) is a Denmark, Danish politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 until 2019. He was the leader of the Conservative People's Party (Denmark), Conservative People's Party from 1999 ...

, mistook her for an office girl and asked her to fetch him coffee. She was elected on 8,964 personal votes.Johansen, Tobias Stern (2007-11-15)
''"Kaffepiccolinen" fik flere stemmer end Khader''
.

Kristeligt Dagblad ''Kristeligt Dagblad'' is a Danish newspaper in Copenhagen, Denmark. History and profile ''Kristeligt Dagblad'' was established in 1896. It was an initiative of the Lutheran Inner Mission created to oppose radicalism and atheism. The paper is ow ...

. Retrieved on 2008-04-08. In 2011 she was reelected on 47,002 votes, about 15,000 more votes than prime minister

Helle Thorning-Schmidt Helle Thorning-Schmidt (; born 14 December 1966) is a Danish retired politician who served as the 26th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2011 to 2015, and Leader of the Social Democrats from 2005 to 2015. She is the first woman to have held each p ...

. In 2015 her reelection was secured with 40,225 votes.

References

External links

Official website

Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen
at the website of the Red-Green Alliance *
Interview med Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen om Frihed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt-Nielsen, Johanne 1984 births Living people Roskilde University alumni People from Odense Women members of the Folketing Red–Green Alliance (Denmark) politicians Members of the Folketing 2007–2011 Members of the Folketing 2011–2015 Members of the Folketing 2015–2019 Leaders of political parties in Denmark