Solange Fernex (15 April 1934 – 11 September 2006) was a French environmental and pacifist activist and politician. One of the environmental movement's pioneers in Europe, she helped found the French Green Party and was a member of the European Parliament for five years. She advocated for a wide range of issues, including nonviolence, world peace, nuclear disarmament, alternative energy, and feminism. In 2019, a school in her hometown of

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, France, was named after Fernex.

Early years

Fernex was born in

, France. When she was only six, her father died as a French soldier fighting in World War II. She later said that sparked her commitment to nonviolence. While studying biology in college, she met Swiss physician Michel Fernex, who specializes in tropical diseases. The couple married and moved to Africa, where two of their four children were born. Upon returning, they lived in an old farmhouse in Biederthal, near the Swiss border, where they installed a solar energy system and raised their family.

Green activism

Upon returning to France, Fernex founded a chapter of the third world relief group,

Terre des hommes Terre des hommes, also Terre des Hommes (''Land of People'' or ''Land of Men''), is an international children's rights charitable humanitarian umbrella organization under the aegis of the International Federation of Terre des Hommes (TDHIF), wit ...

. She worked to preserve historic homes and assisted with the "squatting" movement to successfully protest a proposed lead factory on the Rhine River and a nearby chemical plant. She also joined activists in opposing nuclear power plants, including one planned in Wyhl in southwestern Germany, where she camped in a protest community near the site. In 1977, Fernex was elected to her town council and remained active on it for 24 years. In 1979, she led the Europe-Ecologie political movement for the environmental group's first European elections, which obtained 4.39 percent for a total of 888,134 votes in France. That same year, she founded the women-led peace organization, Femmes pour la Paix, which she headed until 1996. In 1983, she participated in the Fast for Life movement, fasting 38 days in Paris for

nuclear disarmament Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the Atomic nucleus, nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear ...

. The following year, she co-founded the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

with

Antoine Waechter Antoine Waechter (born 11 February 1949) is a French politician, leader of the Independent Ecological Movement. Early activism Antoine Waechter was born on 11 February 1949 in Mulhouse, (Haut-Rhin). He began activism early, and by 1965 had fou ...

. She was the lead organizer in Europe of the

Walk of the People – A Pilgrimage for Life A Walk of the People – A Pilgrimage for Life was a walking personal and political action organized by peace activists Dale James Outhouse and Pamela Blockey O'Brien to bring attention to the perils of impending Nuclear warfare, nuclear war between ...

, a transcontinental peace walk from the United States to Russia that covered 7,000 miles in 1984 and 1985.

Chernobyl, European Parliament, later years

After the

Chernobyl Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about no ...

nuclear accident in 1986, Fernex stepped up her efforts to help the radiation victims. She and her husband later founded Children of Chernobyl, focusing on youthful victims. She frequently claimed that the authorities had grossly underestimated the number of victims. In 1989, Fernex won election to the European Parliament, representing the Green Party in France through 1994. As head of the Agriculture Committee and member of the Fishery Sub-Commission, she lobbied for organic farming regulations to outline how to obtain an organic certification for food. Between 1995 and 2003, Fernex chaired the French chapter of the

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a Non-profit organization, non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determi ...

. She was also vice president of the

International Peace Bureau The International Peace Bureau (IPB) (french: Bureau international de la paix), founded in 1891, is one of the world's oldest international peace federations. The organisation was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910 for acting "as a link be ...

in Geneva for four years in the 1990s. In 2001, she received the

Nuclear-Free Future Award Since 1998 the Nuclear-Free Future Award (NFFA) is an award given to anti-nuclear activists, organizations and communities. The award is intended to promote opposition to uranium mining, nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The NFFA is a project of ...

from the German-based foundation for her lifetime work against nuclear weapons.

Death and legacy

By 2003, Fernex had acquired cancer, causing her to have to reduce her activities. She died on September 11, 2006, in

Biederthal Biederthal ( gsw, Bierthel) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It is located on the border with Switzerland, next to the Swiss villages of Rodersdorf and Metzerlen-Mariastein. See also *Communes of the H ...

. She wrote a book on her work, ''A Life for a Life (La Vie pour la Vie).'' The French film production company Dora Films did a documentary on her in 2014 called ''The Little Spark.''

Early years

Green activism

Chernobyl, European Parliament, later years

Death and legacy

See also

Footnotes

Further reading