Niko Alm

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Niko Alm, 2016

Nikolaus Alm (born August 30, 1975 in Vienna ) is an Austrian entrepreneur, publicist, former politician ( NEOS ) and political activist for secularism. He is the founder of the Initiative against Church Privileges and the Laicism Initiative , a founding member of the Giordano Bruno Foundation in Austria and, since May 2011, Chairman of the Central Council of Non-denominationalists . Niko Alm was a member of the Austrian National Council from October 2013 to the end of March 2017 . Niko Alm has been managing director of the Addendum research platform since 2017 .

Life

Alm studied journalism and philosophy. First he worked as a freelance music journalist and designer, then he founded and became managing director of the marketing company voortekk . In 2001 he founded Super-Fi, whose managing director he also became. Super-Fi encompasses a group of companies that operate in areas such as marketing, music platforms, social media, and magazines. In 2013 Alm sold his shares in Super-Fi to VICE. In 2005 he took over the editing of the pop culture magazine The Gap and in 2007 changed to the Austrian edition of VICE , where he was also the managing director of VICE CEE Holding until March 2016.

Activity as a critic of religion

Alm became known in the Austrian media as an avowed atheist and critic of religion. He is committed to a separation of state and religion and thus speaks out in favor of secularity . In his opinion, the logical consequence of such a separation is the elimination of all privileges and a renegotiation of the Concordat on the basis of these criteria.

In 2009, Alm Busse wanted Wiener Linien to use the slogan “There is no God”, but Wiener Linien forbade any advertising . The subjects were then posted on Vienna's Mariahilfer Strasse . The action was related to the Atheist Bus Campaign . In 2010 he advertised religious freedom? Let us decide! that school children to their religious coming of age (14 years) ethics classes should receive religious instruction instead. The action was carried out in German and Turkish. In May 2011 Alm took over the chairmanship of the central council of non-denominational members from Heinz Oberhummer .

In July 2011, the supporter of the religious parodist movement of the Flying Spaghetti Monster caused a stir when he published his official driver's license photo, in which he wears a noodle strainer as a headgear. Alm stated that the Austrian authorities accepted the noodle sieve as a religious head covering. However, the authorities said the photo was approved regardless of any religious affiliation. In contrast to a passport photo, a driver's license photo merely has to ensure that the head and face are clearly and completely depicted. In § 2 Paragraph 1 Z 1 lit. h Driving License Act Implementation Ordinance, it says even less decidedly: "[E] in photo, with a height between 36 and 45 mm and a width between 28 and 35 mm, whereby the head must be recognizable and completely depicted," which means there is no There are guidelines regarding the face. The action was spread in the media as a demonstration of the special treatment of religion. Alm himself justified the action by stating that he had a very sensitive organ for the privileges of the churches and religious societies and, as a democrat, did not accept that some were more equal than others, especially if they based their special rights on unprovable claims.

In April 2013, the registration week for the popular initiative against church privileges, co-initiated by Alm, took place. This was signed by only 56,660 people (that is 0.89 percent of the eligible voters), making it the most unsuccessful referendum in the history of the Second Republic .

In February 2019 he published the book Without Confession: How politics is made with religion . The central point of the publication advocating secularity is u. a. the question of how free politics is from religion, bound by the Concordats of the early 20th century.

Political career

In February 2013 it became known that Alm, who ran for the Greens in the state elections in Lower Austria in 2003 and had organized the election campaign of this party with his agency Super-Fi in the national elections in 2006 and 2008, has now received orders from the red-green Vienna city government and the like . a. from the University Commissioner Alexander Van der Bellen . This has been criticized, as politicians of the Greens had recently advocated a ban on the award of contracts to party-affiliated agencies - in connection with similar events in the Ministry of the Interior. Alm rejected any closeness to the Greens, the party described the reports as a " dirt bucket campaign ".

In April 2013 Alm faced the party primaries of the NEOS party - The New Austria and Liberal Forum and reached 17th place on the federal electoral list. He was ranked second on the state election list for Vienna. In the National Council election on September 29, 2013 , the party achieved 5% and thus entered parliament for the first time. Alm himself was able to achieve a mandate in the district of Vienna . Subsequently, Niko Alm acted in the NEOS parliamentary club as a spokesperson for business (start-ups, EPU, SMEs), network politics, media politics, space and home affairs. He was also a temporary spokesman for animal welfare, sport, national defense and religion.

On March 30, 2017, Niko Alm surprisingly announced his resignation as a member of the National Council, because he would take a management position in a media company that was to be built up and this private-sector activity was not compatible with the exercise of a National Council mandate. As later became known, these media companies are the Addendum research platform . Karin Doppelbauer became his successor in the NEOS club . Claudia Gamon received his mandate in the Vienna electoral district and Karin Doppelbauer received the mandate on the federal party list that became vacant.

Publications

  • Niko Alm: Without confession - How politics is made with religion. Residenz Verlag, Vienna 2019, ISBN 978-3-7017-3456-6

Web links

Commons : Niko Alm  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dossier Niko Alm, Member of the National Council, NEOS. In: My MPs. Retrieved August 1, 2014 .
  2. ↑ APA - Austrian Press Agency: Mateschitz project "Addendum" with first content online. Retrieved January 4, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b The cross with laicism - derStandard.de. Retrieved January 6, 2019 (Austrian German).
  4. ↑ About us - Website of the Giordano Bruno Foundation Austria.
  5. ↑ a b Which Neos move into the National Council. In: derstandard.at . September 30, 2013, accessed April 4, 2017 .
  6. ↑ a b Neos MP Niko Alm resigns from his mandate. In: DiePresse.com . March 30, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2017 .
  7. ↑ a b Mateschitz project "Addendum" with first content online. In: Salzburger Nachrichten . September 25, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2018 .
  8. ↑ The Viennese noodle pope of the godless. In: derStandard.at. July 13, 2011, accessed July 17, 2011 .
  9. ↑ As an atheist, I feel sorry for you . In: derStandard.at. August 5, 2009, accessed July 17, 2011 .
  10. ↑ Who needs the cross? (No longer available online.) In: ORF broadcast Club2. November 19, 2009, archived from the original on August 20, 2010 ; Retrieved July 17, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / club-2.blog.de
  11. ↑ a b c Niko Alm in the chat: "Didn't ask the police to make a statement". In: derStandard.at. July 13, 2011, accessed July 17, 2011 .
  12. ↑ “There is no God. It depends on us ”:“ Godless ”campaign is launched in Vienna. In: NEWS Online. July 15, 2009, accessed July 17, 2011 .
  13. ↑ Too young for God? Niko Alm wants children to decide for themselves. In: diepresse.com. October 28, 2010, accessed July 17, 2011 .
  14. ^ Niko Alm new chairman of the non-denominational group. In: derStandard.at. May 11, 2011, accessed July 17, 2011 .
  15. ↑ In the name of the spaghetti monster. Driving license photo with pasta strainer. In: Spiegel online. July 13, 2011, accessed July 13, 2011 .
  16. ↑ a b Austrian driver allowed 'pastafarian' headgear photo. In: BBC Europe. July 14, 2011, accessed July 17, 2011 .
  17. ^ "Noodle sieve photo" not approved for religious reasons. In: ORF.at. July 13, 2011, accessed July 17, 2011 .
  18. ↑ Noodle sieve not approved for religious reasons. In: derStandard.at. July 13, 2011, accessed July 17, 2011 .
  19. ↑ Most unsuccessful initiatives in history , on orf.at, accessed on April 23, 2013
  20. ↑ Only two out of 100,000 signatures , on orf.at, accessed on April 23, 2013
  21. ↑ Without confession. Retrieved February 26, 2019 .
  22. ^ City orders to ex-agency: Greens in criticism . In: Die Presse , February 22, 2013
  23. ↑ Greens in need of explanation: Ex-Agency on Vienna's Payroll. In: Die Presse , February 21, 2013
  24. ↑ Results of the preselection ( memento of the original from April 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. for the National Council election 2013 - Website of NEOS - The New Austria and Liberal Forum @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tools.neos.eu
  25. ↑ NR election: Land lists created by Neos. In: ORF.at . May 8, 2013, accessed April 4, 2017 .
  26. ↑ Final result of the National Council election 2013 including all voting card results - BMI. Retrieved October 3, 2013 .
  27. ↑ NEOS: Strolz replaces "Pastafari" Alm as religion spokesman nachrichten.at, OÖN, June 10, 2014, accessed March 30, 2017.
  28. ^ Claudia Angela Gamon on the website of the Austrian Parliament
personal data
SURNAME Alm, Niko
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alm, Nikolaus (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian entrepreneur, civil rights activist and politician (NEOS), member of the National Council, author
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna