Alima Boumediene-Thiery

Alima Boumediene-Thiery
Member of the French Senate
for Paris
In office
26 September 2004 – 30 July 2011
Member of the European Parliament
In office
20 July 1999 – 19 July 2004
Personal details
Born (1956-07-24) 24 July 1956
PartyThe Greens
Socialist Party
Ensemble!

Alima Boumediene-Thiery (born 24 July 1956) is a former Member of the European Parliament (1999–2004) and former member of the Senate of France (2004–2011),[1] representing the city of Paris. She was previously a member of the French Green party.

Biography

Childhood

Boumediene-Thiery was born into a North African family in Argenteuil, an outer banlieue of Paris, in 1956.[2]

Activism

Prior to entering politics, she was an activist and was an organizer of the 1983 March for Equality and against Racism.[3] She founded Expression Maghrébine au Féminin (EMAF) in 1985 to promote the cultural contributions by women from the Maghreb.[4] She hosted a program, Féminin Pluriel, in the 1990s on a community radio station. She also unsuccessfully attempted to get a radio frequency for her association in 1992.

Local office

In 1995, she was elected to munincipal office in Argenteuil as an independent running on a left-wing coalition's list. She joined The Greens in 1998.[5]

European Parliament

In 1999, Boumediene-Thiery was elected a member of the European Parliament with her mandate ending in March 2004.[3] In the 2004 European Parliament election, she was not reelected despite being second on the Green Party's list in Île-de-France behind Alain Lipietz.[6]

French Senate

In 26 September 2004, she was elected as a member of the French Senate on a left-wing coalition list in Paris.[7]

On June 30, 2010, Alima Boumediene-Thiery took part in a boycott of israeli products at a supermarket in Montigny-lès-Cormeilles. She was subsequently charged with "incitement to discrimination on the grounds of national origin". She received support from numerous quarters, including Algerian parliamentarians,[8] Jewish members of the UJFP,[9] and the AMF (Association of Moroccans in France).[10] Boumediene-Thiery was the only political figure to speak out publicly on the Said Bourarach case.

Furthermore, citing her status as a former Senator (EELV), she applied for admission to the Val-d'Oise bar. Her application was initially rejected; however, she challenged this decision in court and won the appeal.[11]

On May 26, 2011 while sitting in the French Senate, Boumediene-Thiery wrote to the Minister of Education, Luc Chatel, asking him to intervene on behalf of her son, whose application for a boarding place at a public middle school in Paris had been rejected on the basis of “social criteria" and “negative opinion from the social worker.” Alima Boumediene-Thiery complained in her letter that a senator in her situation needed state assistance to make ends meet.[12] At the time, a senator’s net monthly salary was €5,400, with an additional €6,240 in non-taxable allowances, meaning her monthly income was €11,645.94, in addition to taxi expenses paid for by the Senate.[13]

Defeat and later career

In 25 September 2011 she ran for reelection in Val-d'Oise, running while suspended by the Greens running as an independent.[14] She was defeated with 4% of the vote.

In 2014, she joined the new Ensemble! French political party.[15] In 2019, she was selected to lead a left-wing list in the Argenteuil local elections.[2] The list was broke apart before the vote.[16]

References

  1. ^ Page on the Senate website (in French)
  2. ^ a b à 15h41, Par Thibault Chaffotte Le 14 octobre 2019; À 16h07, Modifié Le 14 Octobre 2019 (14 October 2019). "Le collectif de gauche Argenteuil en commun a élu sa tête de liste". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 15 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b "Alima Boumédiene-Thiery, une militante en politique". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  4. ^ Mustapha, Saha. "Alima Boumediene-Thiery, portrait". lepost.huffingtonpost.fr. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  5. ^ "Paris" (in French). 28 September 2004. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  6. ^ "Le paravent Dieudonné". L'Express (in French). 27 June 2004. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  7. ^ "Islamophobie : j'ai assisté à une forme de boycottage, aucun sénateur n' a voulu entendre". www.saphirnews.com. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  8. ^ "Touche pas à ma Sénatrice !" : Des Parlementaires Algériens se mobilisent pour leur consœur Alima Boumediene-Thiery : alima-boumediene.org
  9. ^ Lettre de Serge Grossvak, sur le site de l'UJFP : ujfp.org
  10. ^ L’AMF (Association des Marocains de France) : Solidarité avec la sénatrice Alima Boumedienne-Thiery : alima-boumediene.org.
  11. ^ "Alima Boumédienne sera bien avocate". leparisien.fr. 24 January 2013.
  12. ^ "Une sénatrice écolo et nécessiteuse". Le Canard enchaîné. 27 July 2011.
  13. ^ "Une sénatrice écologiste se plaint de sa "situation financière"" (in French). 22 July 2011. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  14. ^ à 07h00, 20 September 2011 (20 September 2011). "Alima Boumediene-Thiery propose une alternative à gauche". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 15 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Hugo, Carlos (11 December 2017). "Europe : entretien avec Alima Boumediene-Thiery et Jean-François Pellissier". Ensemble! (in French). Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  16. ^ à 19h40, Par Thibault Chaffotte Le 12 février 2020; À 11h11, Modifié Le 5 Mars 2020 (12 February 2020). "Municipales : la liste Argenteuil en commun se disloque". leparisien.fr (in French). Retrieved 15 January 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)