Gisèle Halimi

Gisèle Halimi
Halimi in 2009
Permanent Representative of France to UNESCO
In office
13 April 1985 – 1 September 1986
PresidentFrançois Mitterrand
Preceded byJacqueline Baudrier
Succeeded byMarie-Claude Cabana
Member of the National Assembly
for Isère's 4th constituency
In office
21 June 1981 – 9 September 1984
Preceded byJacques-Antoine Gaur
Succeeded byMaurice Rival
Personal details
BornZeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb
(1927-07-27)27 July 1927
La Goulette, Tunis, Tunisia
Died28 July 2020(2020-07-28) (aged 93)
Paris, France
Spouse(s)Paul Halimi (divorced)
Claude Faux
Children3 (including Serge Halimi)
Alma materUniversity of Paris
Sciences Po
ProfessionLawyer
Signature

Gisèle Halimi (born Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb, Arabic: زايزا جيزيل إليز طيب; 27 July 1927 – 28 July 2020) was a Tunisian-French lawyer, politician, essayist and feminist activist.[1]

As a lawyer, she defended activists fighting for the Algerian nationalism, then a French colony, from the 1950s onwards, including members of the National Liberation Front (Algeria) (FLN). From 1960 onwards, she defended the activist and militant Djamila Boupacha, who was accused of attempted murder and then survived torture and rape while being detained by French soldiers. Alongside Simone de Beauvoir, she publicized the trial in order to highlight the French army's methods of torture during the Algerian War.

A leading figure in French feminism, she was the only lawyer to sign the 1971 Manifesto of the 343, which brought together women who declared that they had had abortions and demanded free access to abortion, which was then illegal in France. In the wake of this, she founded the Choisir la cause des femmes (Choose Women's Cause) movement, alongside Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Rostand, among others. In 1972, during the Bobigny trial, her work as a lawyer for women accused of illegal abortion led to the acquittal of three of the defendants and a suspended sentence for the fourth, and contributed to the evolution towards the Veil Act, named for Simone Veil, on voluntary termination of pregnancy in 1975.

Similarly, her high-profile strategy for two young women who were victims of a gang rape in 1974, tried in 1978, Anne Tonglet and Araceli Castellano, contributed to the adoption of a new law in 1980, clearly defining indecent assault and rape, allowing the latter to be recognized as a crime, whereas until then it had most often been treated as a misdemeanor under French law.

In 1981, Halimi was elected to the French National Assembly,[2] as an independent Socialist and served as Deputy for Isère until 1984. Between 1985 and 1987, she was a French legate to UNESCO.[3] In 1998, she was a founding member of ATTAC.[4]

Biography

Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb was born in La Goulette, Tunisia, on 27 July 1927 to a practicing Jewish Berber family. Her father, Edouard Taïeb, began as a courier in a law office before becoming a notary clerk and then a legal expert. He was naturalized as a French citizen in 1928.[5] Her mother, Fortunée "Fritna" Mettoudi, conformed to society's expectations of traditional womanhood, which Halimi cited as the reason for her own early feminist engagement.[6] When Gisèle was born, her parents hid her birth for fifteen days because at that time giving birth to a daughter was perceived as a curse.[7] At 12 years old, she refused to wait on her brothers and went on a hunger strike to protest the gender roles enforced by her family. At 15, she refused to marry a rich oil merchant much older than herself.[8]

She was educated at a French lycée in Tunis, then attended the University of Paris, graduating in law and philosophy. She had three sons: Serge, a journalist, and Jean-Yves, a lawyer, from her first marriage to Paul Halimi, and Emmanuel Faux, a journalist, from her second marriage to Claude Faux.[9] She died the day following her 93rd birthday, on July 28, 2020.[10]

Career

In 1948, Halimi qualified as a lawyer and, after eight years at the Tunis bar,[2] moved to practise at the Paris bar in 1956.[2] She acted as a counsel for the Algerian National Liberation Front, most notably for the activist Djamila Boupacha, who had been raped and tortured by French soldiers,[2] writing a book in 1961 (with an introduction by Simone de Beauvoir) to plead her case.[2] Gisèle Halimi was unable to attend the first trial scheduled before the military court and therefore had to delegate one of her correspondents in Algeria, Pierre Garrigues, who was assassinated in Algiers on March 1, 1962. Faced with legal obstacles, she filed a complaint against General Ailleret, commander-in-chief of the armed forces in Algeria, and Pierre Messmer, Minister of the Armed Forces, for violating her client's constitutional rights. The two senior officials were charged with treachery, which brought the case to the attention of the media. She also obtained a change of venue for the trial to Caen and mobilized her networks to form a defense committee[11] that raised the necessary funds to finance the repatriation to France.[12] This trial was notably defended in the French newspaper Le Monde.

She also defended Basque individuals accused of crimes committed during the conflict in Basque Country.

Halimi served as counsel in many cases related to women's issues.[2] She was the only lawyer to sign the 1971 manifesto of 343 women who declared that they had had abortions and demanded free access to contraception and abortion.[13] Alongside Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Rostand, among others, she founded the feminist movement Choisir la cause des femmes (Choose the Cause of Women) in 1971 and campaigned for the decriminalization of abortion.[14] to protect the women who had signed the Manifesto of the 343 admitting to having had illegal abortions, of whom she was one.[2][15] Her primary goal was to defend the signatories of the manifesto of the 343 who could be charged, and beyond that, to fight for the revision of the 1920 law prohibiting women from controlling their fertility through contraception or abortion.[16] She assumed the presidency of this association upon the death of Simone de Beauvoir.[17].

During the Bobigny trial in 1972, which had a considerable impact, she first obtained the court's acquittal for Marie-Claire Chevalier, a 16-year-old girl who had an abortion after being raped, a suspended sentence for the mother, and acquittal for the two friends who had helped Marie-Claire. She used this trial as a platform to speak out against the law criminalizing abortion. This trial contributed to the evolution towards the Veil Act on voluntary termination of pregnancy, passed in December 1974 and promulgated in January 1975.[18]

Close to François Mitterrand, she was elected to parliament in the 1981 legislative elections, a position she held until 1984. An activist for gender parity in politics, in 1982 she secured the passage of a law authorizing gender quotas in elections, but the text was overturned by the Constitutional Council (France). Alongside Robert Badinter, she was behind the law repealing the distinction between the age of consent for heterosexual and homosexual relations.

From 1985 onwards, she held several successive positions at UNESCO (French ambassador, chair of the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations) and then at the United Nations (special advisor to the French delegation to the General Assembly, rapporteur for gender equality in political life).

In 1998, she was a founding member of the anti-globalization association Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and for Citizens' Action (ATTAC).[19]

In 2008, she published an essay with the association Choisir entitled La clause de l'Européenne la plus favorisée (The Most Favored European Clause), which proposes extending the most favorable provisions in each area of women's rights to all citizens of every member country of the European Union. In 2009, she was a member of the sponsorship committee for the Russell Tribunal on Palestine.[20]

Honors

Honorary member of the Order of Lawyers of Mexico in 1982.[21]

Personality of the Year Award from the Grand Jury of International Distinction in 1983.[21]

Minerva Award from the Club delle Donne, in the "Field of Politics and Social Engagement" section (Rome, October 1985).[21]

Medal of the Paris Bar Association (April 2003).[21]

In 2021, an online petition signed by 35,000 people asked that Giséle Halimi be honoured by being reburied at the Panthéon in Paris or be granted Panthéon honours, alongside Simone Veil, Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz, Marie Curie, Germaine Tillion, Sophie Berthelot and also Josephine Baker.[22]

On 26 July 2024, a statute of Gisèle Halimi was among the ten statutes of women at the 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Paris, with the philosopher and poet Christine de Pizan, the explorer Jeanne Barret, the revolutionary Olympe de Gouges, the anarchist Louise Michel, the film director Alice Guy, the athlete Alice Milliat, the writer Paulette Nardal, the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir and the politician Simone Veil.[23]

Works

Title English translation Time of first publication First edition publisher/publication Unique identifier Notes
Djamila Boupacha 1962 Gallimard ISBN 978-2070205240
Le procès de Burgos The Burgos Trials 1971 ISBN 978-2070279487
La cause des femmes The Cause of Women 1973 ISBN 2-246-00028-9
Avortement, une loi en procès Abortion, a Law on Trial 1973 ISBN 2-246-00028-9
The Right to Choose 1977 ISBN 0-7022-1433-7
Viol, Le procès d'Aix: Choisir la cause des femmes Rape, the Aix Trial: Choosing the Cause of Women 1978 ISBN 978-2070353989
Le Programme commun des femmes The Common Women's Program 1978 ISBN 2-246-00572-8
le Lait de l'Oranger Milk for the Orange Tree 1988 ISBN 0-7043-2738-4
Une embellie perdue A Lost Beauty 1995 ISBN 2-07-073788-8
La nouvelle cause des femmes The New Cause of Women 1997 ISBN 2-02-031973-X
Fritna 1999 ISBN 2-259-19134-7
La parité dans la vie politique Parity in Political Life 1999 ISBN 2-11-004376-8
Avocate irrespectueuse Disrespectful Counsel 2002 ISBN 2-259-19453-2
Le procès de Bobigny: Choisir la cause des femmes The Bobigny Trial: Choosing the Cause of Women 2006 ISBN 2-07-077515-1 Preface by Simone de Beauvoir
La Kahina 2006 ISBN 2-259-20314-0
Ne vous résignez jamais Never Resign Yourself 2009 ISBN 978-2-259-20941-0
Histoire d'une passion History of a Passion 2011 Plon ISBN 2-259-21394-4
Une farouche liberté 2020 Grasset ISBN 978-2-253-07840-1 With Annick Cojean

Footnotes

  1. ^ Lawrence D. Kritzman; Brian J. Reilly; Malcolm DeBevoise (September 2007). The Columbia History of Twentieth-Century French Thought. Columbia University Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-231-10790-7. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Une vie : Gisèle Halimi". Brut (in French). 28 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  3. ^ "France". UNESCO. 17 October 2007. Archived from the original on 19 October 2003. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
  4. ^ "ATTAC founding members" (in French). Archived from the original on 12 April 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  5. ^ "De Tunis à Paris : la généalogie de Gisèle Halimi". rfgenealogie.com (in French). Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  6. ^ "HALIMI Gisèle [née ZEIZA Gisèle, Élise, Taïeb]". maitron.fr (in French). 5 April 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Gisèle Halimi". mairie7.lyon.fr (in French). 7 March 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Gisèle Halimi : "À 12 ans, j'ai fait une grève de la faim parce que les filles servaient les garçons"". radiofrance.fr (in French). 28 July 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  9. ^ "Gisèle Halimi - Sa bio et toute son actualité". www.elle.fr (in French). Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  10. ^ "L'avocate Gisèle Halimi, défenseuse passionnée de la cause des femmes, est morte". Le Monde (in French). 28 July 2020.
  11. ^ Codaccioni, Vanessa. (2010)(Dé)Politisation du genre et des questions sexuelles dans un procès politique en contexte colonial : le viol, le procès et l'affaire Djamila Boupacha (1960-1962). Nouvelles Questions féministes 29(1).
  12. ^ Tahri, Hamid (2020) L'hommage de Djamila Boupacha à Gisèle Halimi : « Ce n'était pas seulement mon avocate, c'était ma sœur !El Watan.
  13. ^ L'avocate Gisèle Halimi, grande figure du féminisme, est morte. (2020) Le Nouvel Obs.
  14. ^ Raylene L. Ramsay (2003). French women in politics: writing power, paternal legitimization, and maternal legacies. Berghahn Books. pp. 135–139. ISBN 978-1-57181-081-6. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  15. ^ Le manifeste des 343 Archived 23 April 2001 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Sandrine Garcia (8 March 2010). "Halimi Gisèle [née Zezia Gisèle, Élise, Taïeb]". Le Maitron. Retrieved 30 July 2020..
  17. ^ Gisèle Halimi : “De quel féminisme parle-t-on ? (25 June 2002)L'Humanité
  18. ^ Guillon, Anaïs. (28 July 2020) L'avocate Gisèle Halimi, figure de la lutte féministe est morte à l'âge de 93 ans. Elle.
  19. ^ "ATTAC founding members" (in French). Archived from the original on 12 April 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  20. ^ Guillon, Anaïs. (28 July 2020) L'avocate Gisèle Halimi, figure de la lutte féministe est morte à l'âge de 93 ans. Elle.
  21. ^ a b c d "HOMMAGE - Gisèle Halimi, de La Goulette au barreau parisien". le petit journal.
  22. ^ Recker, Fabien. (2021). Gisèle Halimi : pourquoi Macron lui refuse le Panthéon : L’annonce de la panthéonisation de Joséphine Baker interroge sur le choix de ne pas faire accéder Gisèle Halimi à ce temple républicain. Public Senat.
  23. ^ Olympe de Gouges, Louise Michel, Simone Veil… Les statues féministes de la cérémonie des JO commencent à être érigées dans le nord de Paris. (26 July 2025). Libération.

References

Further reading

  • General Paul Aussaresses, The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955-1957. (New York: Enigma Books, 2010) ISBN 9781929631308.
  • Natalie Edwards, The Autobiographies of Julia Kristeva, Gisèle Halimi, Assia Djebar and Hélène Cixous : beyond "I" versus "we". (Chicago: Northwestern University, 2005) ISBN 0542173042.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gisèle Halimi.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.