She died in July 2020, in the midst of a Covid pandemic. Gisèle Halimi, famous lawyer and figure in the fight for women’s rights, had still not received the honors of the Republic, yet promised by Emmanuel Macron in September 2020. Until March 2, when the president finally chose the day of March 8, symbolic, to pay tribute to the former deputy at the Palais de Justice in Paris. To the chagrin of his son, Serge Halimi. We take stock of this political soap opera.
Why a national honor for Gisèle Halimi?
Gisèle Halimi was a renowned criminal lawyer and a figure of feminism. She was known for the Bobigny trial in 1972, where she defended a minor tried for having aborted following a rape. By obtaining the release of her client, she had paved the way for the decriminalization of abortion, three years later. She was also famous for having denounced the use of torture during the Algerian war.
“Sa farouche freedom, she used it to liberate others ” had also tweeted Emmanuel Macron at his death. “Through her fights for equality, Gisèle Halimi changed and still changes the lives of millions of women,” continued the President of the Republic.
Why so long after his death?
Gisèle Halimi died in the midst of the Covid epidemic on July 28, 2020, just two weeks after the end of the state of health emergency. It was therefore difficult to envisage a ceremony of magnitude. Emmanuel Macron had however undertaken to organize a national tribute “soon” in the courtyard of the Invalides. Then more news of this event until November 30, 2021 and the entry into the Pantheon of the artist and resistance fighter Joséphine Baker. The president evokes at that time a ceremony “early 2022”, without further details.
This national tribute then fell into oblivion before resurfacing without warning on March 2. The President of the Republic then announces a ceremony on March 8, International Women’s Rights Day.
Why does his son refuse to participate?
Serge Halimi, journalist and former director of Le Monde diplomatique, first of all regrets having been “suddenly informed” last week, “at the same time as the press”. The son of the former MP and activist lawyer also denounced the “two years of procrastination” around this ceremony. “I will not participate,” he said in a statement.
The journalist points to the timing of the national honour, which will take place on March 8, women’s rights day, and “while the country is mobilizing an extremely unfair pension reform, including women who occupy the most difficult jobs will be the first victims. Serge Halimi also maintains that his mother would have “defended their cause and demonstrated alongside them”. “It will be the best way to honor his memory and his fight.
The Élysée rejects the “trial” made by Serge Halimi against him. The day of March 8 “echoes all the fights led by Gisèle Halimi”, replied an adviser questioned Monday evening by AFP “The President of the Republic, he does not link the news to the figure of Gisèle Halimi”, it would be “off topic”, he assures.
What about feminist associations?
The association Choisir, founded in 1971 by Gisèle Halimi and Simone de Beauvoir, will not participate in the tribute planned at the Paris Courthouse either. Its president, Violaine Lucas, has chosen to go to a day of debates in Brussels on the occasion of International Women’s Rights Day.
“My place is rather in the street,” said Anne-Cécile Mailfert, president of the Women’s Foundation. “Is it a clumsiness? An instrumentalization on the part of the President of the Republic? I don’t know, but that puts us in too delicate a position,” continued the activist in a tweet published a few minutes before the departure of the Parisian procession.
Will Gisèle Halimi be pantheonized?
Calls for pantheonization have multiplied since the death of the famous lawyer. The City of Paris had made this request to the executive in October 2020. The file was then relaunched in January 2021 on the occasion of the submission of Benjamin Stora’s report on the memory of the Algerian war. . Elisabeth Moreno, Minister Delegate for Gender Equality, indicated that the file was then “on the table”.
But six months later, Emmanuel Macron had ruled out this hypothesis, ensuring that he had “no taboo to bring women into the Pantheon” but “we must not consider that pantheonization is the only way”. Despite everything, 80 parliamentarians from the majority had reiterated this request to the President of the Republic at the end of November 2022, without success for the moment. According to the president’s entourage, this prospect comes up against reluctance from the Elysée, judging certain positions of Gisèle Halimi on the Algerian war and her defense of FLN militants as too divisive.