After the announcement of the entry into the Pantheon - Sunday, in our pages - by Joséphine Baker, the fate of another figure in the history of French women seemed in suspense.
On Monday, the President of the Republic announced that a national tribute would be paid to Gisèle Halimi, tireless advocate for women, their freedoms, their equality with men, and anti-colonialism.
“Her
fierce freedom
, she used it to free others.
Through her struggles for equality, Gisèle Halimi changed and still changes the lives of millions of women.
In agreement with his family, the Nation will pay tribute to him in early 2022 at the Invalides, ”Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter.
Her "fierce freedom" she used to free others.
Through her struggles for equality, Gisèle Halimi changed and still changes the lives of millions of women.
In agreement with his family, the Nation will pay tribute to him at the beginning of 2022 at the Invalides.
pic.twitter.com/CyoMHY36DJ
- Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 23, 2021
Since she died on July 28, 2020, the Élysée has been wondering how to pay tribute to Gisèle Halimi. In September 2020, Emmanuel Macron announced that a national tribute would be paid to him in the courtyard of the Invalides. It was to take place in the spring if sanitary conditions permitted. They did not allow it. In the meantime, in his report on colonization and the Algerian war (1954-1962), submitted in January, the historian Benjamin Stora had advocated the pantheonization of Gisèle Halimi, who opposed French Algeria. The Minister in charge of Equality Elisabeth Moreno was in favor. Feminist movements have also called for it. The file was on the table of the Head of State.
It will therefore be the Invalides, where Emmanuel Macron has already chaired several national tribute ceremonies were organized at the Invalides for several personalities, such as Simone Veil - entered the Pantheon since with her husband Antoine -, Jean d'Ormesson, Charles Aznavour, Daniel Cordier, Arnaud Beltrame or the 13 soldiers killed in Mali in 2019.
After this national tribute, a possible pantheonization of the lawyer remains possible, but it is a longer and more complex process.
It would also be necessary to go against the will of certain associations of harkis and pieds-noirs, who viewed this idea with a reproachful eye, Gisèle Halimi having defended FLN activists.