In front of the Ministry of Culture, Saturday, October 16, some 300 people gathered, signs in hand, to denounce sexual violence in the theater.
On a makeshift stage set up in the back of a red truck, the testimonies followed one another.
Among them, that of Marie Coquille-Chambel, at the origin of the # MeTooThéâtre launched on Twitter.
In her message, published Thursday, October 7, the influencer, who runs a Youtube channel dedicated to dramatic art, claimed to have "
been raped by a comedian from the Comédie-Française during the first confinement"
while she was uneasy. .
Read the fileSexual assault in the world of cinema: Adèle Haenel breaks a taboo
“We did not expect to have so much support so quickly, which shows that we have evolved since 2017 and the first MeToo. We're starting to get fed up. We will get there, we will fight, ”
promises the young woman in the columns of the
Parisian
.
Co-founder and member of the # MeTooThéâtre collective, she is one of the 1,450 signatories - including Rokhaya Diallo, David Bobée, Alice Coffin, Sandrine Rousseau, Caroline de Haas but also Adèle Haenel, Julie Gayet, and actresses from the French like Marina Hands - d 'a column published in
Liberation
calling on the public authorities to act against
"a system of male co-optation and mutual aid"
, the keystone of the state of submission in which the actresses would be maintained.
Convergence of struggles
The text, written in inclusive writing, advocates among other things
"the launch of a quantitative survey conducted at the national level and the results made public on the facts of sexual and gender-based violence within the profession"
, the establishment of
"days interprofessional reflection and discussion around these subjects in mixed and non-mixed chosen "
, but also the application of a strict parity
" within the management positions of national theaters, national drama centers and national scenes as well. as artistic educational establishments ”
.
Read alsoThe director of the Théâtre du Nord in Lille convicted of violating the presumption of innocence towards Nâzim Boudjenah
Pushing the logic further, the authors call for privileging
"the appointments of women to management positions of CDNs and all subsidized establishments"
, adding that it would be fashionable to
"pay more attention to the careers of racialized women, doubly discriminated against in their professional career ”
.
"To the idea of merit, prefer and promote systemic deconstruction by applying the equal conditionality of the means of production and subsidies between the promoters and promoters of projects"
, they continue, in a sabir inaccessible to the common brain.
Necessary and legitimate proposals or community drift? Both my corporal! Reine Prat, former General Inspector of the Ministry of Culture, also pushes
the signatories
in this
“deconstructivist and inclusive” direction
, calling for
“
only
appointing women to management positions until parity is achieved”
, in an interview granted at
20 Minutes
.
"It is the system that must be changed: to establish parity between women and men, to ensure a real presence, everywhere, of racialized people, as well as people stigmatized as" out of the ordinary ""
, she continues, citing in passing the Director of the National Conservatory of Music and Dance of Paris (CNSMDP) Émilie Delorme, as an example of commitment
“In favor of equality and against discrimination”
.
The latter especially severely tripped in the carpet while trying to hatch the MeToo of classical music within its institution.
Very political meeting
At the back of the truck, Marie Coquille-Chambel harangues the crowd.
"It is not for us to be ashamed," she
says. Movement of joy, a little later, when the postponement of the show by Michel Didym, director implicated in an investigation by
Liberation
and subject of a complaint for rape, is announced at the microphone. Her accuser is also on stage, her face hidden. If the latter affirms that
"no one wants to be a victim"
, she asks a question which is at the very least tendentious:
"When will the presumption of truth be seen for the victims?"
Judging by the lack of contradiction in opposition to these self-proclaimed vigilantes, it seems that it has already been proclaimed.
Also present at the demonstration, the actress and former activist Femen Solveig Halloin, who accused the actor and director Philippe Caubère of rape. Although the complaint was dismissed and the young woman was convicted of defamation, she stands in front of the truck, her bare chest and face smeared with fake blood, a sign accusing the man of the theater. Its happening goes so far as to embarrass its own
“sisters in arms”
. She is invited to step aside.
Despite the small number of demonstrators, political figures such as the elected representatives of Paris Danielle Simonnet (rebellious France) and Alice Coffin, the environmentalist presidential candidate Yannick Jadot or the socialist deputy to the mayor Audrey Pulvar, made the trip . They came to support this movement in good faith - denying the sexual and moral violence suffered by actors and actresses would be nonsense. But the ideological posture of some of them raises questions. Asked by Natacha Polony on BFMTV on September 14, Alice Coffin, fervent support of #MeTooTheatre and always quick to scold the male race, refused to take a position in the event that a dismissal was pronounced against the Minister of Interior, Gérald Darmanin, prosecuted for rape.
Recall that the resident of the Comédie-Française implicated by Marie Coquille-Chambel, although he was sentenced for death threats, was released for the facts of
"aggravated violence"
.
As for the prosecutions for other violence, they were canceled for
“vagueness of the facts”.
The rape accusations came several months after the opening of the first investigation, confides a source familiar with the matter.
While the actor had himself filed a handrail against the young woman for "harassment", in May 2020, a month before the first proceedings against him.
Read alsoA report to strengthen the presumption of innocence
This mobilization has so far made two theaters react: in Lyon, the Célestins have decided to postpone a show by Michel Didym, and the Théâtre 14 in Paris has undertaken to put in place
"tools"
to
"protect, listen and accompany ”
.
The elected ecologist at the Council of Paris, Alice Coffin, calls, with her usual lack of nuance, to stop funding
"structures that do not offer a plan to fight"
against sexual violence in the theater.
