It will therefore be Joséphine Baker who will have the honor of entering the Panthéon… but not Gisèle Halimi? Joséphine Baker will enter the Pantheon “because she is the embodiment of the French spirit”, pleaded the Elysee Palace on Monday, the day after
an article from the newspaper Le Parisien revealing the decision to honor the memory of the Franco-American artist.
A national tribute in early 2022 for Gisèle Halimi
Emmanuel Macron also announced Monday that a national tribute would be paid to feminist lawyer Gisèle Halimi, who died in July 2020 at the age of 93, “early 2022 at Les Invalides”, in “agreement with the family”.
“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 homage to him in early 2022 at Les Invalides, ”the Head of State said in a tweet.
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 homage to him at the beginning of 2022 at the Invalides. pic.twitter.com/CyoMHY36DJ
– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 23, 2021
Goodbye Pantheon?
A disguised announcement to make it clear that the lawyer would not return to the Pantheon? In his report on colonization and the Algerian war (1954-1962), submitted in January to Emmanuel Macron, historian Benjamin Stora nevertheless advocated the pantheonization of Gisèle Halimi, who opposed French Algeria. In addition, this honor is claimed by many feminist activists and left figures.
Last May, a source close to the executive told AFP that “the reflection was underway” on the entry into the Pantheon of the lawyer. But the one who was one of the main advocates of the militants of the National Liberation Front (FLN) is not unanimous. Indeed, in January 2021, a collective of women and girls of harkis, auxiliaries of the French army during the Algerian war, had said loud and clear his opposition to the possible entry into the Pantheon of the latter.
After this national tribute, a possible pantheonization of the lawyer remains possible, but it is a longer and more complex process.