Gisèle Halimi | |
---|---|
Permanent Representative of France to UNESCO | |
In office 13 April 1985 – 1 September 1986 | |
President | François Mitterrand |
Preceded by | Jacqueline Baudrier |
Succeeded by | Marie-Claude Cabana |
Member of the
National Assembly for Isère's 4th constituency | |
In office 21 June 1981 – 9 September 1984 | |
Preceded by | Jacques-Antoine Gaur |
Succeeded by | Maurice Rival |
Personal details | |
Born | Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb 27 July 1927 La Goulette, Tunis, Tunisia |
Died | 28 July 2020 7th arrondissement of Paris, France | (aged 93)
Nationality |
Tunisian French |
Spouse(s) | Paul Halimi (divorced) Claude Faux |
Children | 3 (including Serge Halimi) |
Alma mater |
University of Paris Sciences Po |
Profession | Lawyer |
Gisèle Halimi (born Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb; 27 July 1927 – 28 July 2020) was a Tunisian-French lawyer, politician, essayist and feminist activist. [1]
Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb was born in La Goulette, Tunisia, on 27 July 1927 to a modest, practicing Jewish Berber family (to Édouard and Fortunée "Fritna" Taïeb). She was educated at a French lycée in Tunis, and then attended the University of Paris, graduating in law and philosophy. Her childhood and the ways in which she blends a Jewish-Muslim identity are discussed in her memoir, Le lait de l'oranger. She was first married to Paul Halimi and then to Claude Faux. [2] She died the day after her 93rd birthday, on 28 July 2020. [3]
In 1948, Halimi qualified as a lawyer and, after eight years at the Tunis bar, [4] moved to practise at the Paris bar in 1956. [4] She acted as a counsel for the Algerian National Liberation Front, most notably for the activist Djamila Boupacha in 1960, who had been raped and tortured by French soldiers, [4] and wrote a book in 1961 (with an introduction by Simone de Beauvoir) to plead her case. [4] She also defended Basque individuals accused of crimes committed during the conflict in Basque Country, and was counsel in many cases related to women's issues, [4] such as the 1972 Bobigny abortion trial (of a 17-year-old accused of procuring an abortion after having been raped), [4] which attracted national attention.
In 1967, she chaired the Russell Tribunal, which was initiated by Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre to investigate and evaluate American military action in Vietnam.[ citation needed]
In 1971, she founded the feminist group Choisir ( transl. To Choose) [5] to protect the women who had signed the Manifesto of the 343 admitting to having illegal abortions, of which she was one. [4] [6]
In 1972, Choisir formed itself into a clearly reformist body, and the campaign greatly influenced the passing of the law allowing contraception and abortion carried through by Simone Veil in 1974.[ citation needed]
In 1981, she was elected to the French National Assembly, [4] as an independent Socialist, and was Deputy for Isère until 1984. Between 1985 and 1987 she was a French legate to UNESCO. [7]
In 1998, she was a founding member of ATTAC. [8]
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 |