Gisele halimi vs enrico macias biography
Gisèle Halimi
Tunisian-French lawyer and politician (1927–2020)
Gisèle Halimi (born Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb; 27 July 1927 – 28 July 2020) was a Tunisian-French lawyer, politician, essayist and feminist activist.[1]
Biography
Zeiza Gisèle Élise Taïeb was born in La Goulette, Tunisia, on 27 July 1927 to a practicing Jewish Berber family. Her father, Edouard Taïeb, began as a courier in a law office before becoming a notary clerk and then a legal expert. He was naturalized as a French citizen in 1928.[2] Her mother, Fortunée "Fritna" Mettoudi, conformed to society's expectations of traditional womanhood, which Halimi cited as the reason for her own early feminist engagement.[3] When Gisèle was born, her parents hid her birth for three weeks because at that time giving birth to a daughter was perceived as a curse.[4] At 12 years old, she refused to wait on her brothers and went on a hunger strike to protest the gender roles enforced by her family. At 15, she refused to marry a rich oil merchant much older than herself.[5]
She was educated at a French lycée in Tunis, then attended the University of Paris, graduating in law and philosophy. She had three sons: Serge, a journalist, and Jean-Yves, a lawyer, from her first marriage to Paul Halimi, and Emmanuel Faux, a journalist, from her second marriage to Claude Faux.[6] She died the day following her 93rd birthday, on July 28, 2020.[7]
Career
In 1948, Halimi qualified as a lawyer and, after eight years at the Tunisbar,[8] moved to practise at the Paris bar in 1956.[8] She acted as a counsel for the Algerian National Liberation Front, most notably for the activist Djamila Boupacha, who had been raped and tortured by French soldiers,[8] writing a book in 1961 (with an introduction by Simone de Beauvoir) to plead her case.[8] She also defended Basque individuals accused of crimes committed during the conflict in Basque Country. Halimi served as counsel in many cases related to women's issues,[8] such as the 1972 Bobignyabortion trial (of a 17-year-old accused of procuring an illegal abortion after having been raped),[8] 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 U.S. military action in Vietnam.[citation needed]
In 1971, she founded the feminist group Choisir (To Choose)[9] to protect the women who had signed the Manifesto of the 343 admitting to having had illegal abortions, of whom she was one.[8][10] In 1972, Choisir evolved into a clearly reformist body, and its campaign greatly influenced the passage of the law allowing contraception and abortion carried through by Simone Veil in 1974.[citation needed]
In 1981, Halimi was elected to the French National Assembly,[8] as an independent Socialist and served as Deputy for Isère until 1984. Between 1985 and 1987, she was a French legate to UNESCO.[11]
In 1998, she was a founding member of ATTAC.[12]
Honors
Honorary member of the Order of Lawyers of Mexico in 1982.[13]
Personality of the Year Award from the Grand Jury of International Distinction in 1983.[13]
Minerva Award from the Club delle Donne, in the "Field of Politics and Social Engagement" section (Rome, October 1985).[13]
Medal of the Paris Bar Association (April 2003).[13]
Works
References
Further reading
- General Paul Aussaresses, The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955-1957. (New York: Enigma Books, 2010) ISBN 9781929631308.
- Natalie Edwards, The Autobiographies of Julia Kristeva, Gisèle Halimi, Assia Djebar and Hélène Cixous : beyond "I" versus "we". (Chicago: Northwestern University, 2005) ISBN 0542173042.