aAngela Davis is a veteran American philosopher, author, activist, feminist icon, and icon of the black liberation struggle. Concise French headings last year. The Ile-de-France Council of Greater Paris has taken the following decisions: rename The high school in Saint-Denis, a banlieue in Paris, has been named Lycée Angela Davis since its opening in 2017.
Why was Mr. Davis suddenly demoted six years after being honored as a key figure who has made an extraordinary contribution to humanity? In 2021, it was revealed that Davis had co-signed the contract. open letter It cited measures such as a “law banning the wearing of headscarves” and criticized the “colonial mentality” of “French governance structures.” Valérie Pécresse, a right-wing politician who rules the Paris region, said he only became aware of the letter two years later, which is “against the laws of our country.”
The final choice for the renamed school's honor was Rosa Parks, who is a testament to France's inability to celebrate its own black people. To many in France, Parks was just a passive black woman sitting on a bus. Few people know that she was an activist who intentionally started a massive anti-racist social movement.
asked about this interview Ms. Davis told French radio in November that she did not agree with a simple conflict between a kind, harmless black woman and a dangerous activist. In her response, which contrasts her own stature and dignity with the narrowness and ignorance of the French right, Parks herself joined the “Free Angela” movement after Davis was imprisoned for a crime she did not commit in 1970. I remembered what I did.
This controversy is a reminder of how effectively Davis continues to speak truth to power, and how she maintains the ability to poke conservative governments in the nose. Davis will be 80 years old on January 26th. Although she became a symbol of the civil rights movement more than 60 years ago, to me she is still a global figure and her ideas are still the most radical and relevant to modern times.
Davis was already a brilliant young scholar and writer in the United States when he gained international fame in 1970 after being accused of criminal conspiracy and fleeing.she was Paid He was charged with the murder of a judge and five counts of kidnapping, making him one of the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives. Davis has continued to maintain his innocence, claiming he was targeted because of his political beliefs. Although she was ultimately acquitted in 1972, her trial attracted worldwide attention and support. In France, large numbers of protesters gathered in support of her, led by prominent intellectuals such as Louis Aragon.
Since then, she has become a symbol of many struggles for liberation around the world. The Afro hair and miniskirts that defined her look in the 1970s made her a world-famous figure. Her face is still printed on her T-shirts and posters. But she's much more than the FBI chase story that's been told over and over again. She may become a legend, lost in history and her achievements in the past may be idealized, but she remains at the forefront of current events and an inspiration.
Davis' time in prison led him to think deeply about the U.S. penal system, the connections between industrial capitalism and systemic historical injustice. She has always thought about her home country in terms of global colonialism. Davis never failed to mention Palestine in his speeches. For decades, she has been a tireless advocate for the struggle of the Palestinian people and their intolerable colonial oppression. She remembers when she saw her speaking in Paris in 2013. to call Gaza is the “world's largest open-air prison.”
Her commitment to radical feminism leads to a constant emphasis on the inclusion of all women. I said this at a conference in the Banlieues of Paris in 2018. heard “There can be no racial justice, no peace, no economic justice unless we openly advocate for gender justice,” she thoughtfully reminded us. Davis not only puts gender equality at the center of all struggles; consistently And it explicitly includes all women who identify as women.In France, she I understand How is our secularism (laïcité) have been weaponized to target Muslims, especially Muslim women.
Her research on organized violence naturally led her to question the relationship between humans and other living things and the effects of species destruction. She's vegan though To tell: “You don't have to be vegan to be against systematic animal abuse. I think this is very relevant to human animal abuse.” and criticizes it as justifying the abuse of animals to produce meat.
The current genocide in Palestine, the global Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, the erosion of women's rights in the U.S., and the destruction of much of the natural world are ongoing developments in the activist work she has been doing for decades. highlights the importance of .
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I met Davis in person in Paris a few months ago. This wasn't the first time. I was lucky enough to interview her at her home in Washington, DC, early last year after an event at Georgetown University, where I am a researcher. Every time I meet her, I am struck anew by the validity of her worldview.
Davis' courage to risk his life for his ideas is inspirational, as is his refusal to ever be satisfied with his position. Rather than becoming an “icon,” she has always maintained her intellectual integrity while understanding the struggles of younger generations and seeking to protect the most oppressed. Perhaps every town should have a school named after Angela Davis.
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Rokaya Diallo is a columnist for Guardian Europe
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