"We do not forget them": anti-feminicide posters in the streets of Paris

Yvonne (76), Mélissa (26), Denise (38), Sandra (51), Corinne (18) ... The names of these women and dozens of other victims are carefully recorded on a wall attic of Jardin Denfert, a beautiful building invested by artists' collectives in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. It is here, on the top floor, that every afternoon since August 30, dozens of women who want to "react" on the issue of feminicides meet.

On Sunday, September 8, 102 women were killed by their spouse or ex-spouse since the beginning of the year in France, according to the collective "Femicide by companions or ex". "Between the announcement by the Grenelle government of domestic violence (July 6) and its beginning (September 3), 26 women died. It's big delirium, it's enough to be angry, "says Marguerite Stern, 28, an ex-Femen podcast director who initiated this initiative of collages in the streets of Paris.

. @ Margueritestern, at the origin of the first postings against feminicides, explains the starting point this approach (initiated in Paris and spreading in several cities of France, as well as in Brussels) pic.twitter.com/bIvbavZX97

Saturday, about fifteen young women came to make posters. In the three rooms under the eaves, the same scene: sitting cross-legged, provided with black paint and white paper to write with the brush anti-feminicide messages, often in silence at the height of the messages inscribed. "She leaves him, he kills her", "In France, a feminicide every two days", "Céline, defenestrated by her husband, 19th feminicide" ...

"A new way to claim"

"We have made messages for all women murdered since the beginning of the year," said Sophia Hocini, 26, a parliamentary collaborator and activist in working-class neighborhoods for 10 years. Present from the beginning alongside Marguerite Stern, she thought that "there would be barely 10 women galley in the streets of Paris" during the first collages. And she adds, "I was surprised to see the excitement this brings. At the same time, it's a new way of claiming that denotes what we're used to seeing. "

At 62 boulevard Saint-Jacques, the profiles of gluing machines are varied: some are there from the beginning, others come for the first time. Not all have been militant, all do not share the same opinions, but they share this struggle. "It's a subject that touches us," says Rachel, a 24-year-old engineering school student. "When we hear the testimonies (of relatives of victims) we say that this can happen to us or our loved ones." She also considers that sticking posters in the street is for women a symbolic way of reinvest the public space. "I have been assaulted several times in the street: men touching each other, others who have tried to hit me, says Rachel. I'm not the only woman to whom this has happened, so being able to reinvest the street in this way is a nice action. "

The street is also an opportunity to educate people who have not heard of feminicides yet. "It's not going to affect the same people as on social networks (where the initiative has become known, including Instagram, Ed)," said Jeane, 22, a student of letters, coming for the first time in the Garden Denfert Saturday. "I would like our collages to raise questions, to make people react and not to forget the victims."

"Dad he killed mom"

With Clementine and Pauline, Jeane makes her first field trip. Direction la Butte-aux-Cailles, in the 13th arrondissement. "We do not choose in advance the streets where we stick the messages, we check especially that there is not too much passage and the size of the sites", explains Clémentine, 22 years old, student in communication. As for the creation of the posters, the approach is simple and effective. In turn, each will proceed to collage on the walls or watch.

The three women enjoy a benevolent reception, at worst indifferent, passers-by and inhabitants of Butte-aux-Cailles. A poster stuck earlier this week by another team on a wall in the rue du Moulin-des-Prés is still intact. Clementine, Pauline and Jeane have found their first location: it will be on this gray gray wall that will be affixed the sentence "Dad he killed mom with knives". The first letters are glued, a shoreline comes out of its adjoining home. She asks, "Who's dad? - It's about feminicides, we stick against that, "says Clementine. The old lady, looking initially defiant, will eventually take a picture of the wall. "She even said that she would talk to her daughter about our initiative," enthuses Jeane.

At another display near the Place d'Italie, the reception of passers-by is also favorable. "It is warm to the heart this benevolence of people," says Pauline, 31, publisher. A woman, sitting on a bench, observes the collage in progress. "This initiative is very good," she says. I am admiring girls who are involved in such causes, especially a Saturday night. "But she finds that the approach has its limit. "The problem is that it appeals to those who are already sensitized to the issue of feminicides. On the other hand, if tomorrow these posters are put in pubs where there are drunk guys, it will be something else. "

"We do not forget those who are no longer there"

But the afternoon collages do not always go as well. Luckily, Clementine, Pauline and Jeane did not deal with the municipal police. Friday night, six activists were fined (68 € per person) for posting wild. "We make sure that people are starters even though it's illegal," explains Marguerite Stern. All are very aware of what they do. And at the same time what we do is completely right, we are on the side of morality with a subject that takes guts.

Mathilde does not see things differently. Aged 25, this painter and embroiderer came for the first time to make posters under the eaves. "We have no other means than illegality to be heard," she says. The right of women is something for which we must always fight. So we are here, and we do not forget those who are no longer there, because it is deeply unfair that they are dead. "

The more than 250 posters stuck in one week, between August 30 and September 6, are so many "homage to the victims" of feminicides in the four corners of Paris. For Sophia Hocini, "it is a time of recollection for those women killed who could have been our sisters, our friends."

The initiative has been emulated in other French cities (Bordeaux, Lille, Poitiers ...) and in Brussels. On this Sunday, Marguerite Stern, after nine days of collages, draws a first statement: "Things are going beyond us. It is becoming a movement without a name, with a message: we no longer want women to be dead. It's an emergency, the state has to move. "