“Spontaneously, the neighbors proposed their mother’s name for their street.”explains Sonia Laroum, deputy general director of the city of Bonneuil-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne), with a smile. The choice of surnames intended for “feminize public space”released in 2022, it took time and education. “Of course, mothers are everyday heroes, but these women must have accomplished something extraordinary for the community.”the manager specifies.
For a year, the Bonneuillois were called to contribute, during the city festivals, at the end of the shows, in the market. The selection of 80 renowned activists, artists, scientists, athletes or Bonneuilloises was to represent the “cultural diversity” of the city, respect the principle of secularism and relate to the deceased.
Bonneuil-sur-Marne is a “popular open-air university, where we learn every day”says Denis Oztorun, born in Turkey forty-four years ago, communist mayor since January 2021. The city, with 18,000 inhabitants, is best known for the docks and cranes that mark one of the port terminals of Paris. Compared to the wealthy neighborhoods of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, on the other side of the Marne, it has a lower income than the department, a poverty rate of 24% and a significant immigrant population. “The place of women in the city is a daily battle. However, in a working-class city, young girls, aged 13 to 14, show less or do not feel authorized to play sports.”recognizes the mayor, who defines himself as “a man learning feminism”.
Some of his leftist counterparts told him he was ” angry “that the feminization of street names would reopen explosive debates. But “We must break the patriarchal system from childhood. “Society can change ancestral traditions”says Denis Oztorun, alluding to the obligations that weigh on women in Muslim families.
A Mahsa-Amini street
Once the list of names was finalized, the most difficult part remained to be done: changing the license plates and, therefore, the addresses. Numerous roads are affected, including avenues de Paris (Marie-Claude-Vaillant-Couturier), Boissy (Lucie-Aubrac) and Choisy (Simone-Veil), three major axes that converge in the heart of the city. Although the municipality has promised not to change the name of the streets dedicated to men, the city’s wine-growing past will fall by the wayside. The paths of the winepress or the branches, or the place of Gardes-Vignes, witnesses of the vintages of yesteryear on the slopes of the Marne, are destined to be famous. “I guess. “I’m in politics.”said the mayor, accompanying his words with a gesture of his hand.
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