The same slogans, but also the same anger, were echoed outside the courts or in the central squares of thirty cities in France (in Marseille, Rennes, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, etc.) on Saturday afternoon, September 14. These meetings, promoted by several feminist associations and disseminated by the most followed influencers, in which thousands of people participated, expressed massive support for Gisèle Pelicot, victim of the Mazan rape trial, which has been taking place since September 2 at the court of Avignon.
Wearing long, square sunglasses, his stylised face drawn by Belgian graphic designer Aline Dessine and reproduced on certain posters, he has become a symbol of courage. By refusing to allow hearings to be held behind closed doors, Mr.me Pelicot, who was drugged by her husband and raped by him and 50 other men while she was unconscious, allowed French society – and beyond, through reports in the international press – to delve deeper into the mechanism of rape, to understand also the banality of the profiles of the accused, and thus to give substance to the leitmotiv of these meetings: “Shame must change sides.”
In Paris, some 3,500 people, mostly women, gathered in the early afternoon on the Place de la République. Taking the microphone first, feminist activist Anna Toumazoff, leader of the demonstration, stressed how this trial had “shocked and reunited”asking “The need for a rebirth of society”. “We are all Gisèle”the audience will sing in chorus throughout the afternoon.
There ” rage “there ” nausea “. The same words come back when speaking. Anne-Cécile Mailfert, president of the Women’s Foundation, reiterated the request of “Comprehensive law against gender-based and sexual violence.” It would include 95 measures, among them “a systematic investigation of those involved as soon as a complaint is filed,” taking into account the serial nature of the events, or even specific training on these issues for judges in the departmental criminal courts. According to the Women’s Foundation, to carry out such a reform 3 billion euros would be needed.
“Rapist, we see you, victim, we believe you!”
If the Avignon trial crystallizes anger, it also does so for other victims of rape and sexual assault, the anonymous ones, those who were not heard, those who are highlighted by the participants. “Rapist, we see you, victim, we believe you!” It will be repeated like a mantra. 94% of rape complaints are dismissed; 91% of rapes are committed by someone close to the victim, the speeches and the brandished signs remind us.
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