Rebel, Claire, free and libertarian ---- The friend took away our friend
Claire Auzias, this August 6. She let go of the ramp felled by a
lightning crab. When reading or rereading some of his works, many will
understand the loss represented by his disappearance. With sadness, her
friends will no longer hear her remarks, often relevant, sometimes a
little harsh, because Claire did not have her tongue in her pocket, she
could even sometimes have a harsh tooth, but her reflections were always
marked by an acquaintance in depth on the subjects in which she was
interested. Claire had a whole character, sometimes a little sectarian,
when you look beyond it, there was a lively, passionate personality,
steeped in knowledge as diverse and varied as it was in-depth. She
always debated to advance thought and extend an idea, also responding to
her conception and her demand for individual and intellectual freedom.
Child of May 1968, Claire embodied her revolts, sometimes her excesses.
Born on April 28, 1951 in Lyon, she grew up in the Croix-Rousse district
then in Bron in the Lyon suburbs in a family of communist teachers. An
authoritarian family environment, considering itself to be at the
cultural avant-garde open to the world but particularly rigid. While
multiplying the prohibitions, her parents frequently let her go abroad
where she discovered the freedom to fall in love, having an abortion in
the winter of 1968. As Claire explained in her book of interviews with
Mimmo Pucciarelli, Claire l 'Enragée (ACL, 2006 available online
http://www.atelierdecreationlibertaire.com/Claire-l-enragee,1061.html)
May 1968 saved him. A few days earlier, her violent father, regularly
beating the three sisters, raped her. Claire leaves the family home to
take part in the events. On May 3, 1968, she saw her first
demonstrations with her high school friends, all activists in the
Bakunin group. As of this date, she does not know the very word. Very
quickly, she was integrated into the group. They founded a high school
action committee, occupied the university, and participated in the
movement. They created with revolutionary communist youth activists,
dissidents from the national leadership, a March 22 movement, like a
copy of that of Nanterre. Picket, help with the occupation, barricades
and above all meeting with the Lyonnais trampers - these bad boys
considered by the far left as the lumpenproletariat - with whom the Lyon
libertarians will go a long way and a few barricades, one of which
remains famous . On the night of May 24, rioters sent a truck towards
the police. A police officer dies of a heart attack, but for some those
responsible are designated, it is the hikers, while all the students and
high school students participated in the riot. But only 3 of them were
worried and arrested, those who were on the margins of society, only to
be acquitted a year later, following almost two years of preventive
detention. Claire put this story into perspective at length in her book
Trimards (ACL, 2017 and in IRL, n°77/78 available online
http://www.atelierdecreationlibertaire.com/IMG/pdf/Mai_mineur.pdf)
putting a spotlight on foot in the anthill of soporific commemorations
of 68.
After the events, she spent a few days in a libertarian campsite where
she was bored to the point of deserting it to go on vacation... Although
her parents were breaking up, they forced her to take the baccalaureate.
Her higher studies initially were not characterized by her assiduity,
Claire then chose drugs, traveled a lot from Africa to Asia and also
supported the action of activists on the fringes: gun carrying,
hold-ups, theft... They are quickly arrested following an incredible
story where the use of psychotropic drugs was harmful to them. In 1971,
Claire spent eight months in prison then was sentenced like her friends.
She was released, stayed a few months in France before going to India,
where she plunged back into harder substances. She ends up being
repatriated, detoxifies and starts a new life. Around 1977, she had
fallen into line, as she explained in Claire l'enragee.
Feminist and libertarian
Claire takes up activism in feminist groups on the one hand and in the
libertarian movement on the other. During her years of activism, she
published with several activists an important collection of texts by
Emma Goldman, a tragedy of feminist emancipation (published by Syros in
1978). Through her reflection, she also highlights the place of women in
strikes. Her book co-written with Annick Honel The strike of the
ovalists (Payot, 1982) in which they show one of the first social
conflicts of the Lyon textile workers, in which the International
Workers' Association plays an important supporting role. The strike
ended in failure. The book is a success due to the materials used and
the questions raised.
But, above all, she begins academic work which remains pioneering:
restoring Lyon's libertarian memory. The work was particularly original
since it offers one of the first essays in oral history. She defended
her thesis in 1980 which she published in 1993 in L'Harmattan and which
the ACL must republish soon. Based on 18 interviews, Claire analyzes
Lyon's libertarian microsociety, showing how libertarians have, from the
1920s, cowered into a microcosm while refusing the end of the
libertarian idea and developing original methods of activism. She
recalls that far from the imagination its activists were mainly workers,
gave a preponderant place to education, some were involved in the trade
union movement, although in bad shape, tried to create the conditions
for profound social change through the word, the verb or the counterculture.
For around fifteen years, Claire taught most often in precarious
conditions, but she didn't care, as she said, "I don't need much."
The chance of life and research led him to a new field of study:
Gypsies, like an unexpected return to Bron. In 1991, she began working
for the Institute of Children and Families on Roma families in Eastern
Europe. She quickly published a study on Roma families in Eastern
Europe, analyzing the weight of genocide and the domination of
communism. Very quickly, she multiplied the work, either investigative
or synthetic. Claire considered that these nomadic people symbolize both
freedom of movement, a bit like a mirror of their itinerary, but also
different forms of oppression, state but also clan, even family. She
multiplied the work and publications on the subject while remaining on
the fringes, "gypsyology" and especially "gypsyologists" were annoying
her. Normal, Claire was a little unusual in the academic world. She
perfectly recreated the great moments of Gypsy culture in La Compagnie
des roms (ACL 1994), putting into perspective the mechanisms of
oppression put in place in Europe from the Middle Ages in the Funambules
of History (La Digitale 2002). ) and remarkably explained Samudrapien or
Pomajmos, the extermination of the Gypsies by the Nazis (The
Poltergeist, 2000 and 2022). Always off the beaten track, she was also
interested in Gypsies in the land of Israel (Égrégores/Indigènes, 2013),
which should be read as a true internationalist and cosmopolitan plea.
Claire also became an editor. During her stay in Marseille, in addition
to her participation in the activities of the International Center for
Research on Anarchism, she was one of the founders of Égrégores editions
in which several important books were published such as that of Lou
Marin on Camus and the Libertarians, the memoirs of Yiddish-speaking
anarchist convict Jacob Law, whose presentation she produced as well as
a book that she co-authored with photographer Éric Rosser dedicated to
Gypsy Women.
She has also multiplied the texts and reflections using often original
angles of approach such as her Revolutionary Paris which she first
published in 2001 (editions libertaires, 2019). She also wrote a small,
very personal biography of Louise Michel as another echo of her feminist
commitment (editions libertaires 1999) or an essay on illegalism, The
Extraordinary Adventures of Laplume and Goudron from the same editions.
Throughout her life, Claire wrote numerous articles for the anarchist
press Information gathered in Lyon (which became information and
libertarian reflections), Le Monde libertaire and Chroniques Noir et
rouge to name only a few titles. Returning to the ranks still had limits...
Rebel, Claire liked to wander off the beaten track, free and
libertarian. Hi Claire.
Sylvain Boulouque
https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=7970
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Claire Auzias, this August 6. She let go of the ramp felled by a
lightning crab. When reading or rereading some of his works, many will
understand the loss represented by his disappearance. With sadness, her
friends will no longer hear her remarks, often relevant, sometimes a
little harsh, because Claire did not have her tongue in her pocket, she
could even sometimes have a harsh tooth, but her reflections were always
marked by an acquaintance in depth on the subjects in which she was
interested. Claire had a whole character, sometimes a little sectarian,
when you look beyond it, there was a lively, passionate personality,
steeped in knowledge as diverse and varied as it was in-depth. She
always debated to advance thought and extend an idea, also responding to
her conception and her demand for individual and intellectual freedom.
Child of May 1968, Claire embodied her revolts, sometimes her excesses.
Born on April 28, 1951 in Lyon, she grew up in the Croix-Rousse district
then in Bron in the Lyon suburbs in a family of communist teachers. An
authoritarian family environment, considering itself to be at the
cultural avant-garde open to the world but particularly rigid. While
multiplying the prohibitions, her parents frequently let her go abroad
where she discovered the freedom to fall in love, having an abortion in
the winter of 1968. As Claire explained in her book of interviews with
Mimmo Pucciarelli, Claire l 'Enragée (ACL, 2006 available online
http://www.atelierdecreationlibertaire.com/Claire-l-enragee,1061.html)
May 1968 saved him. A few days earlier, her violent father, regularly
beating the three sisters, raped her. Claire leaves the family home to
take part in the events. On May 3, 1968, she saw her first
demonstrations with her high school friends, all activists in the
Bakunin group. As of this date, she does not know the very word. Very
quickly, she was integrated into the group. They founded a high school
action committee, occupied the university, and participated in the
movement. They created with revolutionary communist youth activists,
dissidents from the national leadership, a March 22 movement, like a
copy of that of Nanterre. Picket, help with the occupation, barricades
and above all meeting with the Lyonnais trampers - these bad boys
considered by the far left as the lumpenproletariat - with whom the Lyon
libertarians will go a long way and a few barricades, one of which
remains famous . On the night of May 24, rioters sent a truck towards
the police. A police officer dies of a heart attack, but for some those
responsible are designated, it is the hikers, while all the students and
high school students participated in the riot. But only 3 of them were
worried and arrested, those who were on the margins of society, only to
be acquitted a year later, following almost two years of preventive
detention. Claire put this story into perspective at length in her book
Trimards (ACL, 2017 and in IRL, n°77/78 available online
http://www.atelierdecreationlibertaire.com/IMG/pdf/Mai_mineur.pdf)
putting a spotlight on foot in the anthill of soporific commemorations
of 68.
After the events, she spent a few days in a libertarian campsite where
she was bored to the point of deserting it to go on vacation... Although
her parents were breaking up, they forced her to take the baccalaureate.
Her higher studies initially were not characterized by her assiduity,
Claire then chose drugs, traveled a lot from Africa to Asia and also
supported the action of activists on the fringes: gun carrying,
hold-ups, theft... They are quickly arrested following an incredible
story where the use of psychotropic drugs was harmful to them. In 1971,
Claire spent eight months in prison then was sentenced like her friends.
She was released, stayed a few months in France before going to India,
where she plunged back into harder substances. She ends up being
repatriated, detoxifies and starts a new life. Around 1977, she had
fallen into line, as she explained in Claire l'enragee.
Feminist and libertarian
Claire takes up activism in feminist groups on the one hand and in the
libertarian movement on the other. During her years of activism, she
published with several activists an important collection of texts by
Emma Goldman, a tragedy of feminist emancipation (published by Syros in
1978). Through her reflection, she also highlights the place of women in
strikes. Her book co-written with Annick Honel The strike of the
ovalists (Payot, 1982) in which they show one of the first social
conflicts of the Lyon textile workers, in which the International
Workers' Association plays an important supporting role. The strike
ended in failure. The book is a success due to the materials used and
the questions raised.
But, above all, she begins academic work which remains pioneering:
restoring Lyon's libertarian memory. The work was particularly original
since it offers one of the first essays in oral history. She defended
her thesis in 1980 which she published in 1993 in L'Harmattan and which
the ACL must republish soon. Based on 18 interviews, Claire analyzes
Lyon's libertarian microsociety, showing how libertarians have, from the
1920s, cowered into a microcosm while refusing the end of the
libertarian idea and developing original methods of activism. She
recalls that far from the imagination its activists were mainly workers,
gave a preponderant place to education, some were involved in the trade
union movement, although in bad shape, tried to create the conditions
for profound social change through the word, the verb or the counterculture.
For around fifteen years, Claire taught most often in precarious
conditions, but she didn't care, as she said, "I don't need much."
The chance of life and research led him to a new field of study:
Gypsies, like an unexpected return to Bron. In 1991, she began working
for the Institute of Children and Families on Roma families in Eastern
Europe. She quickly published a study on Roma families in Eastern
Europe, analyzing the weight of genocide and the domination of
communism. Very quickly, she multiplied the work, either investigative
or synthetic. Claire considered that these nomadic people symbolize both
freedom of movement, a bit like a mirror of their itinerary, but also
different forms of oppression, state but also clan, even family. She
multiplied the work and publications on the subject while remaining on
the fringes, "gypsyology" and especially "gypsyologists" were annoying
her. Normal, Claire was a little unusual in the academic world. She
perfectly recreated the great moments of Gypsy culture in La Compagnie
des roms (ACL 1994), putting into perspective the mechanisms of
oppression put in place in Europe from the Middle Ages in the Funambules
of History (La Digitale 2002). ) and remarkably explained Samudrapien or
Pomajmos, the extermination of the Gypsies by the Nazis (The
Poltergeist, 2000 and 2022). Always off the beaten track, she was also
interested in Gypsies in the land of Israel (Égrégores/Indigènes, 2013),
which should be read as a true internationalist and cosmopolitan plea.
Claire also became an editor. During her stay in Marseille, in addition
to her participation in the activities of the International Center for
Research on Anarchism, she was one of the founders of Égrégores editions
in which several important books were published such as that of Lou
Marin on Camus and the Libertarians, the memoirs of Yiddish-speaking
anarchist convict Jacob Law, whose presentation she produced as well as
a book that she co-authored with photographer Éric Rosser dedicated to
Gypsy Women.
She has also multiplied the texts and reflections using often original
angles of approach such as her Revolutionary Paris which she first
published in 2001 (editions libertaires, 2019). She also wrote a small,
very personal biography of Louise Michel as another echo of her feminist
commitment (editions libertaires 1999) or an essay on illegalism, The
Extraordinary Adventures of Laplume and Goudron from the same editions.
Throughout her life, Claire wrote numerous articles for the anarchist
press Information gathered in Lyon (which became information and
libertarian reflections), Le Monde libertaire and Chroniques Noir et
rouge to name only a few titles. Returning to the ranks still had limits...
Rebel, Claire liked to wander off the beaten track, free and
libertarian. Hi Claire.
Sylvain Boulouque
https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=7970
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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