“Spontaneously, residents proposed the name of their mother for their street”explains with a smile Sonia Laroum, deputy general director of the town of Bonneuil-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne). The choice of surnames intended for “feminize public space”launched in 2022, required time and education. “Of course, mothers are everyday heroes, but these women had to have accomplished something remarkable for the community”specifies the manager.
For a year, the Bonneuillois were called upon to contribute, during the town festival, at the end of the shows, at the market. The selection of 80 activists, artists, scientists, sportswomen or renowned Bonneuilloises was to represent the “cultural diversity” of the city, respect the principle of secularism and relate to deceased people.
Bonneuil-sur-Marne is a “popular open-air university, where we educate ourselves every day”says Denis Oztorun, born in Turkey forty-four years ago, communist mayor since January 2021. The city, 18,000 inhabitants, is best known for the docks and cranes which mark one of the port terminals of Paris. Facing the wealthy neighborhoods of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, on the other side of the Marne, it has an income lower than that of the department, a poverty rate of 24% and a significant immigrant population. “The place of women in the city is an everyday battle. However, in a working-class city, young girls, from the age of 13-14, show themselves less, or do not feel authorized to play sports”recognizes the mayor, who defines himself as “a man learning feminism”.
Some of his counterparts on the left told him that he was ” mad “that the feminization of street names would reopen explosive debates. But “We must break the patriarchal system from childhood. Society can change ancestral traditions”affirms Denis Oztorun in an allusion to the obligations weighing on women in Muslim families.
A Mahsa-Amini street
Once the list of names was finalized, the hardest part remained to be done: changing the plates, and therefore the addresses. Many roads are affected, including the avenues of Paris (Marie-Claude-Vaillant-Couturier), Boissy (Lucie-Aubrac) and Choisy (Simone-Veil), three major axes which converge in the heart of the city. If the municipality has undertaken not to rename streets dedicated to men, the wine-growing past of the town will, however, go by the wayside. The paths of the press or the branches, or the square of Gardes-Vignes, witnesses of the grape harvests of yesteryear on the slopes of the Marne, are set to be renowned. “I assume. I’m in politics”said the mayor, accompanying his remarks with a wave of his hand.
You have 33.67% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.