They are the great forgotten ones of History… The students are working on an exhibition and on changing the name of their establishment which they would like to name after an exceptional woman, resistance fighter, poet and war journalist.
“Rehabilitate someone who is still alive, who is one of the forgotten people of History.” Madeleine Riffaud will be 100 years old in August. Resistance fighter during the Second World War, poet (her first collection was prefaced by Paul Eluard) and war journalist (Indochina, Algeria, Vietnam, etc.), it is she and her commitment that the Bosquet college students wish to honor, by renaming their establishment of his name. “In Bagnols, there is the Einstein high school, the Bernard-de-Ventadour and Gérard-Philipe colleges, we wanted the name of a woman. Madeleine Riffaud is little-known even though she did exceptional things. She was 16 years at the start of the war, she participated in the armed struggle”, summarize Philippe Mahier, professor of history, and Sylvie Hammani, professor of classics, who supervise an educational project around the women who constructed History and who are still largely absent from our collective memory. Now bedridden, Madeleine Riffaud, who lives in Paris, is aware of the Bagnolais project. “She is happy.” “It’s linked to what some girls expressed, that they needed this type of role model”specifies Sylvie Hammani.
Steps to “open a new page”
Last year, students undertook this fictitious project. They had to build an argument about the name change and their choice. This year it becomes reality. Since September, two groups have been formed: around twenty students of 4e and 3e prepared files for the establishment’s board of directors, the Departmental Council and the mayor of Bagnols. “I didn’t think there were so many steps to take,” Chloe will testify. It is also about convincing comrades and the people of Bagnolais! “A mother from the neighborhood was reluctant, after discussion with students, she was convinced. We are not going to deny the history of the college, we are opening a new page.”
This project takes on another dimension. “With Madeleine Riffaud, it’s about putting women back in their rightful place. And it’s a unifying project with the work of developing an exhibition that concerns all classes at the college.” Indeed, there is a second part for these forgotten people of History: the creation of an exhibition by the end of 2024 with the hope that it will be traveling. For several years, the college has hosted a traveling exhibition from Amnesty International on courageous women around the world. “In all areas, they are completely erased from History. Some have been tortured, some have died” underline Mauricette and Alain Hanssens, Amnesty volunteers.
“Lots of women in the shadow of men. It’s unfair”
An inspiring exhibition now enriched with a panel on Madeleine Riffaud created by the middle school students. For theirs, they have done a lot of research and have a list of around a hundred women from all eras, since Antiquity. Teenagers quote: Hypathy (mathematician of IVe century), Marie Marvingt (first aviator), Élisa Lemmonier (founder in 1862 of a Society for the professional education of women), Sophie Germain (mathematician who worked on the resistance of metals)… So many had to pretend to be men to exercise their talents. “We realized that there were lots of women in the shadow of men. It’s unfair”, summarizes Hugo. As for Mohamed, he is fascinated by Flora Tristan“a Franco-Peruvian who has done a lot for the place of women in society […]. Many comrades encourage us. But it’s also a struggle! It’s huge to restore the place of women in society.”
Departmental Council: “There is no opposition. It will take some time”
For the moment, the students and their teachers involved in this significant project have not received an official response from the Departmental Council, to whom they wrote in October. They can’t wait! Contacted by Free MiddayNathalie Nury, vice-president of the Department responsible for college management, indicates: “When it is well argued, we accept. It is a deliberation which is taken by the board of directors of the establishment. Then a deliberation of the departmental council ratifies. We must give the young people a voice, and listen to them.” What happened to the Ada-Lovelace college which replaced Jules-Vallès in Nîmes: “The young people worked, chose the name, we approved it.” His partner at the Department, Patrick Scorsone, who sits on the board of directors of the Collège du Bosquet, discusses all the work undertaken by the community at the department level… “We are not hostile to the name change. It is in progress. Internally, there is no opposition. It will take some time.” For his part, the mayor of Bagnols, who received a delegation of college students, shared his enthusiasm with the college students.
