Jump to content

Christiane Taubira

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromTaubira)

Christiane Taubira
Taubira in January 2016
Minister of Justice
In office
16 May 2012 – 27 January 2016
Prime MinisterJean-Marc Ayrault
Manuel Valls
Preceded byMichel Mercier
Succeeded byJean-Jacques Urvoas
Regional Councillor of French Guiana
In office
26 March 2010 – 31 August 2012
Member of the National Assembly
forFrench Guiana's1stconstituency
In office
2 April 1993 – 16 June 2012
Preceded byÉlie Castor
Succeeded byGabriel Serville
Member of the European Parliament
In office
19 July 1994 – 19 July 1999
ConstituencyFrance
Personal details
Born
Christiane Marie Taubira

(1952-02-02)2 February 1952(age 72)
Cayenne,French Guiana,France
Political partyWalwari
Other political
affiliations		Radical Party of the Left
Children4
RelativesJean-Marie Taubira(brother)
Alma materPanthéon-Assas University
Paris-Sorbonne University
Signature

Christiane Marie Taubira(French:[kʁistjanmaʁitobiʁa];born 2 February 1952) is a French politician who served asMinister of Justice of Francein the governments ofPrime MinistersJean-Marc AyraultandManuel Vallsunder PresidentFrançois Hollandefrom 2012 until 2016.[1]She was amemberof theNational Assembly of FranceforFrench Guianafrom 1993 to 2012 andmemberof theEuropean Parliamentfrom 1994 to 1999.

She won the2022 French People's Primary,winning the right to stand as a "unity left" candidate in the2022 French presidential election.[2]It was her second bid after the2002 French presidential electionwhere she failed to qualify to the second round after garnering only 2.32% of the votes in the first round. She dropped out of the race on 2 March 2022 after failing to get enough support to qualify.[3]

Early life

[edit]

Taubira was born on 2 February 1952 inCayenne,French Guiana,France,as one of 11 siblings and raised by a single mother.[4]Among others, she is the sister of French politicianJean-Marie Taubira,Secretary General of theGuianese Progressive Party.

Taubira studiedeconomicsatPanthéon-Assas University,African Americanethnology,sociologyatParis-Sorbonne Universityandfood industryat the French Center for Agricultural Cooperation.[5][6]

Political career

[edit]

Early beginnings

[edit]

Having served as President of theWalwariParty, Taubira from1993served as a Deputy to theFrench National Assembly,being re-elected in1997.Non-affiliated in 1993, she then voted in favour of the conservativePrime MinisterEdouard Balladurto form aCabinet of ministersin 1993.

Member of the European Parliament, 1994–1999

[edit]

In the1994 European electionsTaubira became aMember of the European Parliament(MEP),[7][8]being the fourth on theÉnergie Radicalelist led byBernard Tapie.In parliament, she served on theCommittee on Development(1994–1997) and theCommittee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media(1997–1999). In addition to her committee assignments, she was part of the parliament's delegation for relations with the countries of South America.[9]

In June 1997 Taubira joined theSocialist Party(PS), and then-Prime MinisterLionel Jospinappointed her to head a government commission intogold mininginGuiana.[citation needed]

Career in national politics

[edit]

Taubira was the driving force behind a 21 May 2001 law that recognised theAtlantic slave tradeandslaveryas acrime against humanity.[10]

In 2002 Taubira was aLeft Radical Party(PRG)candidate for the Presidencyalthough she did not belong to the Party; she won 2.32% of the votes. After 2002 she became the party's vice-president. She was elected as its Deputy in the2002 electionsand chose to join the Socialists'groupin the Assembly.

In the Socialist Party's2011 primaries,Taubira endorsedArnaud Montebourgas the party's candidate for the2012 presidential election.[11]

In addition to her work in national politics Taubira served as a Regional Councillor ofFrench Guianafrom 2010 until 2012.

Minister of Justice, 2012–2016

[edit]

Taubira was nominatedMinister of JusticebyPrime MinisterJean-Marc Ayrault,following the victory ofFrançois Hollandein the2012 elections.At the time, she was one of the few black, female politicians within a prominent ministry in the French government.[12]She soon emerged as one of the most outspoken and progressive voices in the government.[12]

Taubira was initially supposed to work with Junior MinisterDelphine Batho.However, their relationship quickly broke down being unable to share responsibilities. After the June 2012 Legislative elections, Batho was moved to become Minister of Ecology replacingNicole Bricq,leaving Taubira in charge of the Ministry of Justice. She resigned her position as Minister of Justice on 27 January 2016 after a disagreement with President Hollande over policies related to the treatment of French Nationals convicted of terrorism.[13]

In 2013, Taubira voiced her support for land reforms in France's Caribbean territories as compensation for slavery.[14]She also formally implemented an important electoral promise ofFrançois Hollande[15]and introducedLaw 2013-404,which legalisedsame-sex marriage in France.

In 2014 Taubira successfully defied opposition parties' calls for her to quit after it emerged that she knew formerPresidentNicolas Sarkozy's phone was being tapped, apparently contradicting an earlier statement from her.[16]She reportedly considered resigning in August 2014, along with other left-wing cabinet members such asArnaud Montebourg,in protest against Hollande's economic policies.[17]

Taubira resigned in January 2016 after openly disagreeing with the French president's proposal to strip French nationality from dual-citizens convicted of terrorism, a measure championed by Hollande in the wake ofthe terrorist attacks that shook Paris on 13 November;[13]Minister of the InteriorManuel Vallshad taken charge of the constitutional reform draft law, which would normally have been part of her portfolio.[18]One week later, she publishedMurmures à la jeunesse,a book about this proposal.[19]

Later career

[edit]

Despite being urged to join the race by supporters, Taubira chose not to run in the Socialist Party's2017 presidential primary,[20]and remained neutral in the contest; following his nomination Taubira later endorsedBenoît Hamonas the party's candidate for the2017 French presidential election.[21]In the second round of the presidential election she called on voters to rally behindEmmanuel Macron.[22]

Taubira formally announced her candidacy for the2022 presidential electionin January 2022[23]and won the "people's primary"intended to select a consensus left-wing candidate.[24]By March 2022, theConstitutional Councilpublished data showing Taubira had failed to win enough endorsements from elected officials to qualify for the presidential election.[25]

Political views

[edit]

Immigration

[edit]

Taubira is a vocal critic of illegal immigration toFrench Guiana.In 2007 Taubira stated that "We are at an identity turning point. The ethnicGuyanesehave become a minority on their own land "as a result of illegal immigration.[26][27]In recent years Taubira has called for solidarity withrefugeesinMetropolitan France.[28]

Victim of racist attacks

[edit]

Like otherfemale ministersTaubira has faced many racist and sexist insults.[29]

Taubira allowed the Guyanese political partyWalwarito make a direct citation in the Cayenne criminal court against Anne-Sophie Leclère, a candidate for theFront Nationalwho in October 2013 shared a racist cartoon comparing Taubira to amonkeyon herFacebookpage. Leclère was sentenced to nine months in prison and five years of ineligibility by the court before the judgement was quashed on appeal as Walwari's actions were deemed invalid.[30]

In September 2016 the Paris criminal court, which had opened an investigation when the facts were revealed, found Leclère guilty of the crime of public insult and sentenced her to a suspended fine of 3,000 euros.

In November 2013 the Office ofthe United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rightscondemned the comments, which it considered as racist attacks against Taubira, in particular those on the cover of the extreme right-wing weeklyMinute,which featured her photo with the caption: "Clever as a monkey, Taubira finds the banana". The weekly rejected the accusation of racism, arguing that it merely used two French expressions, "the second of which - the part about the banana - is familiarly used to describe a person in good shape". The minister denounced comments of "extreme violence", denying her "belonging to the human race". The weekly's editor was sentenced to a fine of 10,000 euros for its front page on 30 October 2014. The public prosecutor's office appealed against the fine, saying that it was too lenient.

Honours

[edit]

Personal life

[edit]
Christiane Taubira atFestival America[fr]2018, inVincennes.

Taubira has been married twice.[35]She has four children with her second husband, Roland Delannon.[35][36][37]They are divorced.[35][37]Delannon is a separatist politician who founded theDecolonization and Social Emancipation Movement;he was jailed for 18 months for planning to blow up an oil and gas facility in the 1980s.[36][37]

Books

[edit]
  • (in French)L'Esclavage raconté à ma fille( "Slavery explained to my daughter" ), Paris, Bibliophane, coll. « Les mots à coeur », 2002 (réimpr. 2006), 165 p. (ISBN2-86970-064-4et 2-86970-122-5).
  • (in French)Codes noirs: de l'esclavage aux abolitions,Paris, Dalloz, coll. « A savoir », 2006, 150 p. (ISBN2-247-06857-X) (introduction).
  • (in French)Rendez-vous avec la République( "Meeting with the Republic" ), Paris, La Découverte, coll. « Cahiers libres », 2006, 195 p. (ISBN978-2-7071-5091-2).
  • (in French)Égalité pour les exclus: le politique face à l'histoire et à la mémoire coloniales,Paris, Temps Présent, 2009, 93 p. (ISBN978-2-916842-01-1).
  • (in French)Mes météores: combats politiques au long cours, Paris, Flammarion,2012, 551 p. (ISBN978-2-08-127895-0).
  • (in French)Paroles de liberté( "Words of Freedom" ), Paris, Flammarion, coll. "Café Voltaire", 2014, 138 p. (ISBN978-2-08-133688-9).
  • (in French)Murmures à la jeunesse,2016.
  • (in French)Nous habitons la Terre,2017, REY, 128 p. (ISBN978-2848766119).
  • (in French)Nuit d'épine( "Thorny Night" ), Paris, Plon, 2019, 288 p. (ISBN978-2259278652).
  • (in French)Gran Balan,Paris, Plon, 2020, 480 p. (ISBN978-2259305013).

References

[edit]
  1. ^"France - French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira resigns".France 24.27 January 2016.Retrieved27 January2016.
  2. ^"'People's primary' backs Christiane Taubira as unity candidate of French left ".the Guardian.Agence France-Presse. 30 January 2022.Retrieved1 February2022.
  3. ^"French left-wing candidate Taubira fails to qualify for presidential race".Reuters.2 March 2022.
  4. ^Clea Calcutta (13 January 2022),The end of the French leftPolitico Europe.
  5. ^"Votre députée".Taubira web site(in French). 2011. Archived fromthe originalon 14 December 2011.
  6. ^Faure, Sonya (13 June 2012)."La fusée Christiane".Libération(in French).
  7. ^"Christiane TAUBIRA-DELANNON".Your MEPs.European Parliament.Retrieved14 February2011.
  8. ^Tagliabue, John (3 April 2002)."France's First-Round Presidential Ballot Takes Shape".The New York Times.Retrieved14 February2011.
  9. ^Christiane Taubira-DelannonEuropean Parliament.
  10. ^Martin Arnold (January 30, 2006),French to remember 'stain of slavery'Financial Times.
  11. ^Estelle Gross (6 July 2011),Primaire: qui soutient qui au PS?L'Obs.
  12. ^abAurelien Breeden (January 27, 2016),French Justice Minister Quits Over Plan to Strip Citizenship From TerroristsThe New York Times.
  13. ^ab"france 24 - French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira resigns after terror law row - France 24".France 24.27 January 2016.Retrieved15 February2016.
  14. ^"France - French minister wants land for slaves' descendants".France 24.Archived fromthe originalon 26 April 2017.Retrieved15 February2016.
  15. ^"Unpopular French President Nicolas Sarkozy Desperately Woos Les Gais".Queerty.com. 30 March 2012.Retrieved6 May2012.
  16. ^Mark John (March 12, 2014),French government on defensive over Sarkozy phone-tapsReuters.
  17. ^Pierre Briançon (January 27, 2016),Justice minister's resignation exposes Hollande on the left
  18. ^Brian Love (January 27, 2016),French justice minister resigns after uneasy termReuters.
  19. ^Wieder, Thomas (31 January 2016)."Le réquisitoire de Christiane Taubira contre la déchéance de nationalité".Le Monde.Retrieved1 February2016.
  20. ^"French voters urge ex-minister Taubira to join left-wing presidential primary".France 24.1 December 2016.Retrieved30 March2021.
  21. ^Arthur Nazaret (February 5, 2017),Avec les écolos et les communistes, Hamon cherche sa gauche plurielleLe Journal du Dimanche.
  22. ^Taubira appelle à voter Macron mais refuse de faire du «chantage»Le Parisien,May 2, 2017.
  23. ^"France's divided leftwing candidates called on to back 'people's primary'".the Guardian.15 January 2022.Retrieved15 January2022.
  24. ^"Au QG de Christiane Taubira, soirée de liesse et rêves de rassemblement"(in French). 31 January 2022.Retrieved31 January2022.
  25. ^Dominique Vidalon (2 March 2022),French left-wing candidate Taubira fails to qualify for presidential raceReuters.
  26. ^"MFI HEBDO".www1.rfi.fr.Retrieved31 December2021.
  27. ^Roubaix, Hervé (16 November 2013)."Alors députée de Guyane, Christiane Taubira réclamait un renforcement de la lutte contre l'immigration clandestine".Dreuz.info(in French).Retrieved31 December2021.
  28. ^"Former French justice minister Taubira hails refugees at Avignon festival reading".RFI.9 July 2017.Retrieved31 December2021.
  29. ^Hélène Pillon, « Ces femmes politiques dans le viseur des racistes », sur lexpress.fr, 13 novembre 2013 (consulté le 10 août 2015).
  30. ^« Anne-Sophie Leclère, ex-candidate FN qui avait comparé Christiane Taubira à un singe, condamnée à une amende avec sursis » [archive], huffiningtonpost.fr, 28 septembre 2016 (consulté le 14 février 2017).
  31. ^https://dc.uwm.edu/arc_uwmevents/1/Christiane Taubira – Honorary Doctorate in Laws and Human Rights: Discours d’acceptation] - website of theUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  32. ^Granting the Decoration of the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle to thirty-one citizens of the French Republic- website of theOfficial Journal of the Federation (Mexico)
  33. ^Listes des docteurs honoris causa- website of theUniversity of Geneva
  34. ^ULB’s honorary doctorates- website of theUniversité libre de Bruxelles
  35. ^abcGiroudon, Baptiste (31 December 2013)."CHEZ LA MINISTRE DE LA JUSTICE, EN GUYANE: CHRISTIANE TAUBIRA, LA BLESSURE DERRIÈRE LE SOURIRE".Paris Match.Retrieved1 February2016.
  36. ^ab"Roland Delannon, la" blessure "de Christiane Taubira".Le Figaro.3 January 2014.Retrieved1 February2016.
  37. ^abc"Christiane Taubira" mariée "à un" terroriste ": l'intox de Marine Le Pen".Metro News.14 March 2013.Retrieved1 February2016.
[edit]
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Justice
2012–2016 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christiane_Taubira&oldid=1227623015"