Looking for Louise Michel in Levallois-Perret

[kerouac2]

Before I embark you on a rather boring photo report, I need to tell you about Louise Michel, a heroine of the French Commune.  Even in the 21st century she remains controversial, but she was one of the most influential French women of the 19th century and one of the only women, along with George Sand, who dared to wear men's clothing, which was illegal.

First of all, Louise Michel was an anarchist and created the black flag of anarchy because she found the red flag of communism too wimpy.  "Rather than the red flag showing the blood of our soldiers, I will fly the black flag mourning the death of our soldiers and our illusions."  I would have loved to invite her to dinner.

She was a schoolteacher and a writer and corresponded with Victor Hugo whom she admired for being a republican who went into exile because of Napoleon III.  In 1869, she was a socialist republican and was the secretary of an association to help women workers.  When the Second Empire fell at the end of the Franco-Prussian war, she became the president of the Committee of Vigilance of the 18th arrondissement and created food services for schoolchildren, who had nothing to eat because of the famine.  When the Commune started, she was of course part of the most radical left wing, fired on the Hôtel de Ville and was in charge of the Revolution Club at the church of Saint Bernard de la Chapelle (2 blocks from where I live).

She participated in a number of battles when the army of Versailles attacked the Communards, helped to protect the cannons of Montmartre and worked with the ambulances.  She fought in the battle of the cemetery of Montmartre and the Clignancourt barricade.  She surrendered to the army of Versailles only to obtain the liberation of her mother.  In the prison of Versailles, she saw all of her friends and allies executed, including her lover Théophile Ferré.  When she went to trial, she asked to be executed.  She said "if you are not cowards, execute me!"  Victor Hugo wrote a poem about her.

Well, she was not executed but was instead deported to New Caledonia (a trip lasting 4 months).  She met other exiles from the Commune there and spent 7 years.  She demanded to receive the same treatment as the men and refused an individual pardon.  She started a newspaper there, learned the Kanak language and translated a number of Kanak works and myths into French.  She became a teacher again, teaching the children of deported Algerians and also held classes on Sunday for adult Kanaks.

She returned to France in 1880 and was met with a crowd of admirers and went back into politics.  She continued to stir up the anarchists and led a demonstration for the unemployed in 1883 which resulted in 3 bakeries being looted.  She was sentenced to six years in prison but received a presidential pardon 3 years later.

In 1888, she participated in a demonstration in Le Havre, where she was shot by a royalist opponent.  One of the bullets just hit her ear lobe but the other one was lodged in her skull.  It was impossible to remove, so that's where it stayed until her death 17 years later.  She refused to press charges against her attacker.

The years went by and she gave a lot of anarchist conferences, was arrested regularly, went to London to a socialist convention.  She was arrested there and sentenced to six years of prison, but Clémenceau obtained her release after 3 years so that she could see her dying mother.  Later, she made a final trip to Algeria but died of pneumonia in Marseille upon her return, at the age of 74.  She asked to be buried in Levallois-Perret with her mother, and so that's why I found an imperious need to go to Levallois.

There are only 5 metro stations in Paris that bear the name of a woman, and Louise Michel is one of them.

So, let's go see Levallois...

[kerouac2]

Levallois-Perret is a modest city of 66,000 but it has the distinction of being not only the most densely populated city in France (27,310 per km²) but also the most densely populated city in Europe. Paris, which is one of the most densely populated cities in France, has only 20,641 per km². Apparently it is in 10th place for density among the other cities of the world. It borders the 17th arrondissement of Paris and was mostly rural when it was created around 1837. Originally, it was part of Clichy, but the construction of the rail line from Saint Lazare totally split it off and the new city all glommed together officially in 1845 with bits and pieces of nearby towns like Neuilly.

The town got no fewer than 3 metro stations in 1937 and there was no stopping industrialisation after that.

I took the metro to the end of line 3, Pont de Levallois.



I was quite surprised by what I saw. Levallois used to be dowdy when I was little, not that I ever spent any time there. Not any longer.







This isn't even the centre of town, but it looks pretty classy.



Everygreen, the owner of the Taiwan airline Eva Air and also that stranded tanker in the Suez Canal, not to mention its own hotel, has its French headquarters here.

[kerouac2]

Why was everything so modern? Were there absolutely no old buildings left in Levallois?



Even the automatic public toilets seemed much more luxurious than their counterparts in Paris.



The answer suddenly appeared. All of this was the site of the huge old Citroën factory (1949-1988).



This was the principal location for making the famous 2CV. Once it was demolished, it was an incredible haven for urban renewal.



I knew I had to go over to the Seine, because the cemetery was in that direction.



There was an elegant promenade that could easily rival Paris.









If you razed old Paris, it would end up looking like this.

[bixaorellana]

Well! I have to say I am thunderstruck! First of all, the history lesson on Louise Michel was like books by Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Ken Follett all rolled into one, except better because it is all true. What a woman and what a life!

I was expecting good pictures, of course, but doubted that anything would live up to that intro. Happily, I was wrong!

I had lots of questions, but they all got answered as the thread moved along, so thanks for that. What really strikes me about the city is how beautifully cohesive it is in terms of overall feel -- nothing of a patchwork look of renewal and everything of a great vision being carried out. Really, even though it seems quite welcoming to use by humans, it is also quite elegant.

Super pictures, with the one of the guy caught in mid rope jump with the basketball players behind him being a particular winner.

Looking forward to more.

[lagatta]

Of course I knew about Louise Michel, but not about her association with Levallois-Perret. I named a cat after her: not my cat, one who lived with young anarchist friends. I remember passing by there after the plant had closed down, but was still standing. It was indeed impressive.

[kerouac2]

The construction frenzy along the Seine continues.



I have now reached the next bridge and the rail line. I could have taken the train to Levallois, but I wanted the extra exploratory walk.



More parks are also under construction.

If you will allow me a brief digression, let me explain why the city is so well tended. In 1983 the city of Levallois-Perret elected for mayor what was perhaps the most corrupt politician in the country, Patrick Balkany. His wife became assistant mayor. He already had a fortune in undeclared money in Switzerland, and his fortune grew with a multitude of luxury real estate deals, all undeclared so that he would not be subject to the wealth tax. The couple also bought a luxury villa in Marrakesh, another one in the Antilles, as well as a manor in rural France.

Everybody knew he was a crook, including the people of Levallois, but he took such good care of his constituents (as you can see in the photographs) that they didn't care -- they re-elected him by a landslide at every election. The judges did not really go into action until 2013, when it was already too late to prosecute many of his earlier financial antics in Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Sint-Maarten. But there was plenty still left in local real estate deals, shady construction contracts and a variety of frauds. There was even something or other in Namibia.

Patrick and Isabelle Balkany denied everything with shit-eating smiles, and they had the best lawyer in France. It may be amusing to note that their lawyer at the time is currently the Minister of Justice in France. (This does not mean that he is corrupt, just that he got all of the best cases and defended the hell out of them.) However, after many years of dodging bullets, their passports were confiscated, parliamentary immunity was finally lifted, wrongdoings were proven, convictions were made, followed by energetic and suspensive appeals -- but finally in 2019, Balkany received a 4-year prison sentence, Madame got 3 years and they both got 10 years of ineligibility. He was put in jail immediately but his wife swooned and clutched her chest or something and stayed out for medical reasons. Patrick Balkany was released after 5 months for medical reasons, too. The rich and famous in jail seem to have such incredible health problems that are ignored among the normal prison population.

Anyway, they are officially out of politics for the moment but are still pulling strings in the shadows because they were replaced by hand-picked henchmen. And the population of Levallois will not forget which side their bread is buttered on.

[kerouac2]

Turning away from the Seine to find the cemetery entrance, I finally encountered some older buildings.



Most of them don't look like they will be allowed to stand much longer.





Walking into the courtyard of that building, I was able to see how Levallois used to be.





I followed the cemetery wall for quite some time.



Finally, I was ready to meet Louise Michel.

[kerouac2]

I had already read that the tomb was impossible to miss because it was situated at the circular centrepoint of the cemetery. I glanced at the map anyway.



Even the suburban cemeteries around Paris are quite big.



And so here is Louise Michel.



I imagine that her necklaces are made of shells from New Caledonia.



Actually, her tomb was moved to this central location a number of years ago, probably to elleviate traffic flow. Today there was no traffic flow.



The city has also put convenient signs on all of its "famous" tombs although a lot of them were just corrupt politicians with lots of money.



Right across from Louise Michel is another tomb that demanded a prominent location.



Naturally, I had to investigate the cemetery a bit more. That's the memorial to the war dead up ahead.





This office building overlooks a calm panorama.



We are not very far away from the Tribunal de Paris in the 17th arrondissement.



I paid my respects to the most prominent resident of the cemetery.







Like most other French cemeteries, all religions or lack thereof are mixed together.



There are French military tombs. I saw that a lot of them dated from the war in Algeria. There are also Commonwealth graves in another corner of the cemetery.



The municipal wreaths immediately tip you off that you are in a right wing town. The current mayor is a woman but she is Madame LE Maire here rather than Madame LA Maire. They are not big on feminisation of words.



Any new tomb attracts me because of the riot of flowers.

[kerouac2]

Back out on the street, it was time to wander until I found alternate transportation back to Paris.



I approached close enough to see that this was a memorial for the Marne taxis which played a crucial role in the Great War.



The city has spent a lot of money to make sure that no bicycles, scooters or other dangers will defile the footpath, even if it is a maze for pedestrians and baby strollers.



The wealthy do not always have good taste in curtains.



Here is central municipal park.





This clashed with the style of the park.



It is a memorial to a girl who died in a terrorist attack in Cairo. Very sad, but her parents had to be friends of the administration to warrant putting this ugly thing in such a prominent location.



This was more the style of the park.





I did not find any information about this giant tree.



It was market day in front of the town hall.



I suppose it is more spread out than one would normally imagine due to covid-19 rules.



Here is the little old town hall.



Sorry, street markets tend to make me drool.





Back out on the normal streets, I encountered the municipal music conservatory.





And then I found a metro station, the most appropriate one possible.





Levallois-Perret used to be a communist stronghold, which is the only reason that Louise Michel was honoured with a subway station. In just two minutes, I was back in Paris.

[tod2]

Oh WoW Kerouac! You know just how to shake our tunnel-vision of Paris by taking us just a titch outside the boundary so we can still think we are in Paris! For tourists like me this is what I would still consider being in Paris itself. Too complicated otherwise.
Your photo essay is just lovely. Those white tulips and purple flowers just next to the metro entrance/exit are a fantastic introduction. I loved that you took us to the street market - Next to the heirloom tomatoes are some dark cigar-shaped vegetable with a white band around each one. Do you know what they are? I would like to know if possible for curiosity.
And who would have thought we would come across Gustave Eiffel way out there! Never really thought about where he was buried.
There is so much to comment on so I will leave it to the others to have their points of interest. Well done and thanks for a great insight.

[kerouac2]

Those are just called black radishes in France. In English, one uses the word daikon.

[tod2]

Oh OK. I can get Daikon here but its pure white. I dont have much use for it so never buy it. It would be good in a horseradish sauce for a crowd eating rare roast beef and Yorkshire pudding!

[Biddy]

Thank you K2 for the history lesson and a glimpse of Paris.

[lagatta]

Overkill at the pedestrian crossing, for parents and carers of small children but also for disabled people. I suspect a tax grab - would have been better to visit nearby cities that have achieved better pedestrian safety; of course in the Netherlands but also Strasbourg.

[fumobici]

I really am loving these reports from the far-flung corners of the area. The lack of disgusting, uncultured, swarming tourists like myself only make them more alluring.

[fumobici]

Those tomatoes in the market look pretty decent for late March. In Italy at this time of the year they'd be coming from Israel, or even Sicily. Ours come from either Mexico or the hothouses just north of us in BC this time of year. Neither are better than fair, but I've noticed the Mexican ones slowly getting better the past couple of years.