On Thursday May 25, Parisians were horrified to discover the anti-abortion stickers on the fenders of their Vélib’. How was this campaign launched? Who validated it? Was the city hall of Paris aware? Let’s make the point.
What do we know about the case?
On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, posters decorated with the slogan ” What if I let him live? have been published on Vélib’ bicycles. We see the drawing of a fetus that gradually grows up to become a happy cyclist. The campaign was claimed by an anti-abortion group calling itself Les Survivors
According to Sylvain Raifaud, president of Vélib’ and elected representative of the 10th arrondissement, the first reports occurred around 7 in the morning, and for the moment they mainly concern the stations located in the 14th and 10th arrondissements of Paris.
Anti-abortion stickers on Vélib’: was Paris City Hall aware?
Neither the Paris town hall nor the management of Vélib’ have validated this advertising campaign. ” It is a wild countryside contrary to the values of Vélib’ and the communities that are part of it. Also, fenders are not advertising space confirmed Sylvain Raifaud a to miss.
The stickers are currently being removed by the agents, and Vélib’ invites all local residents who wish to accompany them in this process: “ Our priority is for this campaign to disappear added Sylvain Raifaud, announcing that Vélib’ will file a complaint for the deterioration of the bike and its image. “ The police will investigate to clarify the circumstances of this action and we will ensure that the perpetrators are punished. “.
Who are the survivors?
Survivors describe themselves as a tribe of solidarity that brings together young people born after 1975 (date of the Veil law which then framed the decriminalization of abortion in France). On their website, they summarize their beliefs as follows: Being a survivor means not only undergoing abortion daily, but also sharing the same revolt in the face of the unacceptable. “.
The movement regularly carries out actions guerrilla marketing » anti-abortion. They justify their Vélib’ campaign as follows: At a time when a bill aims to enshrine abortion in the Constitution, Survivors has decided to act on behalf of all those we miss. We will not tolerate a dichotomous supreme norm in which abortion, just like the right to life, would become a fundamental right. “.
Les Survivors was created in 2016 by Émile Duport, an anti-abortion activist with a well-stocked resume: spokesperson for the March for Life, close to the Manif Pour Tous, founder of the Life Parade… One of his most disgusting actions dates back to 2017, during the tribute ceremony to Simone Veil at the Invalides:
He revealed that the site simoneveil.com, shared more than 50,000 times on social networks, was his creation. Behind an apparently neutral and feminist point of view and a brief biography in honor of the great lady, the portal dedicated to the Holocaust survivor was actually the antechamber of the Survivors movement, a traditionalist and reactionary emanation of the new anti-abortion generation. (…) It was when the president announced the pantheonization of him that they dropped the masks by posting, on the homepage: “The truth about Simone Veil, that of a woman betrayed in her intentions because her law no longer exists as it has been changed and because the legalization of abortion has not improved women’s health, quite the contrary”
The Obs, “Emile Duport, an anti-abortion crusader in a hipster costume”, July 7, 2017.
Is this the first time such a campaign has been launched on Vélibs?
” It often happens to discover stickers on the fenders. But these are isolated initiatives. It is the first time that we have faced such a structured action” explains the president of Vélib’a to miss. “The stickers fit perfectly into the shape of our bumpers, indicating that coordinating this action likely required significant funding “.
Planned Parenthood commented on the action in a telling tweet: We are shocked and at the same time not surprised in a context of far-right and conservative texts “.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
