A mural celebrating six activists fighting to defend human rights around the world was unveiled by Amnesty International and the city of Paris on Thursday 21 September. The work, which will remain on display for six months, also serves as a reminder that these struggles are not without risk.
By Caroline Renaux,
Fifteen metres long and five metres high, in the rue du Sahel in Paris’s 12th arrondissement, six faces painted white stand out against a black background. Above them, yellow boxes list the names of these activists who fight, often at great cost, to defend human rights.
One of these faces is Nasrin Sotoudeh, with a smile on her face. The Iranian lawyer, sentenced to 148 lashes and 38 years in prison, is still being held in Tehran. She is joined by Dr Mukwege and Angela Davis. One is a surgeon known for operating on women whose bodies have been mutilated, the other is an icon of the feminist and anti-racist movements. A few metres further on stand replicas of Chelsea Manning, the US army whistleblower, Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani campaigner for girls’ education, and Greta Thunberg, the environmental activist.
A symbol of freedom
“It’s a wall whose symbol is freedom”, says Jean-Claude Samouiller, President of Amnesty International France. “We must not forget the people who give their lives and their freedom to make the world a little less ugly and to put an end to persecution. We must do everything we can to remember these people who are sometimes killed, sometimes put in prison.” The wall, known as the “human rights wall”, is also intended to serve as a reminder of the sacrifices made by these activists in their struggles.
Made available to Amnesty International France by the City of Paris, this new space will house works dedicated to defenders of fundamental rights for two years. Inaugurated this Thursday, the first fresco will be displayed for six months. “We wanted this wall to express itself and have meaning,” explains Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie, Mayor of the 12th arrondissement of Paris. “We wanted to defend the values that we hold dear and that drive us on a daily basis. Human rights are being undermined internationally and in France. As political leaders, we have a duty to allow this expression in all its forms.
Passers-by quickly stopped to observe or take photos of the fresco. For Hanieh Delecroix, the Franco-Iranian artist present at the inauguration ceremony, bringing the portrait of Nasrin Sotoudeh to the eyes of the Parisian public is a great symbol. “I hope that everyone passing by will be curious enough to find out what’s going on in Iran. Because it’s ignorance and silence that give the oppressors the upper hand”, she asserted after delivering a speech in tribute to Iranian women fighting for their freedom.
“Getting political leaders to move”
For his part, the artist Mahn Kloix said he was proud to use his street art to support this cause. The aim of this wall, which he calls a “jewel”, resonates with his art: “The heart of my work is to make a difference. The heart of my work is resilience,” he says. This is borne out by his previous works, such as “A Kabul Story”, a tribute to the Afghan women wiped out by the Taliban, and his giant portrait of the Uighur resistance fighter Tursunay Ziawudun.
Initially, there was talk of depicting historical activists, but Mahn Kloix immediately decided against it. It was important to him to draw contemporary people. “What’s important about this and the reason for doing it in the public space is that we’re talking about people who are still alive, to say ‘we can change, we can make the world evolve now'”, the artist believes.
This is an ambition shared by Jean-Claude Samouiller, who intends to “get politicians moving”, by relying on public opinion, so that they are more forceful in their condemnation of regimes that contribute to the rollback of human rights. According to Amnesty’s annual report, in 2022, 77 countries out of the 156 analysed would have arbitrarily detained human rights defenders, while 94 would have been responsible for ill-treatment and torture. In total, freedom of expression would have declined for more than 80% of the world’s population compared to 2021.
