Claude Rua, née Bouchot (1930-2023)

From CIRA
January 29, 2023

Claude Bouchot was born in Paris on March 27, 1930, to parents who owned a café-bar near the Gare du Nord, boulevard Magenta in the 10th arrondissement. During the German occupation, she was sent to a boarding school in Cluny, where she endured the harsh discipline imposed there. She married Jacques Rua, a carpenter and cabinetmaker, in 1957 and they lived for some time in Montreuil-sous-Bois (93) and then at the top of the rue de Maubeuge in the 10th arrondissement. They had two children, Philippe in 1959, and Michel in 1962. The sons have been living for several years, the elder in Finland, the younger in Nantes, having had a son for Philippe and two sons for Michel, all very attached to their grandmother.

"I lived in rue de Maubeuge, in Paris, on the third floor. I could see the Magenta-Maubeuge crossroads very well. One day, a large barricade was set up there. The C.R.S. forces were large and I was impressed by their relentlessness. They looked like big black insects. They charged. When the demonstrators dispersed, they chased them in the doorways, in the staircases, to hit them. If they fell, they hit them on the ground, or lifted them up to hit them better. I was ulcerated, revolted, I was there, at a window, powerless, and I insulted them & at the top of my lungs. From that day on, I kept an allergy, not rather a repulsion of the C.R.S."
-Léa, Claude, Nelly and the others, in Mai 68 par eux-mémes. Le mouvement de Floréal An 176, texts and comments collected by Chroniques syndicales, Femmes libres (Radio libertaire) and the Pierre Besnard group of the Fédération anarchiste, éditions du Monde libertaire, 1989, p. 127.

It is in 1981 that Claude left her husband and her children, "to survive" she said, while keeping her married name: Claude Rua. After a time in Juvisy (91), she then lived on rue Georges Lardennois in the 19th arrondissement, then in 1995, moved to 108 avenue Jean Lolive in Pantin (93). Before her marriage, and during the period she lived with her husband, she was in charge of the textile part of their business, worked in the sale of furnishing fabrics, was a toy representative in supermarkets, which caused her long car journeys and very flexible schedules, and ran a toy store for a few years. She stopped working at 66.

In 1984 she met Jean-Michel Damien in an anti-racist TAI collective. He invited her to join the Pierre Besnard group of the the Fédération Anarchiste where he had already been active since 1981. Within the group, Claude was involved as treasurer twice, and in all the militant activities : participation in the meetings of the group, in the public debates and in the different conferences organized by the group and the Parisian region, sale of the weekly then monthly Monde Libertaire, events in the Publico bookstore (books, films), distribution of leaflets, demonstrations in Paris, and even a European demonstration in Strasbourg in 1997, participation in several federal congresses, and at first in a few broadcasts of "Femmes libres" (Free Women) on Radio Libertaire with Nelly Trumel. Claude has participated in several CFA, anarchist training center, including one in the Gorges du Verdon in 1989, and others in the Paris region.

She was involved in the Women's Commission of the Anarchist Federation from the end of the 1980s and during the 1990s, she participated in many demonstrations of the feminist movement, such as the Estates General for the respect of the right to abortion and contraception "L'amour est à nous" at the Sorbonne on January 18 and 19, 1992 and actively participated in the International Anarchafeminist Meeting on May 2, 1992 at the Plaine Saint-Denis. From 1990 to 1997, Claude represented the Anarchist Federation in the Coordination of Associations for the Right to Abortion and Contraception(CADAC) and in the National Collective for Women's Rights from 1996 to 1997. She participated in the European Meeting on Abortion and Contraception at the PLM Saint-Jacques in Paris in 1994, and in the National Conference for Women's Rights at the Plaine Saint-Denis in March 1997.

Since 1998, she regularly participated in the program Femmes Libres once a month, with Elisabeth Claude and Hélene Hernandez, then from 2013, every week, with Kadia Rachedi, Michele Cres, Sylvie Gillot, who joined the starting team, and also Marie-Jo Pothier who comes once a month from Noyon (60). Until December 2022, without fail, other than vacations or medical examinations, Claude moderated the column Information and Appointments, and from time to time gave her point of view on the subjects covered during the program Femmes Libres.

From January 2000 to June 2010, Claude was the President of the Publico Bookstore SA. She represented the bookstore in Montreal with Elisabeth Claude. Another federation activity: for several years, she spent her Sunday afternoons with Fabienne and Thierry Porré gluing the labels for the subscribers to Le Monde Libertaire before sending them, and this in their apartment in the 19th district.

Claude contributed to the book Mai 68 par eux-mémes, mentioned above, by deciphering the cassettes of the various broadcasts on May 68 to make articles for the Monde Libertaire in 1988, and then to constitute the book published in 1989. She also contributed to Anarchisme, Féminisme, contre le systéme prostitutionnel (2009), a booklet coordinated by Héléne Hernandez and Elisabeth Claude, published by Monde Libertaire. And then she participated, as a member of Femmes Libres, in the book Nelly Trumel, Faut que ca germe!, published in 2016, éditions du Monde Libertaire and Les Editions Libertaires.

Beyond the militant milieu, she participated very actively, for almost twenty years, in the Association of the Ciné 104 in Pantin to promote debates and activities around the films presented. Until the period of Covid, Claude took advantage of her retirement by doing aqua-gym, reading a lot, attending a dance club twice a week, and very regularly seeing friends who accompanied her until the end. She thus regularly enlarged and maintained her network of friends and activists, appreciated by all for her efficient availability.

Her commitment was solid: feminist, anti-racist, anti-fascist, anti-militarist, ... anarchist, until the end. This did not prevent her from being very coquettish, carefully dressed and made up, and it did not prevent her from saying what she thought directly, with determination. Very early on, she wanted to decide about her life, and refusing to accept prolonged treatment and palliative care, she chose the moment to stop fighting. It was Sunday, January 22, 2023.

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