36 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
36 lines
2.0 KiB
Markdown
**Louise Michel** (1830 - 1905) was an
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[anarchist](Anarchism "wikilink"),
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[feminist](Anarcha-Feminism "wikilink"), schoolteacher, poet and
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important figure of the [Paris Commune](Paris_Commune "wikilink").
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## Life
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Louise Michel was raised by her mother and paternal grandparents. Her
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love and understanding of everything downtrodden, human and animal
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alike, developed from her empathy with her childhood world. Her
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compassion and sensitivity to suffering grew, as she grew. This, along
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with her instinct to rebel against social inequalities, led her along
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the revolutionary path.
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In January 1853 she took a position as a schoolmistress at Audelancourt.
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In the time she was teaching there, she constantly dreamed of going to
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Paris. When she did move there, she concentrated on teaching, on writing
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poetry and reading. In the little free time she had left, she attended
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lectures on physics, chemistry and law. These courses helped to quench
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her thirst for knowledge. While walking home at night through the
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streets of Paris, she began to see more of the impoverished victims of
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Parisian society. During the Franco-Prussian War she was arrested for
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organising a volunteer militia to against the Prussians. Upon her
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release a few weeks later, she provided food and shelter and organised
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protests. During the [Paris Commune](Paris_Commune "wikilink"), she gave
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herself completely to the revolution, but the commune failed and she
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turned herself in to prevent her mother being executed. She was marched,
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along with other prisoners who were active in the commune, from
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Versailles to Satory. Along the way some were woken in the middle of the
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night, made dig their own graves and then shot. In total, there were
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about thirty thousand men, women and children executed. She was spared
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and deported to [New Caledonia](New_Caledonia "wikilink"), meeting
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[Natalie Lemel](Natalie_Lemel "wikilink") who introduced her to
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anarchism. She began to advocate for indigenous self-determination and
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revolution in New Caldeonia, and was granted amnesty in 1880 and
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returned to Paris. |