A-Infos (en) France, Monde Libertaire - Ariane Gransac has died: an intense, rebellious, and anarchistic life. (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Ariane Gransac died in Perpignan last Sunday, April 5, at the age of 84. 
The funeral service will be held on April 15 at the city's crematorium. 
Rather than letting myself be overwhelmed by the sadness of her passing, 
I prefer to remember her youthful joy when I met her some sixty years 
ago, around 1966, after her courageous participation in the memorable 
kidnapping in Rome of Franco's ambassador to the Vatican. Ariane was the 
daughter of a high-ranking executive in the perfume industry and could 
have been content to enjoy the privileges of a comfortable economic 
situation, but that didn't suit her rebellious nature. She quickly 
became involved in anarchist circles in Paris, joining the Émile Henry 
group of the Anarchist Federation, while also frequenting, as an art 
enthusiast, libertarian cultural circles.

What distinguished her was undoubtedly her strong personality, a blend 
of sharp intelligence and a penchant for ingenious and biting irony, 
capable of disconcerting anyone, yet not incompatible with great 
kindness and a delicate sensitivity. Ariane had a strong character, and 
therein lay part of her charm.

For more than ten years, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to the 
anti-Franco libertarian struggle, participating alongside Octavio 
Alberola in almost all the actions carried out by the Iberian Federation 
of Libertarian Youth (FIJL), many of them under the name Groupe 1er Mai 
(May 1st Group).

After the successful kidnapping in Rome in 1966, she went to Madrid in 
October of the same year to plan another kidnapping that ultimately 
failed and resulted in several arrests. In solidarity with the 
prisoners, she participated in several direct actions carried out by the 
May 1st Group in London against Francoist representations. Then, in 
1968, she went to Brussels to plan the kidnapping of Franco's ambassador 
to the Common Market, Alberto Ullastres, but she was arrested on 
February 8 before the operation could be completed.

In 1974, already independent of the FIJL's actions, but in solidarity 
with Puig Antich, she participated in the kidnapping of Baltasar Suárez, 
director of the Banca di Bilbao, in Paris; she was arrested on May 22 
along with Alberola in Avignon.

After the dictator's death, she participated in the French libertarian 
movement and dedicated herself to preserving the memory of popular 
movements in Latin America, with a particular focus on Peru and Bolivia, 
where, through Liber Forti, she established links with the Bolivian 
Workers' Central.

Needless to say, this intense activity was always accompanied by a 
strong commitment to anarchist conceptions of the struggles against 
patriarchy, in line with the principles of Mujeres Libres.

After the death of her mother, whom she cared for in Paris, she settled 
permanently in Perpignan in 2007. But after a period of severe 
depression between 2013 and 2015, her cognitive decline worsened, and 
she was finally admitted to a nursing home in December 2022. 
Undoubtedly, after nearly four years in this situation, her death was a 
form of liberation for her.

Except for her last few years, Ariane had the audacity to live the life 
she had chosen to the fullest, always defying domination in the name of 
freedom. That is how we will remember her.

Tomás Ibáñez

https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8921
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