Claude Guillon (17 September 1952 – 19 January 2023) was a French writer and philosopher. A libertarian communist, he advocated for situationist opinions. He gained notoriety in 1982 with the book ', which sold over 100,000 copies before being banned.

Biography

Guillon was born in Paris on 17 September 1952 to an upper-middle-class family. His parents were dental surgeons in the public sector and his grandfather, also named , was a

deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spai ...

of the National Assembly from 1928 to 1932. He studied at the Lycée de Meudon and graduated in 1970. He was a member of the

Revolutionary Anarchist Organization The Revolutionary Anarchist Organization (french: Organisation révolutionnaire anarchiste, ORA) was a French libertarian communist organization that was active during the 1970s. History In 1967, young libertarian communists began to coalesce wit ...

in a small chapter in Meudon. A

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

, he refused his

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

, both military and civil. In 1977, he became a freelance objector for ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

'' and was an activist within the "sexual revolution" within the . In 1982, he published ''Suicide, mode d'emploi''. From 1990 to 1994, Guillon was an editor of the magazine ' alongside . On 28 August 1996, he was the victim of police violence during a demonstration against the expulsion of undocumented immigrants from Saint-Bernard de la Chapelle. The following month, he appeared in court for his actions during the protest. The year after Guillon's book was published, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

adopted a bill against "incitement to suicide", which was passed by the National Assembly in 1987. The book was mentioned in debates in the National Assembly as an example of what the law intended to prohibit. In 1991, the book was officially banned in France. In 1997, he published ''À la vie, à la mort - Maîtrise de la douleur et droit à la mort'', which discussed the denial of pain in children. Guillon died on 19 January 2023, at the age of 70.

Publications

*''Pour en finir avec Reich'' (1978) *''Ni vieux ni maîtres, guide à l’usage des 10-18 ans'' (1979) *''Suicide, mode d’emploi, Histoire, technique, actualité'' (1982) *''De la révolution : 1989 l'inventaire des rêves et des armes'' (1988) *''Deux enragés de la Révolution : Leclerc de Lyon et Pauline Léon'' (1993) *''Gare au TGV !'' (1993) *''42 bonnes raisons pour les femmes de m’éviter'' (1993) *''Le Spectacle du Monde'' (1996) *''À la vie à la mort, maîtrise de la douleur et droit à la mort'' (1997) *''Économie de la misère'' (1999) *''Le Siège de l’âme, éloge de la sodomie'' (1999) *''Dommages de guerre (Paris-Pristina-Belgrade-1999)'' (2000) *''Pièces à conviction. Textes libertaires 1970-2000'' (2001) *''Le Droit à la mort, "Suicide, mode d’emploi", ses lecteurs et ses juges'' (2004) *''Je chante le corps critique'' (2008) *''Notre patience est à bout, 1792-1793, les écrits des Enragé(e)s'' (2009) *''La Terrorisation démocratique'' (2009) *''Comment peut-on être anarchiste ?'' (2015) *''Abécédaire de la sodomie'' (2019)

Texts

*''La parole à... Joseph Déjacque'' (2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guillon, Claude 1952 births 2023 deaths 20th-century French male writers 21st-century French male writers Writers from Paris 20th-century French philosophers 21st-century French philosophers