Europe and the lessons of its slave past

Audio 19:30

The statue of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, in front of the National Assembly in Paris, partly covered on June 23, 2020 with red paint on the chest and legs and an inscription "State Negroophobia".

AP Photo / Thibault Camus

By: Frédérique Lebel

22 min

The slave trade, fifteen to thirty million people deported over four centuries, has not finished calling out to us.

We talk about it today in Accents d'Europe, and not only to explore this essential memory, but to see how this History impacts our society.

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Jean-François Manicom is our guest.

Photographer, Guadeloupean, he was curator for the Memorial Act of Guadeloupe, a large center dedicated to the memory of the slave trade in Pointe-à-Pitre, he is now curator at the International Slavery museum in Liverpool in England.

Two institutions that were created in 2015 and 2007 respectively. It was not until the 21st century that we finally became interested in the history of slavery ...

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To read also:

"The Memorial ACTe emanates from the will of Guadeloupe"

The question of symbols

is important.

Knowing this history, but also tracking down its survivals loaded with the weight of domination.

This is a little bit of what a country like the Netherlands is currently doing, historically an essential slave country, alongside England, France and Portugal. 

In Amsterdam, Anne Le Ray.

France is distinguished from other European countries by a law, the Taubira law which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year (2021) and which recognizes slavery as a crime against humanity.

And who asks that this story be taught in schools.

There were a lot of silences, of things left unsaid about slavery.

History textbooks have long insisted on a few abolitionist figures to speak of the abolition of slavery, and ultimately relatively little of the slave revolts, of the "marronnages" these slaves who fled into the forest.

In the United Kingdom, the economic implications of the slave trade are being explored a lot

.

The industrial revolution would doubtless not have been possible without the immense profits from the sugar cane trade;

companies are starting to recognize this.

In London, Marie Billon.

All of Atlantic Europe, its ports of Liverpool, Amsterdam, Lisbon via Nantes and Bordeaux, was involved in the slave trade.

But other states like Switzerland also have their responsibilities, via banks and commerce.

Jeremie Lanche is our correspondent in Geneva.

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  • Slavery

  • Society

  • Racism

  • Netherlands

  • France

  • Swiss

  • UK

  • Portugal

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