Paris (AFP)
Twenty years after the Taubira law recognizing slavery as a crime against humanity, the climate has "polarized" and "radicalized", deplores the president of the Foundation for the memory of slavery Jean-Marc Ayrault, who calls to stand firm in the face of "false debates" and "negation".
"I am not lecturing: I admit that there may be fears and misunderstandings but I do not want us to remain inert", underlines the former Socialist Prime Minister, in an interview with AFP , on the eve of the launch of the "month of memories", a series of commemorations which will end on June 10.
Between "those who want nothing to be touched and those who train us on racialist, indigenous approaches, which are not acceptable either, there is a way, there is a way," he assures. , in front of the memorial to the abolition of slavery in Nantes, the first French slave port, and the city of which he was the mayor for more than two decades.
"If we want a peaceful, liberated society, which is found in a common memory, it is fundamental to take this path rather than that of radicalization, polarization, caricature, or negation", adds M Ayrault, calling for "tenacity" and not "to give in".
- Slavery and Napoleon -
More than 170 years after the abolition of slavery, debates have gained momentum in recent months as the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon, who died on May 5, 1821, approaches, with a question: should we commemorate or not the man who reestablished slavery in 1802?
"Some would like to ignore this part, they say it is not glorious ... but we are talking about Waterloo and it was not glorious", slips Mr. Ayrault whose foundation was called to the rescue in sight of the great "Napoleon" exhibition to come at La Villette in Paris.
"Initially there was a reluctance to discuss 1802 and then finally they realized that they could not ignore", he explains, welcoming that for the first time two documents originals from 1802 be presented to the public.
"We did not ask for it for controversial reasons but for the sake of truth, it is essential".
"Essential" also the action with the younger generations in line with the Taubira law, adopted on May 10, 2001, which - in addition to the recognition of trafficking and slavery as crimes against humanity - integrates these periods into the school programs.
On this point, "there is a lot of progress but we have noted shortcomings", notes Jean-Marc Ayrault.
"We realized that there were differences: Haiti, the slave revolt, the figure of Toussaint Louverture ... are only taught in the manuals of Overseas and vocational education but not in the 'General Education".
However, the stakes are high, insists the former head of diplomacy, in view of the "traces" left by this period in French society, "from discrimination" to "racial prejudice".
"If we don't do this work, there will always be a part of society which will feel forgotten, perhaps poorly recognized, which will suffer and which will react precisely in this separatist logic which is not desirable for society. , which must be avoided and combated at all costs ".
- "Things are moving" -
In this context, the creation of a national slavery memorial at the Tuileries, delayed due to dissensions around its realization, would send a signal by "solemnly affirming" that the issue of slavery and the slave trade concerns all French people and "not just overseas".
But there is still a long way to go, recognizes Jean-Marc Ayrault who still remembers the volley of green wood received last year after proposing to rename a room of the National Assembly and a building in Bercy bearing the name of Colbert, the initiator of the Black Code which legislated on slavery in the French colonies.
"I had suggested that we instead put the spotlight on the first black deputy Jean-Baptiste Belley whom no one knows", recalls the former Prime Minister who however wants to believe that things are moving with the recent parliamentary report on discrimination and the upcoming conference on the role of trafficking and slavery in French economic history.
"Things are moving, slowly, but they are moving."
© 2021 AFP