copyright: Régis Durand de Girard: in the middle Davy Sicart and Christiane TaubiraYesterday May 10th was the official French ceremony of the ‘Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition’. The ceremony was held in the 'jardin du Luxembourg" in Paris, and was only open for invites. See the pictures of the ceremony on the blog fxgpariscaraibe here.
According to the blog FXG, the ceremony didn't had the grandeur of previous commemorations because of the absence of president Sarkozy. It appeared that he was in middle of the crisis meeting about the Euro.
One of the invites was of course Christiane Taubira, MP for overseas region French Guiana. Taubira gave her name to the 21 May 2001 law, "la Loi Taubira", which recognizes the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as a crime against humanity. But in the speech of the minister of interior about recognition, her name wasn't mentioned.
Also present was ex-football player and anti-racism activist Lilian Thuram. Thuram is president of the Lilian Thuram Foundation, an anti-racism foundation that combats racism trough education. Just recently he published his book ‘Mes Etoiles Noirs’, a book about important black personalities and stars.
On the blog there are some interesting interviews with Christiane Taubira and Lilian Thuram.
Among the invites were, Marie-Luce Penchard (Secretary of State for Overseas Territories), Françoise Vergès (chairman of the ‘comité pour la mémoire et l'histoire de l'esclavage’), Davy Sicart (Musician), Marijosée Alie (head of television), Pierre Saintons (Musician), and Nathalie Coualy (comedian).
Good day friends,
ReplyDeleteWe are a human rights organisation based in Reykjavik, Iceland where we campaign for the rights of minority groups. It may not be a big country but Iceland also has it,s share of modern social issues to do with equality, social justice and discrimination. The purpose of this message is to raise the issue of black people living in Europe. Obviously we are a very diverse group with different socio-economic status and situations. We need African entrepreneurs to receive equal treatment
But we are all Africans and many of us still face huge social obstacles and economic woes because of our ethnicity and that is unfortunately still a fact in the 21 century. There are numerous organisations within the diaspora that aim to fight for the well being of black people. And many of these organisations really do a good job. But some of us still believe we lack a strong, powerful and forceful voice at EU level.
We might be wrong on this but i personally believe we can seriously do with one powerful black Europeans organisation that would represent our needs and advocate for our common welfare within Europe at EU level. We want to do more than just raise issues, write articles, hold seminars and conferences and meet MEP,s. Policies, regulations and legislation alone cannot change social and economic injustices that black people face daily in Europe. We must come out of our comfort zones to tackle these issues we still face. The idea that things will never change is not an option in today,s world. We are Europeans, we are blacks and Africans who pay their taxes and work hard most of us but we are still ill-treated. So as the year 2015 draws to a close we can have these facts in our thoughts.
If you received this message it might be that you received it because we believe you can support this important and necessary initiative somehow. If you can and are interested then we would love to hear from you.
Akeem
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