Gabriel Attal announces a “major national exhibition” in 2026

During the ceremony commemorating the abolition of slavery on Friday, Gabriel Attal announced a “major national exhibition” in 2026. This annual ceremony took place for the first time in mainland France outside the capital, in La Rochelle.

Gabriel Attal chaired Friday May 10 – national day of remembrance of the slave trade, slavery and abolitions – in La Rochelle, the ceremony commemorating the abolition of slavery, announcing a “great national exhibition” in 2026 and welcoming “the spirit of resistance” former slaves.

With slavery, “it is the frontiers of humanity that have been reached, exceeded”. “This story is part of the History of the world, of Europe, of France. It was written in Versailles, in Paris, in the ports of La Rochelle, Nantes, Bordeaux”declared the Prime Minister during a speech. “For too long, a veil has been thrown over this past”. “To recognize it is not to weaken, on the contrary, it is to grow”he also declared. “As long as there was slavery, there was resistance” And “on this May 10, it is also this spirit of resistance that I want to salute”.

A statue in tribute to slaves

This ceremony, which takes place every year, took place for the first time in mainland France outside Paris, in the town of La Rochelle. Previously, the statue had been unveiled Clarisse by the Haitian artist Filipo, Allée Aimé-Césaire, named after a slave bought in Santo Domingo and freed by the city’s general council in 1793.

The Prime Minister said he hoped that a “major national exhibition on the memory of slavery can be held in 2026, for the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the law on the recognition of slavery as a crime against Humanity”.

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. pic.twitter.com/6k1OQBF0dp

— Gabriel Attal (@GabrielAttal) May 10, 2024

He also announced the upcoming creation of a specific label for places of memory of slavery, requested by communities. “Everyone will know, everyone will see, by walking our streets and our towns, the places where the history of slavery was written. Everyone will be able to remember better, to understand better.”

“Because we face History, because we want to make it known, we will continue to fight the battle for education”also declared the Prime Minister, who was accompanied by the Minister of Education Nicole Belloubet.

“Repairing one of the greatest injustices”

Predecessor of Gabriel Attal in Matignon (2012-2014), ex-mayor of Nantes and president of the Foundation for the Memory of Slavery, Jean-Marc Ayrault had previously mentioned Haiti, in the presence of the Haitian ambassador to France, Josué Pierre Dahomey. “Next year will mark the 200th anniversary of the compensation from which Haiti never recovered,” he declared, in reference to the royal order of April 17, 1825, which required Haiti, a new independent state, to pay 150 million gold francs to compensate “the former French settlers of Saint-Domingue”.

“This is why many of us hope that this bicentenary will be the occasion for a great gesture of fraternity from France towards the Haitian people. This approach is just, because it would repair one of the greatest injustices of the story”, insisted Jean-Marc Ayrault, relaying a call from the mayor of La Rochelle, Jean-François Fountaine. Gabriel Attal testified to the “solidarity” and “support” from France “to the Haitian people”. “In all the work that will be carried out, in all the work that will allow us even more to look our history in the face and draw consequences, France will hold its place”.