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France commemorating end of slavery

Annual slavery abolition commemoration day established on May 10

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France President Jacques Chirac Commemorating the abolition of slavery : At a reception held in honour of the Committee for the Memory of Slavery on Monday 30 January 2006, the President expressed the wish ?that, starting this year, Metropolitan France should honour the memory of the victims of slavery and commemorate its abolition?. The date chosen for this commemoration is 10 May, ?the anniversary of the adoption by the Senate (...) of the law recognising slave trading and slavery as crimes against humanity?.

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French traders tore them from their African homelands and enslaved them in Caribbean colonies in centuries past.

Now -- nearly 160 years after abolition -- France has dedicated a day in the calendar to honor the victims of its slave trade.

Wednesday's holiday, known as the slavery abolition commemoration day, will be held amid searching debate about France's colonial past -- and about the place of immigrants from the country's former territories in its future.

"It was imperative that slavery be given a place in our collective memory," said Marcel Dorigny, a history professor and member of the committee that helped establish the May 10 annual holiday.

"French people who are the descendants of slaves have felt marginalized -- forgotten by history," said Dorigny, who added he thought the commemoration would give France's minorities a long-overdue sense of "moral satisfaction." Others, however, said the ceremonies were too little, too late.

The port city of Nantes, where many of France's slave ships originated, will hold a moment of silence. The Louvre Museum and National Library in Paris will offer special tours showcasing artwork and manuscripts dealing with the slave trade. Cities throughout France have scheduled ceremonies, readings, concerts and activities.

French President Jacques Chirac, who announced the new holiday in January, was to attend a solemn ceremony Wednesday at the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.

But lawmakers at the nearby National Assembly were not expected to take time out from their debate schedule to participate in Wednesday's events. They were expected to continue to examine tough, new immigration legislation that would make it harder for foreigners -- including those from France's former colonies -- to make a new life in the country.

France was Europe's fourth largest slave trader after Portugal, England and Spain: French ships transported an estimated 1.25 million slaves, according to Dorigny. Captured in Africa, most slaves were shipped across the Atlantic to toil on plantations in France's Caribbean colonies.

France abolished slavery in 1794, after a successful revolt by slaves in the island colony of Saint Domingue, which later became Haiti.

But that initial abolition -- Europe's first -- was short-lived: Napoleon re-established slavery in 1802, and it wasn't until 1848 that France put a definitive end to slavery.

France's commemoration was timed to coincide with the May 10, 2001 passage of a law recognizing slavery as a crime against humanity.

The law -- which requires schools to include lessons about slavery as an important part of class curriculum -- passed unanimously, but has recently come under fire from the ruling conservative party.

Forty lawmakers from Chirac's UMP partylast week urged the French leader to scrap the legislation, which they say raises "concerns about the equality of treatment" of the past.

The lawmakers were seething over Chirac's call in January for parliament to rewrite another law that sparked a furor in former French colonies. The law, passed last year, required schools to highlight the "positive role" of French colonialism. The term was later stripped from the legislation.

For some, the commemoration plans were too modest.

Patrick Lozes, the president of a national federation representing France's black community, said he was disappointed by what he saw as the limited scale of Wednesday's events.

"We thought the government was going to organize a historical celebration, but ... that's not the case," said Lozes.

"We're going to have to be content with the unveiling of a plaque," he said.