‘Such huge consequences’: pressure mounts on France to act on enslavement reparatory justice

I n the French port city of Nantes, once France ’s largest departure point for ships that trafficked enslaved Africans across the Atlantic, a new wooden mast rises 18 metres into the sky from the waterside. The Mast of Fraternity and Memory , inaugurated this month, marks a turning point in France’s complicated relationship with the legacy of its history of enslavement – just as the French president, Emmanuel Macron , comes under pressure to make key announcements on a process of reparatory justice. “We’re not responsible for the past, but we are responsible for the present and future,” said Dieudonné Boutrin, a descendant of enslaved Africans who were trafficked from Benin to the French Caribbean island of Martinique. Dieudonné Boutrin: ‘We’re not responsible for the past, but we are responsible for the present and future.’ Boutrin, 61, who created the mast, heads the grassroots organisation La Coque Nomade Fraternité , dedicated to “breaking the silence” around slavery and fostering discussion on reparatory justice and community relations. The mast, a permanent, standalone structure, is unlike any other commemoration piece in France: conceived by descendants of enslaved people and built by local students at vocational colleges. …