In the midst of a debate on pension reform, an unexpected controversy over slavery achieves the feat of surviving a good week... On Thursday February 2, as part of a conference on Overseas France organized by the weekly
Le Point
, Gérald Darmanin declared that "it
is the French Republic which abolished slavery (...) we therefore ask (overseas territories) to love the Republic
".
The statement aroused the ire of 18 overseas elected officials, who published an open letter to the minister the next day.
According to them, the abolition of slavery is "
the result of the constant resistance of slaves, forced to wrest their freedom where the decisions of the Republic mentioned by Gérald Darmanin were slow to be proclaimed,
".
But lay!
The explanation between the deputies and the Minister of the Interior continued in the Assembly, during the famous sessions of questions to the government.
"
The abolition of slavery, we owe it first and above all [to the slaves themselves]
", castigated Karine Lebon, deputy of Reunion and signatory of the open letter, which warned Gérald Darmanin against to the temptation to "
fall into the ease of revisionism
".
Taking the floor in his turn, Gérald Darmanin reaffirmed his position while admitting the role of slaves in the abolition process: "
It is the Republic which has twice abolished slavery and it is obvious that this followed to a long struggle of people who were subject to slavery.
Be careful, Madam Deputy, not to do upside
-down revisionism", he continued, and "
not to see that it is the French Republic, the institutions of the Republic, and in the first place Robespierre , which your political family stands for
", which "
ended slavery in what were once colonies
".
From the Republic or from the slaves themselves, who is at the origin of the abolition of slavery?
A great omission is first nested in this opposition between "slaves" and "Republic".
Because, during the Revolution, slavery only existed in the American islands, where it was governed by the Black Code.
Fifteen centuries of Christian civilization have passed through it, gradually transforming and erasing its practice.
Not that the ancient Church and the early Middle Ages campaigned to put an end to this practice.
As…
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