excerpt - In May 2025, François Bayrou, then the prime minister of France, fielded an unusual question from a member of Parliament: Why hadn’t France formally revoked the Code Noir, the notorious set of laws that had been used to enforce slavery in French colonies? It would be safe to assume that Mr. Bayrou didn’t see that question coming; few people understood that the laws were still on the books. Visibly surprised, he announced that a bill to abolish the Code would be brought before Parliament and, he hoped, passed unanimously. After his government fell <https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/world/europe/france-vote-government-collapse.html> the Code seemed destined to endure.
Now, a year later, a cross-party bill written by Max Mathiasin, a lawmaker from Guadeloupe, will come before the National Assembly on May 28 to formally annul the slave laws — 341 years after King Louis XIV signed them into existence. This is undoubtedly the right thing to do. But what the Code Noir, or Black Code, reveals about the architecture of France’s colonial slavery deserves far more attention than a symbolic vote. full article -*https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/opinion/france-slave-trade.html <https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/25/opinion/france-slave-trade.html>* -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41834): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41834 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119481992/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
