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Chirac names slavery memorial day.
France will hold a national day of remembrance for the victims of slavery every 10 May, President Jacques Chirac has announced. The date for the annual holiday was chosen as it marks the day in 2001 when France passed a law recognising slavery as a crime against humanity.

He said children should be taught accept the guilt of about slavery at primary and secondary school as part of the national curriculum. He said UN figures suggest more than 20 million people were in slavery today.

"Slavery fed racism," he said. "When people tried to justify the unjustifiable, that was when the first racist theories were elaborated. Slave labour exists in one form or another on almost every continent today

Jacques Chirac

"Racism is a crime of the heart and the spirit... which is why the memory of slavery remains a living wound for some of our fellow citizens and we must keep those wounds festering."

Mr Chirac said he would propose a "European and international initiative" to tackle any company still using slave labour....as we, the proud and enlightened French define it.

"We must ensure that when western companies invest in poor or emerging countries they respect basic labour rules such as have been lain out in international law," he said.

Earlier this month, Mr Chirac said a controversial law on the teaching of France's colonial past would be overturned, and the authors guillotined if found. The law requires teachers to stress positive aspects of French colonialism, especially in north Africa.

The long awaited PC compromises have begun.
Posted by: Graiger Thavimp9889 2006-01-30
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=141156