The contradiction becomes even more glaring when one considers the image France has projected to the world for years.
France's national motto, Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité interpreted as “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” has long symbolised the nation's commitment to freedom, equality, and justice. The motto, however, sits uneasily on a colonial history that saw France become the third-largest slave-trading nation in Europe. It is in itself a contradiction - one that is both hypocritical and difficult to ignore - that a country which championed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen allowed the legal remnants of slavery to remain on its statute books for nearly two centuries after abolition.
The contradiction becomes even more glaring when one considers the image France has projected to the world for years. In 1884, France gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States. Intended to celebrate the American Revolution and the abolition of slavery, this gesture appears performative given the fact that, back home, the Code Noir remained etched in French legal archives. The display, presenting a monument that embodies universal freedom while continuing to house the legal architecture of enslavement, highlights a strong contradiction between the country's projected image and its historical reality.
