Nantes Métropole has long defended a strong cultural policy, one point of action being the promotion and defense of human rights. This political direction is first rooted in the relationship of the City of Nantes with its past as France's leading slave-trading port in the 18th century and its driving role in the transatlantic slave trade and slavery in the 19th century. Nantes’ vision is particularly shaped by its history and the process of remembrance that follows from it.
The City implemented a strong policy around remembrance starting in the 1990s, hosting the exhibition “The Rings of Memory,” the first temporary exhibition in France dedicated to the slave trade and slavery. Twenty years later, in 2012, Nantes inaugurated the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery, built on the banks of the Loire as a place of remembrance dedicated to the millions of victims of the slave trade. This memorial is one of the largest in the world devoted to the slave trade, slavery, and its abolition.
This important work of remembrance was developed together with a number of local actors, academics, and associations in the Nantes area (The Rings of Memory, Mémoire d’outre-mer, etc.). The memorial illustrates the necessary involvement of local governments in the promotion of human rights, as operators, facilitators of dialogue, and supporters of projects. The work of remembrance also unfolds in public spaces, with a series of panels “Nantes and the slave trade” along the Loire, as well as in other cultural facilities of the city, such as the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany, which houses the Nantes History Museum, where permanent rooms recall this history and its international consequences.
The Castle of the Dukes of Brittany also presented, in 2021 and 2022, a particularly rich program focused on human rights. “Human First” was a civic event with meetings, exhibitions, screenings, and performances created in echo to the exhibition “The Abyss. Nantes in the Atlantic Slave Trade and Colonial Slavery, 1707–1830,” to explore its contemporary resonances through proposals from many Nantes-based partner associations. By taking clear positions, the Nantes History Museum deliberately breaks free from its traditional framework by initiating a reflection on openness to the world and discovery of the Other. It positions itself as a civic museum working towards better consideration of human rights, committed to a “connected history and a decolonized way of thinking.”
The City of Nantes also hosted the Human Rights Forum from 2004 to 2013 and co-led, with Barcelona, the drafting of the Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City, adopted by UCLG bodies in Florence in 2012.
Nourished by a vibrant cultural and associative dynamic strongly imbued with human rights issues, Nantes decided to enrich this ferment of ideas by launching the Human Rights Season in 2017. In addition to a program of conferences, round tables, performances, and exhibitions to raise citizen awareness, the Season also made it possible to gather and support initiatives led by associations active in the field of human rights. Among the topics addressed: History, memory and current events on migration in 2017; the conquest of freedoms and rights in 2018; labor rights in 2019–2020.
At the same time, a policy of promotion, practice, and ownership of human rights by all residents is implemented in various cultural venues across the area. Throughout the year, associations and partners regularly organize events, debates, and activities on human rights issues. Examples include: Atlantide, the World Literature Festival, with part of its program dedicated to committed writers (and censored writers featured in a special evening); the Geopolitics Festival, where contemporary geopolitical issues are discussed, exhibited, and popularized; the Weeks of Education against Racism and All Forms of Discrimination coordinated by the Ligue de l’enseignement - FAL 44; the Festival of Three Continents, which has showcased films from Africa, Latin America, and Asia since 1979; the Tissé Métisse Festival, a major festive and intercultural gathering around struggles against discrimination and racism; and Cosmopolis, a space dedicated to world cultures.
Beyond these human rights-focused highlights, the local authority has for many years defended the cultural right in the territory. Nantes Métropole implements a range of local actions to strengthen everyone’s access to culture and arts education and to allow everyone to participate in cultural life as well as to live and express their culture. This policy is reflected in a dense, diverse, and free or affordable cultural offering throughout the territory, thanks to measures such as free access to municipal libraries or the Carte Blanche. This initiative provides access to artistic and cultural education activities, as well as to cultural venues (cinema, museum, etc.), at reduced cost or for free, for the most modest households.
Joining the campaign would allow Nantes Métropole to commit alongside other cities and territories in defense of human rights, to highlight what already exists in its territory, and to deepen its political actions in the field of human rights, particularly through a strong policy of cultural rights defense.
Nantes Métropole could also find opportunities for reflection to reinforce or develop new directions in its human rights policy, by strengthening, for example, actions related to the environment and transitions, a key element of the mandate of the Mayor and President of the Métropole, Johanna Rolland.
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Citad'elles is a multidisciplinary space for welcoming, listening to, and informing women victims of violence. Opened in 2019, it offers, without appointment, all women (of legal age) who are victims of violence, and their children, a place to take refuge, get information, and rebuild themselves thanks to the support of a team composed of psychologists, social workers, a midwife, specialized educators, police officers, gendarmes, lawyers... This reception space was created as part of the policy to combat violence against women, with a budget heavily financed by the City of Nantes (50%), along with support from the Métropole, the Loire-Atlantique department, and the State.
Among the measures implemented by the Métropole to protect vulnerable people, the “1% Support Fund for the Fight Against Homelessness” was adopted in 2021. This measure allocates 1% of the metropolitan budget to shelter people living on the streets or in precarious housing situations.
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Carte Blanche is an initiative by the City of Nantes that allows everyone, regardless of income, to access culture, art, and artistic and cultural education, with reduced or free admission to cultural venues and associations in the cultural and sports fields. Beyond this program, the defense of access for all to culture and artistic education is one of the pillars of Nantes' cultural policy. The 24 municipalities of the Métropole also apply reduced rates for low-income households in their cultural facilities.
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Solidarity Pricing allows free access to transport for the most modest households, ensuring equal access to mobility and to socio-professional activities. Below a certain income threshold, residents of the Métropole can benefit from reduced or free subscriptions to public transportation.