Leigh Day

Just under a year ago I travelled to Nantes in France with my colleagues Jerome Bond & Walker Syachalinga of Leigh Day as guests of an incredible grass roots organisation, La Coque Nomade Fraternité, founded by Dieudonné Boutrin, a French Martniquen descendant of enslaved Africans, and Pierre Guillon de Princé, a French descendant of European enslavers. These two men struck up an incredible and beautiful friendship and set out, with local activist Emmanuel Williams, to create a replica ship mast to honour and preserve the memories of the victims of Africans kidnapped and transported across the Atlantic for the enrichment of European nations - their hope is that the monument will foster discussion, understanding and racial justice. Nantes played a leading role in the systems and processes of Transatlantic enslavement. It had the largest ship building port of that time, and Pierre found out that his family owened ships, plantations in the Caribbean, and were involved in the transportation of over 4500 enslaved Africans. When we gathered last year, the two men were on a mission to create the mast. I thought this would take years to come to fruition when we saw the plans and learnt of the obstacles and costs. But age and ill health set the men on an urgent mission to see the project through, combining resilience, determination and some magic as they're still to raise all the funds. This Saturday, we gathered in Nantes for the unveiling of the Mast of Fraternity and Remembrance in the presence of France's former prime minister, Jean-Farc Ayrault, mayors, diplomats and ambassadors from Haiti, Benin and Ivory Coast, academics, reparations activists, artisites, the community of Nantes, and UK groups including the The Repair Campaign and the Heirs of Slavery, for the unveiling. There was hardly a dry eye on the banks of the Loire River which the mast sits aside as Pierre, standing alongside Dieudonné, delivered an apology to the descendants of enslaved Africans, calling upon France to do the same. I was honoured to be present for both the unveiling and apology with my colleague Jerome, and to meet many activists and organisations working on reparations in France and around the world. I was honoured too to speak at the unveiling to congratulate Pierre, Dieudonne and their team, and to read a message sent by the Chair of Grenada's taskforce on reparations, Arley Gill. In these troubled times, the friendship of Dieudonné and Pierre provides us with a powerful blueprint of hope over despair, and of our ability to break barriers, sometimes against the odds, for the good of humanity. Asher Craig Dr Marie-Annick Gournet (PhD), FRSA Treyton Littlejohn Sado Jirde Linda Tinio-Le Douarin John Dower Arley Gill #LaCoqueNomadeFraternité #Reparations #RestorativeJustice #AU #ECOSOCC #CARICOM #SlaveryMemorialsandLegacies

I’m pleased that Leigh Day can again sponsor the Mike Dunne 10k ran in memory of my former client, Mike Dunne who died of mesothelioma four years ago. The race is organised by Wythenshawe Community Run, raising funds for GMAVSG and St Ann’s Hospice. It has always been a lovely atmosphere to run in, we’ve had great weather in the past. Entries are available here https://lnkd.in/ehj2bzda