In response to the police murder of the African American George Floyd in May 2020, and in support of the subsequent global protests of the Black Lives Matter Movement against racist violence, members of the Centre for Atlantic and Global Studies (CAGS) at Leibniz University Hannover declare their solidarity with all people subjected to systemic racism, including all forms of racist violence and discrimination and with the peaceful protesters against racism.
The CAGS appreciates and supports the European Parliament’s 19 June 2020 ‘Resolution on the anti-racism protests following the death of George Floyd’, which:
Calls for the EU institutions and the Member States to officially acknowledge past injustices and crimes against humanity committed against black people, people of colour and Roma; declares slavery a crime against humanity and calls for 2 December to be designated the European Day commemorating the Abolition of the Slave Trade; encourages the Member States to make the history of black people, people of colour and Roma part of their school curricula (European Parliament, 2020/2685(RSP), § 14).
The CAGS and its predecessor working groups have researched and taught black history and contemporary thought for more than four decades. This not only includes the history of slavery and its legacies, but also African history beyond European intervention. The Centre’s members resolve to strengthen their efforts to integrate this knowledge into all of the study programmes in which they participate, into the academic and public events that they organise, and into the wide range of publications that they produce.
Hannover, 10.07.2020"
