France bids farewell to black pride poet Aime Cesaire

Aime Cesaire

FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (AFP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to join mourners on Sunday at the state funeral of Aime Cesaire, a poet and pioneer of the black pride movement who died at age 94 in Martinique.

Cesaire, revered on his native French Caribbean island of Martinique and elsewhere in the French-speaking world, died in hospital in Fort-de-France on Thursday after being admitted for heart problems.

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Click here for background on Cesaire and discussion of his “clash” with Sarkozy about French colonialism from a conversation with Amy Goodman and Prof. Robin Kelley, via Democracy Now!

Obit from Times Online (UK)