Fête de l'Humanité

The Fête de l'Humanité (French pronunciation: [fɛt də lymaniˈte]; English: Festival of Humanity) is an event organised annually by French daily newspaper L'Humanité in order to fund itself. It is the largest popular gathering in France.

Fête de l'Humanité
Aerial view of the Fete de l'humanité 2023
Inaugurated	September 1930 (1930-09)
Most recent	September 2024 (2024-09)
Attendance	800,000
Organised by	L'Humanité
Website	fete.humanite.fr

L'Humanité was created in 1904 by French socialist Jean Jaurès, but the first fête de l'Humanité took place in September 1930 to raise funds for the newspaper L'Humanité and 1000 people attended it. In 2010, the festival attracted 600,000 visitors. A new record was set in 2018, when 800,000 visitors participated in the festival.

The festival is organized and held almost exclusively by volunteers, since it exists to fund the newspaper.

Hundreds of stalls are scattered around the venue offering food and drinks with the stall holders coming from all over the world to be part of the event. The fête is a unique mix of politics and entertainment, with concerts happening alongside many debates, art exhibits, movies, etc. Because of the close relationship between l'Humanité and the French Communist Party, most of the volunteers are communists, even though most of the attendees are not.

The festival comprises many stages (Grande Scène (main stage), scène Zebrock (rock stage), scène reggae, P'tite Scène (smaller stage), and tens of smaller stages inside stalls). The Main Stage can accommodate about 100,000 spectators.

Due to its size, this festival is considered the kickoff of the left-wing's "political year" each year in September. Tens of thousands of left-wing activists gather there to celebrate and debate (from many political currents: communists, but also social-democrats, anarchists, Trotskyists, sympathizers of the left wing, etc.). They forget their disagreements for a festive weekend and get energized to start the year.

The festival is usually attended by the main figures of the French left wing (leaders of the French socialist party, Jean-Pierre Chevènement, Arlette Laguiller, Olivier Besancenot, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, etc.) as well as famous journalists (Edwy Plenel, Guillaume Meurice, etc.)