They came despite the ban. This Saturday, October 29, several thousand demonstrators returned to the site of a “mega basin” of several hectares in Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres. The future water reservoir, designed to irrigate the fields of 12 farmers in times of drought, provokes the anger of the demonstrators. The gathering had however been banned by the prefecture: around 1,500 members of the police and six helicopters had been planned to monitor the area. This did not prevent more than 4,000 demonstrators from descending on the spot on Saturday in the early morning – they were 7,000 according to the organizers. During the day, clashes broke out between the gendarmes and the militants.
In this mobilization, there were elected officials who came in support, such as the ecologists Sandrine Rousseau, MP for Paris, Yannick Jadot, MEP and candidate for the presidential election of 2022, or Marine Tondelier, candidate for the direction of Europe Ecologie- The Greens (EELV) and municipal councilor in Hénin-Beaumont. But also climate activists, farmers, members of the ultra-left or even anarchists. According to the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, a “forty” of “file S” have even been identified on the spot. A nebula coming from the four corners of France… and which could be brought to evolve.
Three organizations are at the origin of this mobilization. First, the agricultural union of the Confédération paysanne, which, with the Bassines non merci collective, is fighting the development of these water reserves in Charente-Maritime and Deux-Sèvres. The Uprisings of the Earth movement, created with the aim of “creating a network of local struggles”, can be read on their site, also participate in this struggle.
A farandole of profiles
The original rallying call, found on the earth uprising website, makes it possible to better identify the actors in the field. The signatories are diverse: there are, pell-mell, local elected officials, like a good part of the municipal council of La Crèche, a small town located 30 minutes by car, or several local and national branches of the union Solidarity and the CGT. The Danielle Mitterrand Foundation signs in the company of several offshoots of Antifascist Action, environmental organizations such as Alternatiba or Extinction Rebellion, or even the anti-globalization organization Attac.
The various profiles of these signatories met on Saturday in the field. The mobilization was divided into three processions, each having its assigned color – white, green or red -, and whose distance to cover was “more or less great depending on the capacities of each”, explains Adeline, from the collective Bassines non thank you. In the “white procession”, the one accomplishing the shortest distance, there were politicians, like the environmentalists Sandrine Rousseau or Yannick Jadot, members of the local Communist Party, or and the NPA, with in particular the former candidate for the presidential Philippe Poutou. The unions that have long been involved in the fight against bedpans have also responded to the call, such as Solidaires, the FSU and the CGT. Associations also figured in this “white procession”, such as Attac – historically very close to the Confédération paysanne -, local branches of Greenpeace or the French federation of the environmental protection NGO Friends of the Earth.
“400 black bloc profiles” according to the prefecture
In addition to personalities and associations, this procession was also made up of families and retirees, often from the surrounding area. The number of demonstrators gathered this Saturday can partly be explained by the mode of action, well known in the region. Mobilized for five years, the anti-basin collective is not at its first attempt. Five water reservoirs had also sparked gatherings in the department or in Charente-Maritime, before these basins were banned in Bordeaux by the administrative justice on appeal. In March, in La Rochénard (Deux-Sèvres), a demonstration brought together more than 5,000 people against another project. Clashes had broken out, disproportionate to those having enamelled the mobilization of this Saturday. There were no injuries, against 60 among the gendarmes, and 30 among the demonstrators this weekend.
A notable development, which can be explained by the nature of the movement, which is very composite. “This mobilization is made up of a side of pacifist demonstrators, who have come to parade for a local site that is close to their hearts, but also of a more extreme part, of activists who want to recreate a Notre-Dame-des-Landes” , analyzes Marc Lomazzi, journalist and author ofUltra ecologicus. The new crusaders of ecology. Between the two, a range of sensitivities and modes of mobilization are expressed. The organization Alternatiba, for example, signatory of the call for the Uprisings of the earth, advocates on its site “non-violent action with an open face”. A priori, nothing to do, therefore, with the “400 very violent black bloc and activist profiles” denounced by the prefecture, and the possible authors of “throwing molotov cocktails, mortar fire” or “powerful explosives” noticed in Sainte Soline.
Radicalization of some young environmentalists
But alongside members of associations such as the peaceful France nature environment, there were also anti-fascist activists, anarchists or veterans of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. The organization Les Uprisings of the Earth, at the origin of the mobilization, was moreover created at the end of a “meeting on the ZAD”, which brought together “peasants, young people, trade unionists from the four corners of France”, explains Benoît, member of the collective. Supporters of civil disobedience which also involves material degradation, several of its activists cut a pipe near the basin project the day after the mobilization.
These regulars of the muscular demonstrations were joined by young activists committed to the theme of the climate and determined to move up a gear. Sign of the change of times, figures of the Youth For Climate movement – at the origin of the marches for the climate – have changed their mode of action. Léna Lazare, spokesperson for the movement in France, is now “committed against agro-industry in the Uprisings” (of the earth), as she indicates on her Twitter account. “After yesterday’s victorious demonstration, we are not giving up! One of the six arms of the 18km Sainte-Soline pipeline has been dismantled!”, she tweeted shortly after the action. “Some of the young ecologists are becoming radicalized with the worsening of the climate crisis”, notes Marc Lomazzi, who continues: “This radicalism is expressed in two ways. Either with agit-prop, and, as we have seen recently, a “TikTok activism”, which intends to carry out symbolic actions – throwing tomato sauce on works of art, for example – to be heard. eco-sabotage.”
Ended, militancy boiled down to simple marches for the climate. As if, at just 19, Greta Thunberg was already outdated. “Since 2018, marches for the climate have spontaneously mobilized millions of people around the world, and hundreds of thousands in France. These marches bear witness to a desire for profound change. (…) However, they did not know how to structure themselves into a concrete movement”, wrote the animators of “Brains not available”, an associative and committed media present in Sainte-Soline this weekend, on their page bringing together 500,000 people. Taking Saturday’s demonstration as an example, they believe that “direct sabotage action and offensive practice complement each other perfectly with legal legal remedies, as well as actions of civil disobedience”. And to summarize: “Everyone will find their place” in this struggle, from the “peaceful protester” “to the peasant trade unionist” through “the ultra-determined revolutionary”. “This merger is made possible by a greening of the ultra-left and a blushing of radical ecologists. Each has integrated the other into its software”, deciphers Marc Lomazzi. Enough to give birth to a nebula with ever more indistinct contours.