(en) France, Alternative Libertair #222 - Nantes, European green capital: The ecological imposture (fr)

Perfect example of a green political propaganda, Nantes M?tropole was awarded the Trophy 
for green capital of Europe, while the Socialist mayor intends concreted 2000 hectares of 
agricultural land to build an airport in Notre-Dame-des -Landes. ---- The European 
Commission accepted the application of Nantes to be European Green Capital in 2013. The 
criteria are manifold: sustainable land use, nature and biodiversity, local air quality, 
noise pollution, waste management ... With the construction of the airport, the 
expropriation of peasants and therefore designed an urban development at the expense of 
the environment, ecosystems and populations, this trophy received by the city is the green 
or greenwashing propaganda. It represents an important policy issue for the mayor of 
Nantes and its airport project on the one hand and the other hand for the PS and its 
strategy of participatory democracy, to infiltrate and stifle protests.

Stifle protests

Jean-Marc Ayrault experiments and the limitations and benefits of this strategy at the 
local level to better apply nationally. To counter any resistance, the council has decided 
to release grants. There will be a call for proposals in the direction of citizen 
associations for the island of Nantes, headed by the Samoa - the development agency of the 
island of Nantes - including former President is nothing qu'Ayrault. Another trophy for 
the " Nantes, European green capital "for which the municipality has a budget of 150,000 
euros and a price of 5000 euros for organizations whose projects are selected. The media 
will be present and the aim is to give the image of a metropolis green / green and make it 
a showcase of participatory democracy dear to PS. This is to forget that the black dot 
represents the airport Notre-Dame-des-Landes and Nantes presented as an innovative city in 
terms of democracy, since has priori Hamburg and Vitoria Gasteiz (Basque Country), the 
citizens were not associated with the dynamic " Green Capital "and the famous European 
label was perceived more as a scam.

Collusion associations

Differences exist between the various environmental organizations Nantes. On the one hand, 
those who want to participate in this call for project boasting to find a way to denounce 
the airport are often dependent on subsidies granted by Nantes M?tropole (up to one 
million per year and employees) . On the other hand, there are those who want to boycott 
"call citizen" by refusing to endorse the greenwashing . For those who question the 
construction of the airport, the challenge is to take this initiative to expose the 
greenwashing and highlight the hypocrisy of the mayor who presents himself as a model of 
sustainable development but concreted 2000 hectares of agricultural land 10 kilometers 
from Nantes. The call for project highlights the collusion between the Socialist mayor and 
a good part of the voluntary green Nantes which partly explains the weakness of the 
anti-airport city. The opposition center at the airport relies heavily on the agricultural 
sector and local residents directly affected (suburban communes, squatters ZAD). One of 
the challenges is to mobilize the population more strongly Nantes still somewhat concerned 
about this fight. Yet there is the historical example of the mobilization in 1997 against 
the proposed nuclear power plant book, near Nantes, which had been abandoned, reminding us 
that strength can continue to grow.

Maud and Stephanie (AL Nantes)