France, Coordination of Anarchist Groups (CGA) IAL #95 - At Notre-Dame-des-Landes, only fight off! (fr)

In France, as elsewhere, the private government allies are engaged in operations whose 
outcome is that their thirst for power and delusions of grandeur. How not to think in the 
case of airport project Notre-Dame-des-Landes in other projects as useless as the Spanish 
symbol of waste on a large scale was the Ciudad Real airport near madrid_? Designed to 
accommodate 2.5 million passengers per year was finally abandoned in 2011 due to lack of 
traffic to become a ghost airport ... The common thinking grow. Examples of these economic 
chasms are also numerous, and their effects are always the same. Despite the obvious, Jean 
Marc Ayrault wants blindness and his monument is in excess. The proposed second airport in 
Nantes (city where he was mayor from 1989 to 2012) is not new but has made about him in 
late 2012 because the repression against its opponent its particularly violent summer.

The mass media have seized on the case to be sensational, but most often take good care 
not to discuss the reasons for the dispute. However, they are many and well founded. The 
project to build a second airport in a few tens of kilometers of the first is a triple 
aberration, economic, ecological and democratic.

A little history

The origins of the project date back to 1963. The State then sought to create "_m?tropoles 
of ?quilibre_" to counteract the hyper-centralization Paris but also allow the landing of 
Concorde. The site of Notre Dame des Landes is elected in 1968, but the resistance of 
peasant ? no ? s premises in the 70s and the oil crisis put the project on standby. It is 
reactivated in 2000 and is recognized by Jospin "_d'utilit? publique_" in 2008. A year 
later, the drilling starts, but the works vehicles are the target of sabotage and 
blockades. R?sultat_ 150 officers "_forces the ordre_" keep the site. In September, after 
the Camp for Climate Action held on the site, the militant environmentalists call for the 
occupation of the buildings expelled with the support of local. Since then, the shares 
have diversifi?es_: occupations, demonstrations backhoe bike, hunger strikes, blockades, 
sabotage tools Vinci and subcontractors throughout France, toll free ...

A triple aberration

Uneconomic because the current crisis of capitalism provides the state with a perfect 
excuse to further reduce public spending. However, the airport officially cost 556 million 
euros, of which 239 paid directly by the citizen ? no ? s ? e ? s led also to tighten the 
belt. To this must be added about 40% over budget since they are known to be artificially 
low during the bidding phase. According Chained Duck 4 billion in cash on approaching new 
roads and railways, all this while the state makes cuts in budgets and staff positions. 
And again, that's not counting the cost of extending the city of Nantes to Saint-Nazaire 
(productivist dynamic revolves around the airport project and who rallied the last 
dinosaurs of Stalinism as productivist Yves Tual former secretary general of the CGT Port 
of Saint-Nazaire) and moving activity areas (industrial and commercial) to the north. 
VINCI is who won the march?_: This multinational cement mixer car park at the nuclear 
plant, has won the right to build the infrastructure but also to manage it for 55 years in 
public / private partnerships such as c ' is already the case for many prisons ... and the 
airports of Nantes Atlantique and Saint-Nazaire (since 2011). When we know that peak oil 
has already been reached, it is reasonable to ask whether there will be many aircraft 
would do in 30 years. But no, the developers and promoters of future ex-airport (state 
local capitalists - through ACIPRAN - and multinational) predict a near tripling of 
activity compared to the current situation ... when a change in the operation and 
infrastructure of the current airport Nantes widely enough to meet the increased traffic. 
It definitely does not live in the same world!

It is also an ecological aberration, because it is not less than 1600 hectares of 
wetlands, but also groves, farmland will be permanently destroyed. Theoretically, the law 
on wetlands should ensure their preservation by requiring those who destroy in to 
re-create artificial twice on a larger territory on the same watershed. To put it more 
simply, the State Vinci and should commit to artificially reproduce 3,200 hectares of 
wetland areas nearby, which appears to be geographically impossible to implement. But the 
law is the state, and this is not the first time he goes out the window to preserve / 
increase the profits of capitalists and business owners. Much land is already valued by 
small units of local food production, or saving a rich and fragile natural area hosting 
several protected species. In addition, the aircraft is the means of transport and 
polluting fossil energy as consumer. It is time we stopped this race time to save our 
environment and therefore our quality of life.

Finally, it is a democratic aberration because if this project was the initiative of the 
people concerned, the case is closed. But like all great useless projects, this mammoth 
concrete for transportation reserved for easier ? e ? met his strong popular resistance. 
At present, the movement still more extensive and creative faces massive repression 
orchestrated by the government. Faced with common sense and collective struggle, the state 
wields batons, flash-balls and tear gas against the individual and bulldozers against 
their homes. An opponent has been held since November 28, a second has just been released 
and hundreds were injured. With an astounding cynicism, Ayrault, seeing the challenge 
swell postponed the construction of six months to organize a committee of "_dialogue_." A 
lesson in representative democracy since the commission did not set out to challenge the 
project, but simply to explain, suggesting that those who are against are only because 
they and they have bad included. This kind of "_dialogue_" recalls the communication 
campaign on nanotechnology which were invited the debate as pro-nano. The next concern may 
be shale gas ... Fortunately opponents are not fooled and maintain pressure. The fight 
received the approval of a majority of the population, group (more than 200 across France 
and neighboring countries) are created all over the country and the movement receives 
financial and material mass, human solidarity, . Both films were shot on the ZAD and a 
traveling exhibition, which are widely distributed by the local public.

The forms of struggle

On the ZAD, many political movements coexist and complementary modes of action (sabotage 
administrative remedies) is relatively well understood by all opposing. The organization 
is structured around two main AG, the first bimonthly, brings you always opponent 
(individual and organizations), and the second week, together occupying. Europe-only 
"_?cologie_"-The-Greens (EELV) are hardly tolerated at events because of their presence 
and their uselessness to the government.

That said, asserting that the unit is naturally and quietly is as false as the arguments 
in favor of the construction of the airport. Daily life on the ZAD is wearing, military 
occupation and the ensuing violence permanent harm recess serenity relationships, although 
they should not be an excuse. Sexist and / or violent behaviors have been observed 
including many times on the site, requiring the establishment of discussion forums and 
workshops mixed or not. This struggle is primarily the result of a long collaboration 
between actors with very different strategies and visions, which is not without some 
difficulties and tensions.

Recent events and outlook

The truce related to the commission of "_dialogue_" ending, we can expect further 
evictions in the coming weeks. The outcome of the struggle will depend on our ability to 
ensure cohesion within the movement, to maintain pressure, equity and solidarity 
throughout the country, to continue the work of information since the mass media have 
definitely tus or relay misinformation. A meeting of reclaiming land will take place on 
April 13, it will concretely to those who live there to reaffirm their choice of 
resistance concreting agricultural projects within time. * This fight is crucial because 
it brings Update actual patronage motives of the government to Vinci and contempt for 
directing face to the ecological question and the will of the people. * Resist all the 
airport as all major projects unnecessary, polluting and expensive express our solidarity 
with the opposition in the collective struggle and action directe_!

More information: http://zad.nadir.org

Group of Clermont-Ferrand