In January, farmers were called to vote to elect their representatives
to the Chambers of Agriculture. Chambers of Agriculture, a sort of
omnipresent behemoth in the agricultural world, are semi-public
organizations with substantial budgets. Under the supervision of the
state and managed by elected officials, they are equally instrumental in
relaying the government's policy directions and are capable of
initiating their own political direction through various lenses:
technical advice, support for establishment, technical trials,
information distribution, writing articles in the agricultural press, etc.
There are more than 3,000 elected officials and 8,500 employees, most of
whom complacently assume the role of watchdog for the agricultural
mafia, rapping the knuckles of those who refuse to conform to the mold
of intensive and conventional agriculture. Massive Abstention
The artificial "angry farmers" actions of the end of last year, kept at
bay by the hard core of union officials, but powerfully relayed by the
bourgeois media, were not enough to mobilize farmers. Indeed, this
ersatz election campaign led to a turnout of around 50%, or even well
below in some departments.
Haute-Garonne: The "A64 Ultras" Win the Elections
The "A64 Ultras" association, a reference to the farmers fighting in
January 2024 who blocked the A64 for several days, thus succeeded in
ousting the FNSEA (National Federation of French Workers). It remains to
be seen how these neophytes in power will approach their mandate.
Already, their outstretched hand to the FNSEA (National Federation of
Rural Workers) and their softened words, guaranteeing respectability
among professional organizations, are proving to be the beginnings of
allegiance to the powerful agro-industrial cartel. But will a few
mercenary elected officials dampen the hopes of those who swept aside
the FNSEA in the streets and at the ballot box?
Strong growth for the CR (Rural Coordination), a far-right,
anti-ecological, pro-mega-basin union.
This French-speaking union, supported by the National Rally, doubled its
score and won a majority in 14 departments, compared to 3 in 2019. It
won a majority in departments in the Centre-Val de Loire region,
Nouvelle Aquitaine, and Occitanie, and won in the Ardennes, a department
in the Grand Est region. Born from a split from the FNSEA in the early
1990s, it is above all in its stance, adept at media-driven shockwaves,
that it distinguishes itself from its former friends in the FNSEA.
It has managed to capture the anger of some farmers caught in a vice of
intensive agriculture. Caught in a vicious spiral of
"expansion-over-investment-debt," some farmers are completely
exasperated and on the brink of collapse.
The FNSEA weakened
A champion of "modern," productivist agriculture, which has sent many
people into this vicious spiral, the FNSEA never stops praising and
working for intensive, industrial, and chemical agriculture. Today, with
their allies, the JA (Japanese Agricultural Workers' Party), they hope
to plunge the agricultural world into the throes of a horrible "AgTch,"
Agriculture 4.0, riddled with drones, robots, GPS sensors, all managed
by artificial intelligence. The FNSEA-JA alliance (National Federation
of Farmers' Unions - Young Farmers) lost 15 chambers of agriculture but
still controlled 80% of them.
Joint management between the FNSEA and the French government remains in
place, but a breach has opened up.
The MODEF, very underrepresented, sees a slight increase
The MODEF (Movement for the Defense of Family Farmers) presented around
fifteen lists in certain departments of Nouvelle Aquitaine, Occitanie,
PACA, as well as in the departments of Puy de Dôme and Guadeloupe. Close
to the PCF and resulting from a split with the FNSEA in the 1950s, it
maintained its low electoral score, despite barely breaking the 5% mark.
It should be noted that the MODEF maintained its majority in Guadeloupe,
which it already chaired.
The Confédération Paysanne (Farmers' Confederation) slightly increased
its vote compared to 2019, gaining votes in the departments of Ardèche,
Corsica, and French Guiana.
The chambers of agriculture in Ardèche, Corsica, and French Guiana will
be led by the Confédération Paysanne. The chamber of agriculture in
Mayotte, the only chamber of agriculture won in the 2019 elections, will
also be retained by the Confédération Paysanne, at least until the
elections are postponed within a year following the violent storm the
people of Mayotte have just endured.
It was all it took for the Confédération Paysanne's national leaders and
their federal lieutenants to spread a message of glorious satisfaction
throughout the countryside. Borrowing from their wooden language and
organizational blinders, the Conf's out-of-touch bureaucrats are blandly
savoring the few gains they have made, notably allowing the retention of
its permanent staff thanks to the slight increase in future state
subsidies. These subsidies are proportional to the number of votes
received in professional elections.
In recent years, the Conf's union orientation has taken an avowedly
corporatist turn. Indeed, Conf leaders explain to anyone who will listen
that it is urgent to get rid of the anti-globalization label, which,
according to them, frightens some of the farmers they want to win over.
The union's propaganda and actions are now focused primarily on
agricultural issues and dissociated from the collective struggles
initiated by the social movements.
Fortunately, this headlong rush into reformism has not erased the vigor
and determination of the activist network that gravitates around the Conf.
Behind a bleak picture, a glimmer of hope still shines.
Certainly, the FNSEA (National Federation of Agricultural Workers) lost
a few points in these elections. But not by much, and to the benefit of
the CR (Commission for the Reform of the Agricultural Union)... A rather
gloomy picture...
While reading the election results allows us to better understand the
balance of power between agricultural unions, they also highlight that a
majority of farmers voted neither for the FNSEA-JA nor for the CR
(Commission for the Reform of the Agricultural Union) lists.
Among this fringe of farmers, let's be certain that many still harbor
the idea that agribusiness promises an ever more deadly world,
endangering everyone's health and further degrading soil fertility. A
few more or fewer seats for this or that union will never put an end to
agribusiness, which must be brought down, starting, why not, by
shattering co-management.
Thomas -Quimper-
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4386
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
to the Chambers of Agriculture. Chambers of Agriculture, a sort of
omnipresent behemoth in the agricultural world, are semi-public
organizations with substantial budgets. Under the supervision of the
state and managed by elected officials, they are equally instrumental in
relaying the government's policy directions and are capable of
initiating their own political direction through various lenses:
technical advice, support for establishment, technical trials,
information distribution, writing articles in the agricultural press, etc.
There are more than 3,000 elected officials and 8,500 employees, most of
whom complacently assume the role of watchdog for the agricultural
mafia, rapping the knuckles of those who refuse to conform to the mold
of intensive and conventional agriculture. Massive Abstention
The artificial "angry farmers" actions of the end of last year, kept at
bay by the hard core of union officials, but powerfully relayed by the
bourgeois media, were not enough to mobilize farmers. Indeed, this
ersatz election campaign led to a turnout of around 50%, or even well
below in some departments.
Haute-Garonne: The "A64 Ultras" Win the Elections
The "A64 Ultras" association, a reference to the farmers fighting in
January 2024 who blocked the A64 for several days, thus succeeded in
ousting the FNSEA (National Federation of French Workers). It remains to
be seen how these neophytes in power will approach their mandate.
Already, their outstretched hand to the FNSEA (National Federation of
Rural Workers) and their softened words, guaranteeing respectability
among professional organizations, are proving to be the beginnings of
allegiance to the powerful agro-industrial cartel. But will a few
mercenary elected officials dampen the hopes of those who swept aside
the FNSEA in the streets and at the ballot box?
Strong growth for the CR (Rural Coordination), a far-right,
anti-ecological, pro-mega-basin union.
This French-speaking union, supported by the National Rally, doubled its
score and won a majority in 14 departments, compared to 3 in 2019. It
won a majority in departments in the Centre-Val de Loire region,
Nouvelle Aquitaine, and Occitanie, and won in the Ardennes, a department
in the Grand Est region. Born from a split from the FNSEA in the early
1990s, it is above all in its stance, adept at media-driven shockwaves,
that it distinguishes itself from its former friends in the FNSEA.
It has managed to capture the anger of some farmers caught in a vice of
intensive agriculture. Caught in a vicious spiral of
"expansion-over-investment-debt," some farmers are completely
exasperated and on the brink of collapse.
The FNSEA weakened
A champion of "modern," productivist agriculture, which has sent many
people into this vicious spiral, the FNSEA never stops praising and
working for intensive, industrial, and chemical agriculture. Today, with
their allies, the JA (Japanese Agricultural Workers' Party), they hope
to plunge the agricultural world into the throes of a horrible "AgTch,"
Agriculture 4.0, riddled with drones, robots, GPS sensors, all managed
by artificial intelligence. The FNSEA-JA alliance (National Federation
of Farmers' Unions - Young Farmers) lost 15 chambers of agriculture but
still controlled 80% of them.
Joint management between the FNSEA and the French government remains in
place, but a breach has opened up.
The MODEF, very underrepresented, sees a slight increase
The MODEF (Movement for the Defense of Family Farmers) presented around
fifteen lists in certain departments of Nouvelle Aquitaine, Occitanie,
PACA, as well as in the departments of Puy de Dôme and Guadeloupe. Close
to the PCF and resulting from a split with the FNSEA in the 1950s, it
maintained its low electoral score, despite barely breaking the 5% mark.
It should be noted that the MODEF maintained its majority in Guadeloupe,
which it already chaired.
The Confédération Paysanne (Farmers' Confederation) slightly increased
its vote compared to 2019, gaining votes in the departments of Ardèche,
Corsica, and French Guiana.
The chambers of agriculture in Ardèche, Corsica, and French Guiana will
be led by the Confédération Paysanne. The chamber of agriculture in
Mayotte, the only chamber of agriculture won in the 2019 elections, will
also be retained by the Confédération Paysanne, at least until the
elections are postponed within a year following the violent storm the
people of Mayotte have just endured.
It was all it took for the Confédération Paysanne's national leaders and
their federal lieutenants to spread a message of glorious satisfaction
throughout the countryside. Borrowing from their wooden language and
organizational blinders, the Conf's out-of-touch bureaucrats are blandly
savoring the few gains they have made, notably allowing the retention of
its permanent staff thanks to the slight increase in future state
subsidies. These subsidies are proportional to the number of votes
received in professional elections.
In recent years, the Conf's union orientation has taken an avowedly
corporatist turn. Indeed, Conf leaders explain to anyone who will listen
that it is urgent to get rid of the anti-globalization label, which,
according to them, frightens some of the farmers they want to win over.
The union's propaganda and actions are now focused primarily on
agricultural issues and dissociated from the collective struggles
initiated by the social movements.
Fortunately, this headlong rush into reformism has not erased the vigor
and determination of the activist network that gravitates around the Conf.
Behind a bleak picture, a glimmer of hope still shines.
Certainly, the FNSEA (National Federation of Agricultural Workers) lost
a few points in these elections. But not by much, and to the benefit of
the CR (Commission for the Reform of the Agricultural Union)... A rather
gloomy picture...
While reading the election results allows us to better understand the
balance of power between agricultural unions, they also highlight that a
majority of farmers voted neither for the FNSEA-JA nor for the CR
(Commission for the Reform of the Agricultural Union) lists.
Among this fringe of farmers, let's be certain that many still harbor
the idea that agribusiness promises an ever more deadly world,
endangering everyone's health and further degrading soil fertility. A
few more or fewer seats for this or that union will never put an end to
agribusiness, which must be brought down, starting, why not, by
shattering co-management.
Thomas -Quimper-
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4386
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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