The Basque Country is highly sought after by developers, real estate
agencies, and the very wealthy, who are taking advantage of the
skyrocketing price per square meter of land to invest and cash in. The
context is tense: urbanization is swallowing up and artificializing
land, rental prices are skyrocketing, and the number of second homes is
increasing. When real estate projects are being developed on
agricultural land, associations and collectives emerge to lead the fight
and create a strong dynamic. The defenders of the land in Marienia are
cultivating resistance...
This long-term struggle was already a reality in 2014.
Since then, a housing development project in Marienia, a rich land near
Cambo, has been the subject of intense controversy. The attempt to
artificialize the 3.7 hectares of this meadow to build a 94-unit
residential complex, with the approval of the municipal majority, is
facing a broad mobilization to preserve this land and defend its
nutritional value.
The struggle has been and is being waged on the legal front, but above
all, it seeks to create a balance of power through collective action.
Because the enemy is powerful-the multinational Bouygues Immobilier-it
has allies among the notables, and it is determined to carry out its
project.
In 2019, the Cambo town hall classified Marienia as a buildable zone as
part of the revision of its Local Urban Plan (PLU), provoking an outcry
from associations. A victory was achieved when part of this land was
reverted to "natural" status. Two years later, Bouygues Immobilier and
the Housing Office 64 filed a building permit for these plots. Without
taking into account the arguments of the opponents (2), the courts had
given the green light to the two organizations and the Bordeaux
Administrative Court of Appeal confirmed it in September 2024. An appeal
in cassation was filed last year by two associations, Cade and
Lurzaindia. Furthermore, in order to protect agricultural land by
restoring Marienia's status as arable land, opponents hope that the
balance of power that has been established will exert sufficient
pressure on the elected representatives of the CAPB (Basque Country
Urban Community) to ensure that Cambo's PLU is put back up for debate at
a plenary assembly, as promised... in December 2024, but still not
included on the agenda...
In addition to legal proceedings, the numerous initiatives taken over
the past 10 years (demonstrations, direct actions) have met with
positive response and are generating broad collective momentum among
many Basque Country residents who are sensitive to the need to defend
sustainable agriculture and affordable housing. Some of these actions
have met with severe police and judicial repression, as is the case
everywhere with local and land defense struggles: searches, arrests,
attempts to collect DNA samples, intimidation, police harassment,
trials, fines, and more.
On March 12, 2024, four activists from the Ostia network were tried in
the Bayonne court for participating in an action at the premises of the
multinational Bouygues in December 2022. They are accused of
symbolically throwing earth on a model of the Marienia construction
project. The court imposed heavy penalties of EUR6,700 in damages and
EUR800 in legal fees. Bouygues appealed and claimed EUR44,000 in
damages. The decision was handed down on May 15: EUR8,742 in damages and
EUR2,000 in legal fees. (3)
February 11, 2025: Three activists were prosecuted before the same court
for alleged "aggravated violence" against the mayor of Cambo (although
the mayor himself acknowledged that there had been no assault or
altercation) during a municipal council meeting attended by many
opponents of the Marienia project, a project strongly supported by the
mayor, who refuses any dialogue. The trial was postponed until September 9.
...and sow hope
On April 30, activists and farmers plowed half a hectare of the plot
where Bouygues is seeking to build buildings. And they called for two
marches to converge on the site on May 17 for a day of popular
planting... and protests. On that day, the sticks that the 500
demonstrators had brought were planted at the edge of the field "to seal
in the ground a collective oath, a symbol of (their) determination and a
tool for protecting this beloved nourishing land"; in the manner of the
commitments to struggle at Larzac in 1972 and at Notre-Dame-des-Landes
in 2018. Then they sowed vegetable crops on the plowed part of the
field. It was an important day of meeting, demands and celebration.
On this fertile ground, farmland defenders hope to ignite struggles.
Starting crops is a way of resisting and collectively taking over the
land; it's also a way of responding to the judges who, on appeal, denied
the agricultural vocation and use of this land, where sheep have always
grazed. "This land is very nourishing, and since sheep farming alone
isn't enough to make that happen, we've planted vegetables there."
A call to participate in monitoring the initiative has been launched.
The objective is clear. Faced with the pressure of a possibly imminent
start of construction, everything will be done to ensure that the
Marienia lands retain their agricultural vocation.
May 18 - Basque Country
Notes:
1. See article in Courant Alternatif No. 325, December 2022 - Basque
Country - "Agricultural Land, Hands Off!"» Against Land and Real Estate
Speculation - The Case of Marienia in Cambo
2. Opponents of the Marienia project in Cambo are activists from the ELB
farmers' union (close to the Confederation), opposition elected
officials at Cambo town hall, CADE (a collective of environmental
defense associations), members of Lurzaindia (which succeeded the GFA
Mutuel), and Ostia, a network of activists whose goal is to fight to
defend the earth's nourishment, against land take and land and real
estate speculation. The diversity of these organizations, some highly
committed to legal matters, others advocating direct action, often makes
it difficult to make consensual collective decisions.
3. Call for solidarity donations on the website helloasso.com (search
for "marienia-epaiketen-aurrean-elkartasuna").
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4468
_________________________________________
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
agencies, and the very wealthy, who are taking advantage of the
skyrocketing price per square meter of land to invest and cash in. The
context is tense: urbanization is swallowing up and artificializing
land, rental prices are skyrocketing, and the number of second homes is
increasing. When real estate projects are being developed on
agricultural land, associations and collectives emerge to lead the fight
and create a strong dynamic. The defenders of the land in Marienia are
cultivating resistance...
This long-term struggle was already a reality in 2014.
Since then, a housing development project in Marienia, a rich land near
Cambo, has been the subject of intense controversy. The attempt to
artificialize the 3.7 hectares of this meadow to build a 94-unit
residential complex, with the approval of the municipal majority, is
facing a broad mobilization to preserve this land and defend its
nutritional value.
The struggle has been and is being waged on the legal front, but above
all, it seeks to create a balance of power through collective action.
Because the enemy is powerful-the multinational Bouygues Immobilier-it
has allies among the notables, and it is determined to carry out its
project.
In 2019, the Cambo town hall classified Marienia as a buildable zone as
part of the revision of its Local Urban Plan (PLU), provoking an outcry
from associations. A victory was achieved when part of this land was
reverted to "natural" status. Two years later, Bouygues Immobilier and
the Housing Office 64 filed a building permit for these plots. Without
taking into account the arguments of the opponents (2), the courts had
given the green light to the two organizations and the Bordeaux
Administrative Court of Appeal confirmed it in September 2024. An appeal
in cassation was filed last year by two associations, Cade and
Lurzaindia. Furthermore, in order to protect agricultural land by
restoring Marienia's status as arable land, opponents hope that the
balance of power that has been established will exert sufficient
pressure on the elected representatives of the CAPB (Basque Country
Urban Community) to ensure that Cambo's PLU is put back up for debate at
a plenary assembly, as promised... in December 2024, but still not
included on the agenda...
In addition to legal proceedings, the numerous initiatives taken over
the past 10 years (demonstrations, direct actions) have met with
positive response and are generating broad collective momentum among
many Basque Country residents who are sensitive to the need to defend
sustainable agriculture and affordable housing. Some of these actions
have met with severe police and judicial repression, as is the case
everywhere with local and land defense struggles: searches, arrests,
attempts to collect DNA samples, intimidation, police harassment,
trials, fines, and more.
On March 12, 2024, four activists from the Ostia network were tried in
the Bayonne court for participating in an action at the premises of the
multinational Bouygues in December 2022. They are accused of
symbolically throwing earth on a model of the Marienia construction
project. The court imposed heavy penalties of EUR6,700 in damages and
EUR800 in legal fees. Bouygues appealed and claimed EUR44,000 in
damages. The decision was handed down on May 15: EUR8,742 in damages and
EUR2,000 in legal fees. (3)
February 11, 2025: Three activists were prosecuted before the same court
for alleged "aggravated violence" against the mayor of Cambo (although
the mayor himself acknowledged that there had been no assault or
altercation) during a municipal council meeting attended by many
opponents of the Marienia project, a project strongly supported by the
mayor, who refuses any dialogue. The trial was postponed until September 9.
...and sow hope
On April 30, activists and farmers plowed half a hectare of the plot
where Bouygues is seeking to build buildings. And they called for two
marches to converge on the site on May 17 for a day of popular
planting... and protests. On that day, the sticks that the 500
demonstrators had brought were planted at the edge of the field "to seal
in the ground a collective oath, a symbol of (their) determination and a
tool for protecting this beloved nourishing land"; in the manner of the
commitments to struggle at Larzac in 1972 and at Notre-Dame-des-Landes
in 2018. Then they sowed vegetable crops on the plowed part of the
field. It was an important day of meeting, demands and celebration.
On this fertile ground, farmland defenders hope to ignite struggles.
Starting crops is a way of resisting and collectively taking over the
land; it's also a way of responding to the judges who, on appeal, denied
the agricultural vocation and use of this land, where sheep have always
grazed. "This land is very nourishing, and since sheep farming alone
isn't enough to make that happen, we've planted vegetables there."
A call to participate in monitoring the initiative has been launched.
The objective is clear. Faced with the pressure of a possibly imminent
start of construction, everything will be done to ensure that the
Marienia lands retain their agricultural vocation.
May 18 - Basque Country
Notes:
1. See article in Courant Alternatif No. 325, December 2022 - Basque
Country - "Agricultural Land, Hands Off!"» Against Land and Real Estate
Speculation - The Case of Marienia in Cambo
2. Opponents of the Marienia project in Cambo are activists from the ELB
farmers' union (close to the Confederation), opposition elected
officials at Cambo town hall, CADE (a collective of environmental
defense associations), members of Lurzaindia (which succeeded the GFA
Mutuel), and Ostia, a network of activists whose goal is to fight to
defend the earth's nourishment, against land take and land and real
estate speculation. The diversity of these organizations, some highly
committed to legal matters, others advocating direct action, often makes
it difficult to make consensual collective decisions.
3. Call for solidarity donations on the website helloasso.com (search
for "marienia-epaiketen-aurrean-elkartasuna").
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4468
_________________________________________
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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