Notre-Dame-des-Landes (France): Defend the ZAD – a Call for International Solidarity
Wanneer: 04/09/2016 - 09:53
For over 50 years, farmers and locals have resisted the building of a new airport for the French city of Nantes (which by the way already has one). Now in these rich fields, forests and wetlands, which multinational Vinci want to cover in concrete, an experiment in reinventing everyday life in struggle is blossoming.
Radicals from around the world, local farmers and villagers, citizen groups, trade unionists and naturalists, refugees and runaways, squatters and climate justice activists and many others, are organising to protect the 4000 acres of land against the airport and its world. Government officials have coined this place “a territory lost to the republic”. Its occupants have named it: la ZAD (Zone À Défendre), zone to defend.
In the winter of 2012, thousands of riot police attempted to evict the zone, but they faced a determined and diverse resistance. This culminated in a 40,000 people strong demonstration to rebuild some of what had been destroyed by the French State. Less than a week later, the police was forced to stop what they called “Operation Cesar”. For the last three years, the zad has been an extraordinary laboratory of new ways of living, rooted in collaborations between all those who make up the diversity of this movement. There is even a set of 6 points (see below) to radically rethink how to organise and work the land without an airport, based on the creation of commons, the notion of usage rather than property and the demand that those who fought for the land are those who decide its use.
Now, the entire zone is due for evictions to start the construction of this absurd airport. Prime minister Valls has promised a “Rendez-Vous” this October to evict everyone who is living, working, building and farming on the zone.
On October 8th, tens of thousands of people will gather on the zad to demonstrate that the determination of the movement is as strong as ever. Honouring farmers struggles from the past, we will come with wooden walking batons and leave them on the zone, as a sign of the commitment to come back and pick them up again if necessary. We will also raise a barn, built by dozens of carpenters during the summer, which will be used as a base, should evictions happen.
We are calling on all international groups and movements to either come to the zone on October 8th or show their solidarity with the zad through actions directed at the French government or multinational Vinci in their own towns and cities on that day.
The airport will never be built. Life on the zad will keep on flourishing!
6 points for the future of the ZAD
Since there will be no airport…
Once the project is abandoned, we want:
1. That the inhabitants, owners or tenants who are part of a compulsory purchase or eviction order can remain on the zone and regain their rights.
2. That the impacted farmers resisting and refusing to bend to the will of AGO-Vinci, can continue to freely cultivate the lands that they use and recover their rights and pursue their work in good conditions.
3. That the new inhabitants who came to the zad to take part in the struggle can remain on the zone. That everything which has been build since 2007 as part of the occupation movement in terms of experiments in alternative agriculture, self-built homes or temporary dwellings (huts, yurts, caravans etc.) and forms of life and resistance, can stay and continue.
4. That the lands that each year are redistributed by the chamber of agriculture for AGO-Vinci’s, in the form of precarious leases, are handled by a body that comes out of the resistance movement and brings together all its elements. So that it is the anti-airport movements rather than the normal institutions that decide on the uses of this land.
5. That these lands are for new agricultural or non agricultural projects, be they authorised or not, and not for the expansion of already existing farms.
6. That these agreements becomes a reality through our collective determination and that we carry together an attention to resolve all eventual conflicts linked to them being put in place.
We are already sowing and building a future without an airport in our unity and diversity. It is up to all of us, from today, to enable it to flourish and to defend it.
Contact: reclaimthezad(@)riseup.net
See also IGDCAST: A Commune That Fights, https://itsgoingdown.org/igdcast-commune-fights/
and https://www.indymedia.nl/taxonomy/term/1492
Ready to Defend the ZAD?
The government has repeatedly said: the airport work on ZAD of Notre Dame des Landes will begin in October. This would first require the expulsion of those who live there and farm the land. We have no intention to let them and count on support at least equivalent to that of 2012 when we defeated the Caesar operation. Many actions are being prepared, which we hope will join as many people as possible.
If you intend to come and defend the area with us here or take action from home, a little training can be quite useful! To learn more about the terrain, learning to form an affinity group, finding creative forms of action or learn more about your rights.
From September (instead of August, as originally planned), training will take place in the ZAD every weekend, and elsewhere in France. Do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to organize a training near you.
In the ZAD, training will be held from 11am on Saturday morning until 16h on Sunday afternoon. Saturday will focus on the basics of preparation for action (work in pairs, in affinity groups, knowledge of rights, etc.), while Sunday will be an opportunity to discover the ZAD further, or explore creative ideas for action to be applied throughout France. You can participate in one of these days if you prefer.
These courses take place in different groups, visit zad.nadir.org or contact us (zadforever (at) riseup.net or 0673036688) to check the meeting place or for more information.
We ask you to come with enough to share a picnic on Saturday and Sunday lunches, and a meal will be organized for Saturday night. To facilitate logistics (meals, accommodation, etc), RSVP on zadforever (at) riseup.net or call 0673036688.
We will preserve this grove!
See you soon !
Des habitant de ZAD, the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, Diffraction Collective
Future training courses on zad (Saturday 11.00-18.00, Sunday 10.00-16.00)
– September 3-4. the Wardine
– 10-11 September. Ferme de Bellevue
– 17-18 September. Venue to be confirmed
– September 24-25. Venue to be confirmed
– October 1-2. Venue to be confirmed
– 8-9 October. Mobilization, details to be confirmed
From: The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination
Fighting back against airport expansion – everywhere!, https://www.indymedia.nl/node/35726 .
Open Letter to NoDAPL Struggle, from the ZAD: http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire/2016/09/19/open-letter-to-nodapl-s...
September 21, 2016,#Rojava: Solidarity with the #ZAD!
La ZAD est partout #YPG #YPJ #NDDL
ZAD alert! Eco-zone warns of imminent attack
An important focus of European anti-capitalist resistance is likely to come under brutal attack from the industrial system any day now, activists are warning. Official papers authorising the start of work on a new Nantes airport in France were signed on September 14 and the ZAD (Zone à Défendre or Zone to Defend) is currently on full alert. Mainstream media are reporting that the protesters are ready to resist any attempt at eviction of the zone at Notre-Dame-des-Landes (NDDL).
Since it was established in 2008, the ZAD at NDDL has become much more than an eco protest camp. It is a symbol of resistance, an autonomous zone where the cops stay away and people are able to experiment with different ways of living, growing their own food, baking their own bread, publishing their own newspaper, running their own radio station and, most recently, setting up their own library.
The French state, in cahoots with corporate developer Vinci, has long wanted to get rid of the ZAD. A previous attempt in 2012, involving 1,200 police and two helicopters, failed when the cleared areas were rapidly reoccupied. Now, with the help of the extra police powers under the “state of emergency” introduced and prolonged as an “anti-terrorist” measure, and in the wake of six months of state violence against the social revolt around the Loi Travail across France, the authorities are set to try again. There were strong rumours this week that a massive military-style operation to evict the ZAD could start as soon as September 26 and 27 – according to media reports, as many as 3,000 gendarmes (military-style police) could be involved.
One activist said: “All the hotels in the area are full, gendarmes are not allowed to take annual leave for the coming month, schools and churches around the ZAD are closing simultaneously on September 26.” There is talk of military equipment having been loaned to the gendarmes. It also seems likely that the state will make use of tooled-up private security thugs, who were used against anti-nuclear protesters at Bure earlier in the year – making it easier to deny responsibility for injuries (or even deaths) among activists.
The ZAD has issued an urgent wishlist of materials and equipment needed to defend the zone, including palettes, tyres, paint, bikes, oil lamps, boots, socks, phones, radios and walkie-talkies.
The full French version is hereand the English one here
Source: https://winteroak.org.uk/2016/09/22/the-acorn-27/#1
In Response to the message of solidarity from #Rojava to the #ZAD #NDDL.
From the ZAD to Rojava, We fight Back! ... with love & solidarity.
ZAD NDDL- If they come back, we’ll resist even harder!
The government has declared they won’t wait for the end of the legal appeals process against the airport project. This means they are breaking the agreements they made in 2012 and 2014. They pretend that they want to come evict the ZAD to be able to begin work on the airport. This new police intervention could hypothetically begin early next year, in the weeks following the COP 21 in Paris, to make sure to be as hypocritical as possible.
In the context of these threats, we call all the support committees and supporters to mobilize in the weeks to come to show the government that coming back and trying to destroy the ZAD is a very bad idea. To be prepared for whatever happens, we invite you to spread the word and to prepare for what to do if there is an attempt to evict or begin work. A series of flyers and posters have been printed for distribution.
affiche 2 https://anonfiles.com/file/2bdbd5047dab15023d95165301b095c1
You can find below the callout to share.
ZAD-NDDL – If they come back, we’ll resist even harder! Callout to all the people and committees in solidarity
Reactions in case of police intervention, eviction, or starting work on the airport Committees from all over the region have met several times over the past two years to plan their reactions in case of a new attack on the zad or beginning work. We don’t know if or when they’ll attack again, but we will be ready to strike back if the moment comes. Here are some propositions of what to do from the inter-committee meetings, to be adapted to local conditions. Bringing together different kinds of actions, at multiple geographical levels, will make sure they fail again.
If there is confirmation of a massive police intervention a common callout will be published on https://zad.nadir.org and https://acipa-ndl.fr
On and around the ZAD:
Call to come resist on the zone and to make sure that we’re not encircled and cut off. Disturb the check-points and movements of the police and ensure the circulation of supporters and supplies.
In the region:
- From the first day of the operation, coordinated actions to blockade roads, whether access points of the zone pr the main axes and strategic points of the region. -Occupations of “places of power” (government or private contractor buildings/offices, police stations, etc)
- Nighttime noise demos outside the hotels where the police and military police sleep.
- The first evening, meeting point of different actions or blockades, in front of the police headquarters at 6pm.
- Demo Saturday in Nantes after one week of intervention.
Outside of the region:
Callout to occupy places of power or local operations to slow the flow of capital, as well as coming to the ZAD to defend for those who can.
The airport will not be built- The zad of Notre Dame des Landes will continue to blossom!