2024-08-26 16:53:59
Between July 16 and 21, several meetings that combine activities and organizational sessions bring together more than 30,000 participants in western France. These meetings are part of many protests against the so-called “megabasins”, artificial water reservoirs stolen from the community and society, against which many important mobilizations have already taken place.[1]. Joined by more than 120 organizations, the groups “Bassines, no thanks” (“Bassines Non Merci” – BNM in French) and “Uprising of the land” (“Soulèvement de la Terre” – SLDT) came to force to the responsible agro-business companies of the monopolization of water, land and fruits of the peasant labor community. This goal is aimed, for example, in Terre Atlantique, Ocealia, Pioneer, Terrena and Soufflet, which, more or less directly, pushes farmers to the production and construction of mega basins such as Saint Sauvin, and the powers and the public finances the development of infrastructure to produce their (over) production, including the development project of the port of La Rochelle, as an example of the concrete area[2].
Through their different positions and experiences, participants from many countries (Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Belgium, India, Morocco, Rojava, Palestine, Sweden, Colombia, Tibet, Germany, Portugal, Chile, Italy, Ireland, Lebanon, Kanaky… ) show their support and to what extent water is still at the intersection of ecological, social and political issues in other parts of the world.[3].
Some of the ingredients are right in France
These meetings are held a week after the legislative elections. The New Elite Front [Nuevo Frente Popular]a group of parties called the left, was the winner but with a relative majority that left two thirds of the Assembly to the presidential and extreme right parties. The elections did not produce much result. The possibility of seeing a far-right victory and allowing President Macron to lead a coalition government is real. The organizers considered the need to fight against the extreme right and the rise of fascism in France and in countries with similar conditions.[4].
To be sure, the repression has not reached the level it could have reached under a government led by the National Rally, but it has also reached a critical point. The Minister of the Interior, for example, once again attacked with “ecoterrorism”, although the “Water Area” is legal and organized with the agreement of the Mayor of Melle.[5]. The fact that the minister’s statement is far from the truth suggests that his intention is rather to threaten people who want to participate in the mobilizations, but fear repression, and to establish the consent of “public opinion” for repression in political reality… Even Garde Républicaine [Guardia Republicana] sent to the stage, patrolling on horseback. When he announced: «The law has always ruled in favor of farmers. The role of the police or gendarme is to enforce these judicial decisions. “There is no reason for farmers, who have justice and the law on their side, to see their property destroyed by those who do not respect the law.” The correction made by the minister to the truth went as far as denying some judicial decisions that said some basins are illegal. In this way, he has proven once again to be the most vocal ally of the most “ultra-right” fractions of the socialist movement. The latter, through the “Coordination rurale” [Coordinación Rural]used wildly to try to mobilize against environmental activists, to whom they attributed the plan of attack on farms, despite the clear communication about the purpose of targeting the high levels responsible for the rapid and anti-ecological race. The prohibition of public demonstrations, by the community, the government and the State still want to maintain the monopoly of repression, at least in appearance.[6]. The rules of the Minister of the Interior in this matter are a question of law. In addition to making judicial decisions on the basins, it has given recommendations, for example, to the actions of some farmers who belong to the same “Union Village”.[7 ] during mobilization of the first quarter. Undoubtedly this duality was one of the factors that strengthened the decision of an unknown group to attack the car of cyclists going to the Village de l’Eau [Aldea del Agua]As a result, many people are injured[8].
Two farmers’ groups supported the campaign against low-watersheds. Confedération Paysanne and Modef, which, as in the mobilization of the first quarter of 2024, defends the line of progress that links the interests of farmers to the security of the region and the need to develop another production mode.
This revolution, marked by many problems, only cost a strong participation in the Water Village and the actions of July 19 and 20[9].
Globalization: some characteristics and problems
An international call has been launched to participate in the Water Village with the aim of developing conferences by sharing the experiences of the struggle and learning ways of establishing, “a democratic earth reform based on water.”[10]. Among these methods is the concept of organization at the basin level.[11] and coordinating forms of organization that can be implemented.
For the developers of the project, the idea is not to start from scratch, but to take advantage of existing initiatives, in which water is not necessarily the main foundation.
Among them, we can highlight the projects of River International[12]World Watershed Appeal[13]Petition for the Diplomatic Commission of Marines[14] y Bakery International[15]as well as Network Alternatives[16] and joint ventures…[17].
Some of these initiatives are more or less openly within the scope of the current national and international institutions, looking for a legal way through the development of environmental laws or presenting themselves as mediators between movements social and official powers. These questions are not trivial, but they remind us of the political limits in which the anti-globalization crisis of the early 2000s is being handled: who establishes the law? What types of companies exist today? Who is the social subject capable of freeing himself from the limitations of capitalism and its severity?
Water Village participants, for their part, focused more on developing autonomous practices, with large differences in this economic concept depending on the sites. The difference between the level of organization required by the “reform” initiatives and its real concern in this initiative calls for the question of the ability of the reform to anticipate the limits of freedom and its problems in thinking about the question of political power, in which the representative will play an important role. On the other hand, it would be wrong to speak of “unpredictability” and place all initiatives that claim to be autonomous in the category of “utopian Socialism”, for example.
Most of the producers show more or less briefly that they are aware of the contradictions of the chosen principles, and often choose openly to find ways to act in a situation that suits them to politicize people by “doing” to them. There is no clear opposition of the French Trotskyist groups that, in this case, have opted for more functional words to distinguish themselves and justify their own production, instead of investing their forces in real movement just without the protection of immediate repercussions.
One of the best summaries said during the meetings, considering both the issues at stake and the need to draw real experiences, was formulated by the representatives of Rojava. We can criticize the political questions that are not raised and perhaps deliberately avoided in this statement, but it has the merit of opening up all the possibilities in terms of political responses.[18] and attitudes.
Some lessons from the meeting
In addition to the contacts that have made these meetings possible and the relationships of trust that they have contributed to establishing or strengthening, they have made it possible to know the facts that help to adjust the development of the strategic response is sometimes based on need. to adapt to the present time, sometimes there is a need to perhaps reaffirm past experiences and certain principles. Here are some examples:
-Some in Water Village believe that non-governmental organizations can be levers to reverse the effects of capitalism. Today, they question these strategic options. The departure (predicted) of the global change movement and the greater modernization of NGOs means that these people will have to pay special attention to the prisms of analysis and routes to the world and conflict solutions. Depending on our capacity and the priorities of the time, there may be some need to talk to these terrorists about participating, for example, in the next World Social Summit in Benin in 2026, in the Social Summit that will take place from eleven days 15 to 17 2024 in Rio de Janeiro in preparation for the G20, or in the meetings that will be held on the sidelines of the next COP, and the atmosphere of the council.
Other international meetings that are politically close to those held in Melle and to our guidelines are also prepared, such as the International Meetings for Climate and Life in Mexico from November 4 to 9, 2024[19].
– On a more scientific level, the diversity of the evidence of the initiatives has shown the differences in the contexts that do not allow copying and the submission of organizational solutions. The solutions proposed by some autonomous groups in Europe, to organize themselves, in countries whose material conditions favor feeling able to escape the needs of a large collective organization, can is of little interest. In Rojava, cultural oppression and the war against all people by local governments undoubtedly created the conditions for the need to create a “community” to resist. The conditions of immediate survival on this scale also demand the need for a more structured social organization, or even for negotiation with irrational powers to obtain means to protect oneself…
Some interventions show the need to de-Westernize the ways of analyzing (and judging) oppression and the ways of confronting oppressions and exploitation of different kinds. It is worth asking to what extent this “de-Westernization” should not rather go through the Marxization of prisms of analysis, that is, taking into account the material conditions and social relations specific to each condition.
-The reform of the working culture for many people is also a success of this meeting. Although improvements are still needed to ensure that the observers participating in the actions do so with full awareness of the cause, the organizers seem to have learned from the experience of the second Sainte-Soline meeting. The working culture is also present in the operation of restaurants, which require the coordination of many activists to prepare and serve thousands of meals every day.
[1]
[3]Here are some examples of activists expressing their struggles:
Carlos Beas, from Mexico: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxVfy9B-JWo
Mizkin Ahmed, arrived in Rojava: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=h97_04h80Bk
Rajendra Singh, from India: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=54lCM-8qSiU
[9]Report July 19: https: //www.bassinesnonmerci.fr/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/CP1907.pdf
Report from July 20 with information on what is at stake in the campaign: https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YYiGpZ-UCY
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