“It’s stronger than the vote”

In a few minutes, the blocks pile up in front of the closed door of the Ministry of Ecological Transition. At 6:15 a.m., apart from a few morning employees, the Parisian sidewalk is deserted. Orange vests on the back and masks on the face, the twenty activists must however act quickly. They erect a wall of 1.60 m and consolidate it before inscribing a message with spray paint: “Ministry closed, let’s take back the land”. All under the eyes of a few policemen parked a good distance away in a van. “It’s not very bad, but it will keep us busy in the morning”grumbled an officer, arrived on the spot ten minutes later to question the rare witnesses of the scene.

This action, coordinated by the environmental collective Resistances locales, was the first in a list of demonstrations and blockades organized across the country on Tuesday, April 26. Two days after the second round of the presidential election, a poll “in which we didn’t have much hope anyway”, confided an activist to franceinfo during the Parisian action. A feeling shared by many activists who participated in the day of mobilization.

This is the case of Sébastien, 47, who was hoping “to see a victory for the left” in the presidential election. “But not necessarily Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV)“, specify what social project manager based in Libourne (Gironde). Above all, this activist from the association Les Braises, who has been fighting for two years against an airport project for private jets near Saint-Emilion (Reporterre explains their actions in this article), wanted “real debates on the environment, with serious actors”. With the approach of the first round, on April 10, his hopes were finally extinguished. “Quickly, it was folded in my opinion. We quickly understood that we would end up with the same losing duo as in 2017”he confides, targeting Emmanuel Macron (LREM) and Marine Le Pen (RN).

The disillusion was felt at the same time for Sabrina, 41, also active in the association Les Braises. “I had a lot of hope until the evening of the first round”says the one who voted Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI). “Even if I’m not a fan of the character, I really appreciated the ecological aspect of his program, as well as the team who wrote him”, she says. A resolutely useful vote for Sabrina, little excited by Yannick Jadot and his party, EELV. “I find them opportunistic, and some of their measures, such as high fuel taxes, risk aggravating social inequalities”believes this employee of the hospital public service, who voted for Emmanuel Macron in the second round, “reluctantly, to block and nothing more”.

“You can be profoundly green without joining a green party.”

Sabrina, 41, activist in Gironde

at franceinfo

For Daniel Boy, researcher at Cevipof de Sciences Po Paris, the green electorate in France “closely depends on the type of election”. And the presidential election “has always resulted in poor scores [pour les partis écologistes]unlike the European elections and, more recently, the municipal ones”explains to franceinfo this specialist in the ecological vote.

The fault of “a lack of structuring of these parties”says Albert Ogien, research director at the CNRS. “You have to differentiate between activists, who adhere to the ideas of a party, are at the service of these ideas, and activists, who accept directives much less and act in a decentralized way”he recalls. “In France, the separation between the two remains important“, emphasizes Albert Ogien, citing the growing popularity of “faceless” movements like Extinction Rebellion.

From Avignon (Vaucluse), François, 45, says he distributed 800 leaflets on Tuesday. He denounces the plan to bypass the city via the construction of a national road and an expressway. “It’s 50 hectares of agricultural land threatened, a real danger for water management and biodiversity”, chokes the farmer specializing in organic. If he followed the primary environmentalist, he admits to having “quickly unhooked” during the presidential campaign, “because ecology has only occupied a derisory place”.

“It feels like a headlong rush, that nothing is changing, while the scientific reports are overwhelming.”

François, 45, farmer in Vaucluse

at franceinfo

For François and the activists he rubs shoulders with, the re-election of Emmanuel Macron has had the effect of a cold shower. “In his first term, the state was condemned for climate inaction [par le Conseil d’Etat en octobre 2021], and he prefers to pay a daily fine rather than make reforms”, he complains. The re-elected president may well promise the appointment of a Prime Minister charged with a mission of “ecological planning”Francois can’t believe “One second that will change something”. So, facing “climate emergency”he thinks above all about local mobilization. “It’s stronger than the vote, and on concrete, targeted projects, we can make things happen”he assures.

In Avignon, 30 activists from the collective @CollectivePuma met on the site where the East-West Link (LEO) is supposed to, after crossing the green lung of Avignon and destroying 50ha of agricultural land, distributed 800 leaflets to motorists and then shared a picnic! pic.twitter.com/nDyCV61FRA

— Lands of struggle (@terresdeluttes) April 27, 2022

“Disappointed in advance” by Emmanuel Macron’s second term, Elicha*, 30, and Lucie, 28, say they need “regain strength” for future actions. “We were crushed by this election, ecology was not present at all and that worries us”denounce the two young women, met by franceinfo near the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

While the latest report from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) calls for emergency policies by 2025 to conserve a world “livable”Lucie and Elicha confide that eco-anxiety drives some activists to want “take it up a notch”. “Personally, I am no longer anxious, I am eco-venerable”, says Elicha with a nervous laugh. With, as a consequence, “a desire to turn to more risky actions, as do Friends of the Earth or Extinction Rebellion for example”.

Can disillusionment with politics catalyze environmental activists’ desire to act? “It is undoubtedly a powerful engine, analyzes Daniel Boy, especially since activism is much more exciting than joining a party, especially among young people and those disappointed with the electoral game. Until representing the only escape route for some: “After this failed election, we tell ourselves that equities are all we have left”, grumbles Jean-Luc, 62, a farmer in the south of the Tarn. In his small village of Lescout, the controversial extension of a factory farm for laying hens is planned.

“This factory causes nuisance, it pollutes, it is very exposed to the risk of avian flu, it is an aberration at all levels”denounces Jean-Luc, who has been campaigning for five years for the abandonment of the project. “In the past, I voted in all the elections, but I find myself there less and less”, he breathes. A member of the Confédération paysanne, he remained convinced “that we must not desert the national scene” and its places of negotiation, even if local mobilization brings “much better results”as in the case of the abandonment of the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport project (Loire-Atlantique) or the EuropaCity shopping center (Val-d’Oise).

A nuanced observation that Albert Ogien also validates. “Activists generally manage to put pressure on national institutions, the European Parliament or even companies, recalls the specialist in protest movements. But we must not forget that political parties are capable of obtaining other measures, often of greater magnitude. It remains to be seen, according to the researcher, what will emerge from the negotiations carried out on the left for the legislative elections. “Lhe majority of environmental activists are on this side of the political spectrum, he recalls. Will the parties concerned be flexible, open to activists, or will they remain stuck in their dogma?

*Names marked with an asterisk have been changed at the request of those concerned.