The Minister of the Interior will present on Wednesday a decree dissolving this collective of environmental activists, pointed out in particular after the excesses of Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres). This decision is criticized by part of the left, starting with Europe-Ecologie Les Verts.
Searches, arrests and then a dissolution of the organization. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, will present Wednesday, June 21, in the Council of Ministers a decree dissolving the “Earth Uprisings” (SLT). The procedure was initiated, almost three months ago, on March 28. But these methods resemble, according to the national secretary of Europe-Ecology Les Verts (EELV), a “persecution“: Marine Tondelier also denounces “a climate of criminalization of environmental movements”.
This taxed collective “ecoterrorism” by Gérald Darmanin, notably mobilized against the construction of the new Lyon-Turin railway line or against the project of mega-basins in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres). The government accuses these environmental activists of being behind violent clashes with the security forces during the demonstrations. The Minister of the Interior spoke “calls for insurrection”, “ecosabotage”, he also castigated the action of a “ultraleft” wanting “destroy democracy”.
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“SLT”, born in January 2021 in the former ZAD (zone to defend) of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, believes that this is a decision “very political and particularly worrying demanded directly from the Head of State by the agro-industry and the FNSEA” [premier syndicat agricole de France].
Marine Tondelier denounces a two-speed treatment: “I hear that we want, when we are in government, to restore order and say that we will not leave an inch to violence but then it must be done for everyone.” Because according to her, “when we do a little press review of the actions of the FNSEA in particular in recent years, we have seen that there has been violence against people, people who are threatened with death”.
“If we want to deal with the subject of violence, that’s not a problem for me, but we do it completely.”
Marine Tondelierat franceinfo
“We have a government that is shitting its responsibilities and pointing the finger at scapegoats whether they are elected environmentalists or whether they are environmental activists as in the context of the Earth Uprisings”criticizes the ecologist deputy of the Drôme, Marie Pochon. “To be the Earth Uprisings is to speak out against terror, that is, the intimidation by the repressive forces of the state of all those who do not think like the government”writes the chosen one in a long message of support for the collective on her Twitter account.
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More than a collective, a philosophy
Guillaume Hédouin, regional councilor (EELV) of Normandy and militants in the Uprisings of the Earth does not understand that a collective also “unstructured” can be dissolved: “In reality, everyone claims to be part of the Earth Uprisings today, just as one can claim to be a feminist. To be an Earth Uprising militant is simply to claim this defense. There is no general assembly, there are groups that have been formed, but no one today is leader or spokesperson for the Earth Uprisings.
SLT indeed claims a base “extremely varied”. “We will go to court and believe in the possibility of a legal victory to overturn this iniquitous decision, as has been the case for other politically motivated dissolutions in recent years”assures the collective.
EELV is also preparing to appeal against the government’s decision. Rallies to protest against this dissolution are planned for Wednesday June 21 and 28 in several cities in France.
The collective also calls for support for the 14 activists placed in police custody on Tuesday. They are suspected of having participated in an action carried out in December 2022 against the cement plant of the Lafarge group in Bouc-Bel-Air (Bouches-du-Rhône). According to the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor’s office, these arrests were made in Loire-Atlantique and in particular within the former ZAD of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, but also in the Marseille region.