Born in March 2021 following a rally in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, this network brings together various peasant organizations, environmentalists and activists.
While many questions still arise about the maintenance of order during the rally against a “mega-basin” construction site, in Sainte-Soline (Deux-Sèvres), the Ministry of the Interior points the finger at the Uprisings of Earth (SLT).
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Tuesday March 28, Gérald Darmanin expressed his desire to dissolve this group, which defends a radical vision of ecological action, and which he accuses of being responsible for the clashes on Saturday March 25. “Uan attempt at diversion which aims to make people forget the disastrous and tragic policy of maintaining order in Sainte-Soline”, respond the Earth Uprisings. To better understand the nature of this organization, franceinfo answers five questions about it.
1 Who are they ?
On their website, they define themselves as “young rebels”, who have “grew up with the ecological disaster in the background”, “peasants”, of the “residents in struggle attached to their territory”. Behind the name, we find a gathering of various peasant and environmental organizations, left and far left, such as the Confédération paysanne, the Alternatiba or Attac associations, farms scattered all over France, researchers and a few personalities such as the writer Alain Damasio. The various signatories of the founding text of the Uprisings are visible on the space dedicated to blogs on the Mediapart site. According to this manifesto, the network was officially formed in March 2021 on the ZAD of Notre-Dame-Des-Landes.
2 What are they claiming?
Members of SLTs also define themselves as “peasants”, struggling “to produce healthy food, both financially accessible and guaranteeing fair remuneration”. There “land issue” and the report “merchant” to the land are at the heart of the reflections and struggles that the Uprisings claim to carry. On their site, they explain that they stand up against “land grabbing” by “farms (…) transformed[e]s in factories”, “soil artificialization” and fight for “an ecology without transition”. They say don’t “expect nothing from States, which will not act without being forced to do so”. Regarding the construction sites of “mega-basins”, they denounce in particular a “grabbing of water by a minority of irrigators, in the midst of systemic drought”.
3 What are their modes of action?
To fight what they denounce, the Uprisings claim different ways of doing things, summarized in three parts on their site: “take land”, via “multiple forms such as the opposition in action to artificialization projects, peasant installation or common redemption” ; “block polluting industries”, by disrupting and blocking “by all means these industries” ; And “target the institutions in charge of land allocation and destination”, by inviting to “apply a pressure” on these.
Concretely, these wishes are reflected in particular by the organization or participation in moments of discussion and reflection, as in May 2021, in Haute-Loire, to oppose a road diversion project, says the online newspaper Reporterre , acts of civil disobedience, willful degradation, occupations and blockades. In December 2022, The Parisian (paid article) revealed that the police attributed to members of the SLT the break-in and the damage which took place in a factory of the cement manufacturer Lafarge.
4 Why does Gérald Darmanin want them dissolved?
Tuesday March 28, against the backdrop of the 10th day of inter-union mobilization against the pension reform and after the weekend of opposition to a “mega-basin” site in Sainte-Soline, the Minister of the Interior initiated a procedure dissolution of the SLTs. For Gérald Darmanin, the group, one of the organizers of the rally, is responsible for the clashes that took place in Deux-Sèvres. According to a note from the Ministry of the Interior, also dated Tuesday, this network “incites and participates in the commission of sabotage and material damage” and built “the concept of ‘disarmament’ intended to make the practice of ecosabotage acceptable”.
During questions to the government in the National Assembly, where Gérald Darmanin suffered a barrage of questions about the events in Sainte-Soline and the maintenance of order during the demonstrations against the pension reform, the minister castigated the action of a “ultraleft” wants “destroy democracy”. He insisted on “the extreme violence of small groups on file by the intelligence services sometimes for very many years, such as the de facto group Uprisings of the Earth”, referring in particular to the hooded demonstrators present during the rally and who, for some, threw projectiles at the police and gendarmes. Tuesday, during a press conference, Gérald Darmanin was indignant at a “unheard of outpouring from armed and violent individuals” whose “plan to injure or kill gendarmes”.
5 What do the members of this network answer him?
The organization initially reacted through the voice of its representatives. With AFP, one of their spokesperson, Basile Dutertre, recalled on Tuesday that SLT was not “not the only one” to have called for the demonstration on Saturday, banned by the authorities. “A hundred organizations have done so, including the inter-union, the Confédération paysanne, political parties, environmental associations”, he listed.
On Wednesday March 29, the collective also responded to Gérald Darmanin’s announcement in a press release. He condemns “a villainous attempt by the Minister of the Interior to lower the spotlight on the deadly violence he unleashed against protesters”denouncing, through a statement by his spokesperson, “a stunning reversal”. “The people who order to shoot at the crowd with weapons of war are those who accuse us of ultraviolence”, choked Basile Dutertre on Tuesday. “We are very curious to see what the ‘dissolution’ of a coalition that brings together dozens of local collectives, farms, union sections, NGOs across the country would represent,” adds the press release.
Regarding the material violence and against the police observed on Saturday in Sainte-Soline, SLT, swithout claiming them clearly, does not dissociate itself from them either. “If, for the past two years, growing crowds have no longer contented themselves with marching past, but have been looking for ad hoc gestures to concretely slow down certain construction sites, to prevent the looting of water or land, it is because there are a vital urgency to act.”