In an increasingly tense political context, Europe Ecologie-Les Verts will launch an “Observatory of violence against environmental activists”. A new tool to denounce a liberation of violent speech and attacks against environmentalists.
The idea of this observatory germinated a few weeks ago, by dint of identifying cases of violence in the political and associative world. According to EELV, this violence is particularly aimed at environmental activists, whistleblowers, farmers and even scientists… All engaged in denouncing the collapse of biodiversity.
In recent months alone, there have been a number of facts. In February, Paul François, a farmer who spoke out against Monsanto, was captured, tied up, threatened at his home. In March, the car of Morgan Large, a journalist working on agribusiness in Brittany, was sabotaged. This is the second time in two years. There is also this NGO boss, victim of an intimidation attempt in her own garden or these political trips under police protection.
Each time, the threats or the acts are amplified, according to the ecologists who see there the sign that their speech disturbs the political and economic interests. An EELV framework decrypts: “It’s no coincidence, the more the climate issue arises, the more we will be made responsible for denouncing it.”
A denunciation of the government’s attitude towards environmentalists
This environmental observatory has two objectives: first, to document the acts of violence against environmental activists, a way of giving them visibility in public debate. An annual report is planned. A prerequisite for raising awareness among the greatest number. The second objective is legal and psychological support for victims.
Behind this project, we find the boss of EELV, Marine Tondelier, and the senator of the Rhône Thomas Dossus. Environmental leaders who are concerned about these facts and who denounce in passing the way in which environmental action is regularly stigmatized by the executive. They are concerned about Gérald Darmanin’s use of the term “eco-terrorism”, and also denounce the maintenance of order at the basins of Sainte-Soline.
The party leadership says the violence stems “first of the forces of order against the environmentalists but not because of the environmentalists”. According to them, this whole context engenders a liberation of violent speech with regard to ecology, and by extension with regard to activists.
It is this message that Marine Tondelier had brought to Matignon when she met Elisabeth Borne in early April. In the absence of a satisfactory response from the public authorities, EELV therefore wants to organize the identification of the acts of violence itself. This observatory will be officially launched in June and should bring together environmental associations and climate activists.