Several activists from the climate justice collective Climáximo joined the actions of the French movement Les Soulèvements de la Terre this morning to protest against the construction of mega water retention basins across the country. Today’s action takes place in the Saint Sauvant forest, which the government plans to destroy to build yet another water retention basin.
This morning, thousands of activists departed from Poitiers and Vivonne towards the Saint Sauvant forest, including several members of Climáximo and people coming from various European countries. The “Stop Méga-Bassines” mobilization is taking place in the French region of Poitou from July 16 to 21.
After the strong actions in Sainte-Soline in 2023, more than 100 groups and organizations are uniting against the mega-basins and the agro-industrial complex, which seeks to take advantage of the climate crisis and its threats to further dominate the food system. Thousands of activists denounce the monopolization of water and a system at war with society, subjecting food and agriculture to economic speculation. The actions demand a total halt to the construction and operation of these basins.
Multinationals and agribusiness entrepreneurs, with the complicity of the French government, insist on the construction of basins and increase legal persecution against those who oppose to it, but the proposed system is truly weakened by popular and rural mobilization: the basins have been effectively dismantled by courts and activists, by major legal victories, by media coverage, and by the rising costs and delays in construction. Against all logic, a series of basin projects is in the starting phase. To turn the tide, they must be stopped.
Today’s mass mobilization will highlight the functioning of the agro-industrial complex that encourages production methods that destroy land and water, with the basin system being a cornerstone of this insanity. Climáximo will participate in the diverse assembly of farmers, unions, rural and urban residents of all ages leading this movement. We share the goal of promoting determined resistance and demonstrating solidarity tenfold in the face of fascism and the monopolization of common goods that invariably accompanies it.
According to one of the Climáximo activists in the Poitou region, “In the popular mobilization to stop the war of governments and companies against society, we are articulating internationally and building bridges of active solidarity, political programs, and alliances to win a future. We are here today because we are and will be wherever the fight is.”
After the French elections, the need for mobilization became evident, and the action will also be a place for political debate, with a program on current struggles of farmers and activists, collective action, and exchanges on international issues of social and climate justice.
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More information:
www.bassinesnonmerci.fr
www.lessoulevementsdelaterre.org