France: This winter, we return to the barricades…

ZADBERLIN_posterAgainst the airport and its world, defend the Z.A.D.

The Z.A.D. (Zone À Défendre) in Notre-Dame-des-Landes is a zone of 2000 hectares of fields and forests in the French province of Brittany which is being threatened with destruction by the construction of a new international airport. The redundant project — the region already has a fully-functioning airport — will cost the French taxpayer over 550 million € and lead to the destruction of healthy wetlands and historical farms. Since 2005 the zone has been occupied by dozens of individuals who have fought to defend the autonomous structures they’ve built on the land, which is now inhabited by some additional 200-300 people from a variety of backgrounds. These occupants are experimenting with new ways of living and organizing outside the confines of the law, the capitalist economy, and the state apparatus. As with struggles here in Germany — such as the anti-nuclear struggle in Wendland or the anti-coal mining struggle in the Hambacher Forest– the struggle at the ZAD is important because of the strategy it employs, namely the blocking of the infrastructure of the capitalist economy while simultaneously building an archipelago of communes that refuse the market fundamentalism of our “alternative-less” capitalist world. More than 200 committees and thousands of associations, organizations, and individuals across France and Europe support the struggle. Despite that, the government has recently confirmed its plans to evict the occupiers of the zone as soon as possible. Join the fight, defend the ZAD and other struggles against capitalist infrastructure. All power to the communes! [Read More]

France: ZAD facing eviction threat – call for solidarity

Some context for the international community:

Over the past month the Prime Minister, President, and pro-airport lobby have been increasingly vocal and clear about their desire to evict the ZAD [Notre-Dame-Des-Landes] and begin work on the airport as soon as they can. The time frame of January-March is recurrent in their public declarations. These are threats, not inevitabilities.

The anti-airport movement is strong and determined, but to avoid the hassle of an eviction attempt we need to show our force beforehand, locally and internationally, so the State understands that they’ll only fail again. You’re invited to make actions, spread the word, have big demos, show up at French embassies/consulates and offices/worksites of Vinci (the airport contractor), in a dissuasive phase- and also to plan in different towns and organizing groups what to do from the outside in case an eviction attempt goes through. [Read More]

France: 10 vehicles of Vinci up in smoke

In Limoges, France, in the industrial zone of Magret, flames ravaged ten trucks and three sheds belonging to Eurovia, a subsidiary company of the Vinci multinational which is particularly involved in the construction of new prisons, as well as developing the devastating project of the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport.

The vehicles were stationed in two storage areas twenty metres apart. Ignition devices were placed on the truck tyres. They consisted of a bottle filled with petrol with a candle and a fire-lighter. The damage is estimated to be at least one million euros, not counting the long delays at the construction sites as a result. Build cages, get back our rage. [Read More]

Notre-Dame-des-Landes: Three ‘Vinci’ lackeys chased out of the ZAD (and their vehicles sabotaged)

Wednesday morning [April 29th], in Vigneux-de-Bretagne, three biologists from Angers who came to study marbled newt were chased off by a dozen masked individuals.

In recent days, scientists from Gecco (Ecology and Conservation of Vertebrates Group), a Faculty of Sciences laboratory in Angers, have been taking samples on the ZAD. The concessionaire appointed by the state, mandated by Vinci, are studying the functionality of amphibian populations on the zone affected by the airport project. In this case the marbled newt. [Read More]

ZAD: Summary of Repression

Summary of Repression (February 22nd demo)

Summary of arrests and trials since the demo in Nantes, February 22nd, according to information found by the anti-repression committee (CARILA)
[Read More]

Notre-Dame-des-Landes: Thwarted Eviction of a New Squat on the ZAD

St. Jean du Tertre Resists!

Faced with the clear threat of police intervention on the ZAD, the airport opposition movement showed their determination, their unity, and their capicity to mobilize.

Farmers, squatters and citizens barricaded together the roads leading to the newly squatted house, called St. Jean du Tertre.

Dozens of tractors and several hundred people were there waiting at 5am. This massive and unified reaction will be a systematic response to any attempt of the police to come onto the zone.
[Read More]

Notre-Dame-des-Landes (France): Letter to local committees, news and coming actions

ZAD

Dear committees, We are a certain number of people who felt the need to write to you from the movement of occupation on the ZAD. Some months ago, while the eviction threat and works were paused, carried nevertheless by the strength of the fighting solidarity of last autumn, many among us started to entertain the possibility of the airport project being abandoned. We had even started to imagine what could become of this zone in social, agricultural and political terms. While these reflections were crucial and helped us to breathe new life into the struggle and a new sense to the movement, we feel today a regain of tension. [Read More]

Notre-Dame-des-Landes (France): Call for decentralised action for the first anniversary of ZAD evictions

Unedited translation of Press Release from the ZAD:

19 October 2013: Protest anniversary of evictions. 14H instead Brittany, Nantes

The signatories of this statement calling for a big event October 19, 2013 at 14H, instead Bertagne in Nantes.This is part of the first anniversary against evictions last fall, the failed operation to demolish the ZAD called “Caesar” to those hard-housed occupying the space LU various places since then.

Evictions on ZAD

October 16, 2012 in the morning, the state kicked off the Caesar operation to remove and destroy the places occupied the ZAD of Notre Dame des Landes in opposition to the airport project.

At 10:30 on the field with his troops, the prefect of the Loire-Atlantique said that the operation was completed successfully and that the military occupation of the ZAD would last “a few days” to complete the destruction of homes. Given the resistance that is organized and developed, taking many forms there and everywhere, facing external solidarity ZAD who provided logistical, political and moral support, these “few days” have become months .. . ZAD is always busy! [Read More]

Notre-Dame-des-Landes, France: ZAD update

So it just kicked of again in the ZAD, heres a first hand account of what happened. It’s a bit long and probably has grammatical errors.. My ZAD experience this time has been completely different juxtaposed to last years adventure. Hitching from Nantes to La ZAD this time a year ago no one new about the anti-arport occupation where as this year everybody was talking about it [after the evictions in November the ZAD was national front page news]. I had to get dropped off slightly outside the zone because the police had set up a check point on the road. After spending too long walking over fields with all my tools and backpack. I finally got onto the D281, the whole road is in the control of the ZAD residents. At first I passed a few stacks of branches blocking parts of the road, I thought it was pretty cute. Then every 10-50 meters would be a new barricade usually bigger than the last until I was see huge piles of tires, haystacks and other burnables with spikey shit jutting out of it and painted messages all over the road, trenches dug deep through the tarmac and stone until they hit water, projectiles lying in wait everywhere!

[Read More]

Notre-Dame-des-Landes, France: Message of Solidarity from La ZAD

Black February: Message of solidarity from some people of the ZAD (Zone A Défendre) and elsewhere in France, an occupied area against an international airport and metropolisation project.

With pleasure, we heard of the reactions of solidarity against the evictions at Athens in December and January: United States, India, England, Canada, Australia, Japan, Chile… and also the numerous actions and demonstrations throughout Greece.

[Read More]

Notre-Dame-des-Landes (France): More information about the re-occupation of the ZAD, the new buildings and the threats from the Prefecture

On Saturday, after 3 weeks of evictions, we were more than 30000 to re-occupy the ZAD. As soon as the demonstration arrived, 5 pre-assembled structures started to get built: a meeting-room of 80m², a kitchen house, 2 dorms, a toilet and bath block and a workshop. On Monday, the work is continuing. Thanks to a sum of ingeniosity, mutualised know-hows and endless human chains to bring the tons of planks, as well as cross beams, metal sheets and straw needed for the work, the construction showed rapid progress. The achievement is breathtaking and can only leave large smiles on the faces. In order to celebrate that, and inaugurate, a cocktail is announced, this monday, at 17:00 on the building site. We would like to remind that these new collective buildings are meant to become a crossing point for all opponents and a headquarter to organise the resistance to the airport construction. [Read More]

France: Rural Rebels and Useless Airports. La ZAD, Europe’s largest Postcapitalist land occupation

October 2012, Notre dames des Landes, France.

Chris leans forward, her long fingers play with the dial of the car radio “I’m trying to find 107.7 FM“ … a burst of Classical music, a fragment of cheesy pop. “ Ah ! Here we go ! I think I’ve got it ?” The plastic pitch of a corporate jingle pierces the speakers : “Radio Vinci Autoroute : This is the weather forecast for the west central region…happy driving to you all. Traffic info next.” Chris smiles.

The narrow winding road is lined with thick hedgerows. Out of the darkness the ghostly outline of an owl cuts across our headlights. We dip down into a wooded valley, the radio signal starts to splinter. The well-spoken female voice fractures into static, words tune in and out and then another kind of sound weaves itself into the airwaves. We rise out of the wood onto a plateau, the rogue signal gets clearer, for a while two disturbingly different voices scramble together – the slick manicured predictable sounds of Radio Vinci wrestles with something much more alive, something rawer – a fleshier frequency.

“ The cops have left the Zone for the night…good riddance… Yeah ! Keep it up everyone ! ……” There is a moment of silence, we hear breathing, then a scream into the microphone “This is Radio Klaxon…Klac Klac Klac ! ”We feel her emotion radiate through the radio waves “ It’s nine thirty five.” she laughs and puts a record on, passionate Flamenco guitar pumps into the car.

We have entered La ZAD (Zone A Défendre) – Europe’s largest postcapitalist protest camp – a kind of rural occupy on the eastern edge of Brittany, half and hour’s drive from the city of Nantes. [Read More]