This Friday, April 19, 2019 in Paris, more than 2,000 climate activists, invaded the Parvis at la Defense for the largest civil disobedience action ever organized in France. It was directed against four polluting companies: EDF, Total, Societe Generale, Areva-now Orano (the latter only decorated with posters and yellow paint) as well as against the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition whose antenna is located in the Sequoia tower. Protestors blocked the entrances and pasted posters of the French president "Macron president of the polluters" on facades of the buildings. The operation was conceived and organized by Greenpeace France, Friends of the Earth, Alternatiba - ANV-COP21 (Nonviolent Action COP21) and was entitled "Block the Republic of Polluters."
It was part of the "Week of International Rebellion." The "Extinction Rebellion" movement has a message to convey to our governments: "We are facing an unprecedented global emergency. Science is clear; we have entered a period of severe climate crisis and we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction: an extinction that we ourselves have precipitated." (1)
"Civil disobedience movements are stepping up their actions. In Paris and London,* thousands of activists have carried out shock initiatives, targeting large companies accused of polluting and governments for their inaction." (2)* Climate activists blocked the Oxford Circus crossroads in London, the shopping temple of the capital. April 18, 2019, In Paris, "This action involving volunteers throughout France had been prepared under the utmost secrecy, (ACTION LONDON APRIL 18, ACTION PARIS APRIL 19) the militants were obliged to follow a training course in civil disobedience and were informed of meeting points by SMS shortly beforehand." (3) April 19 being a Friday, they were joined by some young activists (Fridays For Future) responding to the global call for school climate strikes.
Although it was impossible for us to be present in Paris that day to document the action, which in many ways was similar to the one photographed in Pau in April 2016 (cf Reportage Stop MCEDD), we followed the live action on social networks, news channels, and news sites.
To keep a small record, I occasionally photographed the screen of my computer. We scrolled through "live feeds" we found on the websites of Le Figaro and Facebook and the page ANV Action non-violent COP21 or JTerre -Le J-Terre, the info page of The Living Who Want to Remain (4), those who were at la Défense.
Enjoy the view of this first report made live from the office in our house!
Finally, on the site Reporterre ("the daily of the ecology") we found an interview of April 18, 2019 with Clément Senechal (Campaign and climate spokesperson for the NGO Greenpeace France, the co-organizer of the action) which provides information on the cause of this action:
"Reporter - What do you call the Republic of Polluters?
Clément Sénéchal - The concept of the Republic of Polluters aims to show the alliance between the political power, embodied by Emmanuel Macron and his government, the multinationals, who by their industrial and economic activities destroy the planet and the climate, and the ultra-rich who derive their income from these activities and have a way of life that also destroys the planet.
This alliance blocks what should be done for climate: regulate the economy, move towards more social equality, and invest public money in ecological transition rather than in pollution.
On the contrary, this year, 11 billion euros went into tax loopholes for polluting activities. An amount increasing, since it was 8.5 billion last year. France subsidizes pollution, despite its international commitments and the Giec report on the need to limit global warming to 1.5° C!
We must not forget the policies of Macron in favor of the ultra-rich: elimination of wealth tax (ISF), flat tax, maintenance of tax loopholes on air transport (kerosene, airline tickets, etc) while this mode of transport is socially biased. In contrast, the regressive tax on motor fuels weighs more heavily on the working classes in proportion to their income. According to the economist Jean Gadrey the poorest 10% pay more than four times more carbon tax than the richest in proportion to their income while they emit 40% less greenhouse gases.
The Republic of Polluters is these arbitrations in favor of the people most responsible for climate change and the biodiversity crisis.
What are some examples of this lobbying?
There are plenty of examples. The government of Emmanuel Macron had promised the end of the sale of thermal vehicles by 2040 - which is already too far away since we asked 2030. But this objective has disappeared from the law regarding mobility in course of discussion in Parliament! François de Rugy, instead of going to the UN climate meeting, the COP 24, last December, met insead withthe lobby for car manufacturers. This disintegration occurs while the transport sector is the most pollution emitting in France and we do not meet our objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in this sector: the law Grenelle 1 set the target of 20% of emissions reduction compared to 1990, we are at + 12.4%! The climate bill is exploding, because power continues to please automakers.
Similarly, while agriculture is one of the three most emitting sectors in France, the food law adopted at the beginning of the term did not take into account the climate issue at all. The government had promised to ban glyphosate in three years, and then Macron came back and said it would be complicated. The plan to ban the export of banned pesticides in Europe has not passed. Repeated gifts are made to agrochemicals and agribusiness.
Agribusiness also benefits from the manna of agrofuels, largely subsidized by the state. France is reluctant about reducing its consumption of first-generation agrofuels. Nicolas Hulot had said that we would stop palm oil in fuels to fight against deforestation that accounts for 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. He had his arm twisted and was forced to grant Total de la Mède refinery permission to import palm oil massively, to help him make short-term profits. A first delivery of 20,000 tons discreetly arrived at the Mede a few weeks ago, with the support of the government. When, during the debates on the latest draft budget law, the deputies voted against the fiscal niche benefiting palm oil in agrofuels, they clashed with the government! Fortunately, the National Assembly has held firm, which is a victory. But for the 2020 finance bill, Total has already announced that it will put pressure on MPs to make them go back. On the ecological issues, there is a confrontation between the national representation, rather on the side of NGOs and ecological rationality, and an alliance between Macron and Total.
How did we get here?
This is due to the neoliberal sensibility of Emmanuel Macron, who thinks that we must not touch the businesses and must let the multinational reap profits and promote competitiveness and competition pure and simple. We also know which social milieu financed the electoral campaign of the Republic en Marche.
But if it were necessary to incriminate a more institutional operation, it would be the revolving door. Macron was a finance inspector, then he spun into Rothshild before he slipped back to the head of the state. Today, we do not have a government subject to pressure from lobbies, but a government composed of lobbies! Emmanuelle Wargon comes from Danone, Brune Poirson from Veolia ... Édouard Philippe was chief lobbyist at Areva, and the latest version of the multi-year energy program corresponds to the scenario defended by EDF: it pushes the energy transition and investments ahead by ten years in renewable energy and plans to invest 10 billion euros in a nuclear industry that is running out of steam!
What can one do as an individual to work against these lobbies?
We can already drastically reduce our consumption of meat and dairy products to fight against the agribusiness lobby, stop flying against air and fossil lobbies, promote the train against the car lobby, choose a cooperative bank rather than one of the six major French banks that continue to invest four times more in fossils than in renewables ... These individual consumption practices are important, but not sufficient. We must not fall into a style of individual management of the climate issue, which is a social and political fact, not just consumption. To go the full way one must become a militant and act politically. Through civil disobedience, we fight a system of law that has lost its legitimacy. The French state has embarked on a trajectory to limit global warming to 1.5° C, which it does not respect.When he came to power, Emmanuel Macron decided not to respect the law on transition adopted in 2015, pushing for the shutdown of nuclear reactors. Faced with a state that does not respect the law, we are obliged to raise the tone, to take risks, to really embody the world we want to see happen. People are willing to take physical and legal risks because they have historical reason on their side. It is important to group together, to make a link, to make politics together and to build a more frontal balance of power, with a power that is not at all on the side of ecology. Emmanuel Macron demonstrated that he was not the champion of the Earth, but the champion of the multinationals and the president of the polluters' republic. This Republic of polluters that we really want to weaken, denounce and paralyze tomorrow and in the coming months." (5)
(1) https://extinctionrebellion.be/fr
(2) https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2019/04/20/climat-les-mouvements-de-desobeissance-civile-intensifient-leurs-actions_5452816_3244.html
(3) https://www.la-croix.com/France/Blocages-Defense-contre-Republique-pollueurs-2019-04-19-1301016782
(4) https://www.facebook.com/pg/lejterre/about/?ref=page_internal
(5) https://reporterre.net/Le-gouvernement-d-Emmanuel-Macron-est-compose-de-lobbies
This Friday, April 19, 2019 in Paris, more than 2,000 climate activists, invaded the Parvis at la Defense for the largest civil disobedience action ever organized in France. It was directed against four polluting companies: EDF, Total, Societe Generale, Areva-now Orano (the latter only decorated with posters and yellow paint) as well as against the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition whose antenna is located in the Sequoia tower. Protestors blocked the entrances and pasted posters of the French president "Macron president of the polluters" on facades of the buildings. The operation was conceived and organized by Greenpeace France, Friends of the Earth, Alternatiba - ANV-COP21 (Nonviolent Action COP21) and was entitled "Block the Republic of Polluters."
It was part of the "Week of International Rebellion." The "Extinction Rebellion" movement has a message to convey to our governments: "We are facing an unprecedented global emergency. Science is clear; we have entered a period of severe climate crisis and we are in the midst of the sixth mass extinction: an extinction that we ourselves have precipitated." (1)
"Civil disobedience movements are stepping up their actions. In Paris and London,* thousands of activists have carried out shock initiatives, targeting large companies accused of polluting and governments for their inaction." (2)* Climate activists blocked the Oxford Circus crossroads in London, the shopping temple of the capital. April 18, 2019, In Paris, "This action involving volunteers throughout France had been prepared under the utmost secrecy, (ACTION LONDON APRIL 18, ACTION PARIS APRIL 19) the militants were obliged to follow a training course in civil disobedience and were informed of meeting points by SMS shortly beforehand." (3) April 19 being a Friday, they were joined by some young activists (Fridays For Future) responding to the global call for school climate strikes.