{"id":1226,"date":"2018-04-16T11:19:56","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T11:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trespass.network\/?p=1226"},"modified":"2018-04-16T11:19:56","modified_gmt":"2018-04-16T11:19:56","slug":"voices-of-the-zad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sindominio.net\/trespass\/en\/2018\/04\/16\/voices-of-the-zad\/","title":{"rendered":"Voices of the ZAD"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview by Fantine : voix de zadistes.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1972, a project emerged for a Nantes-Rennes airport on the site of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, Vigneux de Bretagne, and other villages. Resistance groups and associations mobilised to prevent its construction. Little by little certain historical farmers and also new ones, militants, but also homeless and excluded persons of all types, came together on the site corresponding to the outline of the proposed airport [called the ZAD for \u201cZone \u00c0 D\u00e9fendre\u201d (Zone to Defend) \u2013 ed. note] to live, work, and cultivate the land while preserving the landscape of hedgerows, fields, wetlands and woodland and its fauna and flora. For a few years, they experimented with a self-managed micro-society [1]. Intrigued by the anything-but-flattering image of the \u201cZadistes\u201d put forward by a few mainstream media, I decided to go and meet these \u201cradical vandals\u201d a few days before the start of the attempts to evict them. I found people with highly diverse profiles and with varied backgrounds and motivations. But they all had points in common \u2013 openness to others, a sharp-eyed way of seeing the world, an awareness of their responsibility, etc. From gutter punks to young engineers, and including young mothers and artists, their presence here was no accident. All of them had reflected deeply and had real confidence in what they were doing. A few agreed to talk frankly with me. JJ, a militant artist, lives in the ZAD with his partner. He is extremely active. Among other things, he welcomes visitors, teaches, communicates.
\n<\/p>\n

Fantine: What brought you to the ZAD? JJ : I\u2019ve been involved in several militant struggles before, including the Camp for Climate Action [2] in 2009, in England. There were people there who were very involved in supporting the ZAD. At the start, I wasn\u2019t living in the ZAD. Two years ago, my girlfriend and I came to live here because we felt we couldn\u2019t support it from a distance \u2013 we had to live there all the time. What do you do day to day in the ZAD? There\u2019s no expertise here, and no experts. We want to break free of the culture of the expert. Everybody does different things each day; there\u2019s no separation into categories like intellectuals, bakers, woodcutter, and so on. Everybody does a little of everything. I do a lot of outreach, and that\u2019s the project that brought us here. We chose to live near the visitor center, at La Rolandi\u00e8re, close to the Lighthouse and the library, to show people around Zone. We want the ZAD to be an open zone, unlike the what the State wants, which is for it to become a kind of ghetto. I\u2019ve also organized a lot of training sessions since 2016 with my partner, to be ready to defend the ZAD. I built a fire-breathing triton for a demonstration. What were you doing before then? I was a teacher, an instructor at the Fine Arts school. I also worked in the performing arts, so I\u2019m an artist. I became self-employed. I used to organize a lot of workshops for artists. I have one foot on the cultural institutions and I try to create links, build bridges\u2026 Are you involved in other causes in parallel? We also help other struggles, within a network. For example, we fed the postal workers, the letter carriers, when they were on strike. We provide material support to struggles. We hear that there are \u201cradicals\u201d here on the ZAD, and then there are the others. Are you among the \u201cradicals\u201d? I\u2019 am not at all a radical. I like the origin of the word, but the way it\u2019s used creates the idea of a value attributed to someone. Like the \u201cpoor,\u201d who are distinguished from the \u201crich.\u201d That individualises the struggle, whereas everybody is a revolutionary, which is a term I prefer. How do you envision the future of the ZAD, now that the airport project has been abandoned? Victory is always a very very difficult moment. We knew that another ZAD would emerge, and we\u2019ve been preparing for it for a year and a half. But there are a lot of people in the ZAD who don\u2019t see things that way. It\u2019s different for them; there\u2019s no strategy, nothing at stake. There\u2019s a tendency for there to be big crises in the ZAD, but then a transformation happens. The idea is to fight against the Zone being divided up, and for organisation of the land in common, collectively. This is an zone extraordinary place. It\u2019s another way of working and living together, and to deal with managing conflicts. The struggle didn\u2019t end with the airport project. The slogan is \u201cAgainst the airport and its world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flo arrived at the ZAD with her children, a year and a half ago. For several months, she had been living there intermittently, travelling back and forth between her apartment in a big city and her camper in the ZAD, at the La Wardine collective. For her, it\u2019s a place where different struggles converge.<\/p>\n

Why did you come to live on the ZAD? What are your motivations? I draw a link between other struggles and the ZAD: Political anti-racism (even though there aren\u2019t many people with racist tendencies in the ZAD), the struggle against violence against women, against police violence, etc. The goal is for no one to be excluded. In the ZAD, I can meet a maximum number of people, above all people who have an anti-capitalist orientation. La Wardine is a place where an huge number of people pass through, where connections are made with so many people; it\u2019s great! I don\u2019t believe that governments can make people happy. The ZAD, is a structure made up of people who think differently. It\u2019s an attempt to do without hierarchy. To deconstruct authority. There\u2019s no boss or leader to tell you what you have to do. When there\u2019s a decision to be made, several people participate in the process. What were you doing before? I did a lot of odd jobs in a lot of different areas. I didn\u2019t go to university. All I have is a BEP [second-level vocational diploma – ed. note]. School was complicated for me. I have a problem with authority. What are you living on currently? I don\u2019t really have a trade or profession. For me, work is not an is not an essential value. But that doesn\u2019t means I don\u2019t do anything. Day to day, it\u2019s a big commitment being in the ZAD, there are so many things to do. It\u2019s no vacation being there. I live on the RSA [minimum subsistence allowance – ed. note] or odd jobs for cash, outside the ZAD. I have less money, but it\u2019s enough because I consume alternatively. The idea is to be able to do without money. I participated in the SEL [3] for a long time \u2013 it\u2019s a system of bartering goods and services. Do you have other militant activities, other commitments in parallel with the ZAD? I\u2019ve also been in the network of home-schooling families for a long time, though I\u2019m not a really active member. I give advice, I take part in discussions informally without having an official mandate from an association. I also provide aide to exiles. I have trouble living with injustice. In fact I\u2019ve passed that along to my son. What\u2019s the point in the ZAD staying now that the airport project has been abandoned? The ZAD shows that life can go on without an oligarchy. There are no police, no courts, no institutions, no leaders. There are no decisions made that affect me that are made by people who don\u2019t know me from Adam. It\u2019s a place where you can learn so many things by doing without the State. Marginal, excluded people can live here. The ZAD recovers a lot of people who were living in the street, former drug users, etc. What could be a threat to the ZAD? There are tensions among us and pressure from the government. Since the police has arrived, they have been confiscating all sorts of useful tools such as pocket knives or gas bottles. I hope they are not going to take the gas bottle in the camping-car. It is a really hard time. People who used to live here went away. Outside the ZAD some people are jealous because they have to work to pay their mortgage and they think we ought to own the land to have a right to live and farm here.<\/p>\n

Armel used to be a young homeless person before arriving at La Gr\u00e9e, a place-name and a ZAD commune in 2011. He lives there with his cat in a caravan. He does some gardening, gets involved in debates, listens a lot and organizes activities \u2026<\/p>\n

Why did you come to the ZAD? I happened to attend a counter-summit camp in Le Havre when people told me about the ZAD at some length. So I came over to have a look. I liked it and stayed. I live in a caravan in La Gr\u00e9e and we use a motorhome as common space. How did you live before? I have no occupational training, I never had any proper occupation, I had a somewhat helter-skelter life course. I used to live in a squat. I didn\u2019t know what to do with myself. I pottered at a lot of things but nothing really solid. I was meeting lots of people, I was going beyond my own limits\u2026 Yet eventually with hindsight I realize that I was following the way that brought me here. It was like a preparation to living in the ZAD. What is your function in the ZAD? I don\u2019t have any particular function. There are lots of people who do me good, so I try and do the same, I hang around with other people a lot, I listen to them. I take part in the inhabitants\u2019 council: it means a lot of managing our daily lives, it takes up a lot of space, we also talk about individual or collective projects, we solve conflicts. I\u2019m also involved in several small groups such the one for accounts. What do you live on? I live on the RSA [minimum family income], odd jobs, produce from the ZAD. I grow food in the collective gardens or crazy little attempts of my own. I didn\u2019t know anything about gardening when I got here; I learned with the others. What will you do if they clear the ZAD? For one thing I\u2019ll be staying here until the very last moment, afterwards I\u2019ll take my truck and my caravan and I\u2019ll drive away with my cat, I don\u2019t have a dog any more. Anyway I feel like being on my own for a while. Because I\u2019m fully committed to the ZAD, I\u2019ve been living with others for ten years, and I\u2019m no longer sure where I am. What is the future of the ZAD? It\u2019s a bit of a muddle in my head between what I\u2019d like to happen and what is likely to happen. I went away for a fortnight to think about it all. I see two possible scenarios: either we manage to have mediations that can actually work, we keep a nice community that keeps moving on without legal ties, a political community with various kinds of spaces, some with a structure and some without. Or else it becomes a kind of privileged area, with unwanted people turned out, a place for pseudo alternative organic-food yuppies that could convey an outwardly attractive image but would be deprived of meaning. It would consist of people from outside as well as ZAD people, of opportunists etc.<\/p>\n

Thierry came to the ZAD through long reflection, voyage and activism. His ideal: to create collective abundance in order to be able to welcome and receive all.<\/p>\n

When did you arrive on the ZAD? In the spring of 2011. Before the 2012 expulsion, I built an igloo of wood, straw and earth. It was not destroyed but I was all alone there. I was invited to join my present collective. Since then I live in a caravan, I haven\u2019t had the time to build another hut. In fact I have preferred to put my energy into establishing the continuity of the ZAD and the solidity of the collective which turns at around six to twelve persons. The most was twelve plus five children. At the moment we are between six and eight. What training or trades do you have? After an economic and social French baccalaur\u00e9at I studied art hoping that art could render the people happier. I went into design but I didn\u2019t want to push people into consumerism. Then, two years living in a community in the Arkansas forest. On my return to Paris I became a precarious performing artist, setting up cinema scenery. I was creating illusions, but it left me time to be an activist. What motivated you to come to the ZAD? My economic and social courses enable me to analyse my World. I realise that the system cannot be changed from the interior, alternatives must be built in order to live more freely. In 1994 there was the Zapatista [4] uprising which appeared to me to be the only intelligent political path. I was interested by collective life-styles. I got involved with protest movements such as No Border [5], the anti-nuclear campaign and against GMOs. I sought out creative and joyful means of protestation such as the Clown Army [6] and Climate Action Camps. When in England. I took part in the G8 and G20 counter-summits and discussion groups. We understood that preventive arrests were taking place, and there was repression, at the venue of the summit so decentralised action was needed. There was a three day camp at the ZAD at Notre-Dame-des-Landes. That was when I arrived. Financially; what do you live on? On my own resources and on a small benefit. I try to get by without money as much as possible. It is still necessary for some things though, like computers and telephones. If they weren\u2019t so necessary for the struggle I wouldn\u2019t need them, or at least, not so much. A collectively owned computer would be sufficient. Much of Human activity is bad for the environment. I prefer to sell the vegetables and meals produced here. It\u2019s more positive, the money that is made goes towards supporting the ZAD Do you have other militant activities outside the ZAD? The ZAD is the expression of all my previous struggles. It is here that I would like to develop food autonomy and a local economy that is liberated from fossil energy and the national electricity grid through producing local energy. I\u2019m against the hierarchical system where those who command the rest do so by the force of their arms – the army and police. Here, we have assemblies where everybody may discuss the issues that arise and confront their points of view rather than following top-down orders. I also militate for Worldwide disarmament to stop conflicts, wars and domination. I would like to develop life-styles free of racism, borders and social and gender inequalities. Places where all the people feel they are equal, free from the notion of property and the privileges that go with it. There is no need for borders and identity papers in order to live on this planet. If among us there are some who are in irregular or illegal situation we are not going to impose controls on them, on the contrary. On the other hand, criminals, particularly violent ones are not to be welcomed. We can decide for ourselves if we can keep them or not, if we try to put them out. That is different from Robin Hood type justice. How do you see the future of the ZAD? The system has realised that something is happening around here, something they don\u2019t like, something that questions their economic system. They want to get us back into line. They are stronger than we are, even if we do have the network and the advantage of public opinion. The State has the economic and material force and a powerful propaganda machine. We have to face up to exterior enemies that will try to divide us. We also have difficulties to organise ourselves collectively. It is difficult to find the patience to tell ourselves that we are acting for the common good. It is not easy to think of others before thinking of oneself, each person has his or her reasons. We all have dictatorial tendencies that have to be dismantled, nipped in the bud at every moment. New participants with new enthusiasms are needed. It is a model to spread over all the planet. It is quite miraculous that we are still here and have managed to abolish the airport project. However, this means that those whose only interest was the abolition of the airport project have now gone home and left us who want to continue experimenting other life-styles. It has gone well so far, we can only wait and see.<\/p>\n

Interviews by Fantine.<\/p>\n

To support the ZAD: https:\/\/zad.nadir.org\/spip.php?article5344 (In French)
\n1 \u2013 For more information: https:\/\/zad.nadir.org\/spip.php?article86&lang=fr (In French)
\n2 \u2013 Protest camps set up near a site or projected industrial site that is damaging to the climate.
\n3 \u2013 Explanation about the SEL, or local bartering system: http:\/\/route-des-sel.org\/fr\/SELinfo (In French)
\n4 \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Zapatista_Army_of_National_Liberation
\n5 \u2013 www.noborder.org
\n6 \u2013 https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Clandestine_Insurgent_Rebel_Clown_Army<\/p>\n

https:\/\/zad.nadir.org\/spip.php?article5573<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview by Fantine : voix de zadistes. In 1972, a project emerged for a Nantes-Rennes airport on the site of Notre-Dame-des-Landes, Vigneux de Bretagne, and other villages. Resistance groups and associations mobilised to prevent its construction. Little by little certain …<\/p>\n

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