A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #346 - Ecology, Peasant mobilization: Agriculture in danger, support for emancipatory demands (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

A strong movement of farmers is currently shaking Europe, including 
France. If we must be vigilant in the face of the anti-ecological and 
reactionary elements of this movement, this should not prevent us from 
supporting the emancipatory demands and the legitimate struggle of our 
comrades. ---- The years go by, nothing changes for farmers. Worse 
still, the number of farmers has been divided by 4 in 40 years[1]while 
the size of farms is increasing ever more and generational renewal is 
not there. You just have to look at the working conditions to understand 
this disinterestedness: debts are added to infinite hours, all for too 
little remuneration which does not allow agricultural workers to make a 
decent living from their work. It is in this context, far from being 
new, that farmers are expressing their discontent throughout Europe, 
including in France.

However, a good number of operators point to the tightening of European 
standards as the culprit for all their misfortunes. By invoking unfair 
European competition, as well as the tightening of environmental 
standards, these farmers are playing into the hands of their 
executioner, capitalism, supported and reinforced by the FNSEA, the 
Young Farmers and the Rural Coordination. The main demands of these 
"unions" may point in the right direction, but their demands for 
execution run counter to the social and environmental issues that we 
must address now.

By requesting, for example, the application of the Egalim law which, 
according to the government, would allow better remuneration for 
farmers, these bodies protect manufacturers and distributors, prevent 
the implementation of incentive measures for climate protection and 
refuse any improvement in "animal welfare"[2]. Through the formulation 
of another demand, "the restoration of acceptable conditions for 
practicing the profession"[3], their conservative project is no longer 
even hidden. It is this aspect that we find most in the slogans, signs 
and speeches of the demonstrators. It is therefore not surprising to see 
these RN scavengers, and other reactionaries, attempting to recover the 
movement.

However, this is not inevitable, and we must loudly express our support 
for peasants who put forward other progressive and emancipatory demands. 
The Peasant Confederation opposes the productivist withdrawal and calls 
for the increase in agricultural land. L'Atelier Paysan opposes 
techno-solutionism and invites all farmers to "take the land back from 
the machines". Several associations oppose the free market and propose 
the establishment of Social Food Security.

As for us, libertarian communists, we join our comrades in their 
demands, in their desire for an agriculture allowing these actors to 
make a decent living, to feed all local and international populations, 
on their scale, the while working against climate change. It's possible, 
it's necessary, so let's do it.

Hugo (UCL Grenoble)

To validate

[1]"Farmers: fewer and fewer and more and more men", October 2020, on 
the INSEE website.

[2]"One year of the Egalim law: 21 organizations bang their fists on the 
table and challenge the government on the lack of effectiveness of the 
law", October 2019, on the Confédération Paysanne website.

[3]"Summary of FNSEA demands - JA, January 24, 2024", on the FNSEA website.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Mobilisation-paysanne-Agriculture-en-peril-soutien-aux-revendications
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