The role of a leading farmers' union in France's decision to ban an eco-protest group
Last week the French government dissolved the environmental protest group Les Soulèvements de la Terre (SLT), which had been prominent in demonstrations against the construction of large irrigation reservoirs in the west of the country. The main farming union, the FNSEA, had been one of the loudest voices calling for this environmental group to be shut down. Now the same powerful farmers' lobby group is pointing the finger at a rival farming union, the Confédération Paysanne, which it says has taken part in SLT protests. Karl Laske looks at the role of the FNSEA and its own history of disruptive actions.
OnOn Wednesday the French government formally announced that it was shutting down the environmental protest group Les Soulèvements de la Terre (SLT), which has been involved in a number of high-profile demonstrations, in particular against large agricultural irrigation reservoirs. Since that announcement the country's powerful farming union, the FNSEA, has been keeping a curiously low profile. Its president Arnaud Rousseau avoided giving interviews while its leaders at county or département level around France were under instructions to “make no comment” on the action taken against the protest group. Yet it was this very union which had been leading the calls for Les Soulèvements de la Terre to be shut down.
