"We invent nothing, or only very little." A portrait of Les Soulèvements de la Terre and some reflections

Les Soulèvements de la Terre (Earth Uprisings) emerged in 2021 from the decades-long Zone à Défendre (ZAD, in English : Zone to Defend) in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, a municipality located 20 kilometres northwest of Nantes in western France. Over decades, small farmers facing evictions threats, residents, autonomous groups, and environmentalists resisted the construction of yet another airport. Although each of these groups had different interests, political motives and tactics, they rallied around the fierce determination to halt the realisation of this environmentally and socially hazardous project. While the struggle started in the 1960s, the occupation of the territory where the airport was planned to be built started in the early 2010s. The creation of the necessary provisioning structures to sustain the long-term occupation of the land, and the organisation and governance of these structures, formed the basis for unity in the struggle. This was a crucial reason for the ZAD's victory, despite chronic episodes of war-like state violence.

“Bringing ecology down to earth - that is down to concrete struggles - means giving up the idea of 'saving the planet'. That superhero ambition is far too big for us.”

The movement focuses its efforts on reclaiming the commons (land and water) and dismantling the harmful infrastructures of the 'techno-industrial capitalist complex': such as mega-basins, concrete production facilities, and the “Bolloré empire”, which is a major agent of ecological devastation and neo-colonial exploitation and a key enabler of the rise of the far right in France). At the same time, the movement is building the foundations of careful political autonomy through learning by doing, season after season. Recognising that such goals cannot be achieved overnight, the strategy is long term. Deliberate efforts of continuous reflection and adaptation to ensure both the durability of the movement and the resilience of its members are central. Last year’s publication of Premières Secousses – a comprehensive book tracing the movement's origins, motivations, aspirations, most significant actions, lessons learned and reflections (also available as a podcast) – and the richly documented Earth Uprisings’ website are testimony to this endeavour.

“Acting together through the seasons. Throwing all our strength into the battle. Moving heaven and earth.”

The Earth Uprisings’ tactical strategies are threefold: blockades, disarmament of harmful infrastructure — a form of sabotage renamed 'disarmament' to more accurately convey their motives and aims; and land occupation. These strategies are not sequential and are often employed in conjunction with one another. They are the modes of action deemed appropriate by the movement. Activities are orchestrated around 'seasons'. Each season has specific themes and strategic focuses, which are determined during 'preludes' – assemblies where local committees meet to discuss, propose and set the overarching framework for the season. Within this context, local committees organise their actions autonomously and can rely on the movement's support, for example to provide food for activists during blockades, legal support, communication and mobilisation beyond the local level, and so on. The national structure is designed to best coordinate efforts, provide logistical support to local actions, and ensure timely decision-making and swift communication whenever needed. This body is made up of volunteers, who can dedicate a significant amount of time to the movement, who know each other from past seasons, and who are all involved concretely in the actions themselves. This principle is fundamental and aims to prevent bureaucratic power from building up within a movement that is striving for collective autonomy.

Effective organising against State Violence, biased reporting and unlawful ban.

This modus operandi was put to the test in 2023 when the French government banned the movement after the demonstration against the mega-basin in Sainte-Soline, which was met with extremely violent retaliation from the state. The Earth Uprisings’ legal team worked immediately on collecting and documenting testimonies of the unlawful usage of military violence by the state against people making use of their right to protest. The Ligue des Droits de l'Homme (an NGO that acts as a watchdog on human rights breaches by the French state) documented a synthesis of state violence at play. The legal team  worked tirelessly to identify and pursue all available legal recourse to challenge the dissolution. Meanwhile, the movement's spokespersons mobilised in response to the defamation of the movement in the mainstream media, which has echoed the Ministry of the Interior's intention to portray the movement as “eco-terrorist”.

Furthermore, while the attempt to outlaw the movement could be seen as a strategy to divert attention from state violence in Sainte-Soline, it ultimately resulted in significant media coverage for the movement, which the Earth Uprisings exploited to their advantage. A primer on and by the movement was swiftly written and published, bringing together the voices of 40 different collectives and depicting the movement's aims, diversity, and practices. A large campaign was launched called “what grows back everywhere cannot be dissolved”. Many prominent figures, including intellectuals, artists and activists - in France and beyond - along with 100,000 individuals declared their affiliation with the movement and 150 local committees were launched in the aftermath of the ban announced in June 2023. This collective and coordinated effort eventually came to fruition four months later when the highest administrative court declared the government's ban unlawful in November 2023.

“We invent nothing, or only very little.”

In their own words, the Earth Uprisings “invent nothing, or only very little”. They recognise the ancient origins of struggles to reclaim the commons and dismantle capitalist infrastructures. In Premières Secousses they cite resistance movements, such as the Luddites, and the Movimento Sem Terra (Landless Workers' Movement) in Brazil. The participation of the Confédération Paysanne (an anti-globalization small farmers union with a tradition of civil disobedience) from the early days of Notre-Dame-des-Landes is not foreign to these influences. The knowledge of the territories and the ecologically sound tending of the commons that the network of small farmers brings to the movement is also central. Strengthening and reviving small peasantry is considered an effective means of enabling long-term climate adaptation, sustaining the land and ensuring food security, as well as facilitating political autonomy based on stewardship of the commons. The lived practices of autonomous territories such as those of the Zapatistas in Chiapas and the Kurdish Freedom Movement in Rojava are another source of inspiration. However, the movement is careful to neither coopt nor romanticise these examples and instead focuses on the practical learning of political autonomy through action. This involves regular spaces for learning and reflection and permeates the operational organising of each season.

Unity in struggle for a liberated world

Although the movement's actions are based on local struggles, it is part of a broader post-capitalist and post-development struggle. The movement aims to abolish the patriarchal, colonial, racist, and extractivist growth regime while building a new world here and now. The actions taken to halt mega-basins revealed access to water as a global inequity issue primarily affecting the Global South. The season dedicated to confronting the concrete industry exposed its many ills, including sand extraction (mostly in the Global South), soil sealing, supporting the high-emitting construction industry, and degrading ecosystems. The Earth Uprisings acknowledge the limitations of local actions. While halting the operations of a concrete facility comes at a cost, multinational corporations can more easily bear these consequences. Furthermore, such local actions are insufficient to hinder these corporations' global supply chains. Therefore, the movement deems essential to build international alliances to step up the potential for impact on a large scale – for instance by coordinating simultaneous disarment actions in order to block global supply chains. 

Some thoughts

The Earth Uprisings' ability to mobilise beyond the usual activist circles and connect groups with diverse motivations is inspiring. Its ability to forge alliances with locals, unions, climate groups and anti-imperialist, anti-racist collectives in specific struggles lies in weaving human connections and organic organising around common interests. The movement's resilience in the face of rampant fascism is particularly noteworthy. The key seems to be a shared understanding that sticking to demands like may other movements do is pointless and that the state, captive to capitalist interests, is unable to undertake a transformation commensurate with what is at stake. An understanding that capitalism is about subjugating and exploiting the greatest number – humans and beyond. That the new world cannot emerge in the skin of the old. And that we must “Throw all our strength into the battle. Moving heaven and earth.”

Another important element is clarity. Why does the movement manage to build alliances? Perhaps because they are very clear about the need to dismantle capitalism in order to sustain life. It may also be because they are openly anti-fascist and anti-imperialist, recognising in Premières Secousses that the repression they face pales in comparison to the systemic racist violence perpetrated by the state. Recognising this position of privilege makes it indispensable to side with groups opposing these structural injustices. Defending the right to land and water and siding with the oppressed are the foundations of collective liberation. The 'War on War' coalition, which Earth Uprising has joined alongside other organisations and individuals, pursues these objectives through its campaign. It calls for action against war and militarism. The coalition "fights openly against the far right, racism, repression, colonialism and patriarchy. For us, war is a radicalised form of these systems of domination". Its mobilisation efforts are geared towards disrupting the  Paris Air Show, one of the world's largest military trade fairs. In these times of ongoing colonial genocide, the imminent threat of global conflict, and the rise of the war economy, organised resistance to dismantle the industrial military complex is more essential than ever.

This article is part of a series on movements for social and environmental justice worldwide. Find out more and read the other pieces of the series here.