The following is an adapted and shortened version of a statement by the Union Communiste Libertaire (UCL) of France about the recent banning and dissolving of Les Soulèvements de la Terre (Earth Uprisings) by the Macron government in France.
The dissolution of the Earth Uprisings was decided this morning in the Council of Ministers. This is a new stepping stone in the worsening authoritarianism of Macronia and in the aggravation of social movements. The UCL denounces this dissolution, supports the Uprisings of the Earth and calls to join all the rallies of support.
The government uses laws created in the 1930s to fight far-right groups. After anti-racist or anti-fascist collectives, it is now a historical environmental movement …that is targeted. Radical, anti-capitalist, increasingly strong and now widely established in the social movement, it worries the state, which responds with ever more authoritarianism. The surveillance of several members of the Earth Uprisings, their vehicles or their homes was already a worrying first step. The two waves of arrests in recent days, the last of which on June 20th, under the pretext of internal security, only accentuate this authoritarian repression.
The support received in the National Assembly by Darmanin,(ACG-Gérald Moussa Darmanin, Minister of the Interior) when he announced the forthcoming tabling of the decree of dissolution, from right-wing and far-right deputies and parties is a good sign of the alliance of liberals, conservatives and reactionaries at the service of Capital, to protect their economic interests, in defiance of the health and survival of populations and of the social and climate emergency.
According to the government, no violence can be legitimate in a rule of law. But where does the violence come from when, during the demonstrations in Sainte-Soline against the mega-basins or in the Maurienne valley against the extension of the TGV Lyon-Turin, the police and the gendarmerie use weapons of war, and indiscriminately fire no less than one grenade every two seconds against peaceful protesters, hurting and traumatizing many of our comrades? Where is the violence when, following a peaceful action against an ecocidal cement plant, it is terrorism charges that are used to spy, search and imprison activists? ? How can we talk about the rule of law when Macron receives with great fanfare the reactionary libertarian billionaire capitalist Elon Musk, the dictator-crown prince of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohammed ben Salmane, who buys himself tokens of good- driven by petro-dollars, or anti-migrant fascist Goirgia Meloni ?
After the social and union movement in the spring, environmentalists are now the main targets of the government. As floods, heat waves, biodiversity and environmental destruction accelerate at an exponential rate, the government’s only response is batons, arrest and disbandment. But dissolutions will not stop climate change at work, nor legitimate concerns, nor just reactions to protect populations and ecosystems from capitalist and imperialist appetites.
Macronia (la Macronie, French term for Macron’s associates or inner circle; Macron’s supporters). is sinking deeper and deeper into criminal authoritarianism. The answer can only be unitary and popular. For there is no doubt that if the Earth Uprisings are dissolved today without a massive response, tomorrow it will be all the organisations that oppose productivist destruction and the interests of the capitalists who will be threatened.
UCL gives its full support to the Uprisings of the Earth, denounces their dissolution and calls to join all the support rallies…
We also demand the immediate release without prosecution of those arrested on June 20th, the end of the proceedings against those arrested on June 5th and against all activists who fight for the common good.
There is no such thing as green capitalism, and we will continue to support, organise and join environmental mobilisations against ecocide and useless projects. We will not lower our heads in the face of repression. We have no other choice.
Union Communiste Libertaire, June 21, 2023