The appeal

Update on the situation

For about fifteen years now, the French authorities have been supporting the agro-industrial lobby in a maladaptation to climate change: the mega-basins. These are artificial water reserves, covered craters hundreds of metres wide and ten metres deep, with a volume of water equivalent to the consumption of 10,000 people each (and there are 46 new basins planned, equivalent to the consumption of 460,000 people in a territory that has 800,000), drying up the water tables.000 people), drying up the water tables, rivers and the Marais Poitevin (the country's 2nd largest wetland), destroying the environment and its humans and non-humans, endangering human nutrition in the medium term and our ability to access qualitative and quantitative drinking water. These projects are 70% financed by public money, and will only benefit 5% of the peasants if they all go ahead, depriving some of them of their boreholes and therefore of their access to water. These projects delay our adaptation to climate chaos, making the situation ever more delicate.

Social struggles for the environment

For the ILNSS unions, the first of the social struggles is the vital preservation of the living environment of the working classes when it is in danger.

And it is indeed an imminent danger that we are talking about here. A few days ago, the Bureau des recherches géologiques et minières (BRGM), considered as a reference by the public authorities financing the mega-basins, published a report on the state of groundwater on 1 January 2023 [1].

For workers, drinking water tariffs have increased by 6% to 12% [2] (e.g. 11% in Thouars, in the heart of the basin territory) as of 1 January 2023, while food prices are negotiated by supermarkets between +10% and +25% by supermarkets [3], and the organic food market is in decline [4].

It is in this context that the mobilisation against mega-pools is developing and growing.

Situation on the battlefield

Last October, between 8,000 and 10.In October, between 8,000 and 10,000 demonstrators took part in a forbidden demonstration, confronted by 1,700 gendarmes with ammunition (tear gas, "LBD" bullets, explosive grenades), which directly impacted the construction of the Sainte-Soline mega-basin, bringing it to a halt for 10 days and delaying its capacity to empty the environment of its water by potentially a year

This time up to 30,000 demonstrators are expected in Poitou-Charente (central-western France) on 25 March, to disarm these ecocidal construction sites mortgaging our present and future. This struggle can be victorious. It is gaining momentum in the context of unprecedented water shortages in France.

For the next step, we need your international support, and the diversity of your experiences in your territories.

Call for international support

For this we invite you to :

let us know if your organisation supports the fight against water grabbing by sending support to anti-basin comrades, here

sign the appeal of 25 March 2023,

converge on 25 and 26 March in Poitou-Charentes, by integrating the international delegation of the ILNSS, and even as early as 22 March (World Water Day, to be confirmed according to the mobilisation of the ILNSS) for a visit of the Marais Poitevin and an understanding of the stakes, with fellow peasants, workers, a meeting between delegates... On 26 March, the day after the big mobilisation, a round table is planned on the international stakes of water, to which you are invited. (contact Signal: +33675792848, contact email: baptiste.larvol.simon@e-glop.net)

Cautionary note

On the other hand, while a signature and a letter are exercises that you are likely to master, considering bringing in delegates is not without risk, nor without doubt. Indeed, consider that the demonstration and freedom of movement will be prohibited and controlled. The police and surveillance apparatus deployed to hinder the struggle is impressive (DNA sampling on apple cores or cigarette butts found in the camp's rubbish bins, in-depth study of the use of mobile networks, recording of vehicle number plates by drones, extensive road checks, mobilisation of seven helicopters, massive use of weapons prohibited by the Geneva Convention such as tear gas, deployment of military vehicles)...

We will do our best to make you as comfortable and safe as possible on site, but we will need to be mobile and quick to join the procession and an overnight stay in the camp is an option to consider.

Let's be clear, the repressive machine is reaching against us records in France, and probably even in Europe. We must be aware of this.

See you on 25 March!

Thanking you in advance for your attention, and for the efforts you will make to join us [5] in the fight for water. Water is a living common, already at the heart of bitter wars around the world, while climate chaos is only in its infancy. There can be no social justice without environmental justice.

¡ No bassaran! [6]

[1] https://www.brgm.fr/fr/actualite/communique-presse/nappes-eau-souterraine-au-1er-janvier-2023
[2] https://www.lafranceagricole.fr/actualites/article/818291/nouveau-tour-de-table-entre-industriels-et-supermarches
[3] https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/la-question-du-jour/pourquoi-le-prix-de-l-eau-augmente-t-il-7265122
[4] https://www.ouest-france.fr/economie/consommation/pourquoi-les-ventes-de-produits-bio-sont-en-declin-en-france-9f08ef36-7235-11ed-a903-597f98f86ad2
[5] Solidaires' support for the call on 29 and 30 October 2022 in Sainte-Soline against mega-basins
[6] RALIMENT of anti-basin comrades, derived from "¡No pasarán!" and "bassines"