It turns out that french farmers aren’t the only ones protesting the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement.
To recap: EU-Mercosur is a free trade agreement that kills tariffs between the signatories, imposes minimum imports quotas on goods like Argentinian/Brazilian beef and includes a bunch of other regulations. The farmers all hate it. The wine producers are tentatively for it. Environmentalists and human rights activists are very much against it.
The deal was ratified by EU member states in January, but the EU parliament kicked it over to the European court of justice. So, who knows if/when it will actually go into effect.
Opposition in France to the Mercosur agreement is widespread and nearly universal, btw. Even though it includes penalties for labeling any old south american sparkling wine as “champagne.”
When we were in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago, we saw a farmers’ protest against Mercosur from a distance. And then, a few days later, we got up close and personal with another rolling farmers’ protest in Madrid. This one was also comprised of tractors and other heavy equipment. There were literally hundreds of tractors. Most of them had decked out their rides with protest signs and were flying flags from all of the different regions in Spain.
(Sadly, our friend noticed one fascist flag, but at least it was just one among dozens.)
The protest in Madrid might have been a little too up close and personal. Our bus took an unexpected turn, as the street we were supposed to go down was completely blocked off. We enjoyed the site of dozens of tractors parading across from us before realizing, oh shit, where are we going now?
One of our friends asked the busdriver and it turns out he didn’t know either.
So, the driver let us off by the side of the road and we had an extra half hour to walk back and meet up with Kristian and Lilian. Let’s just call it the scenic route.
I was impressed with how unbothered everyone seemed to be about the rolling traffic jam. I guess it’s just too hard to get mad at a tractor whose horn is playing “la cucaracha.” (Other tractor songs included Venga Bus, Sandstorm, and the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean). For the most part, everyone waved at the farmers and gave them thumbs up.
We went to the Prado later that day and walked out just in time to watch the culmination of the rolling tractor protest (the Ministry of Agriculture is right across the street).
A waaaaaay less fun recent protest was a march on Saturday ostensibly in honor of Quentin Deranque.
Quentin Deranque was a far-right activist who got into a street fight with a bunch of far-left activists a few weeks ago. Tragically, he died from his injuries. A bunch of far-right ghouls have been using his death as a rallying cry.
Just how opportunistic was the march? Quentin Deranque’s family very publicly stated that they wouldn’t be participating, and that they hoped his death wouldn’t be used for political purposes.
I think just about everyone we know decided to stay home on Saturday. The warnings on social media were pretty clear: don’t give these guys any excuses to cause trouble. Be careful about running afoul of them, because they’re racist, sexist, islamaphobic, etc. Judging by the eery quiet outside of our apartment, everyone in the city decided that their homes were the perfect place to be.
Lilian and I saw a large group of young men (and a few women) walking towards the start of the march, but otherwise we missed the whole thing. I’m not sorry to have avoided it. According to the news reports, some apartments along the route hung signs saying things like “love is greater than hate” and “Lyon is antifa.” Someone threw an egg at them, but otherwise everyone left them alone.
Just in case there was any doubt that the marchers were real assholes, the government is now investigating a bunch of them for throwing Nazi salutes.
I’m honestly a little bummed that you can move to an entirely different continent and still wind up with a bunch of fascists in your backyard.
Still, it seems that these assholes are pretty fringe. And the government put firm controls on them. They said they were trying to balance safety/security with freedom of expression. The mayor of Lyon wanted the whole thing banned, but the Minister of the Interior let them go ahead with it… provided they stuck to strict rules (no masks/balaclavas, no political signs, no flags except for the French flag, etc). There was a heavy police presence (although we didn’t see any of it).
I guess I’m not a free speech absolutist, because I’m ok with putting limits on people who want to fascist salute.
By Sunday, everything had returned to normal. Our plaza filled up with families and dog walkers, the Sunday marché opened as usual, and the general atmosphere seemed to be “Well, that was a thing that happened, but hopefully it was a one-off.” The sun even came out for a bit, so that was nice (it’s been raining for weeks now). The location of the march turned into the location for a Lunar New Year celebration.
The opposition to Mercosur seems to have staying power. Let’s hope that the same won’t be said of far-right activists in Lyon.
Sadly, French fash is fairly strong and in fact the root influence for a lot of fash in other countries. (Eg: The old English National Front was wholly based on the Front National’s tactics, and even name. Even if they are Rassemblement National now.) You’re fairly safe inside Lyon, but you do have to remember that the French have hated the past couple of Presidents, who mostly got in due to a majority of the country banding together to vote for whoever isn’t a fash. It certainly wasn’t because they liked who they were voting for.
The countryside is a very different place, and every year anti-hunt protesters get shot. “By accident”. In bright orange safety vests in open fields. Tradition is something that binds the country together, but sometimes in very restrictive ways. I suppose you’ve been there long enough to see that “traditionelle” is always a heavy superlative. There’s no greater compliment.
I listened to an episode of a podcast the other day (SNAFU) where Rachel Maddow was talking about how there is probably always going to be a percentage of people who don’t want other people to have rights. I think the best thing we can do is to be aware of the fashes and try to keep them in check as much as possible.