Capital seeks to destroy all barriers in order to expand
I was in La Rolandière when it was announced that the airport construction project was being called off. Everyone jostled to see the footage of this historic decision on a tiny computer screen. We did a lap around the ZAD to thank the farmers who took part in the struggle, and then organised a big party.
But after that, the state sought to divide the zadistes. Of course, there were internal disagreements on the future course of action. Some favoured reaching a compromise with the state while others adopted a radical position, a pure anarchism, even at the risk of impotence. Rather than a firm majority decision or everyone just going off to do as they pleased, they sought a middle position. The discussions were sometimes difficult and they took time. Again, this was the idea of "composition." But the state did not want such an experience to develop.
What happened last week was dramatic. There was nothing but pollution, gas, and mud everywhere! The gendarmes did not just demolish the site but sullied it. Even the animals were affected by the teargas and roamed off into the forest. It was as if for want of being able to build its airport, the state nonetheless managed to plunder the territory. What is Emmanuel Macron so afraid of, that would lead him to act so violently? I think it is that today living a different, free way, a little outside the system, constitutes a threat to neoliberalism.
We have to defend these spaces that stand "outside the system." The radical Left often waves around the word "resistance." But to resist is to admit that you have already lost and that you are faced with an enormous, invincible power. I prefer the idea of "defence," which is at the heart of the ZAD experience. We defend when we already have something, which we cherish and are holding on to. The ZAD was not a utopia, but a community that has been functioning for ten years. That is what the French government wanted to destroy.
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