“The fight pays”: this is what several associations and collective members came to say to opponents of the deviation of the RN88 in Haute-Loire, this Saturday, December 19 at Pertuis. At the initiative of the collective Sucs struggle, this second rally aims to re-mobilize the opposition, after the period of confinement, and to talk about the movement beyond the borders of the department.
In Haute-Loire, opponents of bypassing the #RN88 are organizing a new gathering this afternoon at the Pertuis. A “useless project” according to them, which the department does not need. pic.twitter.com/GJdYFwzuBf
– France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire (@bleustetienne) December 19, 2020
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Appeals being filed
More than one hundred and fifty people have moved, despite the gray sky and the cold weather, for this new rally against the deviation of the RN88 after a first one last June. On the program, speeches to take stock of the situation: a prefectural decree authorizing the work, but at the same time requiring the Region to acquire much more land than planned. “We must convince farmers not to give in to fear, explains Renaud Daumas, vice-president of France Nature Environnement 43. They operate the land, they have the right to say no.”
#HauteLoire “We do not defend nature, we are nature which defends itself”. The already well-known slogan of environmentalist struggles is present at the rostrum. A member of the collective “Lutte des sucs” even speaks of#ecocide about bypassing the #RN88pic.twitter.com/ruXvvEcd8C
– France Bleu Saint-Étienne Loire (@bleustetienne) December 19, 2020
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On the legal level, FNE 43 also undertakes to deposit two appeals to the administrative court in the coming weeks, by the end of February. Once these “legalistic” avenues have been used, only then will the question of a step-by-step struggle arise on the ground. “The excavators have to find people in front of them, if they have to“, explains Renaud Daumas.
Victorious opponents to Roybon and the A45 came to bring testimonies and support
But the highlight of this rally was that of opponents of other struggles in the region. First of all, the one against the Serre de la Fare dam project, in Haute-Loire, in the 1980s, worn by those who ended up becoming the association SOS Loire Vivante. “We must have utopias in life, we must not let go! We were called freaks, and we ended up winning“testifies one of them.
Other more recent development projects have aroused opposition from citizens in the region, such as the A45 motorway. At the tribune, Marc, a farmer, recalls the long years of struggle necessary for the abandonment of the project of this new highway between Saint-Etienne and Lyon : “The goal was to defend the land. not ours, but the one we work for food, for the common good and the future of our children. Here, we must also defend the land, the woods, our landscapes … we must defend the Haute-Loire what! “
– Celine Autin
Now retired, this Ligérien knows the RN88 well, having often used it, in order to sell his products in Puy-en-Velay. “It is stupid to want to make a deviation to gain three minutes and sacrifice 150 hectares of good soil“, he plagues. He came mainly to encourage his fellow farmers in Haute-Loire:”Beat you ! Everyone will support you if you fight for your land. “ Support greatly appreciated by the farmers present on site and affected by the project: 28 in total, including two whose land will be severely cut.
The example of the fight against the installation of a Center Parcs in Roybon was added, a project also abandoned. If they help to re-motivate opponents on the spot, these examples and comings of activists from other departments aim to make known the opposition of Pertuis well beyond Haute-Loire. “The goal is to make sure that in France we are heard. It is the largest motorway project in France that will be held here. We have to talk about it to make others want to join us“, explains Renaud Daumas for the FNE 43.
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