Having extensively studied the black blocs, often labeled as terrorists by some police unionists, I frequently pose a puzzling question to those vehemently condemning the “ultra” violence of the “ultra-left” – a term strategically employed to heighten the perceived threat: who raided a minister’s office? From which movement did extremists emerge, detaining a minister for two hours, necessitating a helicopter evacuation by the police?
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Black Blocs
In what demonstrations do public buildings face recurrent attacks, vandalism, and occasional arson? Who consistently targets the premises of opposing organizations or, as witnessed in March 2023, the personal residence of an activist? What group resembles “Zadists” occupying a highway for five days, undisturbed by the police and reassured by Darmanin’s promise to refrain from sending law enforcement?
Black blocks? “Eco-terrorists”? Yellow vests? Hooligans? Conspiracy theorists? Listing these various categories representing absolute evil, the interlocutor falls into perplexity, conceding that regardless, such an organization should be disbanded.
This organization is the FNSEA, the premier farmers’ union in France, and in terms of violence during their mobilizations against the State, it surpasses all other movements mentioned earlier. Notably, the FNSEA was responsible for the invasion of the Ministry of Land Planning and Ecology on February 8, 1999, a culmination of a union strike leading to the ransacking of the minister’s office, physical assaults, and theft. The Minister, Dominique Voynet, and the competing union, the Peasant Confederation, denounced the impunity of FNSEA sympathizers.
Despite such incidents, the Prime Minister chose to highlight the FNSEA on January 22, treating it as the sole interlocutor to defuse the crisis. The FNSEA, which pressured the government to dissolve the Earth Uprisings, played the legalistic and responsible card during the parliamentary inquiry into violence by small groups in the spring of 2023. Cédric Tranquard, a union member, claimed a “legalistic culture” despite historical statements favoring destructive actions.
The FNSEA, often labeled agro-terrorists, receives preferential treatment from the government due to its alignment with the liberal and productivist system. Despite its violence against state institutions, it does not challenge the capitalist system. In contrast, the FNSEA attacks regulations, especially environmental ones, advocating for pesticides and chemicals. The union’s close ties with agro-industry giants and its defense of rampant capitalism make it a paradoxical figure in agriculture, prioritizing profits over the welfare of farmers and the environment.
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