For several weeks farmers in France were very angry, and in a normal French way they displayed their anger with full vigour. Last week they selected a day and on that day they blocked all ways leading to and going out from Lyon, the largest centre after Paris.
Here is a photo showing roadblocks on both sides.
Angry farmers have called for a seige of Paris from 14:00 (France Time) this Monday. And, the Prime Minister, who avoided any confrontation with the farmers so far, took tough stance, indicated that any roadblock around Paris will not be tolerated; police were instructed likewise.
There are many reasons behind the anger of farmers in France. But perhaps one perhaps pulled the trigger. According to Climate Agreement, countries in Europe have plans to cut emissions to some level by 2030. Governments projected agriculture as a villain producing methane (mainly from ruminating animals like cows and some from bacterial actions) and usage of diesel (for mechanised green revolution agriculture). So that the farmers use less diesel govt has imposed a “tax on non-road diesel”. But what the farmers will do? How will farmers operate? What will be alternate green energy farm machineries and how farmers can manage those financially? Govt just cannot go away saying ‘actually we are discouraging use of non-road diesel’.
We shall come with detail regarding agricultural crisis and movement in the pages of CC in future.
Sandeep Banerjee is an activist who writes on political and socioeconomic issues and also on environmental issues. Some of his articles are published in Frontier Weekly. He lives in West Bengal, India. Presently he is a research worker. He can be reached at [email protected]
