The Zadiste Movement: Defending Territories

Notre-Dame-des-Landes: A Symbol of Resistance

No grassroots environmental struggle has captured French imagination quite like the resistance to the proposed airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes near Nantes. For over 50 years, local farmers, residents, and activists fought against the project, creating what became Europe's largest Zone à Défendre (ZAD).

The movement began in the 1960s with local farmers refusing to sell their land. By the 2000s, it had evolved into a diverse occupation bringing together traditional farmers, neo-rural settlers, anarchists, and climate activists. The ZAD became a laboratory for alternative ways of living, with occupants creating collective farms, free schools, and self-managed health clinics.

The struggle against the airport united multiple concerns: protecting agricultural land and wetlands, opposing unnecessary infrastructure, resisting police violence, and experimenting with post-capitalist forms of life. When President Macron announced the airport's cancellation in 2018, it marked a historic victory for grassroots environmentalism, though subsequent evictions of some occupants revealed ongoing tensions about legitimate forms of protest.

The Proliferation of ZADs

Notre-Dame-des-Landes inspired similar occupations across France. From the Sivens dam project in Tarn to the Center Parcs development in Roybon, activists adopted the ZAD model of territorial defense. Each struggle adapted the concept to local contexts while maintaining connections through national networks.

The ZAD movement represents a distinctive form of environmental activism that goes beyond traditional protest. By physically occupying threatened spaces, activists create what they call "concrete utopias"—lived alternatives to capitalist development. This approach challenges not just specific projects but the entire logic of economic growth and state authority.