May 1968 and Rural Awakening

The May 1968 upheavals, seemingly an urban phenomenon, resonated in rural areas. Young farmers questioned the productivist model promoted by their elders. The Larzac protests against military expansion became a symbol of rural resistance to state impositions. Neo-rural movements saw urban youth seeking alternative lifestyles in abandoned rural areas, bringing both conflicts and new energies.

Environmental consciousness emerged partly from rural observations. Farmers noticed declining bird populations, fishermen documented stream pollution, hunters reported game scarcity. Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" found receptive readers among those who witnessed chemical agriculture's effects firsthand. The organic movement, marginal at first, began establishing its presence.

Regional movements gained strength, asserting cultural identities threatened by centralization. In Brittany, Corsica, and Occitania, language revival accompanied political mobilization. The creation of regional natural parks in the 1960s-70s represented attempts to preserve not just landscapes but ways of life.