Vufflens-la-Ville (VD)
The occupation is organized around the fight against concrete and Orllati
The pseudo-ZAD which has emerged along the Venoge aims to alert on a concrete gravel pit project. Report in an ephemeral and forest village.
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The camp was set up on communal land, on the edge of the forest.
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About sixty people were present on Saturday, in particular for a conference on the “concrete war”.
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Several notable supporters have shown themselves, such as the Nobel Prize in chemistry Jacques Dubochet (in the center), the representative of Pro Natura and defender of Mormont Alain Chanson (on the right) and the initiator of the “Appel du Rhône” Frédéric Pitaval ( to the left).
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As in Mormont, banners and platforms took place in the trees.
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The collective responsible for this mobilization is still unknown.
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The activists settled for a few days in the forest.
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“Do not pick up dead wood, necessary for biodiversity”, “keep your dogs on a leash”, “free price” for screen-printed posters, or even “do not take pictures of people who hide their faces”. The rules of community life are being established in this piece of forest belonging to the municipality of Vufflens-la-Ville (VD).
Preventive action
There is a well-organized kitchen run by a German-speaking group, aerial platforms and banners hung using well-honed techniques, a “toxic dump” (in the form of dry toilets), a sound system for conferences… but no barricades like you could see it on the Mormont. “It’s because it’s not a ‘zone to defend’ (ZAD), because if they want to kick us out, we have no intention of defending ourselves,” explains Martin Peikert, spokesperson for the collective Rumbles of the Earth.
Discover the occupation in video.
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The sixty or so activists installed for the weekend, and probably more (a vote will take place on Sunday evening) are this time targeting Orllati, a construction giant from Vaud, which plans to extract gravel in the more or less distant future in this area mapped by the Canton. “At Mormont, it was too late in the procedures to reverse the situation; this time, we are going about it in preventive mode”, continues Martin Peikert. Several recurring allies have shown themselves in support, including the Nobel Prize winner Jacques Dubochet. Contacted, Orllati has not responded for the moment.
“The Canton finds concrete cool”
“We dig the equivalent of a pyramid of Cheops each year in the canton, but it cannot last indefinitely”, warned Saturday two journalists from Heidi.news, authors of a investigation on concrete and the war it causes between Holcim and Orllati. Invited for a conference, Claude Baechtold and Antoine Harari warn: “We are dealing with giants who take advantage of individuals and municipalities, with the help of their big money, without thinking about what we will do in 30 years when the gravel will be exhausted. All this with the approval of the Canton, which finds concrete “cool”, as we can see with the example of the concrete cube that is the MCBA.”
The activists indicate that they want to carry out their “democratic counter-expertise” by means of a popular consultation, although an investigation is provided for in the legal procedures of the project, which is still not very advanced, says the MP and head of the office mandated for the impact study, Carole Schelker. On Saturday, in any case, few inhabitants had heard of the action. Some said they were rather curious and benevolent, even grateful, others affirmed their confidence in the legal and democratic processes and rather invited the activists to take care of their onions.
Sunday evening, in the presence of some favorable residents, the activists chose to continue their action for a few more weeks, in particular to organize information weekends and to dialogue with the Municipal Council and the Municipality.
Coming to see the occupation village on Saturday, the water specialist engineer Frédéric Pitaval welcomed the approach of these young people. Also involved in the protection of the Rhône, he recalls that projects such as this do not only involve immediate risks for the environment. “Of course, there are the truck journeys, the toxic products used on the construction site… But there are also the long-term issues, and not just the CO₂ emissions, on which we have focused. It is necessary, but our planet has other limits that should not be ignored by refusing to question our use of resources such as concrete, and therefore gravel.
“The objective is to favor dialogue and avoid confrontation”, sums up the State Councilor in charge of the environment and security, Vassilis Venizelos, who indicates that he has regular contact with the municipality. While the Canton is singled out by activists for its role in managing the extraction of resources for concrete, the elected Green assures that he considers their concerns legitimate, even if he does not endorse their method. However, he specifies that the occupied place is in fact not a priority because of its impact on “good cultivable land” in particular, even if the 2015 quarry master plan says the opposite. “This plan will be updated during this legislature,” he said.
On the global claims regarding the use of resources, however, Vassilis Venizelos recalls that the cantonal legislative program includes a desire to become a pioneer in terms of the circular economy, in particular through greater use of recycled materials and a reflection on how to build.