Paris       We were on the move around the world this April Saturday, whether in countless cities across America in opposition to Trump and the many outrages of his new administration, or in other cities, like Paris, where I joined ACORN affiliate, Justice Ensemble, to protest and make demands around pesticides poisoning land and families among farmers and residents in rural France.  The reports from the USA, including my own family members who joined more than 1000 in New Orleans, heralded massive demonstrations in New York, Chicago, and Washington, but also in small towns like Ketchum, Idaho, and were a sign of how deep and widespread the pain across the country is felt from the cutbacks, the firings, and the deportations.  Trump played golf and attended fundraisers, while the country burned with anger and fear.

In Paris, the protest parade was translated as Noisy Spring, a takeoff on the classic environmental expose of nature’s poisoning in The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.  ACORN’s Justice Ensemble had organized and supported groups that formed among farmers and rural residents in the countryside hours from Paris in the Riverains Ensemble.  A delegation of members and supporters had joined the coalition organizing the demonstration with other groups ranging from Extinction Rebellion to groups focused on birds, nature, or pesticides, like our crew.

It was a clear, beautiful day, underlining the fame of springtime in Paris, as thousands slowly assembled near the Jardin des Plantes or Botanical Garden in the early afternoon.  Many had been encouraged to show out, so there were costumed cows, birds, and butterflies walking through the array of flags, posters, and banners.  We were lucky to be near the front of the assembly with the lead truck setting the pace ahead of us and a coral and pink costumed drum circle behind us.  We needed all the inspiration we could find for what turned out to be a 4 kilometer or more than 2 ½ mile stroll through much of central Paris, finally stopping in front of the Health building and a circle commemorating Louis Pasteur, the famous French scientist immortalized with every gulp of pasteurized milk.

The rally was smaller, but one of our leaders, Monique Savatier, spoke eloquently from the stage, as she underlined our demands.  She began by noting that 22 million French lived in rural areas and how close she lived to grain fields and a large apple orchard, which was sprayed more than 20 times a season.  She was poisoned in her own home, while others including children also experienced the same toxicity, sometimes ending with cancers and leukemia.  Worse, despite the law promising them information, they struggled to find out what was being sprayed and how it would affect people, animals, water sources, and other parts of nature.

In her remarks, she articulated the demands clearly:

• We demand transparency. We have the right to know what chemicals are being sprayed around us.
• We urgently demand effective protective measures for the health of local residents, including protection of the water we all drink. We want to be fed by the farmers around us, and for them to be able to make a decent living for their work.
• We demand greater support for organic and small-scale farming that respects living organisms.
• We want an end to toxic substances.

How could anyone disagree with these reasonable demands, yet listening to the members and organizers, it seems local and other authorities resist them at every point.

Monique warned that the “agroecological revolution is vital,” and that they were “organizing across France.”  The same thing could be said on this issue and so many others, as people across America and in many other places around the world hit the streets to tell their truth to the rich and powerful and demand change and justice.