We Are ‘Nature’ Defending Itself: Entangling Art, Activism and Autonomous Zones

by Isabelle Fremeaux, Jay Jordan

In 2008, as the storms of the financial crash blew, Isabelle Fremeaux and Jay Jordan deserted the metropolis and their academic jobs, traveling across Europe in search of post-capitalist utopias. They wanted their art activism to no longer be uprooted.

They arrived at a place French politicians had declared lost to the republic, otherwise know as the zad (the zone to defend): a messy but extraordinary canvas of commoning, illegally occupying 4,000 acres of wetlands where an international airport was planned. In 2018, the 40-year-long struggle snatched an incredible victory, defeating the airport expansion project through a powerful cocktail that merged creation and resistance.

Fremeaux and Jordan blend rich eyewitness accounts with theory, inspired by a diverse array of approaches, from neo-animism to revolutionary biology, insurrectionary writings and radical art history.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Environment, Philosophy, Art

160 pages, Paperback

Published November 20, 2021

Reviews

[RMD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impossible to summarize in a few words, this book describes a fight against an airport, the birthing of an alternative future and seeing the art in all things.

Should be essential reading for all activists, as it combines the very reasonable rage against an unfair system with the pragmatic approach needed for actually building a self organizing community.

Of course, everyone should read it as we live in a time where it's urgent to realize a different future is possible - and actually understand exactly how to get it.

[Stefanie De Bock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book read like a train. It is a page-turner talking about inspiring actions and how the revolution can take many forms and strategies. But most of all, the writers share a love for the planet and the inhabitants and show how important it is to defend our home with our bodies.

[Ianthe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will come back to these words time and time again

[Lex Adriaensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ooooof I desperatly want to move to a zad or forest occupation and this book made it worse!!! I will come back to the review with my favorite quotes!
Really enjoyed reading this

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are various thoughts - not a definitive review. I’d love to hear feedback if people have comments.

The authors identify "two entwined strands" of "successful revolutionary processes", with a nice dialectic (though the word “dialectic” appears nowhere in the text):

the yes and the no, protest and proposition, resistance and creation, fighting and building.

I found their particular no, to capitalism in general and specifically to the project of building an airport, more convincing than some aspects of the yes as they conceived of it. The no to the airport was resoundingly successful, with the project shelved by the French government despite the risk that their concession would empower radicalism.

I am still sympathetic to, if not totally won over by, the Zapatista slogan of “one no and many yeses” quoted at the end of the pamphlet. However, the many yeses must at least cohere so that the no can be unequivocal and uncompromised: this is the danger of the broadchurch. It’s one the zad appears to have avoided (so far), but it’s unclear how scalable or replicable it may be.

***

With that in mind, here are some thoughts on what feels like the limitations of the zad’s protest, resistance and fighting, on one hand; and, on the other, its proposition, creation and building - at least, based on the book’s presentation of how the authors “deserted” capitalism “for something very different”.

The zad is certainly that. The excitement, solidarity and various successes of the project are beautifully captured here, with much of the pamphlet involving personal recollections. They are right to aim to “totally entangle art, everyday life, and politics”. They succeeded at this in many ways. But is the zad really a way of building “forms of resistance that tried to be as joyful as they were effective”? Is such a resistance even possible?

While I think our movements could do with being more appealing, more uplifting, more intertwined with aspects of our life like music, art, festivals, we must also accept that a good deal of joy can only come after the revolution - this is what makes revolution something we fight for in the first place! We must acknowledge that the process of fighting for this will frequently be more painful than joyful. If we do not accept that revolution involves delayed gratification, we become incapable of the long-sightedness required to bring it to fruition. Resistance certainly can be joyful (bringing up the image of Rachel Keke dancing on the picket lines) but I struggle to see joy as important unless it brings about greater efficiency, better results, longer-term engagement in the fight. Sometimes it does, but where it doesn’t we should take pause.

Here it’s worth quoting Geoffroy de Lagasnerie's Sortir de notre impuissance politique:

Il ne faut jamais juger une mobilisation du point de vue du plaisir que nous y avons éprouvé, des souvenirs que nous y avons forgés – « c’était une belle manifestation » : la seule chose qui compte c’est « est-ce efficace ? ». Sinon, c’est comme s’il y avait une sorte d’autonomie de la lutte par rapport à ses buts, un art pour l’art de la lutte.

We must never judge a political demonstration by the pleasure we experienced or the memories we forged while demonstrating - “that was a beautiful protest”: the only thing that counts is “is this effective?” Otherwise, it is as if activism becomes autonomous from its goals, struggle made into an art for art’s sake. [My translation]

***

One of the most interesting threads throughout the book is the gradual questioning of its very title. “Nature”, of course, is already in quote marks, so the refutation of a Cartesian binary is expected but still welcome. “We” and “itself” are both problematised: “itself” by being wholeheartedly rejected in the final chapter; “we” by being made purposefully vague. They explain that “at times we speak as ‘I’, sometimes as ‘we’, jumping between third person and first person”. This has interesting effects, as a literary way of expressing an interconnectedness between the aspects of nature, humans included; as they say, “each individual can only live if the collective, which she constitutes with all others, is able to flourish.”

The collective of the zad does appear to flourish despite some seasons being harsher than others. But is the zad, beyond being a joyful experience of collective solidarity and creativity, a truly effective form of resistance against global capitalism?

I’m not sure. As the chronicle of the zad unfolds, this “reflection on victories”, on the fierce defence of the squatted land, the victory against the airport and the beautiful construction of its commons, is also the narrative of brutal state repression, sometimes by a full fifth of France’s military police at once.

The zad is an admirable refusal of an ecocidal capitalist project and a source of inspiration for many. But its joy is the very thing that would evaporate if it were to grow or be replicated to the point of threatening the state. Already the authors speak of burnout, trauma and depression. Against a fully mobilised state, the trauma would be generalised to everyone who is resisting. Living through armed evictions, evading mass arrests, constantly moving, witnessing the state violence against comrades and the destruction of the commons that you built and defended so wholeheartedly: this is, I believe, what awaits any revolutionary project as it approaches--and until the point it reaches--the overthrow of capitalism.

***

Fittingly enough, I was reading The Communist Necessity: Prolegomena to Any Future Radical Theory at the same time as this pamphlet. Proudly Maoist, it stands at the opposite end of the spectrum of anti-capitalism from anarchist tendencies channelled into the ZAD, making for an interesting contrast.

I’m not sure if the strength of the claims in the Communist Necessity is earned, but I leave a quote from it here. Quoting and expanding upon Mao, J. Moufawad-Paul says:

revolution is not a dinner party—nor is it a dream, a utopia, an eternal hypothesis, a distant horizon. But it is a necessity that is growing more immediate every year capitalism persists, a necessity that might vanish if and when capitalism’s death throes obliterate existence.

There is no doubt about the urgency of escaping this capitalist nightmare--and not by replacing it with a mere dream. But how will we wake up?

[Rosalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very inspiring for an activist, and anyone else who may want some help with imagining a way of life beyond capitalism.
I appreciate that it is also vulnerable and honest about the conflicts, hardship and lasting trauma that went along with fighting for the Zad. Very well written; personal stories woven together with beautiful concepts and lessons about life, activism, magic, and the art of everything.

[caskofpbr · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book (or pamphlet, rather) is INCREDIBLE! Anyone looking for a tale of a revolutionary win against the global capitalist system in which we are all trapped should read this. It will send you on a rabbit hole of more media and authors mentioned. It’s one of those things you read that, for me at least, unlocked a level of understanding about the world that will change how i move forward in life dramatically. Great reminders to live out the changes we want to see, rely on community, respect life and the balanced ecosystems around us, and practice art in every moment of life. I highly recommend and will be singing the praises of this book for awhile, I’m sure.

[Sandrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both historical and philosophical pamphlet about a couple (and others) who fought to prevent the building of an airport near Nantes.
JJ and Isabelle are “real” people - they have tried and tested live in big cities, even as artist and activist but can only find peace and purpose the wetland they end up fighting for. They are blessed for having found their place on the planet. The book also talks the place of art in activism - really enlightening.
Obviously one from my eco-feminist- anarchist son. Bless him ;-)

[Yong Feng · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, engaging and inspiring read about the occupation of a wetland area to stop the construction of an airport. It´s not so much a play-by-play account, but rather the narrative weaves the authors´ experience of the zad with references to other movements in history, their reflections on how to respond to the injustices of the world, and their roles as artists and activists in it all. A good companion to Malm´s pipeline book.

[Alicia]

An anarchist example of anti-capitalist, direct action to envision a more humane world. Both an account of ZAD-- an autonomous zone in France-- and a rejection of the Western art historical tradition. Fremeaux and Jordan call for artists and activists to cease representing a better world, and engage in direct action to more closely ensure a better world.

[Ilias Bartolini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving story of the ZAD from the perspective of two activists JJ and Isabelle that have been my inspiration for many years.

We are nature defending herself.

[எழிலி · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most wonderful books I’ve had the pleasure of reading, I intend to share far and wide

[Phuong Anh · Rating 4 out of 5]

<3

[Matti Ariese · Rating 5 out of 5]

could.not.put.this.down
whát a story! can’t wait to read it again, and again, and again.
also: looking for zad’s or forest encampments to move too. seriously, tips are welcome

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needed