A Good Story: The Infiltration of Anti-Globalization Activists by a Mole

First, we pinch ourselves. No, we are not dreaming: this story is not fiction, but reality. This show by Adina Secretan collects remarks really made, situations really experienced, facts corroborated by newspaper articles, an RTS program “Present Time”, a trial and two published books. In short, “A good story” could just as well have been called “A true story”. Nevertheless, we pinch ourselves anyway, as this case is incredible.

There, on stage, two actresses – Joëlle Fontannaz and Claire Forclaz – play in a small castle. The costumes, identical, are pink. There are colorful neon lights and the atmosphere is rather joyful, a bit quirky, oscillating between the Guignol theater and the chilling story of a spy case gone wrong.

>> To see: the presentation of the show

Recall of facts

We are in 2003. Anti-globalization activists are preparing a book on the activities of the multinational Nestlé. It is a question of compiling public facts, gathering scattered information and delivering a book to protest against the activities and methods of this company, in particular in the countries producing essential foodstuffs for Nestlé, be it coffee or cocoa beans. This book exists, it is called “Attac against the Nestlé empire”, published in 2004 by Attac Vaud editions. Where it gets tricky is that one of the authors of this book does not exist. Or rather, was not who she claimed to be.

For almost two years, Sara Meylan, a student from Neuchâtel, participated in the discussions of this small Lausanne branch of anti-globalization activists. She notes the minutes and writes one of the chapters of the book, befriends the group. Then disappears. Sara Meylan was in fact a mole, a spy, employed by the Securitas company for the benefit of the multinational Nestlé. Who was she really? Nobody knows.

Only certainty, all the activities, all the contacts, of this small group of militants were faithfully transmitted to the head of “Sara”, the latter receiving a bonus of six francs per hour for this particular work. An investigation book documents this case. It is called “Case closed: Attac, Securitas, Nestlé”. Signed Alex Feuz, it was published by Editions d’En Bas in 2009.

Sara Meylan was not the only one to lead a double life. Another name has appeared: Shanti Müller, a false hippie activist and active participant in numerous collectives between Geneva and Lausanne in the mid-2000s. She too will disappear once her spy mission has been accomplished.

>> To read also: Vaud justice condemns Nestlé and Securitas in the Attac case

Swiss polar

Told like this, “A good story” could be a kind of Swiss thriller against a backdrop of political struggles. This Meylan-Müller affair is also a tremendous revealer of what theater can be. Let’s give the floor to Adina Secretan, director and playwright: “A secret performance will thus have been proposed by two private companies, where the arts of performance, fiction and play operate directly on reality (…). Sara n’ hasn’t she, in a way, delivered the best theatrical performance of the decade? What does it mean to play a role, when the ritual boundary between the stage and the street is known only to oneself? we play at being two literally contradictory people, for several years? And at what cost?

In “A good story”, we learn that this price was high. Very high. Both for the actresses-spies and for the people appearing in their report. To quote Adina Secretan again: “‘A good story’ brings this affair back to the place which should perhaps have remained its own from the start: the theatre”. Do not miss this spectacle, you will come out of it uncovered and warned, with a possible little redness on your arm: where you pinched yourself to be sure that you were not dreaming.

Thierry Sartoretti/ld

^{“A good story”, Festival de la Cité, Lausanne, July 6 and 7; then at the Festival de la Bâtie, Geneva, from September 2 to 4, 2023.}