- Dijon (Côte-d’Or), report
« Sow so as not to suffocate » : these words are drawn on a banner, spread out at the entrance of an old wasteland. Onlookers see it on foot, by tram or by car, when they pass in front of 63, avenue de Langres, in Dijon. It was here that the zad des jardins de l’Engrenage was born where, since June 17 and national mobilizations against the « re-intoxication of the world », the Dijonnais occupy three hectares of land, which they have transformed into a shared garden. A small haven of urban biodiversity nestled between a busy avenue, buildings and pavilions, a few hundred meters from the Toison-d’Or shopping center and a 34-hectare business park. There, butterflies – vulcan, blue buckthorn or even moro-sphinx – dragonflies and bees flap their wings between tomato plants, beans, squash, salads, sunflowers and a fig tree.
« No to the Garden-State site, yes to nature on avenue de Langres », wrote the occupants on a wooden sign hanging from a lime tree. Because the town hall and the real estate company Ghitti have another purpose for these lands: they want to build 330 homes. Ghitti Real Estate – who paid for an advertisement in the public good July 26 -, « offers a mix of housing between collective housing, intermediate and individual houses », « a wide green passage » who « will allow the inhabitants of the district to be able to cross the whole, on foot or by bike ». The promoter claims that « almost all of the waterproofed roofs and terraces will be covered with topsoil to allow grass, honey flowers but also real trees to grow ». « Not just a thin layer of earth », says Ghitti.
« We denounce an anti-ecological site, which under cover of an architectural project “vert” and “Friend of the environment” does not in any way preserve the biodiversity and arable land already present on the site, retort the occupants. The architects propose to raze the old trees and replace the earth with underground parking lots covered with lawn. » The occupants demand that the project be « rediscuté », « by taking into account the aspirations and needs of the inhabitants of an already well-concrete neighborhood ».
« We managed to push them back by standing in front of their machines »
In order to deter the backhoes, bulldozers and concrete mixers that threatened to destroy this space, several hundred people gathered on June 17, as part of the national appeal against the re-intoxication of the world, to lead the action there « earth connection in Dijon ».
« For several hours, we cleared the land, planted vegetables and created convivial spaces, open to the neighborhood and the city. », remembers Pierre, who presents himself as « gardener-squatter ». The first seeds were sown and a small refreshment bar was built, called « The serfouette », named after a gardener tool. « Supporters and neighbors came to help out, turn the land, water, or just hang out », he said. Events quickly punctuated the life of the New Zad: Neighbors’ Day, free-price vegetable markets, amateur circus show, music festival on June 21, or even pétanque tournaments.
An unoccupied house was opened on the site. « People have moved to live there, so that they can take care of the land and be there to defend it in the event of destruction. », explains Jonas, a humanities student and also a gardener-squatter. After a month, the occupants were « on track for [s’]take root in neighborhood life », he said, when they suffered a first attack.
- An unoccupied house was opened on the site.
It was July 24, at dawn. The inhabitants of the house woke up « to the sound of “Bip bip” backhoes, remembers Pierre. From 5 a.m., the municipal services installed barriers so that there was no entry or exit possible. ». Then, « a first excavator opened a passage, smashed trees, scraped and compacted the ground… We saw all our efforts reduced to nothing ». Residents fired back: « A few perched on the construction machine, immobilizing it. » In the meantime, support poured in and, when a second excavator set off, it collided with a human chain. « We managed to push them back by standing up in front of their machines, but I don’t know if we can speak of victory… They razed three quarters of the garden in a few minutes », deplores Gwendoline, gardener-squatter. « It was guerrilla warfare: we hit super hard, fast, and we break once everything is loose », Pierre believes.
« Lots of people came to lend a hand and kept the Gear from going down »
The mayor of Dijon, François Rebsamen (Socialist Party, PS), as well as his deputies, contacted by Reporterre for an interview, did not respond, despite our reminders. « If we decided to take this action, it is because there is a program to carry out and people to house. At some point, you can’t have people dictating the law for others », did he declare the newspaper The public good. « If we want to preserve the agricultural land around Dijon and be able at the same time to house people – which we want -, we must be able to build in the hollow teeth », he continued. « We understand the housing argument, but many brownfields have not been rehabilitated and hundreds of homes are empty in Dijon ! Let’s start there », answer the gardeners-squatters.
The days following the operation, « lots of people came to lend a hand and kept the Gear from sinking », says Gwendoline. Collective projects have been carried out « to decompact the ground, which had been compacted by the machines, she continues. It was hard, our tractor was breaking its teeth and the tiller was slipping. We had to turn everything over by hand, in a heatwave ». « It was a race against time: a week after the operation, everything had to be replanted if we wanted to have vegetables. », remembers Jonas. A month and a half later, « we can consider that the mission is accomplished », said Pierre, smiling, pointing to the vegetables ready to be eaten.
- Watch our photo report at l’Engrenage, Tuesday September 15
« Oh, a tit ! » Gwendoline marvels when a blue sparrow, a little chubby, lands in the shade of the lime tree. « We also see redstarts, pretty bullfinches, and hedgehogs in the evening », she specifies. « Hi everyone ! » It’s Jean-Pierre, a close neighbor, and his dog, Houpette, who are walking. « In the area, they destroy everything to put housing, without thinking that we are already suffocating, that we need open and common places to ventilate, to meet people, regrets this former construction worker, 55 years old, now disabled. I was very sad to learn that the Garden-State project was going to see the light of day, while we, neighbors, never had our say on this project. I am delighted that people are fighting to preserve this space. » Regularly, he brings provisions, water, potatoes and onions to the occupants, and asserts that he could « even move in with them ».
« Unfortunately, we are under deportation », sighs Pierre. This is the second assault of the town hall, judicial this time: summonsed in summary following a request from the town, the occupants were to appear, Wednesday, September 23, at the judicial court of Dijon. According to the town hall, « obviously [ces personnes] occupy, illegally and without rights or title, a community property intended for the creation of housing ». The municipality of Dijon is, in fact, the owner of the land, and a promise of sale was regularized on July 10, 2019 between Dijon and Ghitti. The occupants’ counsel, Master Dominique Clemang, obtained a postponement of the hearing.
« We won’t give up, it’s the fight of common sense against madness », warns Pierre. « The summer periods are revealing of the difficulty of living in the city in a world which heats up more and more, with the concrete which stores the heat and releases it at night, Jonas bid. We are spending a monstrous energy to save three hectares in the city, that may seem ridiculous, but in the current context, we can no longer accept that the least of these oases be destroyed. »
THE SUPPORT OF LENTILLISRES
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- Les Lentillères, in Dijon, September 15, 2020.
A few kilometers away, the Lentillères activists managed to bend the town hall of Dijon and an eco-neighborhood project called « Ecocity of market gardeners », which threatened to engulf the last Dijon market garden lands. Tuesday November 26, after ten years of a long battle, the mayor, François Rebsamen, announced the abandonment of the real estate project.
Morgane, inhabitant of the Lentillères, sees « the birth of the Gear is in a good light, a new front is opening up in the city ». « We will support each other, she promises, because we want oppositions to multiply, to find their own dynamic depending on where they are located, to go so far as to abandon these harmful projects, even when they are at an advanced stage . » Étienne, who participates in the Lentillères agricultural project, criticizes « the discrepancy between the speeches and the actions of François Rebsamen, who prides himself on putting ecology at the heart of his political being, but supports projects that are suffocating the city. Do not let it be ».
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