Janice R. Andrews
France’s Paris, January 30, 2024
Drive-slows have been used by French farmers to obstruct roadways that lead to Paris, encircling the city with tractor barriers in a theatrical display of unhappiness. The purpose of the demonstration is to put pressure on the government to address the issues that their business is facing, which have been made worse by the fallout from the war in Ukraine.
Less than a month has passed since the protest took place, and the week ahead of Paris’s hosting of the Summer Olympics looks difficult for the recently chosen prime minister, Gabriel Attal.
Disgruntled with Attal’s latest pro-agricultural policies, demonstrators contend that the government’s attempts to increase the profitability, ease, and equity of food production have failed. Farmers have launched hundreds of tractors, trailers, and harvesters in response to what they perceive to be insufficient concessions, turning the situation into what they refer to as a “siege.”
A few demonstrators have shown up armed with food, water, and tent reserves, showing that they intend to keep up their blockades until their demands are satisfied.
The demonstrations highlight the social and economic divide that currently exists in France between urban and rural communities. Protesters complain that government representatives don’t seem to care about them and that they don’t interact with the farming community very much.
The government has announced the deployment of 15,000 police officers, mostly in the Paris region, to quell any potential disturbance. The Rungis market, a vital nexus for fresh food supplies in Paris, is likewise subject to security restrictions.
Protesters set up their tractors so that they resembled an ear of wheat from above, thus blocking all six lanes of the A4 highway at Jossigny, close to Disneyland. Some trucks are carrying placards with slogans like “No food without farmers” and “The end of us would mean famine for you.”
The powerful FNSEA farm union’s president, Arnaud Rousseau, explained the demonstrators’ purpose on RTL radio, saying, “Our goal isn’t to bother or ruin French people’s lives.” Our intention is to exert pressure on the government to resolve the problem quickly.”
The unrest in France is a component of a larger worldwide food crisis that has been made worse by Russia’s nearly two-year-long full-scale conflict in Ukraine. French farmers claim their revenues have been negatively impacted by the skyrocketing costs of energy, fertilisers, and other inputs. Furthermore, they claim that imports from nations with less stringent regulations and lower production costs hurt the highly subsidised French farming industry, which is already subject to excessive regulations.
On the same day, taxi drivers organised drive-slow protests alongside other groups with issues. Road users were advised by authorities across to use public transit whenever feasible, following reports of interruptions.
