Zone A Défendre
Tritons crété-e-s contre béton armé

Who are we?

Website of the ZAD occupation - where the future airport of Notre-Dame-des-Landes is planned to be.

The ZAD - to the developers it is the Zone d’Aménagement Différé’, the differed development zone and for us it’s a Zone À Défendre: a zone to be defended. Either way, it’s a part of the countryside close to Nantes in France, which according to the decision-makers should make way for an international aiport.

Their construction project "Grand Ouest" is an economic platform of international importance stretching from Nantes to Saint-Nazaire, which will form a singular, huge metropolis. Fulfilling this project means taking over the sky, the sea and the land in replacing the current airport in Nantes with a new one at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, but also enlarging the port at Saint-Nazaire and constructing new roads and highways...

Our goals, in coming to live here on the proposed site of the airport, are many: to live on a protest site, where we can be close to those who’ve been opposing the project for 40 years and to have the power to act when construction happens; to make use of abandoned spaces to learn to live together, to cultivate the land and to be more autonomous from the capitalist system.

Most texts and infos are published in french and everything is not always translated, sorry. So if you want to be sure wether there’s new info, have a look on the french website. Also, if you want to help translating, you can get in touch with us !

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Featured

Campaign News

  • news from the 25th of january to the 31

    28 January 2016

    Monday January 25 The big news for today is evidently the verdict of the trial against our comrades who are having their houses taken by eminent domain. Without surprise, the judge refused to transfer the affair, as the defense lawyer had asked, questioning the constitutionality of the trial. The judge declared the farms immediately evictable, along with three families who don’t have their main residence on the zone. He “gave” a two month delay to the others. He did refuse Vinci, whose lawyer (...)

  • Direct Flash Infos 11th to 17th of january

    12 January 2016

    Ouest-France article. Three tractor drivers were arrested monday around 6pm at Saint-Etienne-de-Montluc. They were participating in a “snail operation” against the airport project. Port-Saint-Père, Aigrefeuile, between Joué-sur-Erdre and Nort-sur-Erdre, Blain, Savenay: five blockages and “snail operations” were organized this monday in the region. The collective of airport opponents COPAIN 44 intended to keep the pressure on after the big demonstration which gathered 20,000 people Saturday in (...)

Practical informations

  • In case of arrest

    9 January 2013

    In case of arrest: If you are arrested, alert the people around you so they can inform the legal team. If you witness an arrest, call the number of the legal team which is on this flyer, and give: a physical description of the person arrested aswell as the clothes they are wearing, aswell as the time, the circumstances and place of the arrest. Never give any name over the telephone, nor any kind of information about the crimes maybe commited (for example: “my friend was doing a tag...”). (...)

  • List of materials that could be useful here

    29 November 2012

    To start, two specific requests in "human resources" .. is looking for a dentist who is willing to receive people free or in exchange for donations and also an osteopath List updated November 28, 2012 * New updates for construction and medic! Bicycles! Caravans for auto-Media and the medic team Boots and Socks Chocolate and tobacco (or we could manage it ourselves) She-pees Oil Lamps (to see after 18h!) aluminum tape We had two forges in the Chestnut plantation and the cops (...)

Sow the ZAD

Texts

  • Winter is here !

    19 December 2016

    The autumn is coming to an end, and the other day we were watching the news. As usual, the politicians were rambling on about nothing very interesting. As usual, the media got overexcited. And as usual, we thought "absolutely fascinating, I’m sure". In spite of it all, contrary to what they announced, it seems that they don’t plan on evicting us, nor even to start works somewhere. We’re not going to declare victory straight away, nor start sending each other flowers. With the grumbling cops, (...)

  • unconditionnal valls : text about ZAD from Mauvaise Troupe

    18 October 2016

    Editorial published in Le Monde in October 2016 (uncut version) As we write, the noise of helicopters tries to interfere with our concentration. Every day now, for some time, they have been circling around, high up where the airplanes don’t fly, recreating the sights and sounds of war and the threat of another conquest. César is lying in wait and trying to make his presence felt. Sometimes he stays slightly on the sidelines, the better to observe us. Is he surprised by the tractors (...)

Audiovisual ressources

  • When the trees shake

    13 March 2013

    A documentary made by ZAD automedia about the big forest (forêt de Rohanne) before and after the evictions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bm6vMyDVr4 http://archive.org/details/ZadNddlQuandLesArbresSagitentWhenTheTreesShake Soon in better quality and with subtitles that are easier to read :)

  • When the Trees fume

    3 March 2013

    In french and in english. From the team that brought you When the Trees Shake this film starts off where the last one ended. Begining with the skillshare week held in the Rohanne forest, the film goes on to show how the evictions continued escalating, culminating with the announcement of a temporary halt to the destruction of natural areas in the zone. This film also addresses issues around ecology, our own ecological impact, different tactics employed and violence within the struggle. A (...)

Anti Répression

Vinci & cie

Comrades in struggle

  • News from Grow Heathrow: 7th birthday AND support in court

    21 January

    Dear Supporters, Is it too late to wish you all a very happy new year? Happy New Year. We hope you’re having a restful winter season. We wanted to share a slew of dates and events with you as 2017 gets going. Our 7th Birthday! As the year turns, so our birthday looms! This March Grow Heathrow will be turning 7 years old, and we’d like to invite you to come and celebrate with us from Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th, with our main celebratory day on Saturday the 4th March. But don’t just attend- (...)

  • No 3rd runway demonstration

    14 November 2016

    The time is now! Heathrow’s 3rd runway has been given the go ahead by our government. This is the first chance to make our voices heard loud and clear: We’ve defeated plans for a 3rd runway before, we’ll do it again. No compromises. Meeting at 11:30 outside the Three Magpies Pub, Bath Road, TW6 2AU. Make it colourful. . . come to sing, dance and shout. Banners! Share this event, spread it on your networks: (...)

Press

  • Ventimiglia : migrants overcome border policies

    8 August 2016

    Press Release issued by the European Civic Forum This week more than 400 people from a wide range of collectives and movements worldwide met in Longo Mai for the Congress of the European Civic Forum. We would like to stress our position concerning the events that have taken place over the last few days at the France-Italy border. For several months now, repressive measures adopted against migrants are strengthened, particularly in Ventimiglia. Crossing the France-Italy border is becoming (...)

  • The strugge of Notre-Dame-des-Landes face the consultation

    14 May 2016

    Soon after the extremely strong and continuously increasing mobilisations of December, January and February 2016 against the planned evictions, the government attempted a strategy : on one hand, they announced a study on alternative solutions to the construction of a new airport, on the other they introduced a referendum on the project of an airport in Notre Dame des Landes, which was soon renamed a « consultation ». At that same moment, the inhabitants of the ZAD all became evictionable, (...)