Perhaps the best way to get to know Alba, a small town in the province of Cuneo, in the Piedmont region, is to open a book by Beppe Fenoglio, one of the major Italian writers of his time. He wrote extensively about the city and the surrounding hills, the (…)
Should construction industry giants be worried? After open-source software and the manufacture of machines and objects, the global fabber [3-D printer] community is now turning to actual open-source house construction. Providing plans and techniques that are accessible to everyone, collaborative construction and assemblage of components (from the United States to France, by way of Great Britain), a true community of “free housing” is emerging and self-organizing to revolutionize construction and its financing and to provide everyone access to more suitable housing.
Walls and wire fences are not all that’s being built at Europe’s borders. The European Commission and Security Companies dream of “smart borders”: a multitude of automated and interconnected files and control apparatuses able to follow each individual. The program’s objective? Counter-terrorism and keeping migrants out. But these structures — the effectiveness of which remains to be demonstrated — risk straining public finances, while threatening civil liberties and private life, should some states decide to pass from border control of each person to surveillance of everybody
Blockades are popular these days in France. This time, it was the turn of the Bolloré group, located in Puteaux (Hauts-de-seine), to experience this form of protest. For nearly three hours on the morning of 3 June, around a hundred protesters peacefully blockaded the entrances to the headquarters of one of the country’s most powerful companies. Protestors challenged Bolloré shareholders as they attempted to enter their meeting.
Instead of concrete and fibreglass, what about opting for straw? An inexpensive, readily-available insulation material that is both renowned for its high performance and for being environmentally friendly. Although for a long time it was used primarily for houses, straw is now being successfully put to use in public buildings, schools, kindergartens and community halls with an increasing number of experiments in both cities and rural areas thanks to a few proactive councillors. And since 2012, an official building code on straw constructions is available, which consulting firms and insurance companies can refer to. But these projects would not see the light of day without the motivation and determination of local councillors and building professionals. An encounter with the pioneers of the low-carbon buildings of the future.
How many Vietnamese workers is Cristiano Ronaldo worth, according to Nike? How many Chinese workers is Adidas’ sponsorship contract with the German team worth? Global sportswear brands have spent massive amounts on advertising and sponsorship for the Euro 2016 championship. Basta! and Alternatives économiques investigated what happens at the other end of the chain, where workers make shoes or jerseys for players and their fans. Despite the rhetoric about “social responsibility”, these major brands are still engaged in a race to the bottom. They are now leaving China – where wages are on the rise – for countries with even lower “labour costs”.
Grande-Synthe, in the north of France, is one of the very few French towns that welcome hundreds of migrants with dignity and respect. Despite 28 percent unemployment of its active population and a third of households living below the poverty line, Grande-Synthe is also a place where ambitious environmental and social policies are conducted. Mayor Damien Carême and his team support a popular university in the service of the town’s residents, have created the first renewable energy stadium in France and are building an eco-neighborhood accessible to the poor. Their political resolution is compounded by solidarity with refugees en route to the United Kingdom, making the experience of Grande-Synthe’s refugees very different from the fate reserved for migrants in Calais’ nearby seedy shantytowns.
Half of World Heritage sites are currently threatened by industrial development, and the oil and mining sectors pose a particular threat. So many invaluable sites and biodiversity sanctuaries face being wiped off the map just because we are unable to do anything about our voracious model of development. Several French transnational corporations are among those involved in projects that could herald the end of these exceptional sites. Some of the sites facing destruction include national parks in Africa, the Arctic islands, virgin forests in Asia, and the Amazon Basin.
The large majority of France’s car fleet runs on diesel, despite its lamentable health effects and the enormous costs involved for society. But who is to blame? Since the eighties, political authorities, industrial figures and transport professionals have persistently backed the diesel engine even though its emissions have always been recognized as extremely harmful – and even carcinogenic. And the evidence continues to mount against it. But the French government recently announced an increase in the price of diesel. After thirty years going backwards, is there hope that things will finally change?
Within the last few years, a little network of health centers unlike any other has been forged all through working-class neighborhoods in France. “Health Space,” “Health Square” and “Massilia Health System” are all projects conceived by social workers, doctors and residents who want to prove that it’s possible to provide health care in a different way, without endless prescriptions and assembly-line consultations. With a leitmotif: If health is determined by the social environment, then access to social rights and services is as important as health care. If it gets financing, this promising model could well have a significant impact.
Apple, Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung: giants of the electronics industry ... who don’t really seem to know from where some of their raw material comes from. Tin is essential for the welds in the electronic plates of smartphones or tablets. At the other end of the production line, in the Indonesian mines of Bangka which provide 30% of the world’s tin, one person dies each week.
“Responsible” but still contributing to climate change? In recent months, BNP Paribas has engaged in a large-scale media campaign aimed at presenting itself as a responsible, environment- and climate-conscious bank. Yet its financing of megaprojects –notably in the coal industry- has continued uninterrupted.
Six months ago, the Rana Plaza building and its five textile factories collapsed, resulting in 1.133 deaths and even more injured. One of the brands for which they were working is Auchan, but the firm still refuses to contribute to the compensation fund. Because of this, the company was nominated in the “Dirty hands, deep pockets” category of the 2013 Pinocchio award. This award is organised by Friends of the Earth France to “name and shame” companies with poor social and environmental records [1].
While it is reducing the number of its workers in France, Michelin is preparing to open up a new tyre factory in India. Tax and labour legislation exemptions are at the heart of the project, which is provoking the wrath of local communities, who have seen their livelihood destroyed. The French union CGT and several Indian and French NGOs argue that the project constitutes a violation of the “OECD guidelines” which transnational corporations such as Michelin are supposed to respect as a matter of social responsibility. However, economic leaders and the French government seem to be fixated on a regressive conception of corporate responsibility.
A formal complaint for corruption against Vinci Concessions Russie SA, and against X, was filed in France on 24 June, 2013 by a coalition of European and Russian groups (Sherpa, Russie-Libertés, CEE-Bankwatch, etc.). A French court has agreed to open a preliminary investigation, which might contribute to shining the light on the alleged facts. The case revolves around the contract awarded to Vinci for building a highly controversial highway, which will destroy a large portion of the Khimki forest.
This article was originally published in French and was translated by Gillian Morris. Veolia has left Berlin. The French water giant publically announced this week that it had come to an agreement with authorities in Berlin with regards to selling back (…)
It almost resembles a gold rush. Dozens of requests for licences have been filed by several mining companies with Australian, Singaporean and Egyptian capital to explore the French subsoil and its metal ores. A first wave of exploration has been authorised in Sarthe. The excitement over commodities is spreading to other regions, without any certainty that local communities will be consulted or that these mining activities will be kept strictly supervised, considering past pollution issues.
In Argentina, it’s the Mapuche’s turn to oppose the exploitation of shale gas and tight oil. More than 5000 people demonstrated in Neuquén, Patagonia, against the ratification by the provincial legislature of an accord between the Argentinian company YPF and the American oil major Chevron.
U.S. local authorities spend fortunes in order to attract factories and big scale industrial projects. A report reveals how these “mega-deals” fare in terms of number of jobs created. The happy beneficiaries include French industrial groups, including nuclear firm Areva, which was granted 276 million dollars to establish a factory that created 250 jobs!
This article was originally published in French. Translated by Laura Voicu. In the morning of the 2nd of June, 2013, under the protection of security guards, the American multinational Chevron took possession of a piece of land situated close to (…)
