From Lot-et-Garonne, Rural Coordination, a union courted by the far right, on the offensive against the government
In the department, everyone calls him “Bousquet-Castagne”, in reference to his muscular methods. At 64, Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, farmer at the head of the Rural Coordination (CR) of Lot-et-Garonne, native of Fumel, in the north of the department, is one of the leading figures of agricultural anger. He is one of those who, on Saturday January 27, within the CR, called on farmers to join Paris, from Agen, to block the Rungis market (Val-de-Marne).
Founded in 1991 in the Gers, the movement, already at the time, wanted to break with the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA), judged “accomplice of the measures of the common agricultural policy of 1992, liberal and destructive of the peasant world”. Having become an agricultural union in 1995, the CR defines itself as “apartisane” and “builds its positions, not on an ideology or a partisan program, but on common sense and reflection”.
A willing catch-all, the CR is both “anti-ecological”, favorable to protectionism, fighting for community preference and the autonomy of farmers. On the left, the CR is castigated as a far-right union, partly because one of Serge Bousquet-Cassagne’s sons was a candidate in the partial legislative elections in Villeneuve-sur-Lot in 2013, under the banner of the National Front ( became National Rally, RN). Politically, the president with the physical appearance of a mover declares himself ” of right “.
Find the full article below by Philippe Gagnebet on this union which is increasing its punching actions and has called on farmers to block the Rungis market, in the Paris region.