Justice is often inflexible in the face of what deserves indulgence, and indulgent in the face of what would call firmness. Monday January 21, the 17the Paris Correctional Chamber Relaxed Rachel S., 22, activist of the food retaliation. The 1is last June, this young woman had stuck a poster on the protective window The poppiesfrom Monet, at the Musée d’Orsay, denouncing climate inaction. “” I later want to look at myself in a mirror and say to myself: “I tried everything” “, She said at the hearing. By his side, his lawyer argued freedom of expression, arguing that the action had caused no material damage. Despite the indignation of the museum and criticism of the mode of action, the court estimated that the infringement of degradation was not characterized.
Eco-anxiety as an excuse
Activist since 2018, Rachel S. embodies this bottle-billed generation with the concept of eco-anxiety. From climate marches to online petitions, the young woman quickly tilted in civil disobedience. The Food Riposte Collective, born from the ashes of the last renovation, multiplies spectacular actions: soup jets, collages, sequences. Their goal? Forcing public opinion and decision -makers to act. The day of her transition, the young activist had stuck a nightmare version of Poppy On the glass of the table, alerting to the ravages provided by 2100. “ This gesture is almost laughable and childish, it is the order of the sticker “, Pleaded his lawyer, greatly minimizing the impact of the action and its consequences for the museum.
Although no material damage was caused, the Orsay museum estimated its damage to 27,000 euros. Temporary closure, loss of visitors, damage to reputation: the establishment has lost big. But the absence of degradation has weighed heavily in the judicial balance, as is recent case law. The financial damage has not been taken into account. Several similar actions, involving food response, have also resulted in a relaxation. In June 2024, two activists who had thrown soup on Spring de Monet, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon, had benefited from it – the court believing that the offense was ” unhappy ». In the same way, another activist of this collective had been relaxed after having sprayed the facade of the prefecture of Nantes.
Controversial actions but tolerated by justice
-Food response does not intend to stop there. In one year, the collective has multiplied the shine, hammering that civil disobedience is justified in the face of the urgency. Justifying their radical actions based on article 122.7 of the penal code, which legitimizes actions in the event of imminent danger, food response does not seem ready to stop as soon as possible. These legal proceedings offer them an unexpected platform, but their impact on opinion remains mixed.
If some applaud these activists for their commitment, others denounce unnecessary, even counterproductive acts. The prosecutor himself expressed his reservations, believing that these happenings Serve the ecological message. Rachel S., however, fully assumes: ” Without window, this action would never have taken place. The goal was that there was no impact for the table or the frame. »
Food response has not finished with justice. On its site, the collective, which denounces a ” increasingly important judicial repression ” – Despite the numerous relaxes they are the subject of – advances the number of 35 current or future trials, including 15 on appeal. In addition, nothing is really implemented to stop the ransacking of French cultural heritage.
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