| Taking a chapter from the "Insurgents Guide For Dummies: How To Win Customers and Influence Gov't Policy By Blowing Stuff Up And Generally Making An Ass Of Yourself," with bonus companion volume: "People Unclear On The Concept™," available at an anarchist's book fair near you. |
Insurgent Terrorist Dumbass Dissident wine producers in the Languedoc region of France have raised the stakes in their jihad struggle with the French government, using dynamite in attacks against official buildings in the cities of Montpellier, Carcassonne and Nimes. A shadowy group calling itself the Comité Regional d'Action Viticoles (CRAV) | Motto: Nothing says "fine French wine" better than the smoldering rubble of the Forestry Ministry. |
used the explosives in protest at the diminishing market for their wines and at the government's offer of aid, considered insufficient to ease the industry's crisis. No-one was injured in the attacks, which caused extensive damage to the regional headquarters of the forestry and agriculture ministry in Montpellier and at its Carcassonne branch. A car belonging to the agriculture authorities in Nimes was set alight in front of their offices. The letters CRAV were scrawled on the walls of the buildings targeted in the attacks. The agriculture minister, Dominique Bussereau, travelled to the sites of the bombings yesterday, saying he "vigorously condemned" the attacks carried out by "a few isolated individuals who are seriously damaging the efforts of an entire profession". | "Winemaking is a peaceful occupation. This was the work of a tiny minority of deviants. These ruffians are not following in the correct teachings of the profit Oenovin (vsop). And I deeply resent anyone who sez different." |
It is not the first time CRAV has resorted to violence. On 7 March the group claimed responsibility for bomb attacks at three sites, including the warehouses of Domaine La Baume, which is owned by France's largest wine exporter, Les GrandsChais de France. It is thought the attack was aimed at the perceived power of global wine companies compared with smaller operators. | "Global" = "Jooos", I'd wager. |
Police at the time also found several unexploded sticks of dynamite at a neighbouring winery, Domaines de Virginie, part of the Castel Group, which owns Oddbins. On 8 March a protest by 7,000 angry producers in Montpellier turned violent when a policeman was knocked off his scooter and injured. Protesters then set fire to the scooter before running away. Six hundred riot police were called in to control the demonstrators. | Seven thousand wine producers? Or a rent-a-mob? |
Although union representatives have launched negotiations with Mr Bussereau, they have called another protest for 20 April in Narbonne. | "Brothers and sisters of the vine, UNITE!" |
CRAV's violent protests have regularly been officially condemned by the wine producing industry. Yesterday Denis Moreno, vice-president of the Federation of Wine Producers of Herault, criticised the attacks, saying he "regretted this type of action, which does not serve the cause of the wine industry". | "They've been agitating quietly behind the scenes for years, but we never thought it would come to this. We'll have to reach out to them, start a dialogue, perhaps even a panneau de ruban bleu. If all else fails we'll take it to the EU Deputy Assistant Associate Underminister for Comestibles (Beaujolais, Valpollicelli, and Yogurt Division.)" |
Wine exports from the Languedoc-Roussillon region fell last year by seven per cent in volume and by 6.8 per cent in value. The region has been particularly hard-hit by the current crisis industry, which is suffering from overproduction, a sharp drop in domestic consumption and aggressive competition from New World wines, which overtook French wines on global export markets in 2003. A fifth of wine exported worldwide comes from France but wines from Argentina, Chile, the United States, South Africa and Australia now account for 23 per cent of international wine business. Another major problem facing the French wine industry is that the French themselves are drinking less wine. Wine sales have dropped by 20 per cent since 1980. |