A 21st-Century Peasants’ Revolt
1st February 2024
As I write, dozens of tractors, one with an enormous manure spreader hitched to it, are blockading off a street near our Brussels office. They moved in during the night and are now hemmed in by police; most of the farmers look like they slept in their cabs. By 10 a.m., a half-dozen or so men and one young woman had set up an open-air barbeque in the park and opened some beers while reporters took photographs. The farmers are French; more are expected to arrive soon. A blockade is going on in Paris, too. On Friday, I attended a farmers’ protest in front of the EU with several of my colleagues—that one had fewer tractors but featured a large cow painted in EU blue hanging by its neck from a loader, while French politician Marion Maréchal, the blond darling of the French Right, gave supportive interviews.