In December 2005 the CBJ team interviewed Lanig Kervareg, the founder of Carhaix’s first organic food cooperative, which opened in June 2001. Since then Lanig has passed away, yet his memory is still alive in the region. The organic coop still thrives, and he is remembered as one of Brittany’s most ardent campaigners for the environment and the protection of local wildlife.
“I have been a militant for as long as I can remember. When I was at school in Châteaulin, the surrounding area was well known for its wood pigeons. My school friends and I formed a society for their protection and this group became part of ‘Jeunes et Nature’ – the young people’s section of the LPO (League pour la Protection des Oiseaux). Afterwards, I was part of the group ‘Defense de Terroir Breton’: we tried to prevent the destruction of banks and pathways and the indiscriminate felling of trees and hedges. This was the 1970s, when Brittany was subject to a policy of ‘Remembrement’ which involved amalgamating smallholdings to make larger farms. Some people were making a lot of money out of the process; we had some successes but much of the countryside was destroyed at that time. Now some of the banks are being restored as their importance in the prevention of erosion and the control of flooding is being recognised.
“From around 1973 we were involved in the campaign to block the building of nuclear reactors in Brittany: five different sites had been proposed and we had to prepare a defence for each of them. Eventually the authorities settled on Plogoff, near Douarnanez in Finistère. There was a huge demonstration – 100,000 people – with demonstrators coming from all over France and even from the Basque country (we had been working with them to oppose a similar plan that the Spanish government had, to build a reactor in San Sebastian). There were riot police and fighting in the streets; eventually the government had to give way and the plan for the reactor was dropped.
“In the 1980s there were campaigns to protect vulnerable areas of the coast from commercial development, and efforts to support the Breton language and culture.
“I moved to Carhaix ten years ago. It is a very dynamic town. Ten years ago, it was dying, but now much of it has been rebuilt and many businesses have moved here. The council has a progressive attitude to the environment: there is a commitment to phase out the use of harmful chemicals and to replace them with eco-products, and the children in the primary schools are served with an organic meal one day per week.
“And the future? One has to be vigilant, always vigilant…!”
Text adapted from an interview © Dec 2005
Artwork: Sketch © Samuel lewis. ‘in humble memory of a great man’.
