Borage, slightly fading

in a hand-painted jug I found for a euro at Emmaus, looking a bit tired, as I am after an enjoyable but intense evening of political discussion, food and wine that went on well after midnight. A lot of memories of the 1970s and the successful resistance on the Larzac against the expropriation by the French state of small farms in order to expand a military base. The ten years of protest brought together the sheep farmers who'd lived and worked there all their lives with workers and others from all over France and outside it, as well as our friends from the village who went to defend the Occitan culture and life of the plateau against attack by government and army and joined the exchange of ideas that has led to a movement with links with anti-globalisation (altermondialisme in French), Palestine liberation movements, organic agriculture and much more. It's still very relevant today, with the Gardarem lo Larzac organisation supporting protests against a huge and unnecessary airport planned near Nantes, far away at the other end of the hexagone. So we talked about all of this, about Jacobinism (support for a centralised state) versus the federalism preferred by us Occitanists, the scandals hitting the French government, the dastardliness of politicians everywhere, locally and further afield, and much more..... It all sounds a bit serious, but it was a lot of fun too.

If you can help fotodiario with his project to return to Lisbon to take more of his wonderful photographs, please do.