52
A Concrete Utopia
green spaces have been developed, support has been given to local farmers and small shopkeepers. The commune has rejected the advances of property speculators and supermarkets, and has avoided the 'suburbanization' that would have been seen as inevitable thirty years ago. The annual literary festival is a vibrant symbol of its new vivacity. As Yves Cochet has suggested (2005: 224), the WTO should be replaced by a WLO (World Localization Organization), and its slogan should be 'Global protection for the local'.
Is
Reducing Growth
a
Retrograde Step?
When it is possible, beating a retreat is, in some domains, a sign of wisdom. Especially when it comes to food supplies. In the OECD countries, the current trend is for food that it less local, less seasonal, less reliant on vegetables, and less expensive. And yet in recent years, the regions of France have become more food-dependent. Take the example of Limousin, which is regarded as a rural region. According to Emmanuel Bailly (2006), only 10% of all food is produced and processed locally. 'Almost no potatoes are now grown, and the surface area devoted to the crop has fallen from 7,400 hectares to about 300 hectares. . . . In 1970, almost 6,300 hectares were devoted to growing vegetables; the figure for 2000 was 300 hectares (6,700 tonnes). Regional production meets only 8.1% of the population's demand for fresh vegetables.' Limousin's golden delicious apples now have to face competition from Chinese apples that are twice as cheap, shipping costs included! And before long, local beef will have to face competition from beef on the hoof from South America. That is already happening with packaged meat. Production has been delocalized by the shareholders in the big chains, which are supplied by purchasing departments that buy from outside the region. These practices are making the system very fragile. When the seamen's strike called by
