Interview with Morgan Large
Morgan Large is a journalist, specializing in investigations into the agro-industry in Brittany, working in particular for Radio Kreiz Breizh (RKB) and is the target of repeated attacks. The journalist had participated in a documentary broadcast in December 2020, Brittany, land sacrificed , in which she questioned intensive agriculture and its consequences on the territory.
Following the sabotage of his vehicle and numerous threats and intimidation, a judicial investigation was opened on Thursday April 22, 2021 by the Saint-Brieuc public prosecutor's office. Judicial information was opened against freedom of expression” . The journalist answered Cella's questions.
Why are you targeted by these acts which put you and your loved ones in danger?
In Brittany there is a double political discourse currently in vogue around the notion of “eating well”. At the same time as this communication is established regionally around this good eating, the same region finances completely above-ground industrial chicken coops like that of Langoëlan. On one side you have two young people who want to build two giant chicken coops capable of producing at least 500,000 chickens per year, with a region which subsidizes and on the other a local revolt of other inhabitants with an organic farmer. As long as I wrote about this subject and agribusiness for the written press, I was not threatened. In December 2020 I testified in a television documentary broadcast on France 5 Brittany, a sacrificed land. Following this passage, things took on a very worrying dimension. They poisoned my dog, they called my home at night, they made my animals wander... the doors of the radio premises were damaged and then, there was one act too many: two bolts from my vehicle were unbolted . At the risk of a fatal accident.
You have been working on these subjects for years in Brittany. Why suddenly these threats, acts of intimidation and attacks?
This is the type of media that changes everything. When you're on television, you really talk to everyone. I actually write articles – taking my time and more time – on these subjects which I submit to the national daily press. Television changes everything.
Do you know who is behind these malicious acts?
I don't know who is behind this. Really. This is the world of agri-food. I imagine. What is terrible is that in this documentary it was also as a citizen that I expressed myself. I am a peasant's daughter. I stopped radio for a while to do agricultural training. I wanted to know what I was talking about, to know the profession perfectly. It's useful... I know when I see a field if it is processed or not. I understand what a farmer goes through, whatever their choice, whatever their background.
Are you not breaking the myth of a nurturing Brittany?
That's exactly it: I'm breaking the regional agricultural novel. Every time there is a criticism of the Breton productivist model, the response boils down to these fallacious arguments: “but you understand, we feed the planet”, “French products are the best in quality”, “the products that we use are authorized” and more recently “we maintain the landscapes without remuneration”… while at the same time there is a trivialization of the landscapes and the disappearance of animals. It's very true: in the countryside the animals are invisible, they are in buildings and not in the meadows.
Isn't this world ending?
Large cooperative groups like Triskalia are keen to change their model when they see the double-digit growth in organic. They can't miss out and want to capture this market. At the same time, for years, they have educated breeders and farmers to hate organic.
You don't blame the farmers.
Of course not. I go to meet all the farmers: they all do their job well. Even those who practice intensive agriculture. They do their job well. They respect the specifications. They do what they are asked to do. For me, big companies use them and use farmers as bulwarks. As soon as there is criticism or protest, groups highlight it, expose it, to protect themselves. I definitely don't want to attack them. You know, most farmers are drowning in debt. Some chicken coops can cost 1 million euros. And we have to pay them back.
Are farmers being manipulated in your opinion?
Of course, but more generally Breton citizens. And behind this manipulation, agro-industry. Thousands of jobs and colossal sums of money are at stake. With my story, I can bear witness to a rise in violence. I pay to say out loud what many Bretons say quietly. But I'm not the only one.
How do you explain that these threats focused on you?
Because there are plenty of people who can't speak. I have this freedom. Here everyone is afraid of reprisals. Retaliation in the agricultural world is not a myth! It can take many forms. And agriculture is vast! There are so many jobs. If you start to criticize, you very quickly find yourself isolated. Cooperatives are untouchable. The agricultural silence factory is very well done. By telling my story, tongues loosen. For example, I was able to learn that two labor inspectors had also experienced a similar story of unscrewing a wheel after a visit to a farm. The message was clear. They never dared to say it. But this is too much, what has just happened triggers anger. Everyone bears witness to this and recognizes that it goes too far.
What you are describing are mafia-like acts.
People should ask questions. Yes, these are acts of a mafia nature.
Did you get this police protection you requested?
I'm still waiting for police protection. My last child is at home. An emergency number at least. I work and want to continue working. But how can you be calm when you leave your child at home?
What do you want ?
I claim the right to do my job well. Since the start of my career, I have never had a defamation lawsuit. I give voice to the contradictory, I check my information, I cross-check my sources.
Are you the only one who does it well?
No ! There are plenty of journalists trying to do it. We must understand that it is much more complicated in the regional daily press.
For what ?
Advertising funding for the regional daily press comes from these large groups. It's as simple as that. There is a culture of secrecy and self-censorship. I give you an example. The regional daily press did not really cover the attacks we were experiencing. We had to wait for a dispatch from Agence France Presse. Once it was published, they called in embarrassment. “You excuse us. We will cover the subject in a small section on the news page in the local pages.” Afterwards they caught up but it is clear that the journalists of these press groups are muzzled. The regional daily press is widely read but is subject to more pressing economic imperatives. Above all, they cannot get angry with unions like the FNSEA. And for the rest, the large cooperative groups also have their own press which is in reality just communication…
Is this system that you describe specific to Brittany?
Ah, I don't think so. It must be the same thing in the south of France with wine and fruit. The Breton specificity perhaps lies in the tradition of extremely tough wrestling. Think for example of the aborted Plogoff nuclear power plant project. There was a nuclear landfill project which was finally installed in Bure in Meuse and then car dumps, without forgetting Notre-Dame-des-Landes. See where the air sector is today
What are your reasons for hope?
I am thinking of the conflict over pesticides. It’s demonstration and counter-demonstration. It's stormy but the people, all with their feet on the ground, are arguing. That means we can still talk to each other.
Facts.
The journalist from Radio Kreiz Breizh (RKB), a bilingual French-Breton community radio station based in Rostrenen (Côtes-d'Armor), noticed on March 31 that one of the rear wheels of her car had been unbolted. “This act of sabotage is only the latest in a long series, but it shows that a threshold has been crossed in malevolence,” responded Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a press release on April 13. The association had filed a complaint and requested police protection for the journalist . This complaint detailed the pressure and intimidation to which the journalist had been subjected in recent months, in particular the poisoning of her dog, the phone calls at night to her home and the damage to the doors of the RKB premises. Morgan Large has been particularly targeted since the broadcast on France 5 of the report Brittany, a land sacrificed at the end of 2020.
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