At the close of a cycle: the Grand Assembly of the International of Rivers

_{^{© Anne-Marie Filaire}}

When the River Enters Our Assemblies

“One of the aims of this Grand Assembly is also to invent other forms of parliamentarism, where we learn to listen to forms of life that do not speak the same language as we do.”
With these words, Camille de Toledo, writer and associate member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Nantes, opened this gathering devoted to debating a proposed law that would grant the Loire River and its estuary legal personality, enabling them to defend their own rights and interests within human assemblies.

After three years of work, this meeting marked the conclusion of the first cycle of the project Towards an International of Rivers. Over this period, the Council of Witnesses—twelve citizens from Nantes and its region—worked with Camille de Toledo to hear researchers from across disciplines, to investigate their attachments to the river and to nature under the lens of filmmaker Camille de Chenay, and to engage over the long term with the proposal of a profound transformation of the world—one in which natural entities would move from the status of objects to that of subjects. This process proved transformative, leading to the co-writing of two legislative proposals, which were submitted on 30 April to the French National Assembly, to three Members of Parliament, including Charles Fournier, who spoke at the opening of the meeting.

^{© Paquito Couet}

Under the Gaze of Non-Humans

Emotion was palpable in the testimonies that punctuated the intense debates held with the entire audience gathered that day at Le Lieu Unique, as each article was discussed, wording refined, and concepts carefully examined.

Should the Loire also have duties? Should human relationships with the Loire ecosystem be considered part of its definition—its perimeter, its body? And if the Loire were recognized as a legal person, could it receive income derived from the exploitation of its labor for human activities? Such financial resources would, in turn, be necessary to defend its newly recognized rights in court.

Members of the public—often engaged in associations or simply curious—as well as the speakers themselves—jurists, hydrologists, anthropologists, geochemists, and elected officials—shared their perspectives in a dialogue that was calm, not always consensual, but deeply respectful of all viewpoints expressed. Was it the act of listening to the Loire—made audible between each sequence through the sounds of the river captured by Ronan Moinet, artist and sound recordist—that compelled us to engage in debate with such seriousness, under the gaze of non-humans? This same invitation to place ourselves at the center of their attention was also imagined by Fabien Leduc and the collective MONsTR, through an exhibition encountered in the “hall of lost steps” before entering the assembly.

^{© Anne-Marie Filaire}

Continuing to Give Voice

“What kind of science should we rely on in our school of decentering?” asks Laurent Devisme, one of the witnesses and a scholar. He also recalls the words of Marie-Angèle Hermitte, a jurist involved in the project: “In the articulation of rights, there are always losers.” In the silence, and through listening to the sounds of the estuary, our imagination completes the journey—allowing us to identify those left out by our legal frameworks and to reflect on what past and future struggles have promised: the rights of women, children, minorities and racialized people, as mentioned by Maria Fernanda Garcia, market gardener and member of the Council. These struggles have been carried by collectives of women and men—such as SOS Loire Vivante or the ZAD du Carnet—with the Loire itself also becoming a subject of resistance against the construction of dams, power plants and technological parks that would have constrained it even further.

Inviting us to reflect on the multiple meanings of the word “work”—the work that alienates us, as well as the work of rivers exploited to produce electricity—Valentine Porcile also speaks of the work of life. She shares her experience of becoming a mother during this process, alongside the work of mourning that we will collectively have to undertake in the face of a society and a world undergoing rapid transformation: documenting what is disappearing before our eyes, and what we must nevertheless strive to preserve.

The Loire will continue to need us to defend it, reminds Cecilia Nicolas, deeply moved by the many collectives emerging in France and around the world to join the movement for the rights of nature—collectives encountered during the project’s second major gathering.

What remains, then, is transmission: through projects with middle and high school students, as part of an experimental initiative supported by the education authority; through family conversations, like those shared by Annie Touranchet with her grandchildren; and through the “laws to come” workshops designed to circulate and discuss these legislative proposals with invited collectives.

We conclude as we began, under the gaze of non-humans. Violaine Lochu - artist, singer and performer - who collected birdsong during walks in Lapland, offers a necessarily hybrid response, accompanied by her accordion. She gives us voice.

🎥 Coming soon

Two videos from this key moment will be released shortly. They will be available on the Institute’s YouTube channel, as well as on the Institute’s website, in the section dedicated to the project, as soon as they go online.