On the island of Oléron, a MacDol to overshadow a MacDo


The mayor of Dolus Gregory Son-in-law during a press conference on the opening of a supply Area sustainable, Dolus-d’oléron on April 21, 2018 (Photo XAVIER LEOTY. XL)

MacDol against MacDo: Dolus d’oléron, on the island of Oléron (Charente-Maritime), where the mayor refuses the implementation of the teaching american fast-food restaurants, approximately 200 people were inaugurated Saturday a ZAD unique, an Area of sustainable food.

“MacDo No one Oléron,” says a sign at the entrance of the Cailletière, a former agricultural field of 4 acres, long defeated by the brambles, and the city council and volunteers have transformed into a “laboratory open to the sky” of new practices of sustainable food.

“In the Face of Mcd, we didn’t want to stay on the defensive, we wanted to create an alternative,” explains Grégory Gendre, the mayor of Dolus (3.200 inhabitants), in a new foot of nose to the multinational with which he started an arm-wrestling in 2014.

Stalls offering oysters natural, eel marbled or local wines, cooking workshops, conferences : the atmosphere wants to be a good child for the first event of the project, coordinated by the Movement for a food citizen on Dolus of Oléron (MacDol) and supported by the agricultural union, the Confédération paysanne.

“The location is great, a super place to meet and share”, ignites Emilie, 24 years old.

“Where Mcdonald’s is strong, it is that you can squat all the time that you want without consuming, with wifi,” admits Gregory Son-in-law. The Cailletière, so he has to actually install the wifi, provides a canteen associative and a skate park. Without counting in term of the fields in the “biological culture”, an “incubator farm”…

In recent years, its conflict with the multinational, has become “symbolic”, beyond the case of Dolus, which is common to the center of the island of Oléron (22,000 inhabitants).

It all began in 2014 when the list led by Gregory Son-in-law, then 36 years old, founder of “Ride my fried”, the company recycling the frying oils, fuel, wins the municipal election, to the surprise of all.

At the time, the project of construction of a MacDo divides already the inhabitants and the young candidate has made an argument of the campaign against the municipality, outgoing, favorable to this establishment in a small commercial area.

The new municipality refuses three times the building permit application filed by Mcdonald’s France. The multinational corporation and the owner of the land, Philippe Villa, ex-deputy mayor and now elected opposition, call for administrative justice.

– “Cowboy” –

In September 2017, the court of Poitiers requires the city council to grant the permit and forced to pay 300 euros per day of delay”. No question for Gregory Son-in-law : the town council appealed, and collections are organized to pay the penalty, which for the time harvested 32.000 euros, according to the municipal official.

Since then, the atmosphere in the joint is stretched, these “fines” financial worrying part of the population.

Has a petition against the project has collected 3.600 signatures, addresses a group in favour of the installation of the restaurant, which brings together 2,000 members on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)…

On one side, one stands for “a real choice of society” for “the bio and the short circuits”, and “models of franchise without any link with the territories”. On the other, it highlights the “40 CDI and 30 CSD that do not refuse”.

In February, a “projectile” is a window for Philippe Villa. At the beginning of April, graffiti “Estocade of Oleron”, “ZAD victorious”, are tagged on a wall in the home of a member of his family. Two complaints are filed.

“We have nothing against an alternative project, but we refuse to accept that, for personal beliefs, the mayor prevents people from having access to a trade, whatever it is,” said AFP’s Marc, a member of the collective pro-MacDo. “It is a waste of taxpayers ‘money”, laments the designer of 51 years which was critical of a mayor acting as a “cowboy in his village”.

The hearing before the administrative court of appeal of Bordeaux is expected around mid-July. If the justice allows Mcd to get a foothold on the island of Oléron, the residents will have a choice unprecedented : MacDo or MacDol.

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