Convergence of social movements and diversity of tactics: the ZAD (occupation) of the Triangle of Gonesse in the Parisian suburb

In February 2021, after ten years of mobilizing against the urbanization of agricultural land in the Triangle of Gonesse in the Parisian suburb, and despite the defeat of a huge commercial center and amusement park called EuropaCity, a grassroots organization resorted to asking for the help of alternative activists to occupy a small piece of land to stop the construction of a subway station in the middle of the fields. For 17 days, before it was expelled by the police, the occupation, also called the ZAD du Triangle (ZAD: Zone à défendre), enjoyed extensive media coverage. The activists called this encounter a “coalition of movements with a diversity of tactics,” a growing trend still little studied by the social sciences. It combines legal and illegal action, openness and secrecy, the building of an alternative micro-society and advocacy for social reform. In this paper, I examine the tensions arising between activists’ cultures and show the situational crafting of a tacit agreement around the political legitimacy of the occupation, overcoming a number of cultural activist divisions.