I figured someone else would post about it, but since no one else did, I will.
What the hell are the farmers doing protesting before stage 10 of the tour? For those of you that don’t know, they were protesting the wolf attacks on thier livestock. Now explain to me this…
What the hell does the tour have to do with the wolves?
Do the wolves watch the tour? Were they upset by the delay?
What did the farmers expect to get out of this? Was CSC supposed to abandon the tour and instead patrol the region for wolves?
Because the Tour De France is arguably the biggest annual media event in France so what better way to draw attention to a cause than a protest that may possibly garner 30-seconds of free on-air time during tour coverage.
It’s stupid unless you are a farmer looking for some media coverage of your plight. I am betting there are some farmers to whom the whole idea of cycling around the country for a few weeks is pretty stupid and pisses them off.
There is the same concern from farmers in Wisconsin. Wolves are protected by the endangered species act. But even if wolves attack and kill your livestock, you are not allowed to protect your livestock by killing the wolves. Maybe we’ll see the same kind of protest before the start of IMWI.
Anyway, I think its pretty cool that the farmers are out there protesting. Maybe they just want some guns so they can kill the wolves and protect their livelihoods. What’s wrong with that?
Get free international attention Get people who never even heard of their problems talking about it Get others so mad that they will bring it up with more people.
Maybe Francois can give us a lesson on the French and protesting (and going on strike). In 2003 some theater/arts group protested at the beginning of a stage over something. I forget.
And they have been doing that since before I started following the Tour in the 60’s. Some times it the farmers, postmen, stage actors, Basques, or busmen. It is a big stage to protest on. At least they didn’t stop a stage mid race or throw tacks out or something stoopid.
Seriously, wolves/coyotes are a bit of a bother to the farmers in parts of Ontario. Apparently a number of our local farmers have donkeys to chase them away.
Thanks to protesting/whining etc. the French have achieved:
35hrs a week at work
5 weeks of holidays
some gov. jobs, you are paid over 15 (fifteen!) month a year
the right to never be fired even if you suck (gov jobs only)
and a VERY good educational system (provided you are good…if you’re an avg student, it sucks).
