Marine Tondelier was in Saoû this Sunday, where she is participating in the Picodon Festival and meeting with producers of the famous goat cheese. On Monday, she is taking part in the commemoration of the resistance and the martyrdom of the village of Vassieux-en-Vercors. Then she’s heading to the mountain pastures! She will spend the night in the mountains with the shepherds. She had made a commitment to do so.
Marine Tondelier was already in the Drôme almost a month ago, on June 26, for a public meeting in Vaunaveys-la-Rochette. There she met Alain Baudouin, president of the Vercors Breeders and Shepherds Association. She told us about this encounter at the time: “I spotted him right away, wearing his little red beret, and I walked past to chat with him. And he said, ‘Yes, but you don’t realize our daily lives. Politicians don’t actually know our job.’ I happen to be the daughter of farmers from Pas-de-Calais, and I immediately said to him, ‘But there’s no problem with me, I’ll come with you.’ In fact, I’ve just returned from Lorient, where I went fishing with some trawlers to see how hard their work is. And so, at the end of the meeting, in front of the whole room, we made a commitment to spend 24 hours with him in the summer pastures, since I’m coming back in mid-July for the Picodon festival. So it will be an opportunity to do both at the same time.”
It won’t be exactly 24 hours, but Marine Tondelier, accompanied by Drôme Green Party MP Marie Pochon, will spend a night in a cabin in the Vercors and will actually be looking after the sheep on Monday evening and Tuesday morning with Alain Baudouin. The farmer declined to answer our questions at this time. He doesn’t want any political gain. He just wants to show his daily life, his difficulties, and the pressure from wolves.
