Support the Taslu library.

The Taslu library is at the heart of the ZAD. In the wave of expulsions of projects and living spaces, the government has indicated that it might give licences to individual agricultural projects. But the library is not an "agricultural" project, nor is it "individual". It is collective cultural creation made by the hands of many, many people.

The library is a very special place. On 1 May 2018 (May Day) we sang and played music in the library to celebrate the coming of Spring, and hopes for the future.

This website is a small celebration of the beauty of the ZAD, and of the Taslu library in particular.

We urge you to support the library in any way that you can. The library - and the ZAD in general - welcomes visitors.

Contact:

letaslu@riseup.net

For further details about Taslu see:

zad.nadir.org/spip.php?rubrique85

NOTES:

Why is library is called Taslu? Be warned - the ZAD is permanently pulsing with linguistic energy. The place is full of imaginative puns, poetry, and plays on words. So Taslu = (1) T’as lu? = Have you read? (2) Tas lu = pile of stuff that has been read; (3) Talus = hedgerow between fields. We suppose that it is also an anagram of "Salut" = hello.

The first library was built in Paris – entirely of industrial wooden pallets – and was transported here and erected on-site. That now functions as a recreation centre. Then a second library was built, in the east half of an old farmhouse. It is exquisite. The ceilings are panelled in wood (all of it recycled from pallets from the AirBus factory). The walls are rendered with yellow clay dug from the fields and mixed with straw and sand. Swallows fly in and out, and nest in the rafters (not least because the ZAD residents have built a special little door for the birds to enter). And in all the corners of the library there are little items of artwork that people have made and placed here. The books – and they are several thousand – have been donated by the very many people who come to support the ZAD, and they are a reflection of the political interests of our times – international struggles, ecology, poetry, philosophy, travel, alternative health and lifestyles. Roses climb the outer walls, the benches are made of untrimmed tree wood, and the librarians maintain an orderly system of lending (where you may register your name or a pseudonym if you prefer).

Arriving here you will find that many people like to just sit and read and enjoy the calm. Outside the full greenery of springtime is bursting into life, and soon the roses will be in bloom.

The motto of the Taslu library (see the photograph) is "Here we read - Here we stay!" It is a place that has been created through struggle, in struggle, and for the struggle.

Ce n'est qu'un début - Continuons la lecture!