Walking on their heads

If you’ve visited France over the last few months you may have noticed some village signs that are upside down. We noticed this one, near us, just before Christmas, and were curious as to why it had been done. After a little bit of research, we discovered that it is a protest by local farmers, to raise awareness of the challenges they face in their industry currently. This initially rather odd protest started in the Occitanie region, in the south of France, but has now spread nationally. It was intended as a harmless way to bring attention to their plight, which is trying to highlight the seemingly contradictory rules they have to contend with as EU members, that are not applied to foreign importers. There is a specific reason they they have chosen to turn the village signs over, it’s because in France when someone is asked to do one thing one day and then the opposite on the next day, they say they are ‘Walking on their heads’.

It’s hard to tell if it has, or will have, an impact on government, however it is getting noticed and it is making people ask “Why is the village sign upside down?”.