In Vierzon, the National Rally-led city government has canceled “Amazonia,” a play about an Amazon employee’s struggle, loosely based on Christian Porta’s experience. Mayor Yannick Le Roux considers the play “divisive.” For its writers and actors, Aurélien Labruyère and Jean-Baptiste Delcourt, this cancellation is “explicitly political.”

A politically motivated cancellation

On September 21, the RN-led city administration decided to cancel Amazonia. The play was scheduled to be performed on April 1, 2027, at the municipal theater, where it had been advertised for several months.

By justifying the cancellation of Amazonia on the grounds that the play is “divisive,” the National Rally (RN) city government of Vierzon is engaging in censorship that is part of a broader trend of increasing attacks by the far right and the government against creative freedom and cultural workers.

Amazonia traces the journey of an Amazon employee, from his working conditions to the case he brings before the employment tribunal. Written for a broad audience, including schoolchildren, the play tells the story of a worker who dares to stand up to one of the giants of the logistics industry.

Aurélien Labruyère, an actor, explains that he reported a violation of creative freedom to city hall. In response, the chief of staff sarcastically told him, “We’re not against creative freedom… you can be creative, but somewhere else.”

This play, loosely based on Christian Porta and his experience working at the industrial giant Amazon, tells the story of how the worker was fired after attempting to form a militant union among the warehouse workers.

Although the city had been governed by the PCF and the PS since the 1950s, Vierzon fell into the hands of the RN in 2026 with the election of Yannick Le Roux. A few days before the event was canceled, on September 19, 2026, RN Representative Jean-Philippe Tanguy, who had come to Vierzon for a rally, uttered the phrase “Work sets you free”—a slogan straight out of the Nazi playbook. A few weeks earlier, the RN had also made clear its plan to ban the veil in public spaces and impose financial penalties on women who wear it.

So the city hall’s problem isn’t that the play is about politics. It’s that it shows how workers can organize collectively to defend their rights against their employer.

Systematic attacks on culture

This cancellation, which has already been condemned by several media outlets and by the Angle Droit theater company, is part of a long series of attacks by National Rally (RN) municipalities on culture, the nonprofit sector, and certain labor unions. Whether through the elimination or drastic reduction of subsidies, as in Hayange, La Flèche, or Vauvert; or, as in Vierzon, with the cancellation of certain shows deemed too “left-leaning,” or in Castres with the play Passeport, which deals with exile.

In Saint-Avold, in the Moselle department, the newly elected National Rally (RN) was quick to cut subsidies to organizations such as Secours Populaire, the Association of Maghreb Workers in France, and Apprends-moi ta langue. The CGT union was also targeted, with an attempt to prevent it from holding its “community festival,” which features artists, panel discussions, children’s activities, and draws hundreds of residents.

We must stand united against the political attacks by the far right that aim to silence artists, attack workers, and undermine their fighting spirit. Defending creative freedom also means defending the right to culture and the ability to voice ideas that challenge the social order.

We will stand alongside those who create, write, sing, and speak out. In the face of those who seek to impose silence and censorship, we defend the right to make our struggles heard and to keep the spirit of protest alive—through culture as well as in the arena of class struggle.