In Morocco, for six years now, a drought has set in. This drought,
combined with productivist political choices, is leading the country
into an impasse. ---- On January 23, 2024, water restriction measures
were applied to Casablanca (economic capital of the country with 3.89
million inhabitants). Among these measures, the closure of hammams three
days a week. Far from being a luxurious place of well-being, the hammam
in Morocco is a central place in neighborhood life where neighbors meet
at least once a week. In addition, in certain neighborhoods, it allows
access to shared baths for those who do not have one in their homes.
Faced with the forced closure of these places, resignation is required
and criticism is marginal.
However, the political choices of recent years have only reinforced the
water crisis. In fifteen years, with the Green Morocco Plan (developed
by McKinsey) then its successor Generation Green 2020-2030, Morocco has
transformed its agriculture to increase the number of fruit trees at the
expense of cereals. The objective is the export of products with "high
added value"[1]. One example is the explosion in avocado production,
partly boosted by the investment of the Israeli group Mehadrin. Avocado
is one of the most water-intensive fruits and dries up many regions in
the world[2].
Desalination: false good solution
In addition, unequal measures are being put in place, such as the
deployment of large canals which divert water from the northern
countryside to cities further south in order to avoid shortages. This is
how, on December 18, 2023, the running water in Casablanca was not cut
off[3]. However, these transfers greatly dry up the countryside where
the most precarious population resides.
The seawater desalination solution is put forward as a magic solution.
This techno-solutionist posture makes it possible to maintain a
smokescreen over the structural water problem. Desalinating seawater to
make drinking water has significant environmental consequences (high
consumption of energy, mainly fossil fuels, and release of chemicals)[4].
These so-called adaptability solutions are common today. But this notion
is doubly disingenuous. First, like desalination plants, it creates this
imaginary where we could live with environmental crises. However, what
will adapt is the productive and destructive system at the expense of
the quality and possibility of life for the majority of living things.
Secondly, this effort at adaptability rests, in fact, on the countries
suffering and not on those at the origin of the crises.
This posture is an illustration (among many others) of the colonial
relations between the countries of the global North and the global
South. It is in this capitalist and colonial domination that the main
responsibility for this water crisis in Morocco lies. At a time when
environmental crises are becoming stronger and stronger, our social camp
must take decolonial ecology into account to perfect its analysis and
strategy.
Léo and Oum (UCL Grenoble)
To validate
[1]Highlighted on the website of the Moroccan Department of Agriculture:
Agriculture.gov.ma/fr/data-agri/plan-maroc-vert.
[2]Lopez Khi, Ana, The lawyer: subtle flavor for a bitter trade,
Libertarian Alternative, no. 346, February 2024.
[3]Collas, Aurélie, Drought in Morocco: "Nothing grows here anymore", Le
Monde, January 26, 2024.
[4]Chauvin, Hortense, Desalinating sea water: false solution, real
ecological disaster, Reporterre, April 19, 2023.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Maroc-Une-secheresse-qui-n-en-finit-pas
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
combined with productivist political choices, is leading the country
into an impasse. ---- On January 23, 2024, water restriction measures
were applied to Casablanca (economic capital of the country with 3.89
million inhabitants). Among these measures, the closure of hammams three
days a week. Far from being a luxurious place of well-being, the hammam
in Morocco is a central place in neighborhood life where neighbors meet
at least once a week. In addition, in certain neighborhoods, it allows
access to shared baths for those who do not have one in their homes.
Faced with the forced closure of these places, resignation is required
and criticism is marginal.
However, the political choices of recent years have only reinforced the
water crisis. In fifteen years, with the Green Morocco Plan (developed
by McKinsey) then its successor Generation Green 2020-2030, Morocco has
transformed its agriculture to increase the number of fruit trees at the
expense of cereals. The objective is the export of products with "high
added value"[1]. One example is the explosion in avocado production,
partly boosted by the investment of the Israeli group Mehadrin. Avocado
is one of the most water-intensive fruits and dries up many regions in
the world[2].
Desalination: false good solution
In addition, unequal measures are being put in place, such as the
deployment of large canals which divert water from the northern
countryside to cities further south in order to avoid shortages. This is
how, on December 18, 2023, the running water in Casablanca was not cut
off[3]. However, these transfers greatly dry up the countryside where
the most precarious population resides.
The seawater desalination solution is put forward as a magic solution.
This techno-solutionist posture makes it possible to maintain a
smokescreen over the structural water problem. Desalinating seawater to
make drinking water has significant environmental consequences (high
consumption of energy, mainly fossil fuels, and release of chemicals)[4].
These so-called adaptability solutions are common today. But this notion
is doubly disingenuous. First, like desalination plants, it creates this
imaginary where we could live with environmental crises. However, what
will adapt is the productive and destructive system at the expense of
the quality and possibility of life for the majority of living things.
Secondly, this effort at adaptability rests, in fact, on the countries
suffering and not on those at the origin of the crises.
This posture is an illustration (among many others) of the colonial
relations between the countries of the global North and the global
South. It is in this capitalist and colonial domination that the main
responsibility for this water crisis in Morocco lies. At a time when
environmental crises are becoming stronger and stronger, our social camp
must take decolonial ecology into account to perfect its analysis and
strategy.
Léo and Oum (UCL Grenoble)
To validate
[1]Highlighted on the website of the Moroccan Department of Agriculture:
Agriculture.gov.ma/fr/data-agri/plan-maroc-vert.
[2]Lopez Khi, Ana, The lawyer: subtle flavor for a bitter trade,
Libertarian Alternative, no. 346, February 2024.
[3]Collas, Aurélie, Drought in Morocco: "Nothing grows here anymore", Le
Monde, January 26, 2024.
[4]Chauvin, Hortense, Desalinating sea water: false solution, real
ecological disaster, Reporterre, April 19, 2023.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Maroc-Une-secheresse-qui-n-en-finit-pas
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten