Picture by Nadir Bouhmouch. All rights reserved.The Moroccan propaganda machine has recently adopted an environmental narrative to polish its image, both domestically and internationally. But how does this narrative look like from the perspective of a fish vendor murdered in the compactor of a garbage truck in Al-Hoceima? Or from the eyes of an ecological prisoner sitting in a prison in Errachidia? Or from underneath the mud and bamboo ceiling of a peasant’s house, crumbling underneath the claws of a bulldozer in Imenchimen where a hydroelectric dam is being built?
With the UN Climate Change Conference (COP22) currently coming to a close in Marrakech and the January 2016 opening of Noor (Morocco’s magnanimous solar energy project) the presses are shooting out one article after the other - touting Morocco as a role model for its environmental and renewable energy approach.
They are right in a way, it is a role model, but only for capitalists who want to disguise their greed with an environmentally-friendly mask. Let me explain further: the Moroccan state’s move towards renewable energy is not driven by environmental benevolence, it is purely driven by corporate interests. Over the last decade, the Societé Nationale d’Investissement (SNI), a royal holding, has increasingly invested in renewable energy through its subsidiary Nareva.
