Tags
Africa, climate justice, COP22, environmental justice, greenwashing, Marrakech, Marrakesh, Morocco, SustainUs, travel, wanderlust
Yesterday, I arrived in Marrakech, Morocco. I am here with the SustainUs youth delegation for COP22. So far, only some of the delegation has arrived.
A mural within the Medina.
We are staying in a sort of house together, preparing for meetings and conference calls, presentations and actions, and many more things. A lot of our time is spent pitching stories and creating media.
Last night in downtown with fellow delegate Ben.
For dinner last night, we went to a cafe to meet some local activists. I hope to write more about this, but things are sensitive right now. We appear to be arriving at the time of a new Arab Spring of sorts here in Morocco…just days after a fisherman went to retrieve the swordfish of his police confiscated and threw in a garbage truck. The police ordered him to be crushed to death.
A pool by our “office” space.
We hope to scramble over the next few days to join actions and really pressure the world to see Morocco’s “greenwashing” under the present King. Much like in North America, the indigenous peoples of Morocco are facing environmental racism/classism and are not given the rights they have survived off of for all of their existence here. Like fishing freely and sustainably.
A door in Marrakech.
In the morning, I will be traveling to a coastal village with only a couple delegates to cover a special mission. The freedom we have to spontaneous follow these missions is a really amazing element to our delegation. We hope to get some narratives from a small town subjected to environmental atrocities. I’ll write about it when we return.
Some art in the local money exchange.
Moroccan Gringot’s? 😛
It’s nice to use my French again. Here is a view of the markets from a rooftop restaurant where a few of us had lunch today.
From the restaurant.
Spices in the market.
More later! Time to do some homework and pack for my day trip.
