Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Life in the Vicinity of Morocco’s Noor Solar Energy Project
A model of the solar complex in the entrance hall of MASEN at Noor-Ouarzazate. Photo by Kelly Pemberton.A pilot project of ecological farming in Izerki, 2018. Photo by the author.
MER Article

Life in the Vicinity of Morocco’s Noor Solar Energy Project

Morocco's massive Noor solar energy project is not only generating electricity. Based on her fieldwork and interviews, Zakia Salime explains how the extraction of land, labor and water by the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy is intertwined with development programs, farming initiatives and job
Zakia Salime • 12 min read
The Algerian Hirak Between Mobilization and Imprisonment - An Interview with Hakim Addad
Students shout slogans during a protest calling on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to quit, in Algiers, March 19, 2019. Zohra Bensemra/ReutersHakim Addad
MER Article

The Algerian Hirak Between Mobilization and Imprisonment - An Interview with Hakim Addad

Hakim Addad has been a political activist in Algeria for decades. In this interview with Thomas Serres he discusses the increasing repression of peaceful demonstrators under President Tebboune, the positive role of a new generation of activists in the Hirak movement, his arrests and imprisonment and
Thomas Serres • 14 min read
The Sub-Saharan African Turn in Moroccan Literature
Moroccans protest against racism in front of the country’s parliament building in Rabat, September 2014. Stringer/Reuters
MER Article

The Sub-Saharan African Turn in Moroccan Literature

With the increasing presence of sub-Saharan African migrants in North Africa over the past decade, public discussions of race and prejudice are losing their taboo. Moroccan writers are encouraging a broader awareness of structural racism by including more Black characters in their novels and by depi
Brahim El Guabli • 9 min read
Tunisia’s Marginalized Redefine the Political
Protesters sit outside a tent near the entrance of the phosphate mine in Umm al-Arais, Tunisia, on February 15, 2018. Zoubeir Souissi/Reuters
MER Article

Tunisia’s Marginalized Redefine the Political

Marginalized populations in Tunisia, who have little access to economic and political resources, sparked the 2011 protests that ousted the Ben Ali regime. In the following ten years, marginalized people, especially in rural areas, have continued to push for more jobs, better services and social just
Sami Zemni • 11 min read