Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Environment

'We Want to Breathe'—Dispatch from Gabes, Tunisia
Protesters carry placards and chant slogans as they march in the southern city of Gabes, Tunisia, on October 31, 2025, demanding the dismantling of the state-run phosphate processing plant. (Fethi Belaid/AFP via Getty Images)
Activism

'We Want to Breathe'—Dispatch from Gabes, Tunisia

A few weeks into the 2025 school year, in a middle school in Chott Essalem, Tunisia, students began to feel dizzy and light-headed and their throats tightened. Within minutes, they began collapsing, one after another. More mass asphyxiation events, as residents describe them, occurred throughout the month of September and
Dhouha Djerbi • 8 min read
A Deadly Trade—Refugee Labor in Turkey and Europe's Plastic Waste
Workers separate waste at a recycling factory, Antalya, Turkey, 2021. Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesHayat and Khalid load plastic into a dilapidated shredder at the plastic recycling factory where they live and work in the Cebeci industrial district of Istanbul. Photo courtesy of the author.Hayat takes a rest from shredding plastic waste to call his mother in Afghanistan at the plastic recycling factory where he lives and works in the Cebeci industrial district of Istanbul. Photo courtesy of the author.Naseem in the converted storage closet he shared as a bedroom with Hayat and Khalid. Naseem has managed to leave Turkey, arriving in Europe in the summer of 2023 after more than a year living and working in the factory. Photo courtesy of the author.
Current Analysis

A Deadly Trade—Refugee Labor in Turkey and Europe's Plastic Waste

China's ban on plastic waste imports and EU efforts to curb migration have converged in Turkey, enabling a dangerous industry.
Adnan Khan • 16 min read
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
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.
Current Analysis

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 Long Shadow of Iraq’s Cancer Epidemic and COVID-19
Iraqi cancer survivor Sabrin Abdul-Zahra carries a child also afflicted with the illness as part of a vow to help children after her own suffering, at a hospital in Basra. January 2020. Essam Al-Sudani/Reuters
MER Article

The Long Shadow of Iraq’s Cancer Epidemic and COVID-19

The epidemic of cancer in Iraq that emerged after the 1991 Gulf War has afflicted nearly every family. In response to a health care system devastated by sanctions and war, Iraqis acquired decades of experience piecing together novel mechanisms for obtaining treatment. The tendency of families to rel
Mac Skelton • 16 min read
The Long Shadow of Iraq’s Cancer Epidemic and COVID-19
Iraqi cancer survivor Sabrin Abdul-Zahra carries a child also afflicted with the illness as part of a vow to help children after her own suffering, at a hospital in Basra. January 2020. Essam Al-Sudani/Reuters
Covid-19 Coverage

The Long Shadow of Iraq’s Cancer Epidemic and COVID-19

The epidemic of cancer in Iraq that emerged after the 1991 Gulf War has afflicted nearly every family. In response to a health care system devastated by sanctions and war, Iraqis acquired decades of experience piecing together novel mechanisms for obtaining treatment. The tendency of families to rel
Mac Skelton • 16 min read
"Algeria is not for Sale!" Mobilizing Against Fracking in the Sahara
Demonstrators carry national flags and banners during a protest against a proposed new hydrocarbons law in Algiers, Algeria, October 13, 2019. Ramzi Boudina/ReutersProtesters hold signs that read “National sovereignty is the red line,” “Shale gas is a patriotic cause,” and “We are all In Salah” on March 14, 2015, in the city of Ouargla. Photo by the author.Protesters with a sign that says “No to shale gas.” March 14, 2015 in the city of Ouargla. Photo by the author.
MER Article

"Algeria is not for Sale!" Mobilizing Against Fracking in the Sahara

Although Algeria's 2019 Hirak uprising came as a surprise to many, previous instances of popular mobilization, like the impressive protests against fracking that emerged in several southern Algerian cities in 2014 and 2015, not only highlighted the intersection of political and environmental questio
Naoual Belakhdar • 9 min read
The Lost Wetlands of Turkey
Salt marshes in the Gediz Delta wetland conservation area. Photo by author.Fishermen set off in the morning in one of the Kızılırmak Delta’s brackish lakes, in the wetland conservation area. Photo by author.
MER Article

The Lost Wetlands of Turkey

Every year around World Wetlands Day on February 2, Turkish news outlets report that the country has lost between 1.3 and 2 million hectares of wetlands since the mid-twentieth century. Since the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923, over 1.3 million hectares of wetlands have been drained and tr
Caterina Scaramelli • 14 min read