Nomads
sit-in in Agadir
In
Morocco, the nomads live in critical conditions because of the drought, the
pandemic and the systematic repression practiced by the authorities. They are
prevented from moving in search of pasture and water. As a result of these
difficult conditions that they experienced throughout 2019 and 2020, their
suffering has increased.
During
their national meeting organized on September 21, 2019 in Tinghir, the nomads
studied law 113.13 concerning grazing. This document was considered
incompatible with all international covenants, including the recommendations of
the United Nations FAO, concerning the right to the environment and to rural
development. This right of populations to acquire land is the basis of any
development program that the State must implement in the rural world.
The
daily repression that affected them for two consecutive years in the name of
the illegal and unconstitutional application of Law 113.13, had an impact on
the material and moral life of their families, plunging them into deeply
troubled psychological situations, in particular concerning women and children,
affected by the repressive practices of the authorities and the gendarmerie in
deserted mountainous areas isolated from the world, in the absence of nomadic
fathers wandering in the markets in search of buyers of their cattle at low
prices .
They
are deprived of their fundamental rights: the right to health, education and
housing, security, liberty, and life at the time of childbirth. Women and
children, victims of violence from the authorities, see their herds exposed to
theft and destruction, causing enormous material loss due to the deadly attack
on their cattle by stray dogs in the mountains.
They
do not enjoy state support, despite the spectacular distribution of millions of
tonnes of subsidized barley advertised through the media. In reality, nomads
deprived of this support buy it with their money at high prices in the markets
from speculative traders, spending the money they have obtained by selling
their cattle at low prices to traders in the weekly markets.
All
this, without forgetting the exploitation of their sweat and their blood by
these rich big landowners who benefit from the bounties of the state. A
"support" for their packing stations which reached 120 to 170 million
dirhams each (12 to 17 million dollars), on the account of public goods. This
exploitation benefits the rich owners: members of the royal family, senior
officers of the gendarmerie, the military and the police, ministers, deputies,
city mayors, PGD of large companies, the survivals of feudalism, capitalist
investors of the bourgeoisie French, Spanish, Saudi, Emirati, Qatari and other
profiteers. It is the exploitation of the lands of poor peasants on which they
have established their agricultural estates, benefiting from enormous financial
support through the so-called "Planning Maroc Vert". They are even
exempt from financial charges for electricity and irrigation water, to be able
to supply oranges and tomatoes to the European bourgeoisie!
For
two years, manipulating Law 113.13, the Ministry of Agriculture occupied
pastoral lands in the south and in the Sahara. Groups of peasants in the
Anti-Atlas mountains and the plains of Souss-Massa are looted as well as their
pastures. The nomads, constantly repressed by the authorities, are forced to
cross the lands of the peasants, which causes conflicts between them, sometimes
bloody. These conflicts are ignited by the representatives of the majority
political parties and their members in rural communities. This is another way
of driving out nomads and depriving them of their right to pasture!
One
year after the establishment of the national nomadic committee which has known
only suffering, two demonstrations were organized by representatives of all
regions of Morocco, on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, in front of the wilaya of
Souss-Massa and the Regional Office of Agricultural Investments in Agadir.
Their meeting intended to discuss their critical situation, was organized the
same day at the headquarters of the Moroccan Labor Union (UMT) in Agadir, to
set up a program to fight for their legitimate rights, after the reconstruction
of their national committee. p which revolves around the following claims:
1-
Set up a census of the material losses of nomads by the Ministries of the
Interior and of Agriculture, from March 20, 2020 to today, and compensate the
affected people as soon as possible, knowing that their National Committee made
a record of these losses to defend them by all forms of legitimate struggle.
2-
Demand the lifting of the siege of the nomads in all the besieged areas, the
two ministries bearing all the losses that will result from the impediment to
move to the areas of Dakhla and Laayoune where pasture is available.
3-
Demand the stopping of travel authorizations from other regions to the regions
of Dakhla, Laayoune and other areas where pasture is available, in order to
avoid the death of herds due to lack of food and water , and other areas where
the growing season has started.
4-
Demand state support, supply of barley, medicines and water, and market
surveillance to protect them from speculative traders.
5-
Demand an end to the manipulation of Law 113.13 which violates their natural
and historical rights, in particular their right to acquire land as small
investors. And the protection of their right to access their pastoral lands
that the big real estate owners have taken from them
It
should be noted that these five points are urgent and essential to lift the
siege on them before the end of October 2020, and thus open a dialogue with
their national committee on the file of comprehensive claims.
To
defend their urgent demands, their National Committee has put in place a
control program that begins on November 1, 2020, as the last deadline to
protect their cattle from death. This can take forms of struggle for which
these two ministries bear the possible disastrous consequences.
Our
strength lies in our unity within our peasant trade union organization for
access to our rights
Long
live the Moroccan Labor Union
Long
live the National Union of Small Farmers and Forestry Professionals
Long
live the nomads
National
Nomadic Committee
