Abstract
This article seeks to evidence the social, environmental and political repercussions of phosphate extraction and transformation on two peripheral Tunisian cities (Gabes and Gafsa). After positing the difference between class environmentalism and political ecology, it addresses the harmful effects of phosphate transformation on the world's last coastal oasis and on various cities of the Gulf of Gabes. It then sheds light on the gross social, environmental and health inequalities brought about by phosphate extraction in the mining region of Gafsa. The confiscatory practices of the phosphate industry are subsequently linked with global production and distribution chains at the international level as well as with centralized and authoritarian forms of government at the national and local level. Dispossessed local communities have few alternatives other than violent protest movements and emigration towards urban centers of wealth. Using the recent experience in self-government in the Jemna palm grove, the article ends with a reflection on the possible forms of subaltern resistance to transnational extractivism and highlights the ambiguous role of the new "democratic state" as a power structure reproducing patterns of domination and repression inherited from the colonial period and cemented under the dictatorship of Ben Ali.Keywords: political ecology, transnational extractivism, phosphate, Tunisia.
Highlights
I cannot over-emphasize the importance of phosphorus to agriculture and soil conservation, and the physical health and economic security of the people of the nation. [...] the question of continuous and adequate supplies of phosphate rock directly concerns the national welfare
The most important phosphate reserves are located in China, the US and Morocco: yet, China imposes a prohibitive tariff on phosphate exports in order to secure its own domestic supply; despite important reserves, the US remains the world's largest importer of phosphate in order to slow down the depletion of its own national resources; and Morocco is a geopolitically sensitive trade partner since phosphate rocks are located in Western Sahara, a region Morocco occupies in violation of international law (Cordell 2008)
Using the recent example of the self-management experience in the Jemna palm grove, the sixth section reflects on the possible forms of subaltern resistance to transnational extractivism, and highlights the ambiguous role of the new "democratic state" as a power structure reproducing domination patterns inherited from the colonial period
Summary
I cannot over-emphasize the importance of phosphorus to agriculture and soil conservation, and the physical health and economic security of the people of the nation. [...] the question of continuous and adequate supplies of phosphate rock directly concerns the national welfare. The most important phosphate reserves are located in China, the US and Morocco: yet, China imposes a prohibitive tariff on phosphate exports in order to secure its own domestic supply; despite important reserves, the US remains the world's largest importer of phosphate in order to slow down the depletion of its own national resources (estimated at 25 years); and Morocco is a geopolitically sensitive trade partner since phosphate rocks are located in Western Sahara, a region Morocco occupies in violation of international law (Cordell 2008) Under such circumstances, the phosphate-rich regions of the Tunisian Interior such as the governorate of Gafsa where the Compagnie des Phosphates de Gafsa has its headquarters ought to be doing very well since they are literally sitting on gold. Using the recent example of the self-management experience in the Jemna palm grove, the sixth section reflects on the possible forms of subaltern resistance to transnational extractivism, and highlights the ambiguous role of the new "democratic state" as a power structure reproducing domination patterns inherited from the colonial period
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