Claiming Democracy and Environmental Justice at the Margins: Land Rights and Urban Informality as Sites of Mobilization in Morocco

Abstract

Since 2011, Morocco has been experiencing major political upheavals. From the February 20th movement to the birth of the Hirak Al-Rif in 2017, numerous mobilizations broke out all over the country. Each of these mobilizations has its own specificities, both in terms of the forms of demands and the contexts in which they took place. This article aims to make a productive contribution to this global reflection by offering an innovative rereading of the dynamics of social and political transformation in North Africa, more specifically in Morocco. It does so by analyzing the increasing social conflicts between the State’s efforts to privatize land and natural resources to revitalize the economy, and marginalized populations who resist their dispossession. It will examine how 2011’s revolutionary movements opened new opportunities for marginalized communities to claim their rights. As a result of the destabilization of existing power structures, power relations between marginalized groups and the State have become increasingly radicalized: from the struggle for housing and access to public services—primarily water and electricity—in informal urban areas to the struggle for land rights and access to resources in rural areas. Throughout the article, it will be shown that these mobilizations have challenged, in their own way, the methods by which the Moroccan state appropriated and managed its territory.