“We cannot talk about colonialism, green or otherwise, about dismantling it, about decolonization, about environmental and climate justice in the Arab region, and turn a blind eye to the ongoing genocide, the ethnic cleansing, the mass displacement, the mass slaughter and the repression of Palestinians perpetrated by the racist apartheid settler colonial state of Israel with the active support and abetting by imperialist powers — from the United States to the European Union, to France, to Germany, and others.”

In this webinar from our RP Live webinar series, Dr. Hamza Hamouchene addresses the fraudulent and exploitative reality behind “green energy.” His presentation comes from the recently published book, Dismantling Green Colonialism: Energy and Climate Justice in the Arab Region. The presentation is followed by questions from attendees.

Hamza’s analysis of regional and global climate and energy politics is illustrated by real-life examples from Indonesia, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and other nations.

He explains how the commodification of nature and the environment is masked under the guise of proactive 'green' efforts — while the consequences include increased privatization and plundering of resources in the Global South.

Hamza stresses the importance of climate reparations, climate justice, and decolonization, but without an analysis of capitalism and a commitment to systemic change, solutions will always be inadequate and doomed to failure.

Dr. Hamza Hamouchene is a London-based Algerian researcher-activist, commentator and a founding member of Algeria Solidarity Campaign (ASC), Environmental Justice North Africa (EJNA) and the North African Food Sovereignty Network (Siyada). He is currently the Arab region Programme Coordinator at the Transnational Institute (TNI). His work is focused on issues of extractivism, resources, land and food sovereignty as well as climate, environmental, and energy justice in the Arab region.

@BenToumert on Twitter