Siemens Gamesa: Stop the plunder
Photo credit: Saharawis Against the Plunder
Morocco’s brutal, illegal occupation of Western Sahara is driven by its plunder of the country’s natural resources — from phosphates and fish to wind.
The Moroccan monarchy owns all but one of the wind farms in Western Sahara, using the energy generated to power its plunder of stolen land. Morocco is attempting to bolster its international image by presenting itself as a climate leader, pointing to its renewable energy industry. In reality, Moroccan ‘green’ energy projects are built upon the occupation, dispossession and violent militarised repression of the people of the Western Sahara, the Saharawi.
Spanish-German renewable energy company Siemens Gamesa is heavily involved in Morocco’s renewable energy industry, and profits from constructing energy infrastructure and supplying components for illegal Moroccan wind farms. Siemens Gamesa has consistently refused to acknowledge its violations of international law, and the rights of the Saharawi people. Morocco’s violent occupation has seen Saharawi human rights defenders subjected to brutal assault, including sexual violence and rape by Moroccan soldiers. Siemens Gamesa is complicit in this violence.
The Saharawi are demanding an end to the plunder of their natural resources, and are campaigning for Siemens Gamesa to end its operations in Western Sahara. In 2018, a coalition of over 120 Saharawi civil society organisations initiated the Western Sahara Is Not For Sale campaign, targeting corporate complicity in Moroccan occupation. This is despite the risk of reprisal – with Saharawi activists routinely facing harassment, intimidation, and prosecution by Moroccan armed forces.
The Saharawi people are asking for our solidarity. You can stand with the Saharawi by amplifying their call: write to Siemens Gamesa to demand that it respects international law and the rights of the Saharawi people, and immediately ceases its involvement in illegal energy projects in Western Sahara.
