Rooftop walk, conversations and book presentation

Friday, November 5th from 6pm
Speakers : Ghita Zine (journalist and vice-president of RMJM), Fédoua Tounassi (journalist), Rim Mejdi (filmmaker & co-curator of the Ateliers Collectifs), Louisa Aarrass (agroecologist and curator of Harvest Festival Marrakech), Francesca Masoero (curator and initiator of QANAT)
On November 05th, as part of the collaboration between QANAT, the Collective Workshops of Dar Bellarj, and the Harvest Festival: Marrakech, LE 18 invites you to an evening of exploration and exchange around agro-ecological practices, but also the challenges and injustices produced by climate change in Morocco.
The evening will be, first, an opportunity to discover the ‘green’ installation project that now inhabits and animates the roof of LE 18, following a participatory workshop developed in partnership with the Dar Bellarj Foundation.
Further to that, the event proposes a time of discussion and reflection triggered by the short documentary ‘The secret life of the magnificent Marrakech palm tree,’* developed by Rim Mejdi in the framework of QANAT’s action-research, and by the inquiries at the heart of the publication ‘Morocco: Climate Justice, Social Emergencies’, an important collective work of investigation and research carried out by the publishing house En Toutes Lettres, and enriched by the contributions of journalists, sociologists, and activists. Denouncing the practices of predation and greenwashing in Morocco, this book, and the meeting that will be held around it, pushes us to recognize the awareness already on the ground, and the multiple forms of resistance and doing things differently that nourish the possibility of both greener and more united futures in Morocco.

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On Saturday 6th, during the afternoon, a seminar dedicated to the in depth presentation and discussion of some of the investigations developed in ‘Maroc : Justice Climatique, Urgences Sociales’ will be organised at LE 18 in the framework of the new programme of learning circles ‘Matters of Care’.
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* The secret life of the magnificent Marrakech palm tree
2021, 9’, Rim Mejdi

First episode of the ongoing webdoc series ‘Traces et racines d’un palmier solitaire’, produced in the framework of QANAT and investigating the Marrakech palmgrove’s multiple stories and voices, through history, ecology, sociology, and urban politics, ‘The secret life of the magnificent Marrakech palm tree’ looks into the past, present and dark futures of the palmgrove through the entanglement of the voices of its first inhabitant – the palm tree, and its youngest ones.
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Ghita Zine is a journalist and vice-president of the Moroccan Network of Migration Journalists (RMJM), which proposes a media treatment of migration issues with the bias of respecting the human rights of migrants, the dignity of people and the ethics of the profession.

Fédoua Tounassi has been a journalist since 1997. She has worked for major French-speaking media in Morocco (L’Economiste, Le Journal Hebdomadaire, TelQuel). She has also collaborated with international media (Africa Report, Zenger News…). Versatile, her interests span across different subjects, yet mainly of a socio-economic nature.

Born in Marrakech, Rim Mejdi graduated in Film Directing from ESAVM. In 2018, Rim co-founded Tifaw Films, a production company supporting emerging Moroccan storytellers. Rim is also the co-founder of SAAED Meetings, a new platform for Arab Emerging Filmmakers, the co-curator of the Ateliers Collectifs (Fondation Dar Bellarj) and a contributor of QANAT (LE 18).

Created within the 18, QANAT is a collective research-action platform focused on the politics and poetics of water and the multiple manifestations of being and doing in common.
The collective workshops are an annual pedagogical program supported by the Dar Bellarj Foundation, involving, through a horizontal and participatory approach, women and children of the medina in order to create new spaces for action and speech around different dynamics of urban transformation.
The Harvest Festival: Marrakech is an initiative of the Global Diversity Foundation and the Moroccan Biodiversity and Livelihoods Association, taking place in Marrakech from October 15 to 31.

6pm