Fertilizer Factory 'Poison' in Tunisia, US Silence Deafening
Al-Monitor reports on Ikram Aioua's 12-year-old son, rushed to hospital three times for gas poisoning from an aging fertilizer factory in Gabes, Tunisia. Thousands are protesting, demanding the plant's closure, blaming it for severe health issues. The factory, operating for decades, is a clear and present danger to its local population. Yet, this critical human rights story barely registers in
Washington, where 'concern' for the region typically extends to military bases or fossil fuel interests, not the respiratory health of Tunisian children. The silence from NGOs and politicians who routinely decry environmental injustices elsewhere is deafening, perhaps because there's no geopolitical brownie points to be scored in Gabes, or lucrative AIPAC donations tied to its clean-up. One might
wonder if the outcry would be louder if the factory produced something other than 'deadly poison,' say, 'strategically vital' phosphate for export. Priorities, after all, are perfectly clear.