“In recent decades, there has been a lot of news concerning armed conflicts in the world. We usually focus on the shocking numbers of human victims or on the destruction of material properties. But what about the environment? Do we imagine that our planet could be moaning from the intensity of the damage and from the pain and chaos that wars create? Who wins and who loses if trees are cut down and wildlife disappears due to armed conflicts?”

Those are the questions raised by Baida Embarec Rahal as she shares her story with the audience of Orange Alert. Baida speaks of one of the oldest and largest separation walls in the world – the sepa\ration berm in Western Sahara, and with how it impacts the surrounding environment. The area is a former colony of Spain, which was occupied by Morocco and whose indigenous inhabitants have been demanding the right to self-determination since the mid-seventies.

The first two nights of Orange Alert feature the story of Baida and her homeland. This is a story of how the victims of wars go beyond just the human kind, and of how those victims are so often forgotten.

Text: Baida Embarec Rahal
Portrait: Anni Taponen
Berm photo: Remove the Wall

Read more about Orange Alert