THE ONLY OPTION

Neither authoritarian states nor multiparty democracies nor grassroots self-organization can address problems like those confronting Iran

- Slavoj Zizek

Where, in today's world, do all our antagonisms and struggles for survival converge? Is there a singular point that embodies our universal predicament? It is not Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, or the scam centers in the north of Myanmar. It is Tehran.

The Iranian capital is counting down to a “day zero” when it will simply run out of water. Nor is it alone. Most of Iran is hurtling toward “water bankruptcy,” when demand will permanently exceed the natural supply. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is now talking about moving the capital and mandating the evacuation of the population (nearly ten million).

The crisis reflects several factors. The immediate cause is a severe six-year drought. Even in the rainy season, Iran has received almost no rain. Moreover, water-intensive agriculture and subsidization of water and energy have overdrawn the country’s aquifers and depleted its groundwater supplies.

Then, there is the concentration of economic activity and employment in major urban centers, particularly Tehran, which has further strained water resources. The loss of groundwater has been so severe that parts of the Tehran plateau are sinking, Even if the rains do return, less will be stored as groundwater than in the past, because the physical space for it has contracted.

Since the sinking now underway is not uniformly distributed, the entire water and sewage system of Tehran is falling apart. Gas is leaking into the open air from broken underground channels.