Data Centres Take a Beating in the US: Any Lessons for South Africa?
Progressive candidates in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed and William Lawrence, won their Democratic primaries by campaigning against data center development and advocating for a federal moratorium. Their victories highlight growing US public opposition to data centers due to concerns over environmental impact, resource usage, and lack of community consultation. The article uses these US developments to draw lessons for South Africa regarding the urgent need for critical discourse and regulation of data centers.
Two progressive candidates, Abdul El-Sayed and William Lawrence, achieved significant victories in their Democratic primary elections in Michigan, campaigning heavily on a platform of opposition to data centers. Lawrence, who won the Democratic primary for Michigan's Lansing-area 7th District, made a federal moratorium on data centers a major focus of his campaign. El-Sayed also ran on a similar anti-data center sentiment, reportedly stating, "People really effing hate data centres." These wins are presented as a victory for real regulation of an industry that the Trump administration supports as a "new growth bonanza" to drive economic growth and maintain technological dominance.
The candidates' campaigns tapped into public concerns about data centers, including their significant noise, excessive electricity and water usage, land use, and the lack of genuine consultation with local communities during construction. The article contrasts this growing public resistance in the US with a seemingly less critical discourse in South Africa, despite the City of Cape Town having approved a contentious rezoning for an Equinix hyperscale data center amid opposition. It suggests that South Africa could learn from the US, where citizens are increasingly demanding accountability from politicians and rejecting corporate influence in politics, leading to a greater focus on the environmental and human rights impacts of data centers.
The article also mentions a recent example in Boulder City, Nevada, where the Trump administration unilaterally approved a data center on public land without resident input or an environmental assessment. This is juxtaposed with a submission by the Data Centres and Surveillance Working Group to the South African Human Rights Commission, which argues for distributed, scaled-down data center infrastructure and mandatory human rights and environmental impact assessments. The author, social justice activist Hassen Lorgat, concludes that South Africa needs to re-engage its tradition of grassroots organizing to address the challenges posed by data centers to democracy and the environment, similar to the renewed activism seen in the US primaries.