| Home > Voices & Visions > Short Stories
October 6 2011-A special issue of Pambazuka News on Western Sahara spotlights the indigenous Sahrawi voices from both sides of the Berm (Morocco’s ‘Wall of Shame’: heavily militarised and landmined sand-walls), and their cultural heartbreak of being forcibly divided. From the Moroccan Occupied Territory, Sahrawi human rights activists – some of whom are currently prisoners of conscience from inside Moroccan prisons – have written articles and short stories in prison to tell us about the brutality of Morocco’s militarised oppression. Other Sahrawi writers have sent us descriptions of the many ways in which daily life is disrupted through the denial of freedoms of speech, movement and livelihoods on their own soil. Shining through all these texts are the hopes and dreams of a people and their children – the Sahrawi youth and university students have become a phenomenon of youth activism on YouTube and Facebook – longing for freedom, independence, and an end to the ‘disappearances’, prolonged arrests, unfair court hearings, and torture by Moroccan security forces and secret service. Living on the other side of the Berm are the Sahrawi residing in refugee camps on the Algerian border. From these texts we hear of Sahrawi memories of homeland and longings for return. Here there is no need for uprisings against the invader, for this half of the Sahrawi population have the proximity of the Algerian border, which prevents Morocco from daring to invade further inland. Instead the Sahrawi refugees are free to be freedom fighters and their camps provide the symbolic structure of the nation-state in exile. Life is hard in the camps, it is not easy for a dignified and self-sufficient peoples to be dependent on humanitarian aid, to be trapped in refugeehood. Below Sandblast has selected a few of the Saharawi stories published which were put together by Isidora Konstantina. We will be adding more in the coming weeks. So watch this space! OUR STORIES:Malainin Lakhal: Spotlight on a Sahrawi activistAbout the author: Malainin Lakhal made the dangerous escape journey through the Moroccan Berm 11 years ago. Malainin’s contribution here provides an insight to that perilous escape journey, which many Sahrawi activists are forced to make when their lives are in extreme danger from the security forces. Watch a video of Malainin Lakhal’s Australia talk from from 30 January 2011 or listen to the podcast. 2011-10-05http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/76895“I think of myself as a freedom fighter with a laptop – I am an activist, a dreamer (a poet!) and journalist in the Sahrawi refugee camps, where I set up the Sahrawi Journalists and Writers Union with a few other friends to tell the world the story of the resistance and survival of the Sahrawi people. (Other media include the press service SPS RASD and the new local TV funded and assisted by Spanish NGOs called RASD TV.) But the Moroccans called me a ‘trouble maker’. I was born and raised in the occupied city of El Aaiun. I was four years old when the Moroccans invaded us.
They wanted me because I was active in the Sahrawi students’ movement in Moroccan universities – I had studied English Language and Literature at Ibn Zuhr University in Agadir. They had detained me more than three times and shown me the colour of their torture methods and hatred. In 1999 I helped organise the biggest popular uprising in Western Sahara – for more than three months we were able to ‘liberate’ our city from Moroccan control. We had daily demonstrations and sit-ins, but there were violent scenes from the Moroccan military and secret service. For just over a year I had to work undercover, but then my friends and family told me it was time to leave. Once I reached the refugee camps, I first worked as a teacher, then a translator, then I found an opportunity in 2003 to join the Saharawi Press Service to launch the English page of SPS, and from then on I continued to focus on my work as a journalist-activist, to help the guys inside the territory get the story to the outside world. It started in 1975 when the Moroccan invasion started. They wanted our land, our Atlantic coastline and our natural resources. Their war made it clear they wanted to exterminate the Sahrawi people. That was clearly declared by the Moroccan king in the speech where he declares his ‘Green March’, but the Polisario Front and the Sahrawi people were organised before the invasion, thank God. Our liberation movement was constituted in 1973 so we were able to put up resistance to the Moroccan invasion. Morocco infamously called the invasion the Green March, which was made up of ordinary Moroccan citizens, most of whom were misled by propaganda or driven to participate by force on 6 November 1975. But six days before the march, Moroccan military tanks were already erasing any resistance in front of them. The phosphorous bombs, the fighter jets, the soldiers and the secret service did the dirty work to prepare the ground. The Spanish administration didn’t resist; they signed what they call the Madrid Tripartite Agreement with Morocco and Mauritania to split the country between these two African regimes. Morocco started sending settlers – ordinary Moroccans given incentives to resettle on our land – to change our demographics. When our women and children had fled east towards Algeria, they set up the first refugee camps. A year later, in 1976, we proclaimed our nation-state in exile, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. We have the only refugee camps in the world in which there is a nation state. Our population is split into two – half of us are in the refugee camps, the other half live in the Occupied Territory where Morocco suppresses us and systematically violates all our human rights. So far, the Moroccan government has refused and confused all possible peaceful resolutions to the conflict. A referendum should be the solution to the conflict, according to international law and all United Nations resolutions. All that we, the Sahrawi people, want is that simple human right of self-determination that we should have had when the Spanish colonial administration in our country began to end. Other colonies were given that right to vote, except us. To this day, Morocco keeps refusing to cooperate within the UN, thanks to the unconditional help of France and the United States. It is because of these two powers and because of Spain that the Moroccan kingdom has succeeded in avoiding complying with international law. More about this dynamic can be seen by watching this Democracy Now! investigative documentary that features huge Spanish civil society protests and includes famous actor Javier Bardem. Sahrawi people bear no enmity towards the Moroccan people. We think of them as an oppressed people living under an absolute monarchy that has spent billions of dollars on its defense budget to steal our land, rather than spend that money on its own people and infrastructure. The question about the Western Sahara conflict is a question about the Moroccan king himself. We know that the Moroccan people themselves, especially the settlers in the occupied territory, are not those responsible for the occupation. They are tools used by the regime to make the occupation demographically substantial and real. So our problem is not with the Moroccan people or the Moroccan settlers. The Polisario Front has clearly said in peace talks at the UN that it is ready to offer some of these settlers the right to Sahrawi citizenship. Morocco wants to silence us; it wants us to go away, to abandon our land, to delete our history from the desert geography. But we are only demonstrating for the right to vote and choose our destiny. We are freedom fighters – we want the right to choose our destiny. We want Morocco to stop violating our human rights and our territorial rights. Our human rights organisations talk about more than 500 people who have disappeared, of 151 Saharawi prisoners of war who are still not accounted for by the Moroccan authorities, of 20,000 victims of arbitrary arrest and thousands of victims of torture. And these are only the cases that these human rights organisations can document – there used to be many more that were not recorded. But now we have an active network of human rights advocates and university students who risk their lives to get the information out to organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. We have always been in a war against Moroccan colonialism; the only difference is that we are now using new weapons – the demonstration, the sit-in, the word. Sahrawi political prisoners and activists in the occupied zones are giving their blood and bodies as weapons and sacrifice for the sake of freedom. And they need help; they need from us to watch their backs, to support them and to make the world hear their stories. The youth need also to learn more about our history, our tradition, our values and our culture, because this is another weapon in the ongoing war. The Moroccan regime worked hard and invested millions to try to destroy Sahrawi culture, values and identity. Will we vote for independence or for ‘integration’ into Morocco? Well, the answer might be the latter. But the fact that half our population resolutely suffer the hardship of the refugee camps, and the other half in the Moroccan Occupied Territory risk their lives with regular Moroccan detentions and torture suggests that our people want full independence. This is what Morocco is so scared of. This is why Morocco keeps making the peace talks muddy. We just want the right to vote. Then, finally, we will all know the answer to the question of the Western Sahara. We have to fight for our right all the time because people like me are not only journalists, but also human rights activists and freedom fighters. We are struggling for a basic human right, the right to self-determination, to democracy, to freedom of expression, to the right to a safe life, and to independence – and these are rights that all human beings must have and defend. And you have to know that if we lose them today because we are weak and because you did not care, you will lose them tomorrow because our case will be a precedent. * Malainin Lakhal is secretary general of the Sahrawi Journalists and Writers Union, based in the Sahrawi refugee camps near Tindouf, Algeria. 2. Non-violent resistance: the Sahrawi people under Moroccan occupationAbout the Author(s):Mohamed Brahim, Enaama Asfari, El Ouali Amidane and Mustapha Abdedayem, alongside some other writers who have requested anonymity in this special edition, are indigenous Sahrawi living in the area occupied by Morocco. Their contributions provide insights into life under occupation. 2011-10-05http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/76873For over three decades, the Moroccan government has abused human rights in Western Sahara, using various brutal and inhumane tactics.[1] There is a long list of people who disappeared throughout the 36-year conflict when they were kidnapped by the Moroccan secret services. Many of the Sahrawi political detainees were denied trial and kept in dungeons and other secret detention centres throughout Morocco and Western Sahara. Until the early 1990s, the Moroccan government denied the existence of these prisoners and the prisons. Then suddenly, some of these detainees were given a royal pardon by the monarchy and released. The king’s pardon stated that these prisoners had been abroad on missions for the Moroccan government, in an attempt to explain their disappearance.
All of these Sahrawi prisoners were, and have been, a target for unjustified attention, torture, and surveillance. Such actions constitute a human rights violation on the part of the Moroccan government. Recently, some of these people have been tried in Moroccan courts. However, the Moroccan judges were mere puppets of the Moroccan regime. Therefore, it is necessary to have international human rights observers to attend those trials. It is amazing to see that the Sahrawi prisoners are only asking for freedom of speech and freedom of expression and for the right of self-determination, but when they petition the Moroccan regime for these rights, they are imprisoned.
Aminatou Haidar is one of these female heroes of our non-violent struggle and is considered to have led many non-violent actions against the Moroccan occupation in Western Sahara. For many years she met with foreign delegations and initiated many non-violent actions, such as writing articles to foreign newspapers about the oppression and about the human rights violations. She also wrote many letters to officials in different countries. She succeeded in getting more NGO’s interested in the malpractices of the oppressive Moroccan regime. She is constantly in touch with human rights organisations all over the world and coordinates many activities aimed at unmasking the atrocities of the Moroccan regime in Western Sahara.
It is common practice and well-known policy that the Moroccan government does not give employment positions to Sahrawi people in cases where they would have access to confidential information. No Sahrawi can serve in a political office at any level of the Moroccan government – local, state, or national. This means, with Morocco as the occupier of our land, we are unable to play any part in the governing and administration of our land. The only Sahrawi given this privilege are those who have served as Moroccan agents to disseminate propaganda. Some of these are defectors with no sense of loyalty to the Sahrawi people. Some choose to work for the Moroccans for financial gain. The Moroccan regime commonly gives bribes in order to get people to defect and to get these people to continue to do work for the Moroccan government. Some of them defect out of fear because the Moroccan government threatens their lives or the lives of their families. It is also important to clarify that non-violent resistance is the only weapon used by the Sahrawi in the occupied territories against the oppression. Meanwhile, war was the tool used against the Moroccan army along the borders with the Sahrawi liberated territories. Therefore, it has been essential for Sahrawi under occupation to look for different peaceful options to fight occupation and to reject Morocco’s strategy, which attempts to assimilate every Sahrawi into Moroccan society. King Hassan II (the current king’s father) tried to assimilate young Sahrawi into Moroccan society in 1989 by giving them jobs and free accommodation inside Morocco-proper, but it was a total failure and the Sahrawi were able to preserve their identity and maintain their own ancient heritage. The Sahrawi people also adopted the strategy of not letting their own dialect and cultural heritage slip away from them. Sahrawi under occupation speak their own dialect and preserve their own identity. Recently, an ‘Intifada’ began in the occupied territories to give a push to the Sahrawi cause as it seemed to have reached an impasse.[3],[4] This non-violent political resistance was initiated by the creation of our ‘independence camp’ at Gdeim Izik in the Occupied Territory, by Sahrawi from all walks of life, all ages, and from both genders. It was peaceful and successful as it made the Moroccan authorities very angry, and they began arresting many Sahrawi people and human rights activists. For visuals of this resistance watch Gdeim Izik videos here and here. Another non-violent tactic has been the formation of human rights associations. These human rights advocates run a secret network of informants and activists who assist them in gathering all information necessary to show the world that the Sahrawi are suffering and are being segregated. They have succeeded in attracting the attention of many international human rights organisations and NGO’s. Another non-violent strategy is to refuse to sell their houses to Moroccan settlers. Sahrawi also try to live away from Moroccan settlers and prefer to stay within Sahrawi communities. When having a wedding ceremony or other local festival, only Sahrawi are admitted or invited so as to keep away the Moroccan secret service, security forces and settler informants. Finally, the Sahrawi under occupation are always looking for diverse means to empower their non-violent struggle, and always adopt non-violent ways to defend themselves and resist Morocco’s occupation. We have a great need to have NGOs in the occupied territories, but the Moroccans do not let them in. Even international lawyers who try to monitor court cases are not allowed to witness unfair court hearings. We are hoping that more NGOs will put pressure on their governments, who will in turn put pressure on the Moroccan government to let these NGOs and international observers enter the Western Sahara. Justice will prevail, and freedom will come! NOTES: [1] See Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch websites for reports and press statements going back 25 years. [2] For both Sahrawi and the thousands of international campaign groups who support the Sahrawi struggle for self-determination, the Sahrawi flag and the colourful graffiti are now famous resistance symbols. Sahrawi youth risk their lives on these acts of resistance – for the flag is banned by Moroccan regulations and there are many unfair arrests because Sahrawi are caught with a plastic flag logo on a key-ring, for example. [3] The term ‘intifada’ as used by the Sahrawi means a peaceful non-violent uprising against what they see as a brutal invasion and occupation by Morocco. Respected academics and analysts note that there have been a number of ‘intifadas’ by Sahrawi over the years, the most famous being the Intifada in May 2005, and subsequent student demonstrations by Sahrawi students studying in Moroccan universities. The Sahrawi emphasise that they use peaceful tactics to protest against Morocco – citizen-reporting videos and photographs uploaded to the internet and testimonies given to human rights monitoring groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch suggest this is accurate. [4] This ‘impasse’ refers to a mounting feeling across the Sahrawi population that the ‘diplomatic’ route taken by Sahrawi leadership since the 1991 UN-lead ceasefire has brought only broken promises by the UN and its Security Council members and the hardships of life under occupation due to this irresolution. Again, respected academics, analysts and NGO groups often criticise the UN’s failures in ensuring that a decolonised peoples are allowed their basic human right of a referendum for self-determination. 3.The tea struggle: Lessons from a Saharawi ritualSenia Bachir Abderahman-Young Senia has spoken before delegates of the UN Special Political and Decolonization Committee and met with politicians and NGOs in the UK, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Here she explains parallels between the Sahrawi tea ritual and the people’s quest for freedom. 2011-10-06http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/76903I am 22 years old and was born and grew up in the refugee camps, specifically in Smara camp. I graduated from Mount Holyoke College, United States, with a BA degree in Biological Science May 2010 and I just finished a program in journalism from Jakobsberg College in Stockholm, Sweden. Part 1 – Senia challenging a US law firm on Moroccan phosphates plunder. One of the greatest characteristics of the Saharawi culture is that of our tea ceremony. It is special and unique to the Saharawi people. It is a time of unity, celebration, discussion and filling-up free time. Family members, neighbours, relatives or simply people passing by gather around to chat about everything and nothing while they enjoy a cup of the special tea. ‘et-tay’, meaning tea in Hassaniya, the Saharawi native Arabic dialect, is made up of three cups and each one represents something different. The first cup is bitter as life, the second is sweet as love and the third is soft as death. The tea ceremony can take a few minutes to make or, even better, last for hours. Video showing special Saharawi tea making ceremony and Saharawi talking about the cultural and political importance of their tea-making et-tay is also the perfect parallel to the Saharawi struggle for freedom and independence. This struggle could be divided into three stages and during each period the Saharawi people drunk from one of et-tay’s three cups. Even though the Saharawi struggle has gone through these stages in a different order from that of et-tay, still a great comparison can be drawn between the two.
As the et-tay may take a few minutes or as long as hours to finish and enjoy the last cup, so it could take the Saharawi struggle to be rewarded with justice and freedom. Similarly, the Western Sahara conflict could have taken only few years, if not months, to be resolved. Instead, it took decades to even think of a solution. Either way, the Saharawi struggle will enter its third stage sooner than later. It is everyone’s responsibly in the world to help the Saharawi people to finish their last cup of struggle. It is a process that would require the unity of the Saharawis, the neighbours, the strangers and the international community to achieve. As it is said in Arabic: ‘There is an end to everything’, and so it is the time for the Saharawi people to get their share of justice and freedom. So let’s not give up the hope of enjoying the last cup of this struggle and the reward of freedom. Mustapha Abdel Dayem:An imprisoned writer finally released
************Mustapha Abdel Dayem is a finalist for the Freedom to Create Award ************ A smile for sad lips Excerpt of “I want a dawn” by Mustapha Abdel Dayem
|
Mustapha Abdel Dayem was an imprisoned writer until this past October. For over 10 years he has dedicated his pen and his life to the principles of humanity and to the defence of the fundamental right to freedom and respect of their human rights of his people, the Saharawis. He is not only a journalist and writer but also a human rights defender and the president of a human rights organisation in the city of Zag, in Southern of Morocco. He pays for his choice to fight for human rights, people’s rights to self-determination, the rejection of oppression and dictatorship and advocacy of democracy through peaceful and non-violent ways of struggle through the pen with his own safety and freedom.
