Monthly Archives: February 2014

Western Sahara activists feel full force of Moroccan intimidation

By John Hilary for Poverty Matters Blog
The Guardian, Tuesday 25 February 2014

Western Sahara can only be described as a police state. I was there recently with the first British parliamentary delegation to the occupied territory and everywhere we went we were closely shadowed by undercover agents. Wherever we were driven by our Saharawi hosts, we were tailed by Moroccan police.

Most chilling of all was the heavy police intimidation of a peaceful Saharawi demonstration we witnessed in the capital, Laayoune, the day before we left.

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The state of the Western Sahara

Jadaliyya  11 February 2014
By Allison L McManus

This electronic roundtable of articles describes various historical and political contours of the Western Saharan conflict. It particularly addresses the tireless stream of misinformation and distraction that is produced by state media of Algeria and, especially, Morocco.

This roundtable is most interesting for its inclusion of the voice of the Sahrawi themselves. Many Sahrawi (including those featured in this article) write and advocate quite prominently for their cause.

Read transcript >>

Music a potent weapon in the Saharawi struggle

Talking about music might sound strange for people who live in refugee camps and are deeply burdened with many other problems needing to be voiced.

But the huge role music played in the Saharawi people’s struggle for independence leaves me with no choice e but to try to talk a little about the magical role revolutionary songs are playing in my people’s daily fight for self-determination.

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Broadcast of “Broken Families” has been postponed for a week – now Sunday 9 Feb

The broadcast of “Broken Families” has been postponed for a week and is scheduled for transmission on Sunday 9th February at 22.30 GMT. It will be repeated at 09.30 Monday 10th, 03.30 Tuesday 11th and 16.30 on Wednesday 12th.

Screening will take place in UK Parliament
Brahim Dahane is coming to the UK to speak at this event.

On Sunday 9 February 22.30 GMT Al Jazeera is broadcasting a documentary about Saharawi human rights defenders starring Brahim Dahane. Entitled “Broken Families” and it is in a series called Witness. It is possible to stream it live at : http://www.aljazeera.com/watch_now/

GMT is 11 hours behind Eastern Standard Australian time.

For more info on the “Broken Families” film >>

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