Category Archives: Political issues

AWSA Film screening: Tuesday 25 October 2022, Kambri Cultural Centre, ANU Canberra


Australia Western Sahara Association (AWSA) is delighted to present our first live event post COVID-19 – a screening of the award-winning film, Life is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara, followed by a panel discussion.

AWSA is partnering for the event with ANU Film Group, ANU Law Reform and Social Justice and the ANU Latin American Students’ Association (LASA).

Film director Iara Lee from the Cultures of Resistance Network will introduce the film (pre-recorded)

Film screening: FREE EVENT
7.30pm – 8.30pm
Followed by panel discussion

REGISTRATION

Ahead of UN session, Sahrawis recollect decades of betrayal that enabled Moroccan colonization

https://peoplesdispatch.org/, October 10, 2022
by Pavan Kulkarni

The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) became “hostage to the Moroccan authorities,” unable even “to report on the human rights situation in the territory,” said Kamal Fadel, Western Sahara’s representative to Australia and the Pacific…

Report from Pavan Kulkarni

Western Sahara: Australian company importing phosphate from occupied territory

Kerry Smith, Green Left Weekly, Issue 1363, October 5, 2022

According to Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW), Australian company Incitec Pivot (IPL) confirmed in a meeting with Australian trade unionists on September 27 that it is expecting a delivery of phosphate rock exported by Morocco from occupied Western Sahara.

Green Left Weekly article

Morocco’s Economy Is Sinking, but Its King Prefers the Bright Lights of Paris

Zvi Bar’el, Haaretz | Middle East News, Sep 22, 2022

The king of Morocco, Mohammed VI, is a sick man. He underwent heart surgery two years ago and this year came down with the coronavirus.
The country has been spending millions of dollars on military hardware but still hasn’t recovered from the effects of a serious drought and the COVID pandemic. Youth unemployment is soaring, along with rental prices and public outrage

Article

YouTube recording : 8 June webinar “Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal vs Independence in Western Sahara

June 8, 2022

Host:
Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Panelists:
Katlyn Thomas
Stephen Zunes

Webinar “Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal vs Independence in Western Sahara: What Solution is Best for Africa’s Last Colony?” presented by The Campaign to End the Occupation of the Western Sahara in partnership with the Institute of the Black World 21st Century and the Pan African Unity Dialogue .

Webinar explores the scope and the pitfalls of Morocco’s ‘autonomy plan’ put forward by Morocco as the ‘solution’ to the conflict.

Watch here on YouTube

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Jamie Parker, MP recognises the work of the Australia Western Sahara Association in NSW Parliament

Jamie Parker, Member of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales recently recognised the work of the Australia Western Sahara Association in a Community Recognition Statement read in Parliament on 23 March 2022.

Community Recognition Statement
“Today I would like to recognise the work of the Australia Western Sahara Association whose aim is to raise awareness and promote the Saharawi cause in Australia. The independence struggle in Western Sahara closely mirrors that of the East Timorese. In 1975 when the colonial power Spain withdrew, the neighbouring country, Morocco, invaded. Many Saharawi fled to desert refugee camps. A war ensued until a UN-sponsored ceasefire was declared in 1991 when a referendum was promised. …(cont.)

Community-Recognition-Statement-CertificateDownload
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May 2022: Amnesty International reports on the targeted assault on Sahrawi women activists

In response to increasing concerns about the status and safety of Sahrawi activists in Western Sahara, particularly following five separate issues in April, Amnesty International has issued a call for an investigation into police and security forces who are said to have assaulted five Sahrawi women who voiced support for Sultana Khaya.

The details of the attack are serious and are outlined in Amnesty’s call for action following its own investigation. Amnesty’s extensive report on the violence faced by the five women was published on 27 May and can be found here.

New York Support Group for the Independence of Western Sahara sends letter to the UN Security Council

13 April 2022
The New York Support Group has sent an open letter to the members of the UN Security Council in anticipation of the meeting on 20 April on the mandate of MINURSO.

Group members V. Ramos (AAJ) and A. Al Hussain (CONASADH) ask Western Sahara support groups to circulate it immediately to your social networks, to the media in Australia, as well as to political representatives (parties, parliamentarians, members of the government, foreign ministry officials).

NY Support Group letter 13 April 2022Download

“U.S. Hypocrisy on Ukraine”: Biden Admin Remains Silent on Morocco’s Occupation of Western Sahara

DemocracyNow, March 21, 2022

Amy Goodman talks with Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco

“The disparity between U.S. treatment of the two countries reveals Western hypocrisy and discrimination when it comes to countries that are not white, Christian and European, says Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco. He adds that U.S. policy on Western Sahara emboldens Putin’s claims on Ukraine (cont…),

View DemocracyNow podast