‘Africa’s East Timor – the struggle for self-determination in Western Sahara – Africa’s last colony’

Date: Monday 3rd October
Time: 1:45pm -3pm a

Venue:   Victorian Trades Hall – Melbourne

Speakers: Mr. Kamal Fadel, Polisario Representative to Australia and Mr. Sam Wainwright, Fremantle Councillor and Member of the Maritime Union of Australia

A workshop to discuss the question of Western Sahara as part of the International Conference : World at a Crossroads: Climate Change – Social Change Conference II

Download further details >>

The decolonisation of Western Sahara is one of the UN’s least publicised but most significant failures. Western Sahara was abandoned by its former colonial occupiers, is still on the UN’s list of non-self-governing territories and is waiting for the right to self-determination. The speakers will focus on the lack of political will of member states due to competing national interests and priorities as impediments to ending Morocco’s illegal occupation of Western Sahara. They will outline Australian companies’ involvement in the illegal exploitation of the natural resources of our homeland. The will also will discuss the role of global civil society – in alliance with ongoing resistance in the occupied nation – to mobilise sufficiently in order to force governments currently supporting the occupation to live up to their international legal responsibilities.