Moroccan authorities behind the destruction of mores than 40 wodden cabins In amigriou Area belonging to Saharawi Natives.

أحتج عشرات المواطنين الصحراويين أمام مقر عمالة الطرفاية ،وذالك بعد أن قامت السلطات المحلية بهدم عشرات لبراريك يوم الثلاثاء 16 نوفبمر مساءا في منطقة جنوب قرية الصيد انكيرو 8 كلم ،ويبلغ عدد لبراريك التي تم هدمها 40 براكة تعود ملكيتها لمواطنين صحراويين منذو العهد الإسباني ،،وكان المواطنين الصحراويين قد تفاجئوا بهذا الإجراء الذي قامت بيه السلطات دون سابق إنذار ،فيما لم تتخذ السلطات أي إجراء ضد براريك أخري قريبة من نفس المكان تعود ملكيتها لمواطنين منحدرين من الشمال ،
وإحتجاجا على هذا الإجراء نظم المتضررين العديد من وقفة أم عمالة الطرفاية محتجين على الإجراءات العنصرية ومصادرة الحقوق التي يقودها رئيس دائرة الطرفاية وقائد الدرك ،حيث جوبهوا بالتهديد المباشر من طرف عشرات رجال السلطة الذي حاصروا الوقفة ،
يؤكد بعض المحتجين أن هذا الإجراء الذي قامت بيه السلطات مرتبط بوجود شركات للتنقيب عن النفط في تلك المنطقة ، فيما يؤكد أخرين وجود محاولة من السلطات إلي بيع هذه الأراضي لجهات أجنبية تحاول إستغلال هذه المنطقة في مشاريع سياحية على حساب السكان الأصليين.


يذكر أنه بعد تهديم لبراريك وصلت قوات من الجيش وصادرت أوراق سيارات المحتجين وأتهموا المحتجين بمحاولة إنشاء ظروف تكوين مخيم أكديم إزيك 2 ،وإلي حدود الساعة ترفض السلطات فتح حوار مع المحتجين بدون حجة واضحة

وصية المعتقلين السياسيين في سحن سلا المغربية

لا تصالح
عندما يملأ الحق قلبك
لا تصالح ولو قيل ما قيل من كلمات السلام
لا تصالح وأرو قبلك بالدم
و أرو التراب المقدس
و أرو أسلافك الراقدين
إلى أن ترد عليك العظام
شعبنا الباسل, أمهاتنا الطاهرات, أبنائنا الشامخين, أخواتنا العفيفات, إخواننا الأمجاد رفاقنا الضراغم
سلام عليكم جميعا, نكتب لكم وصيتنا هاته ونحن على مشارف الشهادة في يومنا 30 من معركة الكرامة والشرف لنقول لكم :
أمهاتنا الطاهرات هذه قبلة حب أبدية نطبعها على جباهكم المرفوعة دهرا تمتزج بدمعة شوق وحنين ذرفتها العين في لحظة احتضار تختزلان كل المساحات والأزمنة من أجل البوح بمشاعر استحالت أمواج عاتية تتلاطم على شاطئ القلب لتنثر رذاذ عطر منبعث من ذكريات خالدة نعيد شريط وقائعها فتستوقفنا فيه تضحياتكم الجسام من أجلنا بسهركم وصبركم وتجلدكم, تحملتن الألم من أجل الأمل الذي عقدتموه فينا كنتن تفرحن عندما نفرح وتمرضن لحظة مرضنا أرضعتمونا حتى ارتوين واحتضنتمونا بدفء رائع, كانت أحشائكم المدرسة الأولى التي تلقينا أبجديات الثورة وحروف الوطن ومعاني النيل و التضحية والاستبسال عانيتن وبمرارة و أنتن تنتظرون لساعات وأيام طوال أمام المخافر و المعتقلات. أنها تضحيات استثنائية تفوق طاقة البشر ونحن نستحضرها الآن تجتاحنا أحاسيس عارمة تمزق الفؤاد لوعة وحنينا وتعصف بالكيان والوجدان وأمام هذا الحمل الثقيل الذي يلزمنا انطلاقا من وازع فطري ووجداني وأخلاقي يرد الجميل و الضيع, هنا نحن أمهاتنا الغاليات نفي بعهدنا لكن وللشهداء ونختار الموت البطيء ولكن بشرف وعز وتحدي وكبرياء الألم لتنتشوا بزغرودة نصر تطلقونها مخترقة لعنان السماء من أجل تمتيعكم بوضع اعتباري ومكانة رمزية كأمهات شهداء, فجزاكم الله عنا خيرا وصبرا صبرا موعدنا الجن إنشاء الله أبائنا الشامخين شموخ جبال هذا الوطن و المبجلين بتاج الهبة والوقار ونحن أبنائكم البررة الراسخون ثباتا وإباء من قلب الأقبية و السجون ونخط لكم من على فراش الموت ونحن نحتضر كلماتنا الأخيرة بمداد دم تأريخا للذكرى و حفظا للتاريخ لننحني باعتزاز وشموخ إجلالا لهاماتكم السابحة في بحور المجد... أنتم المدرسة والملهم أنتم ركام التجارب والقدوة والمعلم الذي يلقننا دروس الثورة وتعاليم المقاومة أنتم من قال لنا لا تصالح ولو منحوك الذهب أنتم من أخبرنا أن للحرية الحمراء باب بكل يد مدرجة تدق وأن ولائنا أولا وأخيرا يجب أن يكون للوطن و للوطن وحده, سرنا على نهجكم السديد وخطكم الثوري الملتزم نرجى إلى شمس ساطعة إلى غد قادم بزحف فيه الأخضر على بيادر القحط والبأس غد تزحف فيه الحرية على قلاع القهر و الاستعمار.
ووفاءنا لعهدكم وإنصافا لتضحياتكم كابدنا وقاسينا وعانينا جبروت العدو وسيادته بأنفة وإباء لنجسد واقعيا وميدانيا تعاقب الأجيال في أرقى صوره ولنكمل حلمكم المشروع وتطلعكم التاريخي نحو الإنعتاق لم نجد ما نتوج به هذه المسيرة الحافلة سوى أن نسترخص أنفسنا قرابين على مذبح الحرية شهداء عند ربنا نحسب فهنيئا لنا بكم وهنيئا لكم بنا وعوضكم الله وجزاكم عنا خيرا وصبر وصبر ميعادنا الجنة إنشاء الله.
إخواتنا العفيفات, إخواننا الأماجد
لا تصالح على الدم ... حتى الدم
لا تصالح ولو قيل رأس برأس
أكل الرؤوس سواء؟.
أقلب الغريب كقلب أخيك..؟. أعيناه عينا أخيك و هل تساوي يد سيفها كان لك... بيد سيفها أثكلك أمه قانون المراق هدار يرسم جغرافيا القهر الممتد على طول خارطة الوطن الجريح إنها تعاويذ البقاء الأبدي يرتلها الجسد المنهك النحيل وقلب يتراقص ألما على ‘إيقاع نغماته الأخيرة في سباق العمر... قبل الرحيل إلى جنان الخلد... أنها وصية تحوي في طياتها عهدا يحب الوفاء ودربا تلزمه الاستمرارية وثأرا مشتعلا في الأضلع ووطنا يسكن فينا سنين عجاف من العبودية و الاحتلال, هذا ميثاق بيننا وبينكم فصنوه و أحملوه دمعة من أعينكم لا تذرف إلا يوم يرفرف العلم الوطني خفاقا في فعيوننا الحبيبة حرة ومستقلة فلا مجال للبكاء الاتشاح بالسواد فالموت شرف هو مدعاة للفخر واستنهاض للهمم وحشدنا لمسايرة مسيرة التحرر الوطني والرقي بها تجربة عالمية فريدة تستلهم منها باقي الشعوب عبر التضحية والفداء فاجعلوها براكين وحمما تشهد على إندحار أخر جندي غازي لأرضنا العزيزة.
لا تصالح
فليس سوء أن تريد.
أنت فارس هذا الزمان الوحيد
وسواك... الممسوخ
شعبنا الباسل.
في هذا الزمن الردى حين يصبح الموت من مفردات الحياة تتكالب قوى الظلم و الطغيان على شعب أعزل إلى من إرادته فتنصب المشانق وتقيم حفلات القصاص الظالم, لكل صوت يسبح ضد التيار المتجبر إنها تراجيديا مظلمة ومأساة مفجعة, لكن بقدرة قادر وبتضحية مضحي وبدم شهيد وألم جريح ودموع ...
تتساقط أوراق التوت تباعا ليتعرى وجه النمر الورقي القبيح ويصبر الصوت السابح إعصارا مدمر يقض مضاجع الاحتلال ويزلزلها وتصبح حتمية النصر أمرا معاشا وواقع لا يمكن تجازوه تأطره معطيات الميدان, أي الانتفاضة كصيغة نضالية مفتوحة في بعدها الجماهيري الزاخر بالنضج والعطاء لتتوالى قوافل الشهداء و المعتقلين و المخطوفين و الجرحى و المعطوبين وتندلع في الأفق تباشير الحرية مع بزوغ كل فجر وتلوح أشعة الاستقلال تتربع في كبد السماء, وإيمانا منا أن البطولة تقتضي أن نمد أجسادنا جسورا, فقل لرفقائنا أن يعبروا, وهنا نحن اليوم شعبنا الأصيل نروي تراب الصحراء الطاهرة بدماء زكية ونصرخ ملء حناجرنا بكل عنفوان ثوري لنقول لا في وجه من قال نعم, لا للذل لا للخضوع لا للخنوع ونكتب لا بالدم و الروح ليشهد التاريخ على برنا بالوطن هذه هي فلسفة الكفاح الوطني وقوامه ننشد من خلالها الخلود وأملنا الالتحاق بركب الخالدين شهداء الوطن وهدفنا من وراء هذه التضحية أن نكون وقودا يشعل نارا حارقة تأتي على أخضر العدو ويابسه دعما لكل الآمال ولا تنتظر جزاءا ولا شكورا فهذا واجب وطني يمليه علينا ضمير متقد وحي ولكن ما ننتظر منكم ونوصيكم به نوجزه في هذه الأبيات الناطقة بلسان حالنا في ساعات الاحتضار هاته :
أيها الواقفون على حافة المذبحة
أشهروا الأسلحة
سقط الموت وانفرط القلب كالمسبحة
الدم انساب فوق الوشاح
المنازل أضرحة...الزنازين أضرحة...المدى أضرحة...
فارفعوا الأسلحة و أتبعوني
أنا ندم الغد و البارحة
رايتي عظمتان و جمجمة
وشعاري الصباح

المعتقلين السياسيين الصحراويين
مجموعة أكديم إزيك المضربين عن الطعام
بسجن سلا2
29 نوفمبر2011

A documentary Film on the history of the conflict

فيلم صحراوي ًالمصيرً للمخرج بادي عبد ربو from saharaoccidental on Vimeo.

Western Sahara: Keeping the Status Quo

Western Sahara: Keeping the Status Quo
October 1, 2011 9:30 amadmin0 Comments


Resolution 1979 (2011) regarding the Western Sahara

Since December 2010, the so-called international community watches, unmoved, by the popular uprisings that have taken place in the Arab world. In the midst of a global economic crisis, these uprisings – hitherto unimaginable and unimagined – are the result of the desperation of societies in the face of entrenched corruption and the authoritarianism of regimes founded on oligarchies that seized power during their independence. Nevertheless, the revolutionary outbreak owes, without doubt, its rapid local and regional propagation to the expansion of communication amongst the youth (via Internet networks), which breaks the iron silence of information upon which such regimes were founded. The first achievement of this “Arab Spring” was the deposition of Ben Ali in Tunis. The trigger of his demise was the self-immolation of a young man haunted by his own future and the constant arrogance and humiliation of the regime.

However, the first warning signs of this tide of demonstrations took place in early October 2010, several thousand kilometres from the Mediterranean, in the extreme South-western point of the Arab world, in El-Aaiun – the capital of Western Sahara. Prohibited from demonstrating peacefully in the city streets, thousands of Sahrawis, dodging Moroccan occupation forces, pitched their tents in Gdeim Yzik – the middle of the desert – and protested for their lack of work and housing, and demanding their rights to sovereignty over the natural resources of their territory.

The Moroccan monarchy, overwhelmed by the magnitude of the events and the deterioration of its international image, reacted, making use of what has become a classic formula: first, expulsion of the international press to avoid uncomfortable testimonials, followed by the assault on and destruction of the encampment on November 8, 2011, followed by the detention, and disappearance of opposition leaders without due process. But this time, some members of the Moroccan Security Forces died along with protesters.

The young Sahrawis who lived in the zone of Western Sahara that is occupied by the Moroccans – desperate after waiting for a referendum allowing them to freely choose their future for more than 35 years – had lost the fear to die and faced the occupier, brandishing kitchen knives.[1] Meanwhile, in the Algerian refugee camps, the Polisario Front[2] (the Sahrawi Liberation Movement) had to calm its own, also desperate group that threatened to break the ceasefire and intervene on behalf of their brothers.



The Polisario – another oligarchy in power since the foundation of the Movement in 1972 – preferred to offer a new opportunity in the framework of negotiations established by the United Nations. They hoped that their gesture of good faith would be rewarded at the next Security Council resolution which reviews the conflict annually and would include the protection of human rights desired by MINURSO[3] – the sole UN peace mission without competencies in human rights.

Recall that Western Sahara is, according to the UN, “a non-autonomous territory,” that is to say, a colonial territory still awaiting decolonisation. In October 1975, the International Tribunal in The Hague rejected any and all sovereign rights of Morocco and Mauritania over the territory.[4] However, Spain – the administrative legal power – just a few days later, signed a treaty[5] with Morocco and Mauritania ceding administration and thus abandoning its responsibilities. Those agreements were never endorsed by the General Assembly and thus lack all legal effect at the international level. Confirmed by a UN legal report in 2002,[6] Morocco and Mauritania became the occupying powers of the Western Sahara in 1976 with the consent of Spain since it was the previous administrating power.

The war that ensued between the occupiers and the Polisario Front initially led to the defeat of Mauritania in 1979, which abandoned the territory. The conflict passed, then, to a war of attrition in the desert that Morocco – mainly with the help of France (Morocco’s former colonial metropolis and trading partner) – managed to hold on to Sahrawi cities in order to build a defensive wall protecting nearly 80% of the territory. In 1991, the exhausted parties agreed to commence negotiations to observe the due referendum of self-determination. But Morocco challenged the census prepared for this very purpose in 1999 by MINURSO. From this moment on, conversations have continued without any concrete progress towards the achievement of “a just and sustainable, mutually acceptable, political solution,” which would allow for the self-determination of the Sahrawi peoples in accordance with the UN Charter.

Human Rights – On Standby

Paradoxically, this stalemate of the negotiations has run in parallel to the emergence of human rights groups in Western Sahara cities, which denounce the grave human rights violations committed by the Moroccan Occupation Forces. The activities of these organizations have been harshly repressed by Morocco, to the point that in November 2009, the internationally-renowned Sahrawi defender of human rights Aminatu Haidar[7] was expelled from the territory. Haidar was able to return only after a long and painful hunger strike and effective pressure from the United States. [8]



Despite the ever-decreasing situation and Moroccan repression, the last resolutions in 2009 and 2010 of the Security Council regarding the territory have ignored the necessity to protect Sahrawi human rights. Instead, these resolutions have merely confirmed the importance of progressing in the “human dimensions” of the conflict, as if an analogy exists between the Sahrawi conflict and Europe during the Cold War.[9] Therefore, after the events of the Gdeim Yzik protest encampment, the new Security Council resolution regarding Western Sahara was expected with much anticipation.

The new resolution 1979/2011, like the previous resolutions, was pre-planned by France and Spain, as well as negotiated by the United States, to be finally adopted by the Security Council on April 27, 2011. Its content proves highly disappointing: the resolution does not amplify the MINURSO mandate to the supervision and monitoring of Sahrawis’ human rights. The resolution goes so far as to make an unsubstantiated claim to justify a concern for the human rights’ conditions as serious in the zone occupied by Morocco, as in the Algerian refugee camps where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has an ample presence.

To guarantee the future amelioration of human rights for Sahrawis, the Security Council declares that the Resolution and the Security Council will welcome the establishment of a National Council for Human Rights by Morocco, complete with a special chamber dedicated to Western Sahara. This new institution merely renames the pre-existing and inefficient Advisory Council on Human Rights[10] created in 1990. The Resolution therefore does no more than implicitly recognize the competence of a public Moroccan institution in a territory outside of its sovereignty, subject to a still pending decolonisation process sponsored by the UN.



Moreover, the Resolution contains an irrelevant reference to the commitment of Morocco to ensure unconditional access – free of conditions and obstacles – to all the Special Procedures of the UN Advisory Council on Human Rights. This organ is not an objective nor independent institution, but rather it is of a political and inter-governmental nature, having been formed by the representatives of 47 states ­– including France and Spain ­– whose governments are characterised by minimal sensitivity to human rights violations of the Sahrawis, in addition to other states characterised by indifference towards human rights, such as China, Cuba, or Saudi Arabia. In this sense, it suffices to recall the Universal Periodic Review, to which Morocco was subject in 2008 by the UN Advisory Council on Human Rights, whose final report[11] solely recognised progress without once mentioning the dire situation, which already existed, in the occupied territory of Western Sahara.

Endorsing the Moroccan Monarchy

The icing on the cake of this Resolution is that – as a solution – it endorses the application of a refugee protection programme developed by the UNHCR in coordination with the Polisario Front. This programme, led by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), includes capacity-building and awareness-raising activities on human rights. However, and despite these initiatives, the Resolution does not require a similar and indispensable programme for the authorities and Moroccan Occupation Forces present in Western Sahara. Morocco is not part of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, nor of the Optional Protocol of the International Convention Against Torture, nor of the International Convention Against the Forced Disappearance of Persons. Morocco is supposed to respect the 1949 Geneva Conventions on International Human Rights, which requires occupying powers to respect the rights of the occupied.



Currently, the Security Council, with all its cynicism and the likely worsening of the situation, recently requested that the Secretary-General inform the Council regularly – “at least twice per annum” – of the progress in negotiations between parties. As pre-established by the OHCHR,[12] almost all the human rights violations committed in the occupied zone are consequence of the lack of application of the fundamental right to free self-determination of the Sahrawi people. What underlies this decision – just as in all the Security Council interventions on this issue since 1991 – is the clear intention to protect the stability of the Moroccan Monarchy, considered by the United States since its independence in 1956, as an essential ally against Communism previously and currently against fundamentalist Islam.

Nevertheless, this blind protectionism concerned with the abuses of a dictatorship is no way to guarantee for local or regional stability, but rather the complete opposite, as demonstrated by the fall of Ben Ali in Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt, as well as the mass protests in Syria, Jordan, Algeria, and of course Morocco. Since February 20, 2011, every month we have witnessed daily protests in major Moroccan cities calling for democracy and an end to the abuses of corruption. Mohammed VI and his entourage, pressured by their French partners, have not gone beyond a mere cosmetic reform of the system. The new constitution,[13] which just barely and superficially cut the king’s absolute powers, was approved in a recent referendum – as in previous elections. Barely 30% of the voting-age population participated due to abstention from leftists and fundamentalists, who are surprisingly united in all the claims of the “Arab Spring”.[14]

The Moroccan monarchy’s anecdotal reformism and the blind protection of the Security Council appear to move in the same direction: in the face of new challenges, and using the words of the Prince of Lampedusa in The Leopard, change so that nothing changes. Introducing a standard for democracy in institutions and speaking of human rights in resolutions regarding Western Sahara are always desirable – if, and only if, the effective control of the king and his political-economic-military entourage over Morocco and the Sahrawi territory and natural resources is not threatened. However, in both scenarios, the prudish and short-term strategy may soon be over-taken by events. The Arab people are taking their destiny into their own hands in opposition to the special interests of their oligarchies and the reductionist interests of the great powers.



Eduardo Trillo de Martín-Pinillos is associate professor at UNED in Public International Law, and a consultant for international organizations in human rights and democracy.

Alan Gignoux is a British photographer: www.gignouxphotos.com


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Report from the Moroccan Association for Human Rights on 24 December 2010.

[2] Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro.

[3] United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO.

[4] Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Western Sahara, 16 October 1975.

[5] “Madrid Agreement,” 20 October 1975.

[6] UN Doc. S/2002/161.

[7] Human Rights Prize of the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation 2008 – Civil Courage Prize, Train Foundation, 2009.

[8] Eduardo Soto-Trillo, Viaje al abandono, Aguilar, 2011.

[9] The term “human dimension” was first used within the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Helsinki, 1975 to introduce human rights issues in the conversations. This was reflected in the final act of the conference.

[10] See Amnesty International annual reports, “Alliance for Dignity and Freedom,” Human Rights Watch, and the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, among others.

[11] A/HRC/8/22.

[12] Confidential report of the OHCHR, November 2006, the conclusions of which were, a posteriori, confirmed by a Human Rights Watch report in December 2008.

[13] Bernabé López García, “Marruecos. Cien Días para una nueva Constitución unanimidad para la galería y una”, Real Instituto Elcano, June 2011.

[14] Said Kirlhani, “Marruecos, la nueva constitución marroquí y el referéndum del 1 de julio”, Análisis del observatorio electoral TEIM, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, August 2011.

2011: the year of Facebook revolutions … some forgotten and ignored

The occupation of Wall Street began in the deserts of Western Sahara and this weekend it will spread to our Australian cities.

In El-Ayoun, Moroccan controlled Western Sahara, in the Gdeim Izik refugee tent camp, a demonstration was set up by Saharawis as a form of protest in October-November 2010.

Western Sahara has been occupied illegally by Morocco since 1975. The situation is similar to Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor.

The attack on Gdeim Izik
The UN is responsible for organizing a referendum, although Morocco has succeeded in derailing its implementation.

France, the US and the international community have also looked the other way.

The Moroccan government’s response to the Gdeim Izik refugee camp was swift and brutal.

While Polisario, the Western Sahara liberation movement, claimed that 36 Saharawis were killed, hundreds wounded and 163 arrested, the Moroccan government argued that only 2 demonstrators but 11 Moroccan security forces had been killed.

The only filmed representation of this occupation exists on Youtube.

The first shot of the Arab Spring
According to Noam Chomsky the Arab Spring began not in Tunisia but in Western Sahara at Gdeim Izik.

Kamal Fadel, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Front representative in Australia, argues that there were no journalists in the protest camp. The revolution wasn’t tweeted, says Fadel.

One week ago, on September 25, a peaceful Sahrawi demonstration followed violent and fatal football clashes between Saharawis and Moroccan settlers.

The demonstration was violently repressed by the Moroccan authorities and another Sahrawi was killed. In both Gdeim Izik and Dahkla, we can only try to reconstruct what happened through eyewitness testimonies and online media.

The Facebook revolution you haven’t heard of
Exiled human rights activist Aicha Dahane, who toured Australia earlier this year, has stated that because of extreme repression, the only media platform available to the Saharawis is online and Youtube and Facebook are the most popular.

And while there has been a Facebook Revolution in Western Sahara, as I argue here, it has been largely forgotten.

Gdeim Izik and Wall Street; Western Sahara and the Arab Spring: the relationship between events is beginning to resemble online mirror sites.

When the Wikileaks site was hacked late last year many others stepped up and reproduced the information trail endlessly by introducing their own sites. If 2011 is the year of revolutions the connections are often new, unexpected and exciting.

Dahane also spoke about the solidarity and sharing of food and possessions that was emblematic of the Gdeim Izik tent camp.

When the Net goes down
It reminded me of Ahdif Soueif’s introduction to the little gem of a book Tweets From Tahrir from cutting edge publisher OR books:

“Tahrir was a space of unity, pride, resistance, celebration, laughter, sharing, and most importantly ownership. This was the people’s space; our rules and our demands. We would not leave until justice was born.”

When the internet was blocked in Egypt social media was forced to take a back-seat. The action was now on the streets.

It was no longer simply viral. People could meet face-to-face while before they shielded themselves behind the internet screen. This is the place where Facebook becomes redundant.

From Harvard to the Sahara to the White House
While Facebook was founded in the mainstream American college circuit nobody could have predicted its radical role in Western Sahara and Egypt. If we trace the life cycle of Facebook we can say that it is now all grown up.

It’s now tired of the all night decadent parties as epitomised in the myth-making film The Social Network. It now wants to get political; or at least, organize its staff to do so.

Following on from the example of Google it now plans to encourage its employees to donate to a political action committee.

Facebook’s political action committee “will give our employees a way to make their voice heard in the political process by supporting candidates who share our goals of promoting the value of innovation to our economy while giving people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”

Facebook is functioning like any other corporation in Washington, employing its own lobbyists to promote what Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman call spin and flak, one of the filters used by the corporate media and its lobbyists to manufacture consent in industrialised societies.

Who needs who?
Openness, in Facebook’s definition, is a form of spin and a not too unsophisticated means of getting one’s own way.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is one of the most recent sustained challenges to corporate greed and unbridled corporate influence, including media monopolies.

“We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments,” argues the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City.

One of the current great ironies is that the Wall Street occupiers need Facebook as an information tool now more than Facebook, with its corporate lobbyists, needs them.

And when, like the Egyptian protesters in Tahrir Square, the Occupy Wall Street movement is consolidated on the streets Facebook could find it has become the corporate target

Another Saharawi Victim falls down in Dakhla: A New Martyr

الذى استشهد يوم 26-09-2011
اثناء المواجهات و الاحداث التى شهدتها مدينة الداخلة المحتلة على اثر الهجوم الذى قامت به الاجهزة الامنية المغربية مدعومة بالمستوطنين ضد المواطنين الصحراويين العزل
اسم الشهيد
ميشان ولد محمد لمين ولد لحبيب ابوه معروف باسم باريز
اسم الام عيشة منت احميادة
تاريخ الازدياد 1982 بمخيمات العزة والكرامة

Coming Crisis in Phosphate Supplies

Coming Crisis in Phosphate Supplies
Written by David Gabel
Wednesday, 20 July 2011 12:22

Message :Investors: Free Oil Industry Investment Report - Our Fracking industry guide shows you the strategies that will enable you to generate excellent returns in what will be one of the most profitable sectors of the energy industry. Click here for your Free report.
Phosphate is a mineral that is used in fertilizer to boost agricultural productivity. It is greatly responsible for the "green" revolution and the increased output of farms around the world. Unfortunately, the world will be coming to a point, if certain trends hold, where we will run out of phosphate. The mineral is widely used, but utterly unrecycled. Like fossil fuels, phosphate may come to a point where it is too costly to use, and world hunger may be the consequence.
Phosphate is an inorganic chemical mined from the earth. It typically consists of one phosphorus atom surrounded by oxygen atoms. The addition of phosphates can have a huge impact to an ecosystem. Like water and air, it is literally essential to life on Earth. On cropland, it can greatly boost yields. However, from there it usually drains into waterways. In freshwater and marine environments, it acts as a limiting nutrient, often causing eutrophication (oxygen deprived water).
The largest reserve of phosphate rock can be found in the country of Western Sahara, just south of Morocco. Once a Spanish colony, it is now controlled by Morocco. One of the reasons the Moroccans are so interested is thought to be the vast phosphate reserves. The mines are at Bou Craa which produces several million tons of phosphate rock each year. It gets transferred down a huge 150-kilometer long conveyor belt to the Atlantic port of El Ayoun.
Farmers around the world use about 170 million tons of phosphate every year to keep their soils fertile. One ton of phosphate is typically used for every 130 tons of grain. Fifteen percent of all phosphate comes from Western Sahara and Morocco. The other big producers are the US and China which each use up their own. This makes Western Sahara and Morocco the biggest players in the international phosphate trade. The biggest nations which rely on this trade are India and Brazil which may be starving otherwise.
According to the US Geological Survey, the world has 65 billion tons of known phosphate reserves, but only 16 billion tons that are economically viable to mine. Almost 80 percent are found in Western Sahara and Morocco. The US, with only 1.4 billion tons, may run out soon, causing alarm among agronomists. Academic researcher, Dana Cordell, of the Global Phosphorus Research Initiative, has predicted that we could reach "peak phosphorus" production by 2030.
There are no substitutes for phosphate. On the other hand, the other vital nutrient for plants, nitrogen, can be found from a number of sources. It can be fixed from the atmosphere thanks to German chemist Fritz Haber. Phosphate cannot be fixed from anything. It must be mined and the mines are going to run out. Unless a solution can be found, the long term consequences may be lower yield crops and a hungrier world.
By. David Gabel
Source: Environmental News Network
http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/The-Coming-Crisis-in-Phosphate-Supplies.html

Mariem Hassan on TV Link

Patricia habla saharaui

The Theft of Western Sahara

The theft of Western Sahara


Author: David Cronin
29 May 2011 - Issue : 937





Sahrawi women refugees chant slogans during Mohamed Abdelaziz' speech at a forum at the Echorouk Newspaper in Algiers, Algeria, on 10 November 2010. The President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and leader of the Polisario, Mohamed Abdelaziz, said during his visit to the paper, that dozens of civilians perished after the Moroccan security forces dismantled tents of the 'Gdaim Izik' camp that was the site of an anti government protest near Al Ayun city, according to Abdelaziz hundreds are either wounded or lost. |EPA/MOHAMED MESSARA When and where did the “Arab Spring” begin? Most observers of the tyrant-toppling uprisings would probably agree they kicked off after the Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire in December last year. Not for the first time, Noam Chomsky has highlighted an omission from the conventional discourse. The wave of protests really started a month earlier in Western Sahara, Chomsky has argued.
On 7 November, Moroccan forces occupying that territory destroyed tents set up by the indigenous Sahrawi people near the town of Laayoune, leading to a series of confrontations. Testimonies gathered by Amnesty International indicate that the tactics used in the operation were extremely aggressive, with elderly women beaten with batons. Amnesty says the tents were erected to highlight the Sahrawis’ “perceived marginalisation and a lack of jobs and adequate housing”. The word “perceived” is unnecessary, I believe. The marginalisation of the Sahrawis is a proven fact; we seldom see anything about Western Sahara – a former Spanish colony invaded by Morocco in 1975 - in our newspapers or on our TV screens.

Rather than imposing sanctions against Morocco over its acts of brutality in November, the European Union has effectively tightened its embrace of the Rabat authorities. Although a four-year fisheries agreement between the EU and Morocco expired in February this year, both sides have decided to extend it for a further twelve months.

As EU representatives are constantly harping on about how much they cherish democratic values, the least we should be able to expect is that they would have published the information at their disposal about the agreement’s effects. Yet an evaluation of the agreement conducted at the European Commission’s request remains confidential.

Luckily, I have managed to have a peek at this report – drawn up by the French consultancy firm Océanic Developpement and dated December 2010. It concludes that the agreement with Morocco brings “the least favourable returns to the European taxpayers that we can find” in any of the fisheries agreements the EU has signed with countries beyond its borders.

Under the terms of the accord, the EU gives Morocco 36 million euros per annum. For every euro invested by the Union, the turnover generated is only 83 cents, the consultants calculate. In the 2007-2009 period, EU vessels availing of the agreement caught an average of 44,000 tonnes per year. With demand for fish in the Union reaching about 13 million tonnes per year, the agreement was making only a tiny contribution towards satisfying the requirements of Europe’s markets, Oceanic added.

More disturbingly, the consultants found that the agreement is having adverse ecological consequences. Trawlers are capturing demersal species – living near the bottom of the sea – that are already overexploited, while the capture of sharks in European nets runs contrary to the Union’s own policies on conserving endangered species. European vessels have targeted sharks in the same way as the industrial boats in the Moroccan fleet. Three large Portuguese vessels have been responsible for 70% of all sharks captured (more than 450 tonnes), according to the evaluation.

It’s not surprising that powerful figures in the EU bureaucracy want this evaluation kept secret. By extending the agreement, the Union has ignored advice that it spent good money to obtain.

This is part of a wider pattern. The agreement enabled European vessels to fish in the waters surrounding Western Sahara, on the condition that their activities brought tangible benefits to the Sahrawis. In an opinion made public during 2010, lawyers advising the European Parliament found there was no evidence that the Sahrawis had been aided in any way due to the accord’s implementation. Unless an “amicable settlement” could be found, European boats should be forbidden from entering a 200 nautical mile zone off Western Sahara, the lawyers recommended.

When I interviewed Maria Damanaki, the EU fisheries commissioner, in the autumn last year, she expressed sympathy with that legal opinion. Damanaki said she was “not persuaded” that the agreement was in the Sahrawis’ interests. Despite the clarity of her views, the European Commission still went ahead and clinched a deal with Morocco to prolong the agreement. Damanaki was clearly overruled by others in the EU executive. Can it be a coincidence that the Commission is headed by José Manuel Barroso of Portugal and that several Portuguese vessels are doing nicely from the arrangements?

Mindful of a looming presidential election, Nicolas Sarkozy has lately been promoting himself as an unflagging defender of North Africa’s downtrodden. Yet Francesco Bastagli, a former United Nations envoy to Western Sahara, has hinted there might be more than a whiff of hypocrisy emanating from the French president. “France is so unquestioning in its support of Morocco as to block even a reference to Sahrawi human rights in Security Council resolutions,” Bastagli wrote in a 2010 piece for The New Republic.

A report published in April this year by the New York City Bar Association says that if Morocco is receiving money from the EU for fishing off Western Sahara, without giving any to the Sahrawis, then it is violating international law. The same report highlighted how Irish and British companies are involved in exploration for oil and gas off Western Sahara. If they move from exploration to extraction, then their activities would be “unlawful”, the bar association concluded.

The resources of Western Sahara do not belong to Europe. So why are a few European fishing and energy firms allowed to steal them?




Read more: The theft of Western Sahara - New Europe http://www.neurope.eu/articles/The-theft-of-Western-Sahara-/106679.php#ixzz1NkmvlecK

SOLIDARITY SIT IN IN FRONT THE AMRTYR SAID DAMBAR'S HOUSE 05/19/2011

شهد منزل عائلة الشهيد سعيد سيد أحمد عبد الوهاب دمبر اليوم الخميس الموافق للتاسع عشر من ماي تنظيم وقفة سلمية للمطالبة بالكشف عن ظروف و ملابسات مقتل الشهيد سعيد دمبر برصاص شرطي مغربي أواخر شهر ديسمبر من العام الماضي شارك فيها عدد من المكونات و الإطارات الوطنية بالإضافة لعشرات المواطنين الصحراويين الذين قدموا للمشاركة تعبيرا منهم عن دعمهم المتواصل و اللا مشروط للعائلة و ما إن بدأت الجماهير الصحراوية ترديد الشعارات حتى تفاجئ بجحافل من قوات القمع المغربية تهاجمهم بمختلف أجهزتها من قوات مساعدة و عناصر الشرطة و الاستخبارات بزيها العسكري و المدني و التي كانت قد حاصرت كل الطرق المؤدية إلى منزل العائلة بحي الحشيشة بالقرب من مسجد أنس بن مالك مانعة العديد من المواطنين الصحراويين من الالتحاق بالمنزل و يتعلق الأمر بكل من:

_حمدي لمغيمض

_محمد صالح الزروالي

_الشريف الكوري

_سعيد لبيهات

_عليين التوبالي

هذه القوات التي بادرت بالهجوم على المتظاهرين الصحراويين العزل و بوحشية مفرطة مخلفة عديد الضحايا في صفوف المدنيين الصحراويين العزل و قد كان من بين الضحايا بعض من أفراد عائلة الشهيد سعيد دمبر و قد بلغت حصيلة الضحايا أزيد من عشرين ضحية من المتظاهرين الصحراويين العزل غالبيتهم من النسوة الذين نذكر منهم:

_خيرة أحمد مبارك المصابة على مستوى الرأس و الجبين

_الوالي دمبر مصاب على مستوى الرجل اليمنى

_مريم دمبر المصابة في أنحاء متفرقة من جسدها

_أم لخوت السعيدي اصابة على مستوى الأنف

_ ميمونة مسكة المصابة على مستوى الرجل

_عبد الرحمان لمرابط اصيب على مستوى الرأس

_النيهة لعبيد اصابة على مستوى الظهر

_كجمولة اسماعيلي اصيبت على مستوى الرأس

_اخويتة سيد امو اصيبت على مستوى اليد

_الطفل القاصر سيد أحمد الوالي عياش المصاب في أنحاء متفرقة من الجسم

_الطفل القاصر ليمام زديدات مصاب على مستوى الرجل

_حمدي الفيلالي مصاب على مستوى الرأس

_حميداها النومرية مصابة على مستوى الرجل

_فاطمة عمار مصابة على مستوى الرجل

_عبد الله السباعي مصاب على مستوى الأضلاع

_ازانة لمعمري مصابة على مستوى الثدي

_مريم البورحيمي مصابة على مستوى الأرجل

_الحافظ التوبالي مصاب في أنحاء مختلفة من الجسم

_حمدي لمغيمض على مستوى اليد

سلطات القمع المغربية لم تكتفي بهذا الحد و واصلت حصار المواطنين الصحراويين داخل المنزل باستخدام الرشق بالحجارة لمدة تجاوزت الخمس ساعات تقريبا قررت معها الجماهير و اللجنة المنظمة الاستمرار في شكلها النضالي المتمثل في مهرجان خطابي داخل المنزل على الرغم من الرشق المتواصل للحجارة الذي كانت تقوم به في محاولة منها قمع و فرملة نضال الشعب الصحراوي و بذلك تكون سلطات إدارة الاحتلال قد برهنت للعالم بأنها لم تغير من أسلوبها في التعامل مع ملف حقوق الإنسان خاصة عندما يتعلق الأمر بالمناطق المحتلة من الصحراء الغربية التي تزداد وثيرة الانتهاكات بها خاصة بعد لائحة قرار مجلس الأمن الأخير.

MEP slams Commission's handling of Morocco deal

MEP slams Commission's handling of Morocco deal

14.04.2011 / 05:19 CET

Carl Haglund says Commission's handling lacked transparency.

A leading MEP has criticised the European Commission's management of the controversial fisheries deal between the European Union and Morocco.

The European Parliament is to vote on the recent Commission decision to extend ‘a fish for finance' deal with Morocco by one year. The original agreement, which was reached in 2007, has long been the target of campaigners and lawyers who say that it tramples on the rights of people living in the disputed Western Sahara territory. It has also come under attack from some MEPs for bolstering the “illegal” occupation of Western Sahara.

Lack of transparency
Carl Haglund, a Finnish Liberal MEP and a vice-chair of the Parliament's fisheries committee, who is drafting the Parliament's report on the deal, has now hit out at the procedural aspects. “The Commission has handled this extremely badly,” he said: it was slow and the process was lacking in transparency.

According to Haglund, the Commission has still not submitted the necessary referral to Parliament, and a key report analysing the current agreement is available only in French, and has not been made public.

This was “one of the worst examples” of its kind since the Lisbon treaty came into force, Haglund said. The new treaty empowers the Parliament to block international agreements. But the delays in transmitting documents mean that the Parliament's fisheries committee is unlikely to vote on the extension until late May, with a Parliamentary vote in June or July – four or five months into the life of the one-year extension.

Haglund said that he had “not made up his mind” about the merits of the fisheries agreement itself. His report would, he said, assess the use of EU taxpayers' money, how the deal had benefited EU fishing crews, the people of Morocco and the disputed Western Sahara territory, as well as the impact on fish stocks. But he noted that “a vast majority of fish stocks in this region are overfished or close to the limit of overfishing”.

A Commission spokesman declined to comment on the specifics of Haglund's critique, but said: “It is the Parliament's full right and duty to signal to the Commission and to the member states what it wants to happen to this protocol

البوليزاريو رفضت تسلم المساعدات وتبرعت بها للشعب الليبي.

البوليزاريو رفضت تسلم المساعدات وتبرعت بها للشعب الليبي.
الأمم المتحدة تشتري شحنة زيوت غذائية بمليوني دولار من المغرب وتوجهها للصحراويين كمساعدات إنسانية ؟ البوليزاريو رفضت تسلم المساعدات وتبرعت بها للشعب الليبي. القضية كشفت تورّط الأمم المتحدة في فضائح فساد مالي مع النظام المغربي.
شهد ميناء وهران قبل أيام، فضيحة دولية مدوية، أطرافها برنامج الغذاء العالمي التابع إلى الأمم المتحدة، إلى جانب الحكومة المغربية، بعدما جرى اكتشاف وصول كميات كبيرة من شحنة زيوت غذائية قادمة من المغرب، موجهة إلى الشعب الصحراوي، على أنّها مساعدات إنسانية.

وحسب مصدر مطلع؛ فإنّ شحنة المساعدات التي تمثلت في 24 حاوية معبأة بعلب كبيرة تحتوي على 462 طن من زيت المائدة، كان مقرّرا أن يتسلمها الهلال الأحمر الصّحراوي لتوزيعها فيما بعد على مخيمات اللاجئين الصحراويين.

لكن سرعان ما اكتشف الصحراويون فور شروعهم في تسلم شحنات الزيت بعد شحنها، أن المساعدات المخصّصة للصحراويين مصدرها المغرب، الذي تبيّن أنّه قام ببيع تلك الشحنات للأمم المتحدة، على أن تقوم هذه الأخيرة بمنحها كمساعدات للاجئين الصحراويين، في إطار برنامج الغذاء العالمي.

وتظهر صور وشريط فيديو للمساعدات الإنسانية تحصلت ''النهار'' على نسخ منها؛ أنّ قارورات زيت المائدة كانت تحمل على غلافها شعار برنامج الغذاء العالمي باللونين الأزرق والأبيض، غير أنّها حملت أيضا شعار آخر تمثل في عبارة ''منتوج مغربي''، وهو ما دفع المستفيدين من المساعدات، إلى رفض تسلمها واعتبارها راجعة إلى أصحابها.

وأفادت مصادر مطلعة على الموضوع لـ''النهار''؛ أنه بعد رفض الهلال الأحمر الصحراوي تسلم شحنة ''المساعدات''، جرى الإتفاق بين السلطات الصحراوية ومسؤولين أمميين، على منحها لفائدة الشعب الليبي، حيث تقرّر نقل الشحنة بمساعدة شركة ''ميرسك'' للنقل البحري إلى ميناء بنغازي، على أن توزع هناك على الأشقاء الليبيين. ولفتت نفس المصادر؛ إلى أنّ قضية ''المساعدات الإنسانية''، ورغم التوصل إلى حل بشأنها، من خلال تحويلها إلى ليبيا، إلاّ أنّ كافة خيوطها لم تُحل بعد، حيث أشارت مصادر ''النهار'' إلى أنّه بالنظر إلى القيمة المالية لشحنة الزيوت والمقدرة بحوالي مليوني دولار، دفعتها الأمم المتحدة للمغرب، فإنّ قضية أخرى تطفو على السطح وتتمثل في قضايا الصفقات التجارية التي تجريها الأمم المتحدة، مضيفة أنّ إقدام مسؤولين أمميين على شراء منتجات غذائية من دولة احتلال، لتوجيهها كمساعدات لشعب دولة أخرى محتلة من طرف الأولى، لم يكن ليحدث لولا وجود صفقات تمت ''تحت الطاولة''، مشيرة في نفس الوقت، إلى وجوب التحقيق في إمكانية تقاضي مسؤولين أمميين عمولات ورشاوي من نظام المخزن المغربي، مقابل شراء مواد غذائية من ''الجلاد وتقديمها إلى ضحاياه كمساعدات''.


القنصل الصحراوي بوهران:''نموت جوعا ولا نقبل مساعدات المخزن المغربي''.
قال القنصل الصحراوي بوهران، سعيد فيلالي، بشأن فضيحة ''المساعدات الإنسانية'' القادمة من المغرب، أن السلطات الصحراوية، أبلغت مصالح الأمم المتحدة برفض تسلم شحنة المساعدات الإنسانية، معتبرا القيام بتوجيه مواد غذائية مصدرها المغرب لفائدة الصحراويين، سلوك يتعارض مع مبادئ العمل الإنساني ويخرق كل المقاييس الأخلاقية، قبل أن يشدّد على أنّ الشعب الصحراوي يرفض تسلم مثل تلك المساعدات، كونها قادمة من دولة تحتل أراضيه وتمارس القمع والتقتيل في حقه، مضيفا أن الصحراويين يفضلون الموت جوعا، على أن يقبلوا التقوّت من مساعدات يقدمها جلادوهم، ليردف بالقول أن الصحراويين لا يثقون البتة في النظام المغربي، وبالتالي فإنّهم لا يثقون أيضا في كل ما يأتي من جانبه، حتى ولو كان كمساعدات. وطالب القنصل الصحراوي القائمين على برنامج الغذاء العالمي، التابع إلى الأمم المتحدة، مراعاة مشاعر الشعب الصحراوي في عملياتهم الإنسانية المخصصة لفائدة الصحراويين والحرص على أمنهم، مضيفا أنّ مسؤولي المنظّمة الأممية تفهموا الوضع، ليتقرر توجيه تلك المساعدات إلى بلد آخر، بدون تسميته.
المصدر : النهار أون لاين.

Le Maroc est aussi une dictature | Patrick Lagacé | Patrick Lagacé

Le Maroc est aussi une dictature | Patrick Lagacé | Patrick Lagacé

www.cyberpresse.ca

Ce qui est formidable, avec la révolution tunisienne, c'est de voir tout le monde se distancer du régime dictatorial de Ben Ali, qui, hier encore, ne dérangeait à...

Le Maroc est aussi une dictature
Ce qui est formidable, avec la révolution tunisienne, c'est de voir tout le monde se distancer du régime dictatorial de Ben Ali, qui, hier encore, ne dérangeait à peu près personne. Ce qui est formidable, c'est d'entendre tous ces gens chanter les vertus de la démocratie, vertus qu'ils passaient sous silence quand ils composaient avec la dictature.

Dans la catégorie «Déclarations stupides, année 2011», la ministre des Affaires étrangères de la France, Michèle Alliot-Marie, a une sérieuse option sur le titre. Pendant les révoltes, elle a offert au régime dictatorial le savoir-faire français en matière de contrôle des foules!

C'est une énormité, bien sûr. Mais c'est une énormité qui trahit un état d'esprit, quand même.

Toujours en France, Frédéric Mitterrand, ministre de la Culture. Il s'est fendu d'une lettre aux Tunisiens, une fois le dictateur Ben Ali caché en Arabie Saoudite, pour exprimer ses «regrets» à l'égard de sa «complaisance» envers le régime.

Dans les années 90, M. Mitterrand a organisé l'Année de la Tunisie en France, ce qui lui a valu la nationalité tunisienne en reconnaissance de ses efforts. Dans les années 90, la Tunisie était-elle un État policier qui emprisonnait des journalistes, étouffait l'opposition et torturait ses prisonniers? Oui. Mais Frédéric Mitterrand ne voyait rien de mal, à l'époque, à être honoré de la citoyenneté tunisienne.

Aujourd'hui, il se défend ainsi:»Comme beaucoup d'autres, (j'ai essayé) de privilégier le dialogue avec les autorités et souvent en allant jusqu'aux limites de ce qui était acceptable», a-t-il écrit dans sa lettre aux Tunisiens.

Ah, le dialogue! Le fameux «dialogue» avec les dictatures! Pendant qu'on se demandait si des proches de Ben Ali, qui ont apparemment pillé la Tunisie, avaient trouvé refuge à Montréal, il y avait dans le New York Times une belle photo de Barack Obama avec Hu Jiantao, président de la République populaire de Chine. Le président des États-Unis d'Amérique, Prix Nobel de la paix 2009, était tout sourire à côté de celui qui a emprisonné le Prix Nobel de la paix 2010, Lu Xiaobo. Je me demande si Barack Obama a eu un dialogue sur les droits de l'homme avec son banquier chinois.

C'est drôle de voir à quel point certaines dictatures nous sont intolérables - l'Iran, Cuba, la Birmanie, le Zimbabwe, l'Afghanistan, l'Irak - alors que nous ménageons les susceptibilités d'autres dictatures dont l'amitié va dans le sens de nos intérêts: Pakistan, Arabie Saoudite, Maroc, Tunisie pré-2011, Chine, Égypte...

Cette timidité des démocraties vis-à-vis des dictatures n'est pas anecdotique. C'est le fruit d'une tendance lourde, note Human Rights Watch dans son rapport annuel 2010: «Au lieu de s'engager à exercer des pressions publiques pour défendre les droits humains, ils préfèrent adopter une démarche plus indulgente s'appuyant par exemple sur un 'dialogue' privé ou une 'coopération'«.

Vous savez peut-être que Stephen Harper s'est envolé hier pour coprésider une commission de l'ONU sur la santé des mères et des enfants. Sur le chemin du retour, il va faire un arrêt à Rabat, au Maroc, tout près de la Tunisie nouvellement «libérée». But de l'escale: astiquer les relations bilatérales et favoriser les échanges commerciaux.

Je sais, je sais: chaque année, des hordes de Québécois visitent le Maroc et en reviennent aussi bronzés qu'émerveillés. Mais le Maroc est une dictature. Une monarchie dictatoriale. Ce n'est pas l'Allemagne de l'Est ou l'URSS, mais c'est un pays où les dissidents sont harcelés, où les prisonniers politiques sont torturés, où la police est politique.

Au Maroc, le journalisme indépendant est dominé par le pouvoir, qui peut fermer des journaux pour différents délits, comme la critique frontale du dictateur, le roi Mohammed VI. Tenez, un journaliste, Driss Chahtane, a été emprisonné en 2009 pour avoir publié de l'information sur la santé du dictateur. On l'a emprisonné pour avoir publié ces «fausses» informations «de mauvaise foi».

Heureusement pour M. Chahtane, le dictateur royal l'a gracié après six mois de prison. Le chanceux!

Notre premier ministre va donc faire une escale au Maroc, où on lui parlera sans doute de l'importance des clémentines dans les épiceries du Québec. On peut toujours rêver mais, dans la foulée de la splendide révolution tunisienne, ce serait bien que Stephen Harper sermonne un peu, publiquement, le régime policier du Maroc.

J'ai dit: on peut toujours rêver. Dans les faits, probablement que Stephen Harper, comme tous les autres chefs de gouvernement de l'Occident, parlera de la démocratie marocaine le jour improbable où le dictateur marocain sera dans un avion, vers un exil doré en Arabie Saoudite, autre dictature chouchou de l'Occident.

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/chroniqueurs/patrick-lagace/201101/26/01-4363734-le-maroc-est-aussi-une-dictature.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_B40_chroniqueurs_373561_accueil_POS2

Harper sur un terrain glissant au Maroc
Harper sur un terrain glissant au Maroc | Politique canadienne

www.cyberpresse.ca

Après un passage éclair en Suisse, où il a coprésidé une réunion de la commission sur la santé maternelle et infantile de l'ONU, Stephen Harper est arrivé au...




Stephen Harper aux côtés de son homologue marocain Abbas el Fassi à son arrivée à Rabat. Photo: Reuters

La Presse Canadienne
Rabat


Après un passage éclair en Suisse, où il a coprésidé une réunion de la commission sur la santé maternelle et infantile de l'ONU, Stephen Harper est arrivé au Maroc mercredi soir, où sa visite officielle de courtoisie pourrait s'avérer plus périlleuse.

Le premier ministre avait ajouté cette escale d'un jour à son voyage - une journée qui pourrait s'avérer plus difficile que prévu étant donné le contexte dans lequel elle survient.

Quatre personnes se sont immolées par le feu la semaine dernière au Maroc dans la foulée de la révolution populaire en Tunisie qui a chassé le président Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali du pouvoir au début janvier. Depuis, la monarchie marocaine a tenté de calmer le jeu en augmentant les subventions alimentaires.

Lorsqu'on a demandé à M. Harper s'il soutenait les manifestations démocratiques, il a répondu prudemment que son gouvernement a «toujours défendu les valeurs fondamentales de liberté, de démocratie, des droits de la personne et de la primauté du droit». Il n'a pas voulu en dire plus au cours de cette conférence de presse tenue à Genève, avant son départ pour le Maroc.

À Rabat, le premier ministre a été accueilli sur le tarmac de l'aéroport par le premier ministre nommé par le roi Mohammed VI.

La raison exacte de cette visite est difficile à établir clairement. Les échanges bilatéraux entre le Canada et l'État du Maghreb représentent environ 500 millions $ par année, ce qui est peu.

Les représentants de M. Harper ont fait valoir qu'une importante diaspora marocaine se trouve au Canada, et tout particulièrement au Québec, la province où la plupart des quelque 100 000 Canadiens d'origine marocaine ont fait leur nid.

THE RFK CENTER FINDS EVIDENCE OF ESCALATING ABUSE, TORTURE, AND ARBITRARY IMPRISONMENT IN WESTERN SAHARA

HE RFK CENTER FINDS EVIDENCE OF ESCALATING ABUSE, TORTURE, AND ARBITRARY IMPRISONMENT IN WESTERN SAHARA
1/19/2011
[View]
WASHINGTON (January 18, 2011) – Torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, failure to follow criminal procedures, and repression of civilians by Moroccan government forces are all too common in Western Sahara, according to the findings of a recent visit to El Aaiun by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Western Sahara human rights leader Aminatou Haidar, recipient of the 2008 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, hosted the staff delegation from January 11 to 14 to examine human rights violations allegedly committed by Moroccan security forces against Sahrawis. The delegation included RFK Center Executive Director Lynn Delaney, Director of the Center for Human Rights Monika Kalra Varma, and Advocacy Officer Mary Beth Gallagher. Although the delegation’s ability to work or move freely was not impeded, the staff was under constant surveillance by both uniformed and undercover police.

Indications of repression, limitations on freedom of expression, and economic and social marginalization of Sahrawis, as well as state-sponsored violence, are emblematic of the human rights situation there. This context, in concert with the violence that broke out on November 8, 2010, when Moroccan security forces dismantled a camp set up by residents of Western Sahara to protest social and economic discrimination, reinforces the need for impartial international human rights monitoring. The RFK Center strongly condemns the violence committed on both sides surrounding the dismantling of the protest camps in November.

The RFK Center mission met with more than two dozen victims of abuse, torture, and imprisonment and their families during the trip, in addition to Moroccan government officials and representatives of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). “Human rights abuses have been ongoing, and the spike in violence resulting from the dismantling of the Gdyam Izik camp is alarming,” said Varma. “There are overwhelming indications of abuse, harassment, or torture both before and after the violence, and Aminatou Haidar and her fellow human rights defenders work at great personal risk in these conditions.”

“The fact that there is no international human rights monitoring mechanism as the situation worsens in Western Sahara is unacceptable,” stated Varma. The RFK Center has long called on the United Nations Security Council to add a human rights component to MINURSO to monitor the human rights situation in Western Sahara and the camps in Tindouf, Algeria.

“I hope that after the visit of the RFK Center to Western Sahara, the delegation will be able to shine a spotlight on the alarming human rights situation in the territory of Western Sahara, which is under Moroccan control,” said Haidar. “Strong support from the United States and the international community is needed to end the suffering of the Sahrawi people.”

The RFK Center will be issuing a report detailing its findings in the near future.

Aminatou Haidar, 2008 RFK Human Rights Award Laureate
Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights engages in long-term partnerships with RFK Human Rights Award Laureates to support sustainable social justice movements. As one of Western Sahara’s most prominent human rights defenders, and president of the Collectif des defenseurs saharaouis des droits de l'homme (CODESA), Aminatou Haidar promotes the civil, political, social, cultural, and economic rights of the people of Western Sahara, including the rights to freedom of speech and association and to self-determination. Ms. Haidar works through non-violent means to organize peaceful demonstrations to denounce the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Moroccan government. Despite years of illegal imprisonment, torture, and abuse under Moroccan authorities, Ms. Haidar continues to encourage Sahrawis to seek, through non-violent means, the realization of their fundamental human rights.


For journalists to arrange an interview, please contact:

Josh Karlen, Director of Communications
RFK Center
karlen@rfkcenter.org
917-671-6803

Saharawi Maritime Map