By Soren Dawson
The Saharawi are the indigenous people of Western Sahara, a territory in northwest Africa bordered by the Atlantic ocean to the West, Morocco to the North, and Mauritania to the South. Before colonization, Saharawi people lived here in nomadic or semi-nomadic communities, herding their livestock in the Sahara Desert when the rains turned it green. The same landscapes that fed them inspired a rich tradition of poetry and music that centers the beauty of this land and the peoples’ relationship with it.
In the late 1800s, Western Sahara was colonized by Spain. The Spanish government repressed Saharawi culture and imposed education that enforced colonial rule, teaching the Spanish language and history instead of Saharawi. After nearly a century of occupation, in the early 1970s decolonization was on the horizon. Saharawis organized for an independent Western Sahara forming the Polisario Front in 1973, a liberation movement utilizing political advocacy and armed resistance to advance Saharawi self-determination. International consensus and law agreed that the Saharawi people had the only legitimate claim to sovereignty in Western Sahara, despite the claims of Morocco and Mauritania that they should have control of the land and the rich natural resources there. A decade earlier abundant deposits of phosphate had been discovered, and the coast is home to large populations of ecologically and economically valuable fish and other sea life. Instead of complying with international law and basic decency, Spain signed agreements with Morocco and Mauritania, and with the Spanish withdrawal came a US and France backed Moroccan invasion from the North and Mauritanian invasion from the South.
Saharawis fought back. In 1979 the Polisario Front successfully forced Mauritania to give up its colonial ambitions in Western Sahara, but the war continued with Morocco until a 1991 ceasefire, which promised a referendum on self determination. That referendum has not happened, prevented by Morocco. The ceasefire still held until November of 2020, when Morocco attempted to occupy a buffer zone supposedly restricted to UN personnel. Active combat resumed, and continues as of this writing.
Amid decades of violence and ethnic cleansing by Morocco, most Saharawis have been forced to flee Western Sahara, and now live in refugee camps in Algeria. They are prevented from returning home by the Moroccan government, and rely primarily on international aid for survival. Those who remain in Western Sahara are subjected to intense cultural and political repression including disappearance, torture, and retaliation against the families of activists.
In addition to artillery and torture, Morocco uses cultural production and tourism as weapons for the ethnic cleansing of Western Sahara. “The Odyssey,” partially filmed in violation of international law in Dakhla, Western Sahara, is one example of how mainstream media is weaponized by the Moroccan state. This movie was filmed without any consultation with or even acknowledgment of the existence of Saharawi people. Instead, the production collaborated with the Moroccan Ministry of Culture, acting as if Dakhla was part of Morocco. The director and others involved in the production have never responded to calls to recognize Saharawi sovereignty and to not use the scenes filmed on occupied land without their permission, calls made a year before the movie came out. This is the playbook for laundering ethnic cleansing with mainstream entertainment, and we can expect to see it reproduced everywhere colonial regimes attempt to cement their power, from Western Sahara to Palestine and across the globe.
We can make these attempts to use western pop culture to erase the Saharawi people backfire, and hold accountable those complicit in this colonial project. This is an opportunity for more people to learn about Western Sahara and hear from Saharawi people. Many people, even people very passionate and informed about other struggles for indigenous sovereignty, have never heard of Western Sahara. Few people know that the US recognized Morocco’s occupation in 2020 under the Abraham Accords in exchange for Morocco recognizing Israel, or that there has been strong solidarity between Palestine and Western Sahara for many decades. It’s past time to recognize the liberation of Western Sahara as inseparable from any true movement for liberation, and take action for a free Western Sahara!
- Take action now
Learn more about the history, present, and future of Western Sahara from Saharawi journalists, activists, and storytellers in the refugee camps and occupied Western Sahara: www.saharawivoice.org/
Boycott and Divest – Boycott corporations that operate in occupied Western Sahara, and boycott “The Odyssey.” Learn more about resource extraction in Western Sahara from Western Sahara Resource Watch and the call to boycott “The Odyssey” from coverage on Democracy Now on July 17, 2026.
Pressure politicians to recognize the right to independence and self-determination of Western Sahara, end aid and weapons sales to Morocco, and revoke US endorsement of Morocco’s claim to the territory. More info: solidarityrising.com and festivalsahara.org