The Militant - January 28, 2002 -- Independence for Western Sahara

Vol.66/No.4 January 28, 2002

Independence for Western Sahara
(editorial)

Sustained protest actions over the last four months in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara have given new impetus to the Sahrawi struggle for independence. The release of Mohamed Daddach--the longest-held Sahrawi political prisoner and a symbol of the decades-long fight for self-determination--should be celebrated by all working people and anti-imperialist youth.

King Mohamed VI's recent pardon of 56 prisoners and his decision to improve the living conditions in Lakhal prison are a direct result of the wave of street protests and prisoners' demonstrations, and an international campaign led by Sahrawis in the refugee camps to win broader support around the world for their struggle.

After the Spanish imperialists relinquished control of the country in 1975 and turned it over to the semicolonial powers in Mauritania and Morocco, the foreign forces drove the majority of Sahrawis off their land and into desert refugee camps in neighboring Algeria. Under these conditions, the people of Western Sahara, led by the Polisario Front, have waged a sustained struggle from both sides of the country--the occupied region and the liberated zone.

The Sahrawi people are not only up against the despotic monarchy of Morocco, they also face the imperialist powers in Washington and Paris that have given billions of dollars in economic and military support to the king.

Eleven years ago the Polisario Front forced the Moroccan government to the negotiating table and signed an agreement in which Sahrawis on both sides of the divide were to hold a referendum on independence or integration into Morocco. To this day, Rabat and its backers in Washington and Paris have dragged their feet on implementing the referendum. Now they call for Western Sahara to remain under the king's control with some rights of "autonomy." They know that the overwhelming majority of the Sahrawi people will vote for independence. And they fear the dangerous example this liberation struggle represents for toilers throughout Africa and the Middle East.

The imperialist powers especially fear that Sahrawis may consider the rich phosphate, fishing stocks, and potential oil to be the patrimony of Western Sahara, not the property of a dominant foreign power. The moves by TotalFinaElf and Kerr McGee to begin oil exploration off the Saharan coast point to one of the central reasons that Washington and Paris want to maintain the status quo.

The Militant urges all readers to get out the truth and win other working people and youth to support this important anti-imperialist struggle.

Independence for Western Sahara!

Hold the referendum now!

Related article:
Increased resistance in Western Sahara hits Moroccan regime

Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home