Vol. 74/No. 13      April 5, 2010

Some 70 people attended a March 9 meeting here in solidarity with the Saharawi struggle. The Auckland University Students Association hosted the event. It featured the film “Mariem Hassan: Voice of the Sahara,” followed by a question-and-answer session with Hassan. The well-known singer visited New Zealand to perform at the March 12-14 World of Music, Arts and Dance Festival (WOMAD).

In the film Hassan describes her first performances in her early teens at popular festivals held in anticipation of the withdrawal of Spanish colonizers from Western Sahara in 1975. They had ruled there since 1884. The Moroccan army subsequently invaded Western Sahara. Forced to flee with her family ahead of the Moroccan invasion and subsequent war, Hassan eventually settled in the refugee camps on the border of Algeria, where some 160,000 Saharawis still live today.

The Polisario Front, which fought a popular war against occupying regimes and today is the elected government in exile of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic of Western Sahara, organizes the camps.

Hassan joined a group of musicians in the camps. The Polisario Front had put an end to the restrictions of the traditional caste system, which allotted a musical career only to specific families known as the Igawen. Polisario also encouraged the development of Saharawi culture.

Hassan was asked if there is any possibility of compromise between the people of Western Sahara and Morocco. She responded, “Morocco tries to erase our identity. We cannot reconcile with the occupation of our homeland.”

What can people in New Zealand do to support the struggle? asked another questioner. “Whatever you can do to publicize the situation, and spread the truth about the Western Sahara is of value,” Hassan replied, pointing to the importance of making known the culture and language as she has been able to do at festivals in Europe, Africa, and now in Australia and New Zealand.  
 
 
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