Statements

“Western Sahara will be liberated!”

We unite to demand the immediate decolonization of Western Sahara — the last colony in Africa.
In the 20th century, peoples and nations around the African continent rose up to win their freedom from colonialism. One exception remained: Western Sahara. Now, progressive forces from around the world unite to demand its liberation.
In the 20th century, peoples and nations around the African continent rose up to win their freedom from colonialism. One exception remained: Western Sahara. Now, progressive forces from around the world unite to demand its liberation.

Western Sahara is the final colony in Africa.

It is a people displaced, with half the Sahrawi people forced from their homes to live in refugee camps.

It is a nation divided, with a 2,700-kilometre wall and seven million landmines separating communities and families across the Western Saharan-Algerian border.

It is a community terrorized, with Moroccan occupying forces wielding extreme tactics — including forced disappearance, rape, and torture — to maintain control over the territory.

It is a frontier of green imperialism, with Morocco using foreign-built renewable energy infrastructure in Western Sahara to greenwash its occupation.

And it is a history erased, with nations refusing to acknowledge the rights, enshrined in the United Nations Charter, of the Sahrawi people to self-determination.

The time has come to liberate Western Sahara.

Recalling the historic Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, adopted in 1960 by 89 states at the United Nations General Assembly, we, the undersigned, demand the immediate decolonization of Western Sahara through:

  • The end of foreign exploitation: The exploitation of Western Sahara’s land and resources by foreign corporations in support of Morocco’s occupation must cease immediately.
  • The withdrawal of Moroccan troops: Morocco’s illegal occupation and its brutal regime of killings, disappearances, and torture must end, paving the way for the reunification of the Sahrawi people in conditions of peace and dignity.
  • The recognition of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic: The Polisario Front must be recognised as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people within the territory of the occupied Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

The preamble to the 1960 United Nations Declaration reminds us of a fundamental law of history: “The process of liberation is irresistible and irreversible.” Those who stand opposed to the self-determination of a peoples seek nothing less than to arrest the flow of time — ossifying history in a regime of fragility, violence, and exploitation.

We, progressive forces from around the planet, stand with the Sahrawi people. As long as they remain under foreign occupation, the process of decolonization in Africa remains incomplete. Western Sahara will be liberated.

Signed by,

Noam Chomsky, Linguist, United States

Niki Ashton, Member of Parliament, Canada

Ammar Ali Jan, Haqooq-e-Khalq Party, Pakistan

Ertuğrul Kürkçü, Honorary President of the Peoples' Democratic Party, Turkey

Yanis Varoufakis, Member of Parliament, Greece

Daniel Jadue, Mayor of Recoleta, Chile

Jeremy Corbyn, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom

Walden Bello, Member of the House of Representatives, Philippines

Nazma Akter, Trade union leader, Bangladesh

Carlos Ron, President Simón Bolívar Institute and Vice-Minister for North America, Venezuela

Nick Estes, Professor and citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, United States

Lotta Johnsson Fornarve, Member of Parliament, Sweden

Andreas Schieder, Chair of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Western Sahara, Austria

Marisa Matias, Member of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Western Sahara, Portugal

José Gusmão, Member of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Western Sahara, Portugal

Mohammed El-Kurd, Writer and activist, Palestine

Central Única dos Trabalhadores, Trade union, Brazil

Federação Única dos Petroleiros, Trade union, Brazil

Mick Wallace, Member of the European Parliament, Ireland

Clare Daly, Member of the European Parliament, Ireland

Gerardo Pisarello, Member of Congress, Spain

Andrés Sanches, Activist, Spain

Santiago Jiménez Gómez, Historian and Professor, Spain

Amèrico Ologaray Orti, Spokesperson Podem Sant Cugat, Spain

Pedro Pozuelo Gómez, Activist, Brazil

Gonzalo Winter, Member of the Chamber of Deputies, Chile

Maria Rosa Ibarra Parejo, Psychologist, Spain

Fabio Salvia, Policy professional, Italy

Juan Vte Martinez, Activist, Spain

Zoraida Hernández, Human rights lawyer, Colombia

Maria Pozuelo Castro, Secretaria Organización Podem Catalunya, Spain

Mariana Martins Almeida, Activist, the Netherlands

Pedro Pinto Pinto Leite, Secretary of International Platform of Jurists for East Timor, the Netherlands

Jesus L. Garay, Activist, Spain

Harry Halpin, CEO Nym Technologies SA, Switzerland

Jan Keulen, Journalist, the Netherlands

Manu Pineda, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Western Sahara, Spain

Juozas Olekas, Member of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Western Sahara, Lithuania

Gado Hussaini Titus, Activist, Nigeria

Pernando Barrena, Member of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Western Sahara, Basque Country

Ines Abdel Razek, International Advocate at The Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, Palestine

Suleiman Musa Pema, Leadership for Women & Youth Development Initiative, Nigeria

Sylvana Simons, Member of the House of Representatives, the Netherlands

Martín Clavijo, President of the Commission for International Relations of the Frente Amplio, Uruguay

Roberto Uriarte Torrealday, Deputy of Unidas Podemos in the Congress of Deputies, Spain

Serigne Mbaye Diouf, Deputy of Unidas Podemos in the Madrid Assembly, Spain

Lucía Muñoz Dalda, Deputy of Unidas Podemos in the Congress of Deputies, Spain

María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, Member of European Parliament, Spain

Roger Waters, Activist and Co-founder of Pink Floyd, United Kingdom

Srecko Horvat, Philosopher, Croatia

Harry van Bommel, Former Member of Parliament, the Netherlands

Miguel Urbán Crespo, Member of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Western Sahara, Spain

Annie Raja, General Secretary NFIW and NEC of the Communist Party of India, India

Özlem Demirel, Member of European Parliament, Germany

Manolo de los Santos, Co-Executive Director of The People’s Forum, United States

Pierre Galand, President of EUCOCO (European Coordination of Committees in Support and Solidarity with Saharawi People), Belgium

Idoia Villanueva Ruiz, Member of the European Parliament

Dr. César Vidal, Historian and Writer, United States

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Date
15.09.2022
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