Western Sahara

Notes from Western Sahara: An Interview with Fatma El-Mehdi

As the Arab Spring spread across several countries in the Middle East and North Africa, American philosopher Noam Chomsky argued that it did not originate in Tunisia, as is commonly understood. “In fact, the current wave of protests actually began last November in Western Sahara, which is under Moroccan rule, after a brutal invasion and occupation,” Chomsky stated. “The Moroccan forces came in, carried out - destroyed tent cities, a lot of killed and wounded and so on. And then it spread.”  The Gdeim Izik protests started in October 2010 when approximately five thousand Saharawi citizens set up temporary “Camps of Justice” to protest the Moroccan occupation and ...