Thousands March in Rabat for Palestine; What About Western Sahara?

When I saw the picture of tens of thousands demonstrating in Morocco’s capital Rabat in support of Palestinian self-determination, I had very mixed emotions. For sure, among the masses of Moroccans, there has been a longstanding movement of support for Palestine. Yet, I asked: when will it come to pass that tens of thousands of Moroccans demonstrate in favor of self-determination rights for the Sahrawi people who are being tortured, disappeared, and their national identity obliterated just outside Morocco’s border?

It is ironic how impassioned Moroccans can be in their solidarity with the Palestinian people, only to fall silent at best or — as is more often the case – passionately reject the same solidarity that the human rights community expresses for the Sahrawi people’s struggle.

Indeed, even among some of the most progressive segments of Moroccan society one still finds chauvinistic support for the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. One reason given for this is that Moroccans consider Israel to be a foreign colonial power occupying Arab land whom Palestinians are righteously opposing, whereas Morocco is rightfully governing a territory and is opposed by a mere secessionist insurgency within its borders.

Think about that for a moment. Morocco has an extremely repressive monarchy that —irrationally — turned away foreign assistance in the face of the cataclysmic earthquake of September 2023; it has a very poor record across every major human rights metric and is one of the world’s worst offenders with particular respect to freedom of expression; and has refused to abide by repeated United Nations resolutions and initiatives to bring about a just conclusion to the Sahrawi demands for self-determination. It’s even more striking considering that Morocco’s extensive focus on deploying a large portion of its military in occupied Western Sahara has hampered its military’s efforts to rescue the victims of the recent earthquake – as described in our previous newsletter.

Humans possess the ability to hold, within their minds, completely contradictory and/or inconsistent viewpoints. This happens all the time. It is in obvious evidence throughout Morocco’s capital Rabat, where mass protests in support of Palestinian statehood are adding to years of demonstrations against the Moroccan Government’s domestic policy failures. Despite landmark rulings by international courts completely rejecting Morocco’s claims to Western Sahara, the demands of the Sahrawi people, and resolutions by the African Union and the UN, the Moroccan Monarchy fights on. The King insists, with the support of Washington, that there is no reason Morocco needs to abide by global sentiment, not to mention the sentiment of the Sahrawi people who see the Polisario Front and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as their designated representatives.

Watching the demonstrations, I was also reminded of how my “gut” responded to Morocco’s success in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Like many other fans, I was thrilled to have an African presence doing such an exceptional job. But, at the end of the day, I could not look to a hoped-for Moroccan victory as a victory for Africa or the Arab World. The longer the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara remains in place, the longer the Sahrawi will be subjected to horrendous state-sponsored human rights abuses, and the deeper the stain on Morocco’s reputation.

Western Sahara must be free!

This commentary is a monthly newsletter

Eye on Western Sahara, created by the

US-based Campaign to End the Moroccan

Occupation of Western Sahara

(freewesternsahara.org). The Campaign

is a diverse coalition of individuals

committed to international justice and

respect for national self-determination.

The campaign is broad and non-partisan

and includes people from across the

entire political spectrum.