Western Sahara Awareness Week Begins March 9

Posted: March 5, 2009

The Western Sahara Project, initiated this year by Senia Bachir-Abderahman ’10 and Nina Nedrebo ’10, has organized and prepared a Western Sahara Awareness Week (March 9-11) to educate the Mount Holyoke community about the Moroccan occupation of territories in Western Sahara. Western Sahara is in northwestern Africa, between Morocco and Mauritania.

The Western Sahara Project aims to create a library and resource center for refugees from Western Sahara who are living in the Smara refugee camp in southern Algeria.  Abderahman was born and raised in the camp and has been a prominent and outspoken advocate for the Western Sahara people, known as Saharawis.

The week will include presentations by two leading authorities on the Western Sahara conflict. On March 9, Los Angeles-based filmmaker Carlos Gonzalez will present a talk and film screening of his documentary, "Children of the Clouds," about the human rights situation in the occupied territories of Western Sahara. He is one of the few journalists who have been allowed into the occupied territories. The presentation will take place in Cleveland L-3 from 7 to 8:30 pm and is free and open to the public.

On March 10, Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and international relations and chair of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco, will give a lecture titled "The Other Occupation: The Struggle over Western Sahara,” addressing the role and legitimacy of international law in the conflict. The lecture will take place in Cleveland L-3 from 7 to 8:30 pm and is free and open to the public.

Finally, a Benefit Concert for Saharawi Solidarity, featuring a cappella performances by Amherst College’s Route 9, MHC's V8s, and Smith College’s VIBES, will take place March 11 in the Blanchard Great Room at 8 pm. Proceeds will support the library and resource center building project. The concert is open to the public; admission is $2.

Nedrebo said she hopes that the Western Sahara Awareness Week “will highlight the importance of recognizing those oppressed and in need of our help, so we can respond to their call, both as students and faculty and as a global community.”

Western Sahara Awareness Week is sponsored by the Weissman Center for Leadership and the Liberal Arts, the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives, the MHC and UMass history departments, the V8s, Youth Action International, Amnesty International, the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies, and the Five College Program in African Studies.