Brief presentation, screening of four Sahrawi short films about struggle and resilience in the face of the violent Moroccan occupation, and discussion.
Films:
(all original language with english subtitles)
- 3 Stolen Cameras
- Insumisas
- Gdeim Izik – The Sahrawi Protest Camp
- I Exist
Short descriptions of the films see below.
Western Sahara is a country in Northwestern Africa, known as the continent’s last colony. After gaining their freedom from Spanish colonial rule, it has been under an illegal, violent Moroccan military occupation for more than 50 years now. The indigenous Sahrawi people have been stripped of their right to self determination, with most of them living in exile. In Moroccan occupied Western Sahara, which comprises about 2/3 of the territory, Morocco has been replacing the indigenous Sahrawis with Moroccan settlers while those who remain have to live under an oppressive surveillance state. The occupation is kept alive through Israeli weapons, US political support and European diplomatic cover.
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3 STOLEN CAMERAS
RåFILM and Equipe Media – Sweden/Western Sahara, 2017, 17min
The members of video activist group, Equipe Media, fight to keep their cameras. They use them to document the Moroccan kingdoms’ violations of human rights in Africa’s last colony – Western Sahara.
No journalists are allowed entry and the only images that find their way out of the territory are the ones Equipe Media manages to film in secret, hiding on roof tops and risking severe consequences. They film police and military attacks on peaceful demonstrations as well as testimonies of violence that Sahrawis are exposed to in their everyday life.
This is a story about breaking an absolute censorship with unique footage from an area where the Moroccan authorities have managed to implement a near total media blockade.
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INSUMISAS
Laura Dauden, Miguel Angel Herrera – Spain, 2023, 26min
Insumisas, translated to Unsubmissive women, is a film documenting the unique struggles of women in Western Sahara. This documentary explores the work of Sahrawi women human rights defenders in recording and denouncing the violence suffered by women in the territories of Western Sahara occupied by Morocco.
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Gdeim Izik – The Sahrawi Protest Camp
Lluis Maria Güell – Spain, 2011, 27min
A documentary banned by the Moroccan monarchy. Shows the spark that ignited the so-called Arab Spring.
The documentary shows the daily life and the violent eviction that the Sahrawi civilians lived in the Gdeim Izik camp near Aaiún (El Aaiún), caused by the Moroccan occupation forces November 2010 in the territory of Western Sahara.
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I EXIST (EXISTO)
Mohammed Mhamdi – Algeria, 2013; 5min
The film shows solidarity through the eyes of Saharawi children.
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Collective Liberation Bielefeld (Instagram Link)