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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.
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
We unite to demand the immediate decolonization of Western Sahara — the last colony in Africa.
Join Noam Chomsky, Niki Ashton, Jeremy Corbyn, Clare Daly, Yanis Varoufakis, Özlem Demirel, and many others in signing a statement demanding Western Sahara’s decolonization.
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