Class Enemy: Chuck Magro - Free Western Sahara!

Adrien Welsh

We reproduce here an article that figured in the issue 22 of Rebel Youth - Jeunesse Militante published in October, 2017. It is being reproduced while on Monday, April 30th, the Security Council of the United Nations adopted with a majority vote and 3 abstentions (Ethiopia, Russia and China) the extension of the mandate of the MINURSO (UN Mission in Western Sahara) for six months (as opposed to one year, as it was previously the case). According to M'Hamed Kheddad, Sahrawi coordinator with the Mission, this is a positive development as it shows a real committment from the Security Council to put an end to the status quo and the ongoing occupation of Western Sahara by the Kingdom of Morocco, with the complicity of France. The Security Council also called both Morocco and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic to go back to the negociation table after the process was put on ice in 2012.

The vote in the UN was held under pressure by Morocco which accused in April the Polisario Front of violating the cease-fire agreement of 1991 as part of a desinformation campaign. This campaign is continuing as Morocco just cut ties with Iran because of a supposed arms deal between this country and the Polisario Front, which was immediately denied by the Sahrawi Government. 

Youth festival delegates learn about important international struggles

Rebel Youth's sister publication, People's Voice, sat down with Drew Garvie, co‑chair of the Pan‑Canadian delegation to the 18th World Festival of Youth and Students, held Dec. 7-13 in Ecuador, to talk about the experience.

So, finally, how many people attended? Was it a success?

            About 8,000 people attended from 88 countries, a very large number, although smaller than past festivals, because of the capacity of the Ecuadorian government. Overall, we would say it was a great success. Delegates got to learn about a host of struggles, ranging from the youth and labour fightback against austerity in Europe, the conflict in Syria, the occupation of Palestine and, in Africa, of Western Sahara, but especially the process of social transformation and battle against imperialism taking place in countries like Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba and, of course, Ecuador.

What were your impressions of Ecuador?

            One highlight was the chance to learn more and see first‑hand the political and social changes taking place in the country itself. The Ecuadorian government, led by Rafael Correa's PAIS coalition, calls this process the "Citizen's Revolution". They talk about applying the indigenous concept of "buen vivir" or "good living" as a way to change societies, thinking away from the individualistic values of capitalism and historic domination of the country by the United States, and towards more a social and pro‑people society, with sovereignty over its own affairs.

Upcoming World Festival of Youth and Students to Honor Chavez

With sources from Juventude Rebelde

From December 7th to 13th, Quito Ecuador will host the 18th World Festival of Youth and Students, where the participants will pay homage to Venezuelan late President Hugo Chavez Frias.

Read some fast facts about Ecuador and Quito here.

This was one of the top agreements taken yesterday during the final session of the first international preparatory meeting for the Festival held in Pretoria, South Africa, with the participation of some one hundred delegates from over 40 regional, national and international youth and students organizations.

Basic framework of the festival now established

The IPM, by R. Weldeab via Twitter

Juan Francisco Torres, chair of the Preparatory Committee of the host country, spoke about issues related to logistics and about how Ecuador and particularly its youth activists are getting ready for the meeting. Most of the Festival's locations will be in down town Quito, within about 20 minutes walk.

The delegations also approved the call to the world youth for the festival, as well as the topics for debates, and the slogan "Youth united against imperialism, for peace, solidarity and social transformation."

"In the past and present youth has always played a vital role in the struggle of all societies for progress and social justice. The youth was militantly present in the greatest struggles of the peoples for peace, solidarity and social transformation. In a world where imperialism presents itself as inevitability, the anti-imperialist struggle proves that the youth chooses its own future. The 18th World Festival of Youth and Students, which will take place in Ecuador, is the space for the young women and men of the World to unite their voices against imperialism," the call says.

The causes of Palestine, Western Sahara will also be emphasized at the festival. These issues "form a direct, precise, and clear view of imperialism ambitions and actions of destruction," documents coming out of the meeting agreed, stressing that "the festival shows different forms of struggle and one of which is solidarity against occupation and with peoples’ self-determination."

"Cultural and musical events must also be highlighted," an initial planning document said, noting that "Musical bands and cultural groups from different organizations must be encouraged to attend the festival."

The date and place of the next international preparatory meetings (IPM's) were also agreed on Tuesday: in Spain in June and in India in September.

At the end of the meetings, South Africa— former host of the 17th festival— pasted on the flag of the World Festival of Youth and Students Movement to Ecuador.

Honouring famous revolutionaries

Symbolically, the Youth Festival will also be devoted to Ecuadorian national hero Eloy Alfaro and to Kwame Nkrumah.

José Eloy Alfaro Delgado (June 25, 1842 – January 28, 1912) served as President of Ecuador from 1895 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1911. For his central role in the Liberal Revolution of 1895 and for having fought conservatism for almost 30 years, he is known as the Viejo Luchador.  His principal accomplishments include the introduction of the principle of secularism, constitutional changes allowing freedom of speech, the legalization of civil marriage and divorce, and the right to a free and secular education in Ecuador. 

Eloy Alfaro's memory was honoured in Canada last year with a guest lecture at the University of Ottawa. A statue to the man is also to be erected in Ottawa.

Kwame Nkrumah was the founder and first President of Ghana, and leader of Pan-Africanism, the half-a century movement for the defence of Africa’s independence and unity.  Nkrumah became an international symbol of freedom as the leader of the first black African country to shake off the chains of colonial rule. As midnight struck on March 5, 1957 and the Gold Coast became Ghana, Nkrumah declared: "our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent."  

Deposed some years later in a coup, Nkrumah is still honoured around the world. (Kwantlen University in Vancouver, for example, organizes an international conference on Africa themed around Nkrumah).

OCLAE leader praises choices

In statements to the International News Agency, Ricardo Guardia Lugo, member of the Cuban delegation to the festival, said that Eloy Alfaro hero and Kwame Nkrumah are very well known by Cuban people since they are very close to that countries history.

Guardia is also a member of the National Secretariat of the University Students Federation (FEU), and works with the Continental, Latin American, and Caribbean Students Organization (OCLAE), a regional platform that brings together and represents more than 100 million students.

Lugo spoke about the close friendship which united Ecuadorian Eloy Alfaro and Cuban José Martí. Marti is a national hero of Cuba. He fought for the independence of that island country from Spain during the nineteenth century and won the support of Eloy Alfaro.

Kwame Nkrumah was also the first African president to meet with President Fidel Castro in 1960 at the Hotel Theresa in New York (when both were in the United States to attend the fifteenth session of the UN General Assembly). His country, Ghana, was just a year earlier the first sub-Saharan African country to establish diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Mali: Labour, peace, African and French youth voices against the intervention

Launched just days ago, a brutal military intervention by the French "socialist" government of Francois Hollande is being carried out in Mali. The war includes areal bombing assault and, now, a ground assault by troops.

As People's Voice noted earlier in January:

A consequence of the western imperialist powers' intervention in Libya in 2011, under the guise of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine (R2P), which cost the lives of thousands of civilians, was the destabilization of the west African state of Mali.  On Dec. 20, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2085, authorizing deployment of an African‑led International Support Mission (AFISMA) in northern Mali.... An estimated 1.2 million Tuareg people inhabit the Saharan interior of Africa, living as nomadic pastoralists in Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, and Burkina Faso. Since the European powers first colonized the region, causing wide‑scale displacement and suffering, the Tuareg have struggled for better living conditions and the right to self‑determination. They have continued this struggle against the Western‑backed leaders of their now independent nations.

The main pretext for this imperialist war is the intensification of the strife and war between the Malian army and the militant organizations that claim to be fighting for the independence of Northern Mali in Azawad. In this context, Malian President Dioncounda Traore (who was appointed after a military coup last March) "asked" for action which resulted in a December 2012 UN Security Council resolution.

Mali is a landlocked West African country, well-known internationally for its music and cultural history, home of the famous historic trade city of Timbuktu. The country is also a former French colony (see this link here which shows a 1936 map of West Africa; read here about the pact France forced on its former colonies after 'independence').

The military "operation" focuses on the Muslim Tuareg people's homeland in the north of the Mali, in an area known as the Sahel. The Sahel is an the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas. It is home to vast natural resources with the world third largest uranium reserves as well as substantial oil reserves.

One of the main companies involved is the French energy corporation Areva, which is the second largest producer of uranium in the world.  Areva has been extracting for decades in neighbouring Nigeria, although they have lost their exclusive rights recently.

Uranium is a very important energy source for France. The World Nuclear Association says that over 75 percent of electricity is produced from nuclear energy in France, and the country is also the world's largest net exporter of nuclear-generated electricity with a revenue of more than 3 billion Euro a year.

The French force includes at least 2,500 French troops as well as Gazelle helicopter gunships, as well as six Mirage 2000D fighter jets based in Chad and four Rafale fighter jets from France in the bombing runs.

The war is taking place with the full support of the United States and NATO, as well as the European Union, the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) -- and the Harper Conservative government of Canada.

About 2340 troops are expected from neighbouring African countries; Britain is also sending two C-17 aircraft to carry troops and military equipment while Denmark and Belgium are also sending troop transport aircraft and helicopters respectively. The US is providing military intelligence.

The Harper Conservatives, who have no money or time for the Aboriginal peoples and Idle No More, immediately sent one C-17 cargo plane to Mali on Tuesday to offer logistical support to the French, airlifting supplies to Bamako. There is a summary of Canadian mining and other corporate investments in Mali here.


Below are some statements by labour, peace, and communist youth organizations of South Africa and France.

Geo-strategic goals, not humanitarianism

(The intervention) constitutes the continuation of the implementation of the imperialist plans for the geo-strategical control of broader areas of Africa, as we have seen it in 2011 with the bloody intervention and bombing of Libya. Their goal are the energy resources which are object of fierce rivalry between imperialist forces and centers, which however go hand in hand in the slaughter of the peoples under various pretexts each time. World Peace Council

Plunder and control of uranium mines

...After the genocide in Rwanda and the demolition of Libya, France continues to use the military bases it maintains in Africa in order to strengthen its role in the inter-imperialist competition and to serve the interests of its monopoly groups who are plundering the wealth-producing resources (gold, uranium etc.).  (...)  aiming for the protection of the French interests in the uranium mines found in Tuareg areas of the West-African Region, the inter-imperialist competition for the control of the wealth-producing resources of Mali and the placement of puppet-governments in the African countries serving the leading imperialist forces...  World Federation of Trade Unions


No war for Areva and Total!


It did not take much for our country to start the onslaught of Mali. In the name of freedom and the fight against terrorism, the (French) government arises as the savoir of Africa. This speech, appropriate for the clash of civilizations, is shameful. We've known this policy to justify intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya. With what results? Destabilization, violence and armed militias in those countries that are completely divided.

No war on behalf of (the companies) Areva and Total! We refuse to make a war on behalf of corporate interests. The war will only bring its share of desolation and not solve anything. Armed intervention is an opportunity to strengthen the positions of French multinationals in the region, Areva in Niger and Total West Africa, which operate without resources that local people benefit.  Communist Youth of France


A task for the people of Mali and Africa, not imperialism

In our minds we still harbour fresh memories of French military invasion of Libya in 2011 as part of NATO, leading to a regime change; French military "residence" in Ivory Coast which was actively involved in regime change; and French military presence in the Central Africa Republic, to "protect" the so-called French interests but not to keep peace and as part not to prevent rebels from capturing that country.


This time around France is "fighting" rebels which seek to capture Bamako, the capital city in Mali. We see this as nothing but an agenda by France to defend its hegemony and advance its capitalist interests in the country and the region at large. (...) The people of Mali and the African Union must be the ones taking a leading role in solving the problems experienced in Mali and in Africa respectively, not imperialist countries and former colonisers such as France which in the first place are part of the root causes to these problems and their historical development. Young Communist League of South Africa

Demonstration in Western Sahara - the struggle against the occupation continues

January 13th 2012

Canadian Youth: Condemn Harper’s Free Trade Agreement with Morocco

Canadian Youth: Condemn Harper’s Free Trade Agreement with Morocco
Young Communist League, Central Executive Committee
February, 2011

In late January, Prime Minister Stephen Harper traveled to Morocco where he met with King Mohammed VI to discuss a free trade agreement between the two countries. This agreement has the ignominious title of being the first of its kind between Canada and an African country, and follows on the heels of the Harper Conservative's shameful free-trade deal with Columbia's dictatorship. It is not surprising that the first country chosen for such an agreement would be one like Morocco; a staunch ally of US imperialism, a Kingdom devoid of democracy, and a colonial power.

We draw to the attention of the youth and student organizations of Canada that, since Morocco's decolonization from fascist Spain in 1975, Morocco has held Western Sahara as a colony, brutally suppressed its people, and deprived them of the economic benefits of their own land and resources. They have been embroiled in a struggle with the Polisario Front, Western Sahara’s national liberation movement, since day one, supported by the United States and CIA. This struggle took the form of armed conflict up until 1991, when a UN sponsored cease fire led to a transition towards peaceful means. But the promises of the UN sponsored cease fire have never been kept. A referendum on the independence of Western Sahara has been sabotaged at every turn, and today the fight for independence is beginning once again to heat up.

Late last year 15,000 youth from 156 different countries gathered in Tshwane, South Africa for the 17th World Festival of Youth and Students, the largest anti-imperialist gathering in the world. The Final Declaration of the 17th WFYS demanded that Morocco immediately respect the right to self-determination of the Sharawi, end the blockade of the occupied territories, allow international observers and media in to Western Sahara, release all political prisoners and dismantle the wall which divides the territory.

We also note that the Polisario Front is recognized as the representative of the Western Saharawi people both by the people themselves, and by the United Nations. Over 50 countries recognize the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, including full diplomatic relations with Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Cuba, Vietnam, DPR Korea, Palestine, South Africa, and Mozambique.

The Harper Conservative government claims to be “neutral” in this conflict. This attitude effectively means support for the Moroccan occupation since it fails to recognize the rights of the struggling Western Saharawi people, the legitimacy of their state, and their grievances and condones the actions of the oppressor nation.

It should be no surprise that the ultra-right Harper regime expresses no qualms in dealing with the un-elected King of Morocco despite his disregard for democratic, civil and worker's rights. After all, this same government continues to unconditionally support the genocidal and racist apartheid regime of Israel. It continues to support the dictatorial Mubarak regime of Egypt, another ally of imperialism in the region.

It seems that the Harper Conservative government's sycophantic cries about “human rights” and “democracy” only apply when aimed spuriously at countries which are charting a path separate and apart from imperialism and its interests, such as in the case of socialist Cuba, Venezuela, and others.

Harper’s own distain for democracy and human rights has been proven time and time again -- in prorogues, the extension of the occupation troops in Afghanistan, the vicious suppression of dissent during the G20, attacks on women’s rights, and more.

The Young Communist League condemns imperialism, and its neo-liberal, free trade agenda. We condemn the Canadian governments complicity in the colonial occupation of Western Sahara and the brutality inflicted upon its people by the Moroccan state. We call for all progressive and democratic youth and student organizations across Canada to condemn the Canada-Morocco free trade agreement and fight for a foreign policy based on peace, solidarity, and disarmament. Harper and the Conservatives must be exposed for their support of anti-democratic regimes at the polls and in the streets!

Oppose Free Trade with Morocco!

Solidarity with the People of Western Sahara!

Long live the Polisario Front!

Long live the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic!

WESTERN SAHARA HIGHLIGHTED AT YOUTH FESTIVAL

From People's Voice
By Stephen Von Sychowski

The 17th World Festival of Youth and Students, hosted last month in Tshwane, South Africa, shone a spotlight on the struggle of Western Sahara, Africa's last colony. Delegates from the Polisario Front national liberation movement addressed the Festival's Anti‑Imperialist Court to denounce the crimes of Morocco, which has brutally occupied Western Sahara for decades.

The origins of the Polisario Front go back to 1971, when Sahrawi university students in Morocco organized The Embryonic Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el‑Hamra and Rio de Oro. In 1973, the group relocated to Spanish‑occupied Western Sahara and prepared for armed rebellion. On May 10 of that year, the Polisario Front was formed with the aim of forcing an end to Spanish colonialism through armed struggle.

In 1975, the fascist Spanish government of Francisco Franco began negotiations with Morocco and Mauritania to hand over its colonial subjects to its regional friends. By 1976, the Madrid Accords had been signed between the three countries. Spain departed Western Sahara while Morocco and Mauritania moved in.

The Polisario Front continued its guerilla war against the new occupiers, refusing to accept the notion that one set of occupiers is better than another. They also guarded fleeing refugees escaping occupied cities. The Polisario's strength grew immensely during this period, despite Morocco's bombing of refugee camps, and the assassination of Polisario leader El Ouali.

Meanwhile, Mauritania struggled to hold on to control. They received a helping hand from French imperialism in the form of air force attacks on Polisario columns. But Polisario attacks both within Western Sahara and Mauritania ultimately wore down military morale and crippled Mauritania's economy, leading to a coup d'état.

The coup leaders moved to sign a cease fire with the Polisario Front. By 1979, a peace treaty led to the departure of Mauritanian forces and recognition of the rights of the Sahrawi people. King Hassan II of Morocco then moved unilaterally to annex the territories previously occupied by his formed ally.

During the mid‑1980's, desperate to fend off Polisario attacks, Morocco erected a massive wall protecting the main economic centres of Western Sahara. The wall was then staffed by a military force nearly a large as the Sahrawi population itself. The wall separated families and physically closed the Sahrawi out of the economy of their own country. Despite this, the struggle for liberation continued and attacks against the occupying forces did not end.

In 1991, a UN sponsored cease‑fire came in to effect with the promise of a referendum the following year on the question of Western Sahara's independence from Morocco. But the referendum has never been held and the process remains stalled.

Meanwhile, the Polisario Front continues to carry out a campaign of peaceful struggle against the Moroccan occupation. More recently, the Moroccan government put forward a new proposal in 2007 that "self government" could be granted through its Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs governing the area with a degree of autonomy. Naturally this proposal quickly garnered the support of imperialist powers such as France and the United States, but has not won over the Polisario Front which continues to demand full independence.

Since 1979 the Polisario Front has been recognized by the United Nations as the legitimate representative of the people of Western Sahara, although Polisario's real legitimacy comes from the mass support of the Sahrawi people.

South Africa and over 50 other countries today recognize the legitimacy of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which exists across the areas of Western Sahara not behind Morocco's wall. Included in these countries are socialist Cuba, and all the socialist countries of the world.

Missing from the list is our own country, Canada, which shamefully claims neutrality on the issue.

Last October, thousands of Sahrawis left the occupied city of Laayoun and established the Gdaim Izik protest camp by setting up tents in the desert. The camp soon swelled to 25,000 people and quickly garnered international attention.

On October 30, Tiago Vieira, President of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, along with several journalists and elected representatives from Spain, was detained and expelled from Morocco upon attempting to visit the camp to witness the situation first hand. No journalists or independent observers have been allowed by Moroccan authorities to visit the camp. This is probably due to the fact that it has been subject to attacks by Moroccan forces which killed at least one and wounded hundreds. Eyewitnesses state that Moroccan security forces targeted women, children, and the elderly in particular. But despite violence and repression, the struggle continues.

Western Sahara has been relatively unknown to most people in Canada and many other countries. Perhaps its prominent place in a massive gathering of over 15,000 youth and students from around the world will help to change that and add more voices to the struggle for freedom in Western Sahara.

LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR RELEASE SAHARAN POLITICAL PRISONERS

LETTER OF SUPPORT FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR RELEASE SAHARAN POLITICAL PRISONERS

I am following with utmost concern the degrading situation of human rights that the people living under Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara as a result of the repressive system in place in the territory of Western Sahara through the deployment of multiple units to abuse, kidnapping and torturing peaceful demonstrators Sahrawis, as the persecution and harassment of human rights defenders, preventing the exercise of their fundamental rights and free expression of their legitimate rights to self-determination.

I am also concerned about the alarming situation experienced by dozens of Sahrawi political prisoners in the prisons of El Ayoun, Ait Meloul, Tiznit, Inzegan, Taroudanet, Salé and Kenitra. These prisoners were tortured, interrogated, subjected to unfair trials and sentenced for illegally, have been internationally recognized as prisoners of conscience.

Faced with this grave situation of abuse and violations of their fundamental rights contrary to international conventions and international humanitarian law, requires:

The immediate and unconditional release of ALL SAHARAN POLITICAL PRISONERS.

SIGN THE LETTER HERE