Inspiration

Making the decision to Run the Sahara may be one of the best decisions of your life. Since 2009, Sandblast has facilitated the UK's delegation to the Run the Sahara in Algeria. It is quite unlike any other physical challenge. The Saharan desert provides the backdrop to a run (5k, 10k, half marathon or full marathon) and a week of cultural activities designed to bring you into the experience of the Saharawi refugees, compounded further by the experience of living in the refugee camp itself. Sandblast organises everything from the food you eat with your host family to meeting local figures in the community. Read below for a collection of testimonials from past runners: 

It was a privilege to have been involved, to have met like-minded people, to have experienced the hospitality of the Saharawis, to see the beauty of the dunes but also the desolation of the Hamada.

Peter Hamilton, UK participant 2009

This was a life changing experience for me and it will stay with me for a very long time.

Victoria Bavister, UK participant 2009

The views were spectacular especially on the run and in the dunes. The hospitality of the Saharawi was truly touching. It’s an event that anyone who likes a strong physical challenge. Whomever cares about the Saharawi people absolutely must attend.

UK participant 2009

Wonderful people, place and community. A week felt like a lifetime, packed with adventure and unforgettable experiences.

Fleur Hutchinson, UK participant 2010

Memorable, interesting and fun. Stimulating to have a break that makes you pause to think about important international goings-on that you don’t necessarily think about or encounter in everyday life, as well as the physical challenge of the run.

Julia Lutte, UK participant (and 3rd in Women’s Marathon!) 2010

It will change your life, your perspective, your priorities, and it might just help to change the lives of a people fighting for their fundamental rights to existence. Say no more!

Nina Murray, UK participant 2010

Was it what I expected? Would I go back? Would I recommend it? More. Yes. Unreservedly!

Mar Garvey, 2011 participant 

Now to bring you even closer to the runners' experiences:

To join up or learn more:

www.sandblast-arts.org

runthesahara@sandblast-arts.org

http://www.facebook.com/sandblastarts

Svetlana Dimcovic's thoughts on 'El Problema'

Over the last couple of months, Sandblast has organised screenings of 'El Problema', a Spanish documentary which investigates the extent of the Moroccan occupational regime, and the human rights abuses which they enact on the Saharawi refugees. Svetlana Dimcovic, a director and writer, attended one of these screenings at the Freeword Centre on the 11th of July. What follows is her account of the screening:

El Problema

A long winding road.

Arabic signs passed quickly.

Someone speaking, his face not seen.

Instructions given to the backseat operator.

               

The guards will want this or that…better hide the camera.

But these are not journalists and this is not a news piece. The story unfolds. The car passes the controls. The driver is slowly revealed. He is guide, accomplice, teacher: he is taking the film  makers to the Saharawi people and the footage is not sanctioned. No one has commissioned these artists. No one is expecting this film. So they go on. Into the backstreets witnessing protests. Into people’s homes hearing their stories. Into courtrooms where the innocent await their fate, where the authority of the judge terrifies the young men in the dock.

The guide is beaten. We see the bruises. We see the price of the documentary on his skin and on his face. He is the one who didn’t get away.

The film makers capture what they need. Their camera sees, from the back seat of a moving car, what they could not hope to find without this man leading them to it. They make the film about Western Sahara that is not yet made.

They leave.

He stays, nursing his bruises, waiting.

The above photos are screenshots of 'El Problema'. The middle photo is of the Saharawi human rights defender Aminetou Haider whose comments on the Saharawi situation is particularly enlightening and revealing, as she herself was disappeared, and subsequently arrested.

http://www.elproblema.net/

Svetlana Dimcovic is a Director and Writer. She has recently set up a new writing collective in the Caribbean and regularly contributes to international forums on new writing. Svetlana Dimcovic – Director

Trained at the University of Birmingham, the Royal National Theatre Studio London and the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon.

She has recently set up a new writing collective in the Caribbean and holds new writing workshops and programmes across the world.

She originated and led the Bush BEE Programme at the Bush Theatre, London (2009-2010), was Associate Director of the Gate Theatre, London (2003-2005), Associate Director of the Caird Company, London (2002-2005) and a Trainee Director at the Orange Tree Theatre (2001-2002).  

Her new writing work includes workshops for young playwrights and numerous translations for the Royal Court Theatre, RSC, BBC, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Company of Angels and the Caird Company.

Directing: Belfast Girls ( Kings Head Theatre), The Potting Shed by Graham Greene ( two sold out runs at the Finborough Theatre, 2010 and 2011), Oasis ( Scene Nationale de la Guadeloupe), Nine Night, 45 Minutes from Here (Bush Theatre, Square Chapel Halifax, Theatre in the Mill, Bradford), The God of Hell (Belgrade, Serbia), The Outside (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), Lithuanian Festival  (Southwark Playhouse), Zuva Crumbling (Lyric Hammersmith), The Professional (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow), Mushroom Pickers (Southwark Playhouse), Writer’s Generation (Arts Printing House, Vilnius, Lithuania) and The Broken Heel (Riverside Studios).

Cabaret Fundraiser for Saharawi Youth Theatre Project

You are warmly invited to the Charity Cabaret Extravaganza of Olive Branch Theatre and Sandblast. 
The evening present London's finest performers in music, theatre, comedy and the spoken word on the Thames to raise funds for a youth theatre project in the refugee camps. 
Places are limited, so get your name on the guest list now by donating £20 on JustGiving.
 

Find out more >>>

Source: http://www.sandblast-arts.org/get-involved/go-to-events

ACTION: February is all about action...

Independent human rights monitoring is a key tool in the fight against human rights abuses.

MINURSO, the UN mission in Western Sahara, is the only contemporary peacekeeping mission without a mandate to monitor human rights.

Human rights organisations, including Amnesty international and Human Rights Watch, and the POLISARIO have repeatedly called for human rights monitoring in the region. This has been blocked by the Moroccan authorities.

The renewal of MINURSO’s mandate in April provides a key opportunity to implement this.

Take Action!

1. Write to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon:

• Thanking him for his action in the case of Aminatou Haidar and welcoming his comments on the need for a settlement on the issue.

• Emphasising the human rights abuses against those who peacefully oppose the Moroccan occupation - in particular the case of the 7 prisoners of conscience currently awaiting trial, who may face the death penalty.

• Stating that MINURSO is the only contemporary peacekeeping Mission without a mandate to monitor human rights.

• Calling on him to establish an independent mechanism for human rights monitoring

• Insisting that a referendum which includes the option of independence is implemented without delay.

2. Make sure your country supports human rights monitoring.

Contact your MP, ask them to write to your Foreign Office Minister:

• Explaining the human rights abuses against those who peacefully oppose the Moroccan occupation.

• Stating that MINURSO is the only contemporary peacekeeping Mission without a mandate to monitor human rights and;

• If your country is a member of the UN Security Council: calling on your country to insist on human rights monitoring whether through the extension of MINURSO’s mandate or through another independent monitoring mechanism.

• If your country is not a member of the Security Council: asking that your country makes a public statement calling for human rights monitoring.

Finally...

If you are a UK citizen or resident please sign the Downing Street petition.

Details

The UN Security Council

Permanent members of the UN Security Council are: China, France, Russian Federation, UK and US.

Non-permanent members: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Gabon, Japan, Lebanon Mexico Nigeria, Turkey and Uganda.

Address for Ban Ki Moon

The Honourable Ban Ki-Moon

Secretary General

760 United Nations Plaza

United Nations

New York, NY 10017

If possible please send any copies of letters and responses to coordinator@wsahara.org.uk

Other Actions

Amnesty International currently has 2 urgent actions on Western Sahara:

• http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE29/005/2010/en
• http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE29/004/2010/en

NEWS: Seen on BBC2's Daily Politics

The Daily Politics on BBC2 on January 13, 2010 at ca. 12.30pm

Dr. Andrew Murrison (conservative MP for Westbury) directs question at Prime Minister Gordon Brown: What is the Prime Minister's attitude to the current situation in the Western Sahara"

Brown: "Mister Speaker, I'm thinking of all the issues that he wishes me to talk about in relation to the Western Sahara [noise, laughter?]. The one thing that I have been worried about is the growth of ethnic violence in these areas; the one thing that we've been trying to do is to increase, indeed, double the aid in these areas; and the one thing that we have been worried about ...that we have been worried about is the growth of terrorist groups in these areas and that's why we are taking the action that is necessary to dissuade terrorism and take the action that is necessary. I've had numerous conversations with leaders in these areas - if he wishes [interruption] if he wishes to direct [noise] me to a specific point, I will take it up"


What do you think about Brown's attitude to the current situation in the Western Sahara? Could he have been any more unspecific?

Knocking on Brown's Door

Pic 1: The Free Western Sahara delegation in front of 10 Downing Street

Pic 2: Approaching 10 Downing Street

Official UK launch of Free Western Sahara Campaign

As I write this, a delegation formed of representatives from the Western Sahara Campaign, Polisario Front, Sandblast and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Western Sahara head to 10 Downing Street to call on the prime minister Gordon Brown to take steps to resolve the Western Sahara dispute. The delegation is handing Brown a letter from the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) president-in-exile pledging the leader of one of the most powerful Western countries to become active. With specific focus on the continuous exploitation of the territories resources and fishery, the Free Western Sahara Campaign is drawing attention to this - as the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan would name it - "orphaned" dispute that is held in a tight international geopolitical and -economic grip.

The Western Sahara Resource Watch wrote two valueable contributions to today's events:
Press Release: Brown called on to take action
British MEPs call on amending EU-Moroccan fisheries agreement

The official press release of the Free Western Sahara Campaign by Stefan Simanowitz quotes MP Jeremy Corbyn (L) to say: "Our collective failure to address Morocco’s ongoing violation of countless UN Resolutions, to stop the illegal plundering of Western Sahara’s natural resources and to allow human rights abuses to be committed with impunity diminishes Britain, it diminishes the United Nations and it is an affront to all those with a belief in justice".

While this specific action focuses on the exploitation of the territory's resources and fishery by the international community, the UK Free Western Sahara Campaign addresses the resolution of the Western Sahara dispute, the human rights violations, the unkept promises of the United Nations and the international community and the absence of the dispute and the Saharawi people in public awareness and discourse.

To join the campagn, visit http://freesahara.ning.com.

Update: The Guardian posted Simanowitz's letter "Western Sahara's lingering crisis" here, Indymedia here, and Newstin here .

Sandblast @ New Internationalist

Stefan Simanowitz did it again! The journalists, broadcaster and human rights campaigner thankfully features yours truly in the New Internationalist on May 20. The article "Screenings in the Devil's Garden: The Sahara Film Festival" deals with the annual transformation of the refugee camps to a Cannes of a different nature. By converting the tented "homes" of an exiled people to a place of film culture and art, the government-in-exile and the part of the international community that does not look away attempt to raise awareness for the Western Sahara dispute and put the people, their sufferings and their hopes on the map.

Simanowitz gives a great, almost heart-breaking account of the Saharawi endurances and closes his account with a very personal revelation:

"I touch down in London, dusty and somewhat dazed, but with a rare clarity of purpose. The next day at work I take my boss aside and hand her my letter of resignation. Whilst staying in refugee camp in Dakhla, I realized that the lack of international awareness of the Saharawis’ struggle makes their desperate situation feel even more hopeless than it already is. And so I have resolved to give up my day job and work with the Free Western Sahara Campaign to help move the story of the Saharawi refugees off the culture pages of a few magazines reporting on the film festival and on to the international pages of all newspapers, where it belongs." (Simanowitz 2009)

This life-changing decision is eye-opening and admirable. His conclusions revive the belief in self-less philanthropy as well as they reinforce a pessimistic perspective onto the state of journalistic media. Kudos to you, Stefan!

The Independent: How a Saharan Refugee Camp Launched an International Film Festival

In covering the Sahara International Film Festival, Stefan Simanowitz's article in The Independent features both Sandblast, the Caravanserai Acting Studios and Free Western Sahara Campaign: "A company of actors from London performed a play based on the real story of a Saharawi refugee to raucous audience reaction, and a team from Roehampton University, led by the professor Isabel Santaolalla, a trustee of the London-based Saharawi charity, Sandblast, ran a "digital postcard" workshop. The postcards filmed by refugees have been put online, allowing their messages to be seen around the world and by their extended families living in occupied Western Sahara."

Simanowitz's piece contextualises the festival and its film resources in its conflictuous environment by drawing upon the historical determinants and witness reports of a 32-year old woman who has lived her whole life in the camps. He also touches on the delicate reliance of the Saharawi and their friends on celebrities to pledge on their behalf for increased publicity. Simanowitz wrote: "The publicity has helped campaigners in Spain to gather a quarter of a million signatories to petition the Spanish government to act to support the Saharawis' demand for self-determination. The festival has two aims: to provide entertainment and educational opportunities for the refugees, and to raise awareness of the situation of the Saharawi people, who have been in exile from Western Sahara for more than 30 years."

Simanowitz may possibly go too far with framing this cultural event as something that "gives the people in the camps a sense of purpose". According to the article, Jadiya Hamdi, the Minister of Culture of the SADR, is quoted to say, that "empty time is a dangerous things. It can kill a human soul". In my personal opinion, this is not giving this artful and cultural effort enough credit and undermines the incentives and the work the Saharawi, international volunteers and other parties put into the project.

Am I wrong in this interpretation of the article? What do you think?