Media coverage: Community Newswire Oct 16, 2009

SAHARAWI ATHLETE DREAMS OF LONDON 2012

By Paul Collins, Community Newswire

SPORT Olympics, 16 Oct 2009 - 10:46

An African athlete who trains with British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe has arrived in the UK to highlight the plight of his country and plea with the International Olympic Committee to let him compete in London 2012.

Salah Amaidane from Western Sahara has never been able to compete in the Olympics because his country is not recognised by the IOC.

Western Sahara has been unlawfully ruled by Morocco since it was annexed by force in 1975. Despite an International Court of Justice ruling, and more than 100 UN resolutions, Morocco has continued to block the right to self-determination.

Amaidane said: "I have two dreams. The first is to compete in the Olympic Games. If not in London then in Rio in 2016. But an even greater dream than winning an Olympic Gold medal is to see my country of Western Sahara free."

Amaidane, 26, lives in France and regularly trains in the Pyrenees with Radcliffe. He has been living in exile since 2003 when he unfurled a Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic flag, the symbol of Saharawi defiance, while competing for Morocco at an event in France.

The athlete, in the UK as a guest of human rights group and arts charity Sandblast, will take part in the Wimbledon Audi 10k run, in South London, on October 18.

He will also urge an all party parliamentary group in Westminster to increase political pressure on Morocco to abide by international law, and hopes to meet Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London 2012 organising committee.

Amaidane said: "When I was 10 years old I used to sneak up behind Moroccan policemen and snatch their caps off their heads. They would chase me but I was always too fast for them. I guess I was lucky that they never drew their pistols. People said I was faster than a bullet but fortunately it was never put to the test."

Sandblast aims to raise awareness of the situation in Western Sahara by encouraging Saharawis to tell their own story through educational events and the arts. The charity finances cultural and artistic projects in refugee camps, and promotes collaboration with artists worldwide.

It is currently looking for participants from the UK to take part in the Running the Sahara 2010 event to help raise £50,000 to fund its work with the people in Western Sahara. Entrants can choose to run 5k, 10k, a half marathon, or full marathon course around refugee camps in February.

For more information visit www.sandblast-arts.org.

Source: Community Newswire

Media coverage: Camden News Journal Oct 15, 2009

In freedom’s steps Sahara gold medalist’s plea for his people

Camden Sports - by STEVE BARNETT
Published: 15 October 2009

FREEDOM runner Salah Amaidan was training with Highgate Harriers coach Keith Wilson this week in Parliament Hill Fields.

The long distance gold medalist has come to Camden to raise awareness about the plight of his native Saharawi people, who are living under occupation in Morocco.
Salah will run 35 laps around Parliament Square later this month to mark a 35-year milestone since an international court recognised his people’s right to self-determination. The verdict has so far been ignored by the Moroccan state, but the 26-year-old wants his country to be recognised so that he can one day run at the Olympics. He said: “Having a team of top Saharawi athletes is a dream of many of our youth.”

Salah met Danielle Smith, who runs the Sandblast charity in West Hampstead, and sports massage therapist George Ellis, who is taking part and promoting the Saraha charity runs in February and raising funds for the Saharawi refugees. Salah will talk about his political struggle and his rise as a world class runner in Inspirals Cafe in Camden High Street on Monday at 7pm.

Media coverage: The Bath Chronicle Oct 21, 2009

Time for tea as African athlete pops round for charity chat 
Wednesday, October 21, 2009, 08:50

An elite African athlete who has fought for his country's independence has given a talk to a group of Bath students during an event to highlight the work of Amnesty International.

Sixth-formers at the Royal High School held an 'Amnestea' fundraising tea party, at which staff and parents listened to a presentation on the human rights charity's campaigns across the world.

The special guest was 5,000-metre African champion Salah Hmatou Amaidane, who has campaigned for his homeland Western Sahara to be granted independence from Morocco.

The 26-year-old is the honorary figurehead for next year's Sahara Marathon, an event to raise money to help build an athletics team to represent the Saharawi people.

School International Baccalaureate co-ordinator Angharad Holloway thanked Amaidane for taking the time to talk about his experiences. She said: "Peace and conflict resolution is one of the core themes in the current IB programme.


"We were privileged to have Amaidane with us and everyone was very moved by the plight of his people and his passionate devotion to their freedom. It has really brought home to the students how fundamental human rights are to a decent and dignified existence."

Amaidane, born in Western Sahara, has represented Morocco at athletics competitions but has been arrested and imprisoned for taking part in peaceful protests for the self-determination of his people.

He was granted political asylum in France after showing a Saharawi flag during a race. The Western Sahara has been occupied by Morocco since 1976 and around 165,000 Saharawis live in refugee camps in the Algerian desert.

Amnesty International estimates that more than 500 people have "disappeared" and is trying to draw the world's attention to the abuses of the Moroccan authorities.

Media coverage: Your Local Guardian Oct 20, 2009

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?