Newsletter 1/2010: Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone: We hope 2010 will be a great and successful year. In this first newsletter we are updating you on what has been and what is yet to come. Since 2009 All eyes were on Aminatou Haidar when the decade came to an end. After staging a 32 day long hunger strike, the "African Gandhi" finally celebrated her victory and was allowed to return to her home in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. Since then, she has been reported to be under house arrest and is still very weak.  Her convictions generated unprecedented media coverage about the plight of the Saharawis. We want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who showed their support. It is our responsibility now to use this momentum of rare international awareness on Western Saharato to take action. Action Alert While Aminatou’s battle is won, the wider battle of human rights still needs to be fought. Sandblast is running a PETITION addressed directly to the Prime Minister to pressure the UK government to play a more active role in finding a just solution to the conflict in Western Sahara. It is very important that this petition be signed by as many of us as possible to reflect our outrage about the ongoing human rights violations being perpetuated by the Moroccan regime. Sign it and share it. Circulate it with your network via email, facebook, twitter and the good old word-of-mouth. Coming up in 2010 For 2010, we hope that the Saharawi struggle for their self-determination can come closer to becoming reality. February 19-27 Next month, 32 people go out to the refugee camps in the Algerian desert for the Saharamarathon. Charity director Danielle Smith joins the group of adventurous runners and plans to walk 42km in an effort to raise £ 20,000 for projects to give the Saharawi refugees a voice and income through the arts. Please support their fundraising efforts and learn about the personal stories of some of the participants on our JustGiving page.  April 25-May 2 For this year’s FISAHARA, the annual international film festival in the Saharawi refugee camps, we hope to attract as many actors, filmmakers, film technicians and enthusiasts to experience this unique festival in the desert. Now in its 7th year, international stars like Penelope Cruz are expected to attend. More information will soon be released. Emailgiles@caravanseraiproductions.com for more details. Contact us for any questions and comments, The Sandblast Team Become a Fan of Sandblast on Facebook Follow us on Twitter If you no longer want to be contacted by Sandblast, please email to info@sandblast-arts.org.

 

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?