Life is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara

Solidarity With Refugees and Displaced People Society presents Life is Waiting: Referendum and Resistance in Western Sahara.

Screening Friday 11 March, 7pm, in room B111, Brunei Gallery, SOAS University, Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG

Life is Waiting (Dir Iara Lee) chronicles the everyday violence of life in Western Sahara, giving voice to the aspirations of a desert people for whom colonialism has never ended.

Four decades after its people were promised freedom by departing Spanish rulers, the Western Sahara remains Africa’s last colony. While a UN-brokered ceasefire put an end to armed hostilities in the territory in 1991, the Sahrawi people have continued to live under the Moroccan armed forces’ oppressive occupation, and what peace exists in the area is fragile at best. Tens of thousands of Sahrawis have fled to neighboring Algeria, where over 125,000 refugees still live in camps that were intended to be temporary. In spite of these difficulties, a new movement, with youth at its centre, is rising to challenge human rights abuses and to demand the long-promised referendum on freedom. Today’s generation of young activists is deploying creative non-violent resistance for the cause of self-determination. In doing so, they have persevered against a torrent of conflicting forces. While risking torture and disappearance at the hands of Moroccan authorities, they are also pushing back against those who have lost patience with the international community and are ready to launch another guerrilla war.

Solidarity With Refugees and Displaced People Society aims to raise awareness around refugee and asylum issues and challenge the social and structural barriers that those people seeking sanctuary face.

Free event. No ticket required. Event open to the public.