Noted this quote from Noam Chomsky (appearing on Democracy Now on 17 February)
“In fact, the current wave of protests actually began last November in Western Sahara, which is under Moroccan rule after a brutal invasion and occupation. The Moroccan forces came in, carried out—destroyed tent cities, a lot of killed and wounded and so on. And then it spread.”
Well said, and delighted to see someone take notice of the Western Sahara. You can see my FP article on the Moroccan repression of Sahrawi protests, as well as other writing on Western Sahara elsewhere on this site.
The FT ran a long article on unrest in Morocco in its 25 Feb edition, and failed to mention that Morocco is in illegal occupation of another country. The BBC and many others have made the same error repeatedly. My hope is that pressure for reform in Morocco will result – at last – in pressure to end its occupation, and agree a referendum for the self-determination of the territory, as required by international law, and as the UN Security Council has repeatedly reaffirmed.
Note that Independent Diplomat advises the Polisario Front, the representatives of the Saharawi people. We perform this work for a nominal fee (ID is a non-profit funded mostly by philanthropic donations).