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This will be our first attempt to cover the Sahrawi blogsphere. I, alongside Jillian York and Renata Avila will try to shed light on what the Sahrawi bloggers are saying each week, in Arabic, English and Spanish. The topic of Western Sahara is one of a very complex background, and emotions tend to run high whenever it is under discussion. We will try to cover the Sahrawi side with as much objectivity as it is humanly possible.
This week's pick comes from the Western Sahara blog, writing about the new Sahrawi satellite TV station, R.A.S.D. TV (Democratic Sahrawi Arab Republic Television):
لا أخفيكم سرا كم انتظرت شخصيا كما الكثيرين بالمناطق المحتلة خروج هذا المولود الجديد الى النور بعد طول انتظار، نعم أخيرا لنا تلفزاتنا الفضائية
I have to tell you how much I've personally waited, like many others in the occupied areas, for this newborn baby to see light. And after a long wait, yes, we now have our own satellite television station.
The blogger says that the most important mission for the station should be to advance the Sahrawi case among other Arab countries:
لعل أهم دور لها آن تعرف بالقضية الوطنية لأخوتنا العرب في ظل صمت الجامعة العربية والذي نتمنى أن تتمكن القناة من كسر جدار الصمت هذا وان تجعل منها منتدى للنقاش البناء وللتفاعل مع الأشقاء العرب ، وهو اكبر تحدي للتلفزة نظرا لامتناع المسؤوليين عن الأقمار الصناعية العربية عن إعطاء تردد لها.
The most important role [for the station] is to shed light on our national cause to our Arab brothers. As the Arab League has remained silent over the issue, we hope the station will be able to break this silence barrier and to be a forum for constructive and interactive discussion with our Arab brothers, which will be the biggest challenge facing the channel, considering that the officials at the Arab TV Satellites have refused to host the channel on their frequencies.
He adds:
وأخيرا نتمنى أن تميط القناة اللثام عن واقع المناطق المحتلة من خلال بث أشرطة متلفزة تظهر فيها الصحراء الغربية من الداخل وان تؤرخ هذه الحقبة والمنعطف الهام في مسيرة قضيتنا الوطنية العادلة،
And finally, we hope the channel will also uncover the realities in the occupied areas by airing footage showing the Sahara from the inside, and to document this era and this important juncture in the history of our just national cause.
Mr Khaddad you made a cute distinction in the sahrawi body i hope you do not belong to internet cell of DST Moroccan inteligence because plenty of commenters on western sahara blogs and many pro-annexation Moroccan blogers were found DST personnels and on one hump or two Will Sommer provide us with more:
http://onehumportwo.blogspot.com/2008/06/moroccan-secret-service-agents-run.html
i suppose you are just hidding behind a sahrawi name,the very distinction that you try to make is no longer useful since western saharans people either in the occupied zone or in the refugee camps or elsewhere have expressed their hope to a free sahara,am living in the occupied city of Aaiun and i can prove you that what you describ as the unionists are just sahrawi business men such as Khallihlhoom the head of CORCAS and former head of the spanish party PNS and his brother and many others who defend their business and their only cause and principle is making money,you know that they did the same with the former Spanish occupier before you,those business men and women got no principles at all just stealing western sahara sand,phosphates,fish with the Moroccan occupation.
Supposing that -as you said-the majority of sahrawi are unionists,why your government refussed the organisation of a referendum of your unionists majority? so i hope you will suggest that to your head of DST,may be he could convince M6.
Dear Mohamed, why each time there is a comment against the official view of Polisario leaders and its supporters, you try to associate it to DST or whatever. What is this propaganda!!!
I think you are making a big mistake on trying to convey wrong information about what is happening in Western Sahara. You are not sahraoui, you aren’t living in Laayoune city and you are only here to misled the readers. There are many other unionist sahraouis who are proud to belong to the kingdom of Morocco. They are participating to the political, social and economical lives of Western Sahara. Polisario leaders are corrupt more than you can imagine.
STOP YOUR LIE PLEASE and let the readers know by themselves how things are really happenning in Western Sahara. The 2 medias mentionned above can help on that.
Dear Editor
I thank u for your effort to raise awareness for our cause your effort is very much appreciated…
Here I leave my own blog
http://www.freeewesternsahara.blogspot.com/
and another one which is wide readen
http://onehumportwo.blogspot.com/
Again thank u
Agaila
Agaila am happy to see you here in global voices because it seems that the Moroccan DST is everywhere on the net i hope we defend our cause and we raise the truth to the foreign commenters so as to convey the sahrawi people message of peace to the whole world because the DST is trying to blacken Polisario’s and the sahrawi people name just because they fight for their right in self determination.
we get used to your old tactics in conversation poor DST so you have to change it because i obviously asked you a clear question : you said that the majority and i said may be all sahrawi are as you describ them unionists so why don’t your dear and tender kingdom waste time why don’t you organise a fair referendum for sahrawi people,how much separatists sahrawi as you also describ them could exist 5 10 20 per cent,why don’t you let those unionists vote for the annexation of western sahara to the tender kingdom i hope in your next reply you shall be to the point.
One question @Mohamed,
who gona vote and for which territory, you say sahrawi but I know that sahrawi lives in moroccan territory and Mauritanian one and also algerian one, so did all this locating will be covered by the referendum or only the part managed by moroccan governement.
I’m just a youth guy how don’t care about this stuffs but I want say enought. The world run for consolidation and union and all you think about is seperate…
Where is democracy in a Stallinist system hold by polisario??? which peace are you talking about a Guerria Peace”??? How want peace fight for it by peaceful way, non-violet way… not by hunting with AK47 and RPG…
i’v not write for long time ago but…nevermind…
Just try to think about it…As for FARC case, no revolution may be managed by keeping peaple in a jungle or in desert by forcing them to stay… One question, why do people escape from tindouf camps… why there no real investigation about there living conditions…
Mohamed, mohamed and Agaila, you and your supporters were alone on the Internet since more than a decade to support separatism in Western Sahara. Now, that the Moroccans especially the sahraouis are aware of the impact of such a media, your sole aim is to discredit the arguments of unionist sahraouis on Internet by qualifying them as members of DST. You aren’t serious on saying that all unionist sahraouis are working for DST!!! What about you guys? Are you really what you try to be on Internet or are you working for the Algerian military secret services? I personally don’t care if you work for the Algerian services or not. My concern goes to my relatives living in Tindouf camps. They are waiting for the D day where they would recover their dignity in their motherland.
Agaila please enough victimization!! You live in better conditions than all the sahraouis living in the camps and from your side you are claiming something unrealistic. Why not asking for something more realistic? Why not participating all of us to the development of our region? Why dissention? Why? We all are sahraouis. I disagree with your distant activism because I feel more confident with the Moroccan government than the Algerian one.
I give my name and surname what about you Mohamed and mohamed?
Let me present your some websites made by unionist sahraouis :
http://www.corcas.com
http://www.sahara-online.net
http://www.sahara-culture.com
http://www.sahara-villes.com
http://www.sahara-developpement.com
http://www.sahara-social.com
These websites relate the truth about Western Sahara issue.
Same old story Mr Sam people captured against their will in Tindouf camps and the impossibility of organising a referendum for a magic multi-nationalities people am sick for hearing the same stupid propaganda from “a youth guy who don’t care about this stuffs but I want say enought” ,and finally your stricking comparision between the colombian FARC and the Front Polisario it seems like it belong to a Moroccan propagandist because there is no similarities i hope you read more history before making any judgement or draw any comparision between totally different movements.
And i give you the same question as your colleague with a sahrawi nickname i hope you give a satisfactory reply: why don’t you let those unionists vote for the annexation of western sahara to your tender kingdom?
I haven’t any recommendations as everything I see on the Sahara generally devolves into one or the other side’s empty agitprop, and the blogs don’t impress.
As for what I am referring to, see much of the exchange supra. Boring, same old back and forth.
Mohamed, mohamed and Agaila, you and your supporters were alone on the Internet since more than a decade to support separatism in Western Sahara. Now, that the Moroccans especially the sahraouis are aware of the impact of such a media, your sole aim is to discredit the arguments of unionist sahraouis on Internet by qualifying them as members of DST. You aren’t serious on saying that all unionist sahraouis are working for DST!!! What about you guys? Are you really what you try to be on Internet or are you working for the Algerian military secret services? I personally don’t care if you work for the Algerian services or not. My concern goes to my relatives living in Tindouf camps. They are waiting for the D day where they would recover their dignity in their motherland.
Agaila please enough victimization!! You live in better conditions than all the sahraouis living in the camps and from your side you are claiming something unrealistic. Why not asking for something more realistic? Why not participating all of us to the development of our region? Why dissention? Why? We all are sahraouis. I disagree with your (distant) activism because I feel more confident with the Moroccan government than the Algerian one.
I give my name and surname what about you Mohamed and mohamed?