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I was 10-years old when I went to my first ever protest in front of the White House. I couldn’t see, hear, or understand much—except for the countless of posters depicting the killing of Muhammed al-Durrah. It would forever shape my politics as an Moroccan-American.
Having been born and raised in the US, so much of my knowledge about the Western Saharan conflict was self-taught. My attempts at posing genuine questions to Moroccans were always met with contempt and dismissal.
The more time I spent visiting and reading about Morocco, the more I struggled to reconcile my deep love for the country and the rampant injustice that inched ever closer. When I had the opportunity to visit the Western Saharan refugee camps it was driven by genuine curiosity.
When I left the camps, I was met with a deluge of insults, harassment, and accusations of treachery—including by Moroccans who I considered colleagues and advocates for democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression.
When I voiced my view that if Moroccans generally support Palestinian self-determination, shouldn’t the same sentiment be afforded to Sahrawis, I was accused of being a Polisario agent & that the Algerian military was paying my tuition (my student loan debt is 5 figures).
As a Moroccan-American, nothing about today’s announcement inspires pride. Trump has disregarded conventional democratic proceedings; Moroccan officials have willfully misled the public; and it is Western Saharan refugees who will pay the ultimate price.
While working as a reporter in Morocco, one minister accosted me for having visited the Western Saharan refugee camps. Another official threateningly told me “remember you’re Moroccan before you’re a journalist.”
Despite this, I took my work seriously and was never reprimanded for my reporting. On the contrary, I was asked to cover several events in the palace in the presence of the king and the country’s highest ranking officials. This was all well-after my trips to Tindouf.
To conclude this rambling rant, Trump’s announcement effectively disqualifies the US from any mediating position, including its position as the pen holder for the UN Security Council’s peacekeeping mission.
