Back in the Good Old USA

Sent Saturday, May 28, 2022

Dear Friends and Fam,

I hate to report that I am back in the good old USA (DC) after having been deported from Western Sahara by Moroccan Occupation forces. I never made it to the Khaya family home. Please see our latest press release.

I was the woman referred to in the press release whose breasts were exposed. (Noooooow are you going to click the link and read it? By the way, if you are interested, here are all the press releases since beginning of project.)

Apparently this tactic was the first type of sexual abuse used on the Saharawi womyn. Their tactics then escalated to sodomy and rape. In the conservative Muslim culture of Western Sahara, these things are never spoken of. Until Sultana Khaya. With no shame, she has proclaimed out loud and publicly, “I am not the first Saharawi woman to be raped by the occupiers. I am simply the first woman to speak publicly about it. I have to expose the reality of the occupation. And I need to pave the way for the next generation of Saharawi women.”

Sultana is probably one of the world’s most courageous, creative and brilliant activist and human rights protector. Her relentless persistence to the cause of Saharawi self-determination and her absolute commitment to nonviolence has left me in awe. In addition to the grief I have that our mission failed, I most regret not being able to meet this remarkable woman in person. Even on Zoom she is warm and loving, vibrant and charismatic.

So you may wonder, what is next? We will continue to fight to ensure that all nations in the world, including Morocco and our own, respect human rights and international law. We will work with the Sahawari people, taking their lead in the fight for liberation of this last colony in Africa. Because if Russian is wrong in its attempt to gain territory by force in the Ukraine, then the same principle must apply to Morocco’s attempt to acquire Western Sahara by force. (And while I’m at it I may as well throw in that we need to apply the same principle to Israel’s occupation of Palestine!)

Our first step will be a stop in Washington D.C. where some diaspora Saharawi activists are staging a demonstration to expose our own government’s complicity/enabling of Morocco’s human rights abuses. Amnesty International just issued a very powerful report on the situation.

Beyond that, we will continue to support the Khaya sisters and their community in Boujdour and all of Western Sahara. Please stay tuned. And consider just visiting Western Sahara yourself! Check out www.justvisitwesternsahara.org

Love,
Wynd