IPSA: una iniciativa pionera para la formación periodística en el Sáhara
Within the framework of the I Meeting on media and society, held on 25 and 26 February in Laayoune, organised by the Moroccan Federation of Newspaper Publishers (FMEJ), various parallel activities were held. One of the most striking was undoubtedly the inauguration, by the Spanish delegation present there, of the Institute of Journalism specialising in Audiovisual Communication (IPSA), a pioneering initiative in the city of Laayoune in particular, and in the provinces of southern Morocco in general.
During the meeting, in addition to the ceremonial acts, a passionate and enthusiastic debate was opened between the students and future Saharawi journalists with the Spanish guests who, in response to questions from the audience, made available their experiences in the field, various tips and recommendations to young people on the professional career they are about to begin, as well as the various problems they face when addressing the issue of the Sahara in Spain due to the single thought installed for decades in the Spanish public opinion.
The meeting also provided the opportunity to launch the first radio broadcast of IPSA Radio, with the participation of the guests, and was also the occasion for the signing of a partnership and cooperation agreement between IPSA and the Association of Canary Islands-Morocco Cooperation (ACAMA), in order to establish a strategy related to cultural, intellectual and social activities of mutual interest, as well as the possibility of creating in the future an exchange program between the Canary Islands and Laayoune for young people who are being trained in that institution.
Among the attendees, among others, were IPSA officials, including Hammana Malainine. Also Rafael Esparza, president of ACAMA (Association for Cooperation between the Canary Islands and Morocco), Ibrahim Bahoush, president of the Desert Press Club and member of the Executive Office of the National Union of Moroccan Journalism, or Nabil Driouch, editor and expert in Moroccan-Spanish relations, as well as the entire Spanish delegation.
Manuel Fernando Vidal, a journalist with a long career in the Canary Islands, praised those responsible for the initiative, as well as the efforts of the project that is now beginning, adding that the launch of this institute consolidates cooperation between the two shores in the cultural and media fields.
On the other hand, Ignacio Ortiz spoke of the loneliness that is sometimes felt when dealing with the question of the Sahara in Spain, where all the information circulates in a unidirectional way. A loneliness which, on the other hand, is rewarded by the possibility of expressing oneself in his articles on the basis of what one believes to be the best and fairest solution to this dispute, as opposed to the distortion of the prevailing reality in Spain in relation to the Sahara. For Ortiz, this is the best they can offer to future generations of Moroccan Saharawis who aspire to a lasting and definitive solution in today's unstable world.
The meeting concluded with testimonies of thanks to the Spanish delegation, through the intervention of Leila Ma'a Al-Ainin, an expert journalist of the regional radio and one of the historic local journalists, who in turn praised the initiative launched by the Institute.
The IPSA Institute has a wide range of training programmes, both long and short courses, thanks to which the young people of Laayoune will no longer have to travel hundreds of kilometres to other cities to acquire such training. This event has undoubtedly been another step forward in terms of development, in this case in the field of vocational training, among the many that have been taking place over the years in the cities of the Moroccan Sahara, as well as another small sign of the gradual normalisation of relations between Spain and Morocco.