Polysario: chronology of a recent breakdown

It seems that winds of change are blowing inside Saharan civil society. It is true that this might sound repetitive, since it is not the first time that new initiatives are talked about that then end up in deadlock. Initiatives that, in most cases, fall into forgetfulness under the usual and easy accusations of betrayal and sale to foreign interests, as if there were not enough reasons to want to change the hard and immovable situation in the Tindouf camps. Although this time all the signs point to an unparalleled change of direction in what has come to be known in a somewhat diffuse way as the 'Saharawi people'.

This change of direction was born under the name of the Saharawi Movement for Peace, and is made up of more than a hundred cadres, ex-officials, former high officials of the Polisario, dignitaries, children and descendants of members of the Saharawi Assembly from the Spanish period, as well as university students and a good number of human rights activists. A number that continues to grow exponentially, as new members join as the days go by. To give a chronological sieve to these facts, since mid 2019 several symptoms were already appearing that anticipated movements in the short to medium term. This excision has accelerated in recent months, perhaps irreversibly and with unpredictable consequences.

During the last few years, various proposals of rupture with the Saharawi establishment have emerged (for example, Khat Achahid created by one of the Polisario's historians as Mahayub Salek). The last of these proposals was born at the beginning of 2019, under the name of the Saharawi Initiative for Change (SIC), promoted by former Polisario ministers. Its spokesperson, Hach Ahmed Bericala, brother of the historical Bukhari Ahmed, who died in 2018, expressed in its foundation the need to create an internal critical current to correct the democratic deficit that the Polisario had been dragging on since its foundation. 

Faced with this new challenge of democratic pluralism, the Polisario reacted as on other occasions in similar situations, with the illegal detention and humiliating treatment between June and November of three members of the ISC in the so-called "bloggers' case", the Saharawis Fadel Breica - of Spanish nationality -, Mulay Abba Buzeid and Mahmud Zeidan, facts which were widely reported by the Spanish generalist media. This was one of the many drops that filled the glass, in addition to liquidating any kind of opposition, freedom of expression is repressed.

This was also evident in Vitoria last November, on the eve of the EUCOCO (International Conference of Solidarity with the Saharawi People), when the events held by the opposition to the Polisario in that same city in the days preceding this annual conference sponsored by the friends of SADR in Spain were subject to attacks, insults and threats.

And finally, we arrive at the last stop in this chronology in December, with the celebration of the 15th Congress of the Polisario, with profuse representation of international politicians and activists, Spanish and of course, Canarian (at this point I don't think it is necessary to give names). Announced with a lot of enthusiasm with the permanent, but feigned, boast of the return to arms as a background, the main news is that there was no news. The more than two thousand delegates selected to attend the conclave limited themselves to ratifying documents previously approved by a preparatory commission, made up essentially of members or those close to the leadership. The organization's statutes were left intact, making it impossible for any hint of political openness claimed by the most critical sectors, which would allow for greater plurality and internal democracy. There were even setbacks, as the statutory rule limiting the Secretary General's mandate to two was repealed. And, of course, no opposition of any kind was allowed to participate in the event, which would amplify the Saharawi political space towards the bulk of the population.

A population that attends time and again with resignation to the 'bunkerization' of a leadership that is increasingly accommodated in positions of privilege and pecuniary benefits, distanced from a young population that lives in the weariness of permanent indefinition while being ignored and denying its quota of representation in the organs of power.

Unfortunately, the Polisario leadership has once again taken refuge in its trenches of resistance, losing the opportunity for renewal and adaptation to the 21st century. If these opposing Saharan initiatives do not find their place as a recognized internal current, they are destined to become an alternative reference point, with no less legitimate representation of the Saharan people.

Under this perfect breeding ground just detailed, emerges a few days ago the project of the Saharawi Movement for Peace, with the vocation to represent sensitivities and opinions of important and diverse sectors of the Saharawi population not identified with the positions and political and ideological projects of the Polisario Front. It is an unprecedented experience that aims to break with the old model, and introduce into the Saharan society the much-needed culture of political diversity and multiparty, which is so necessary to place it in the levels of development and modernity of the XXI century.

What happens from now on we don't know yet. We do know the first reactions against this movement. Of course, the usual ones, in reference to Morocco's involvement in this matter, some of them hilarious. They are the old accusations at the head of the table, which use 'conspiracy' in any situation that suggests a change in the established order, showing a total absence of self-criticism. Because for those who lead in Tinduf, or for many Saharawis who reside comfortably in Spain and support the Polisario, it is easier to divert attention and disguise as someone else's crime what could actually be considered treason, their own. A word that works very well because it appeals to the emotions to cover up its excesses, and that there is very rooted for these cases. Because in this that has now come to be called post-truth, they are handled like fish in water.