The Myth of a Sahrawi People: When the Spanish Radical Left Embraces a Franco-Era Colonial Construct

Dakhla, Western Sahara, Morocco - PHOTO/FILE

Lahcen Haddad

04 de marzo de 2025 (11:54 h.)

A Colonial Invention: Franco’s Fabrication of the Sahrawi Identity

The “Sahrawi people” is a colonial construct, later adopted by the Polisario Front and Algeria, and today recycled by the European left, particularly the radical left in Spain. That a Franco-era fabrication is now championed by the radical left remains one of history’s great ironies in the decolonization debate surrounding Western Sahara.

In the 1960s, Morocco had successfully brought the Western Sahara question to the international stage and was gaining momentum in its claim to the territory; the Spanish government, with guidance from General Franco, assembled a group of anthropologists, historians, and military officials to fabricate a distinct Sahrawi identity. This effort aimed to construct the notion of a separate “Sahrawi people”, serving as a colonial strategy to undermine Morocco’s legitimate claims and maintain Spanish influence over the region.

Boubrik has shown in detail how the concept of a distinct Sahrawi people was developed as a manoeuvre to keep Western Sahara under Spanish colonial domination, or at the very least, in a state of total dependence. I won’t go into those details; instead, I would like to focus on the act of construction itself and on the gullibility of the Spanish radical left in embracing a Franco-era colonial notion in its current discourse on Western Sahara.

The Role of África: Revista de Tropas Coloniales

For the purpose of constructing the “Sahrawi People”, Franco and his colonial officials turned to the journal África: Revista de Tropas Coloniales. Founded in 1924 by Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, a key Africanist military officer, the journal aimed to justify Spain’s presence in both the north and south of Morocco, emphasizing Spain’s so-called civilizing mission. Even Francisco Franco himself contributed articles to the journal before becoming Spain’s absolute leader in the late 1930s. Another key figure associated with Spanish colonial policy, Tomás García Figueras—who wrote numerous colonial and orientalist books and pamphlets on Morocco—was also among its contributors. The journal reflected nationalist, militarist, and colonialist ideologies, all aimed at promoting Spain’s imperial greatness and its supposed beneficial impact on its colonies.

In 1967, the journal was mobilized to help fabricate the identity of a distinct “Sahrawi People”. It published articles describing an ethnic group with its own culture, institutions, and sociological traits.

The Contradictions in the Colonial Narrative

The contradiction, however, was clear: this narrative clashed with Spain’s long-held colonial justification—the supposed need to civilize the “uncouth” and “uneducated” natives. Franco’s colonial officials wanted to have their cake and eat it too: they depicted the natives as backward and in need of Spanish civilization, while simultaneously portraying them as a distinct people with their own history and institutions.

Another contradiction emerges when this fabricated distinctness was put into practice through the General Assembly of the Sahara (a consultative body for the Sahrawis). Instead of using a nationalist framework, the argument remained tribal. The “people” was structured as follows: it was based on the family, then the ‘arsh (a group of families), followed by the fakhda (a group of ‘arsh), and finally the tribe, which was composed of several fakhdas (Boubrik, p. 241). Yet, at no point did Spanish colonial ethnographers from África: Revista de Tropas Coloniales explain when or how this tribal structure would transform into a nation or a distinct people.

Historical Realities: Why a “Sahrawi Nation” Never Emerged

The reality is that tribal structures in the Sahara have never led to shared myths, folklore, institutions or historical sagas significant enough to forge a distinct national identity. When the Sahrawi Ma’alainine tribal clan mobilized the Sahrawi tribes at the beginning of the 20th century to resist French and Spanish colonialism of Morocco , they did so not in the name of a separate Sahrawi nation, but in the name of the Moroccan people, to whom they fundamentally identified.

In addition to the contradictions referred to above, neither geography nor the ecology nor the sociological fabric have favored the emergence of a distinct people. Let’s dive into the history of the human settlement of the territory and its economic activity to understand why that has always been the case.

Western Sahara’s Harsh Environment and Nomadic Economy

Western Sahara’s harsh environmental conditions—extreme aridity, minimal rainfall, severe temperature fluctuations, and frequent sandstorms—have historically prevented the development of a sedentary population or a unified nation-state. Water resources are scarce, with only a few wells and a single seasonal river, Saguia al-Hamra, that remains dry for most of the year. Vegetation is also limited, making permanent settlement unsustainable. Instead, nomadic pastoralism has been the dominant way of life, with tribes moving seasonally in search of water and grazing land. This structural dependency on mobility made it impossible for the region to develop a distinct, self-sufficient economy or a centralized political entity. (This assessment, including the next two paragraphs, is based on insights from a geographer who conducted a study of the region in the 1990s and who prefers to remain anonymous. While the study was never published, the expert’s observations provide valuable context for understanding the area’s environmental conditions.)

Western Sahara’s Deep Integration with Morocco

Historically, Western Sahara has never been an isolated geopolitical unit but rather a region deeply integrated with Morocco. Its tribes relied on trade and exchanges with Souss, Drâa, and the Anti-Atlas, reinforcing their economic and political connections to Morocco. The introduction of the camel in the 3rd century AD revolutionized trans-Saharan trade, linking the region to major commercial hubs such as Timbuktu, Gao, and Jenne. Over centuries, it was inhabited and ruled by various nomadic confederations, starting with Sanhaja Berbers, followed by the arrival of Arab Ma’qil tribes in the 13th century, which led to the linguistic and cultural Arabization of the region. Yet, these populations remained organized along tribal lines, lacking the elements of a unified nation-state.

The major tribal groups, such as Tekna, Reguibate, Oulad Delim, and others, functioned as independent and often competing entities rather than as a cohesive people. Their loyalties were not to an imagined Sahrawi nation but to their clans and their broader Moroccan ties. The Tekna Confederation controlled trans-Saharan trade routes leading to Ouad Noun and the Drâa Valley, reinforcing their integration with Morocco. Similarly, the Reguibate Confederation, initially a religious order, later expanded as a warrior group, engaging in conflicts over grazing rights with other Saharan tribes. These patterns confirm that Western Sahara’s social and political structures were always tribally fragmented and deeply linked to Morocco. The idea of a “Sahrawi people” as a distinct national identity is thus a modern colonial construct, rather than a historical reality.

Spansih Radical left Blindness to Moroccan’s Liberation Struggles

Why does the Spanish radical left so gullibly embrace a Franco-era fabrication—one originally designed to block the decolonization of Western Sahara? The primary reason is that they are blind to the Moroccan people’s rights and territorial integrity aspirations. Their stance does not stem from a genuine commitment to historical accuracy or international law but from a deep-seated, albeit deliberate, ignorance of Moroccans’ anti-colonial liberation narrative. While they support the Algerian revolution and the Polisario’s fantasy designs on the Sahara, they have never been interested in Moroccans’ liberation struggles.

Moroccan Liberation and the Selective Support of the Spanish Far Left

For the radical left, Moroccans’ struggles can only be legitimate when and if they are anti-regime and target the monarchical system itself. When Moroccans learn how to distance themselves from the Makhzen, only then can they be worthy of left-wing support in Spain. So, in the name of an Algeria-fed rhetoric against the Makhzen, they prefer to be blind to the Moroccan people’s historical rights and territorial integrity.

The Uncritical Adoption of the Algerian Narrative

One of the key misconceptions underpinning their position is their unquestioning acceptance of the Algerian narrative, which dismisses Morocco’s territorial claims as nothing more than “Makhzen expansionism” rather than a legitimate and historically rooted aspiration of the Moroccan people. This perspective erases Moroccan agency, as it ignores the voices of the Moroccan people themselves and frames the issue solely through the lens of state power. According to this view, only what the Makhzen (the Moroccan state apparatus) does or says is deemed relevant, while the historical and popular dimensions of Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara are disregarded. This selective blindness reveals not just a political bias but a fundamental disinterest in what Moroccans actually want or struggle for.

A Contradiction in the Radical Left’s Interpretation of International Law

The Spanish radical left often claims to champion international law, yet their stance on Western Sahara contradicts the very principles they profess to uphold. UN Resolution 1514 (XV) on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples clearly states that self-determination must not come at the expense of the territorial integrity of nations. This means that while autonomy and decolonization are recognized as legitimate processes, they must not be manipulated to artificially fragment sovereign states. Yet, in the case of Morocco, they turn a blind eye to this principle.

The Hypocrisy of Embracing a Franco-Era Colonial Construct

If the Spanish radical left were truly committed to decolonization, they would acknowledge that Western Sahara was historically tied to Morocco long before Spanish colonial rule, and that the tribes of the region had longstanding political, social, and economic ties with the Moroccan sultanate. Instead, they continue to propagate a colonial construct that was, ironically, developed by the Francoist state itself—the very system they claim to repudiate. It is a historical irony that they now champion a Franco-era geopolitical fabrication while claiming to oppose colonial expansionism.

A Geopolitical Calculus Rather Than a Principled Position

Ultimately, the Spanish radical left’s stance on Western Sahara is not based on a principled defense of international law or decolonization but on a geopolitical calculus aimed at countering Moroccan influence. Their selective reading of history and law, their uncritical embrace of Algerian propaganda, and their continued reliance on a Franco-era colonial myth expose the contradictions at the heart of their position. If they were consistent in their principles, they would acknowledge that the real colonial residue in Western Sahara is not Morocco’s claim to the region, but rather Franco-era Spain’s historical manipulation of the Sahrawi identity to justify prolonged colonial rule.