Lanzarote's Aminetu

A few days ago, we learned of the dissolution of the Collective of Saharawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA). President Aminetu Haidar sent a copy of the communiqué of dissolution to most of the international human rights NGOs: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, etc. 

The press release stated that this decision was taken by "more than half" of the twelve members of the Executive Committee of the said CODESA, and stressed that the meetings of its governing council had been paralysed for at least two years, due to the profound differences in the "working methodology" followed by the president. Among the differences between its members, the president seems to be accused of unilateralism, capricious management and lack of democracy.

At this point, it is necessary to make a few comments about this person who is unknown to the general public, who only know about the activist through the biased and sweetened profile shown by the media, organisations and similar personalities for many years now, especially after the episode at Lanzarote airport, which will be recalled later.

It is curious to note that, among the many links and information that abound on the web relating to the biography of the activist Aminetu Haidar, the vast majority of them refer to the city of El Aaiún as her birthplace. Thus, any kind of reference to her origins is conspicuous by its absence, with everything being limited to a constant polishing of her career as a social agitator, whether it be for political or human rights issues; indeed, it has even been claimed that she began her activism as a teenager. It should therefore be stressed that Haidar was born in Morocco, specifically in Akka, a province of Tata. To locate the reader, it is southeast of Agadir, in the eastern Moroccan Sahara, and not far from the Algerian border. 

However, in an area of imaginary borders so permeable to the movement of people from one side to the other, with a similar tribal component, and in case anyone should think to resort to the classic 'home is where the heart is' to justify one's subsequent adult trajectory against the land of one's birth, we should add that her family roots are strongly rooted to the Moroccan Administration. Not to go into too much detail, on her mother's side both the grandfather and the uncle were governors of Dakhla.

On her father's side (the Haidars, originally from Tarfaya, southern Morocco), the father was a civil servant in the Ministry of Justice in Guelmim, as was the case with other family members who held civil service posts. The scenario is thus one in which almost the entire family, both of the father and mother, are either civil servants or important people in the Moroccan system. Likewise, Aminetu herself was a civil servant (according to some sources, she was a postal service employee), and her first husband was also a civil servant. 

But after a series of family upheavals, and when her "modus vivendi" derived from her activity in the Moroccan administration ceased, she turned her back on her past and present, as well as on her deeply rooted family circle, thus initiating a dissident journey that continues to the present day. Her stay in prison after taking part in a demonstration in 1987, consisting of 700 participants demanding the referendum on independence for the Sahara, is well known.

It has been reported that she was held there with other nine women and 50 men. It was later revealed that she was paid a large compensation sum by the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER), set up by King Mohammed VI, to reward the possible victims of the so-called " Lead Years" in Morocco, which unfortunately led to situations of this kind, and which this institution tried to alleviate in part. This was the germ of her further life journey. Nevertheless, she is no more a victim than those with whom she shared a cell, even though not sharing the subsequent fame, entertainment and other associated benefits

In addition to the deliberately hidden Moroccan roots we have just mentioned, Haidar's permanent quest for prominence is public and notorious, on the one hand because she has won a large number of international prizes (many of which have brought in large sums of money). A fame that, in turn, as a vicious circle, paves the way for her to become a lecturer all over the world, where she is barely out of her established script. To illustrate this, the Mexican Association of Friendship with SADR has "consecrated" July 24, starting in 2020, to be celebrated as " The International Day Aminetu Haidar", which coincides with her birthday. This is undoubtedly an unusual exercise in personality worship, an excessive adulation more suited to other sorts of leaders. 

A continuous international tour on the red carpet resembling that of a Hollywood star, receiving praises and accolades as well as an enormous number of awards. Which, on the other hand, she displays in her social network profile images, to feed her ego. In 2019, she received the so-called "Alternative Nobel Prize" from the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, which comes to a whopping $230,000 for the winners. The other side of her eagerness to play a leading role comes from her regular clashes with Moroccan authorities under the pretext of making her cause visible, such as the notorious incident in Lanzarote just over a decade ago. 

Aminetu stayed for 32 days at Lanzarote airport after being returned by the Moroccan authorities from El Aaiún. The reason was none other than that, after returning from touring (no less than seven months, including the United States, Madrid and Las Palmas), on passing through the airport entry checkpoint, she stated to be of Western Saharan origin and not Moroccan. As it turned out, this action had already been attempted on other occasions. This time, after taking away her passport for renouncing her current nationality, against her will, she was put on a plane headed for Lanzarote in the Canary Islands.

In Lanzarote, the Spanish authorities allowed her to enter the country on the grounds that she had a ‘residence permit in Spain’. She started a hunger strike in the airport in the hope that she would be allowed to board a plane back to her city of El Aaiún.

Haidar's extensive experience in this kind of performance triggered a series of propaganda acts, contacting different international organisations that made her be the centre of attention for journalists from all over the world, including visits from some political representatives, activists and celebrities. Despite the fact that this campaign finally succeeded in making her, more than the cause itself, visible, things remained the same. We will not enter into speculation about the veracity of the strike. We have no doubt that she is convinced she has a messianic mission when she decides to carry out such actions, in fact she has been nicknamed as the "Saharan Ghandi", or "the Saharan Passionary" here in Spain. These can even be considered hilarious. 

It is clear that Haidar is not going to pay any attention to the human rights violations that may occur in the Tindouf camps. To her, they seem no to exist, or in any case, she is denying them as acolytes of the activist do. However, given her devotion to the recognition of others, she should be careful. It is not in vain that we should remind her that the European Parliament withdrew the Sakharov Prize awarded in 1990 to Burmese leader Suu Kyi, to punish her lack of support and action in the face of the crimes committed against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Burma. This is where the question arises of whether turning a blind eye to such acts, just to mask her own friends, should not lead to a punishment similar to that of the Burmese leader. 

So, what about the people she defended through CODESA? The recognition of her work, which has resulted in her receiving the aforementioned "alternative Nobel Prize", has been for, among other reasons, according to the entity that grants it, documenting violations in order to raise awareness of the abuses committed by the "occupying power" and to hold those responsible accountable. In other words, CODESA documents alleged human rights violations and provides legal support to Saharawis who wish to file complaints about them. But the truth is that it is not clear when, where, or who has been brought to justice through such complaints.

In fact, it is the alleged victims collaborating with CODESA who are now demanding that Aminetu should be held accountable and say what the fate and usefulness of the data and testimonies they provided at the time was, and whether any of these alleged complaints were successful or yielded any results. Little is known about this, and so far the only consequence is a prestigious award, one more. Now, of course, with the fame achieved over the years she is back to her origins and abandoning the humanitarian issue for politics. Leaving orphans those people who requested the support of her organization, and thanks to whom she achieved the international dimension that she has today and to whom, in view of the communiqué of dissolution of CODESA, she did not pay much attention lately. 

Thus, CODESA's project failed and was dissolved, returning to politics (if it ever abandoned it), and perhaps as a result of the rise of the Sahrawi Peace Movement, Aminetu has not been slow to found a new group called the "Sahrawi Instance against the Moroccan Occupation", stating that she "does not intend to legalise and will not seek Morocco's consent". Nor did she actually do so with CODESA, an association which, despite official dissolution, was never legally established. She may use the excuse that Morocco does not allow the right of association, but it should be reminded that the Sahrawi Association of Victims of Human Rights Violations (ASVDH), of which Ghalia Djimi is vice-president (also Moroccan by birth, by the way), does have authorisation.

Another thing is that she prefers clashes and confrontation in order to make public use of the subsequent reaction of others with which to victimise herself and maintain her status. With the old excuse of making the cause visible, but with the veiled intention of continuing to feed her own pomp and ostentation with which to continue stepping on the carpet. A full-blown " bombshell ", just as she did in Lanzarote. This is how fame and awards come about. This is how some people make a living.