How long will U.S. authorities ignore the bleak realities of Moroccan repression?
Month: December 2009
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A Tale of Two Human Rights Awardees
The annual Robert F. Kennedy Award ceremony took place at the White House this year for the first time in its 28-year history. Also for the first time, the president of the United States was there to honor the awardees. Such public support from the White House is in stark contrast with its silence on the fate of last year’s winner, Aminatou Haidar, who is widely known as the Saharan Gandhi. Earlier in November, when she was returning from the United States after receiving the Civil Courage Award from the Train Foundation, Moroccan occupation authorities arrested and expelled Haidar from her homeland of Western Sahara.
Book chapter co-authored with Salka Barca in Civilian Jihad: Nonviolent Struggle, Democratization, and Governance in the Middle East edited by Maria Stephan (Palgrave Macmillan 2009).