Abstract
This article considers the role that irredentist nationalist Moroccan and Sahrawi discourses have played in the current stalemate in the negotiations in the Western Sahara conflict. Despite this, Morocco has seen a series of revolutionary and reformist movements prior to and in the wake of the 2010 Arab Spring. Although these movements have often been outmaneuvered by the Moroccan monarchy, they have managed to force a realignment of forces as exemplified by the Moroccan 2011 Constitution. I draw on Judith Butler’s critique of identitarian discourses to suggest that women’s rights may be a productive platform for Sahrawi women to establish equally efficient coalitions with other women in Morocco, and work to break the current stalemate.
Highlights
Since 1976, a large number of Sahrawi men, women and children have been living in refugee camps located near the South Western border of Algeria with Morocco and Mauritania
In October 2010, a large number of Sahrawis congregated around the Gdeim Izik tent camp erected a few miles away from El ‘Ayoun to complain against what they perceived as economic discrimination by the Moroccan government
Of the veracity of the claims made by the Moroccan government and the Polisario Front, the violence unleashed during the Gdeim Izik confrontations was condemned in strong terms by the African Union, the United Nations and the European Union
Summary
Since 1976, a large number of Sahrawi men, women and children have been living in refugee camps located near the South Western border of Algeria with Morocco and Mauritania. Entelis has argued that the conflict over Western Sahara should not be understood as a clash between Moroccan and Sahrawi interests, but as a confrontation between Morocco and Algeria.
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