Polisario representative's four city tour of New Zealand wins fresh support for Western Sahara

Kamal Fadel, the representative of the Polisario Front of Western Sahara based in Australia, toured New Zealand, May 25 to June 1, visiting Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson and Auckland. Mr Fadel said he found people in New Zealand quickly understood and lent their support for the cause of Western Sahara.

He noted that the widely supported and long established East Timor solidarity campaign helped people here understand the parallels with their fight. He said, "It is important for our people to know that people in a far-off place called New Zealand know about and support their struggle, it gives us the moral strength to continue."

Mr Fadel told an audience in Christchurch, "New Zealand can also play a positive role in the international forums to press the cause of Western Sahara. It is important you ask your members of parliament to raise this issue."

While in New Zealand, Mr Fadel was able to meet with members of parliament,non-government agencies and trade unionists and build links with Maori, who described to him the issues they face.

Western Sahara has been illegally occupied by Morocco since 1975. For the past twelve years the Moroccan Kingdom has refused to implement a UN-initiated referendum giving the Saharawi people the right to decide the future of their country.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>