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Maria Garcia
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Hayes Davenport
Hey, this is Hayes Davenport and Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode. We're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers.
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Why do some women yearn for Shakira's black hair to make a comeback? And whatever happened to the power couple of my dreams, Mariah Carey and Luis Miguel? I'm Maria Garcia. You may remember me from my podcast Anything for selena or my TiVo. And now I'm back to unpack more stories from the present and the past. Listen to Muy Excited with Maria Garcia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
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Mohammed Salem Murad
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Anna El Kurd
Cool Zone Media. Hello, everyone, and welcome to It Could Happen Here. My name is Anna El Kurd, and I'm a researcher and analyst of Arab and Palestinian politics. Today, I want to talk about Western Sahara and the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. I'm taking this opportunity because Morocco is in the news specifically for the World cup. But it's always a good opportunity when Morocco is in the news to bring up this issue and to talk about the ongoing occupation of this territory. Now, Western Sahara, for those who are unfamiliar, is often called Africa's last colony. It's been contested between the Sahrawi indigenous people and the Moroccan government since Spain withdrew from the territory in 1975. Now Morocco took over most of the territory and fought a war with the Polisaria Front, which is a liberation movement that represents the Sahrawi people, backed by other neighbors of Morocco, including Algeria. And it fought a 16 year war for independence before there was a 1991 ceasefire. Now this ceasefire collapsed in 2020 and there was a UN promised referendum on self determination. That never happened. So today Morocco controls roughly 80% of the territory and there's still hundreds of thousands of Sahrawi refugees that remain in refugee camps in Algeria. The United States accepted and recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for Morocco signing a peace agreement with Israel. So that happened with the Abraham Accords. Now recently, through US led diplomacy, there was a 2025 UN Security Council resolution that pushed for Moroccan autonomy rather than Sahrawi independence as the basis for resolving this conflict. So to talk more about this issue, I thought it would be a good opportunity to get the perspective of a Sahrawi person and someone who is very embedded in the issue and has lived experience. So I spoke today with Mohammad Salem Murad, who is the co founder of Sahrawi Voice. This is a collective of citizen journalists and filmmakers based in the Western Sahara refugee camps in southwest Algeria. And this collective basically is a way to provide a platform for Sahrawis to share their challenges, experiences and hopes with an international audience while equipping Sahrawi youth with the knowledge and tools to advocate effectively for their cause. So I spoke to Mohamed Salem today to get a Sahrawi perspective on things. Now there might be some listeners that don't agree with everything that is mentioned, and that's fine. The point of this kind of interview is a type of data. How do people see this issue from this perspective? So without further ado, here is my interview with Mohammed Selim. Mohammed Selim, thank you so much for joining us.
Mohammed Salem Murad
Thank you for the invitation.
Anna El Kurd
So I'm going to ask a few questions about recent Sahrawi politics and events, starting with the UN resolution that happened in October, resolution 2797, which basically for the first time made Morocco's autonomy the explicit basis for negotiations while kind of ignoring self determination for the Sahrawi people. A lot of our listeners have never heard of this resolution, but people have called it the biggest shift in the conflict in decades. So can you tell us from a Sahrawi perspective what it means that the UN an international body that once promised Sahrawi self determination and a referendum starts treating the occupiers plan as the starting point.
Mohammed Salem Murad
So the resolution itself is after they exhausted all the other pressure means the us, the European Union and through their own individual country pressure and unconditional support to the Morocco. The UN was the last resort and they want to have a stamp of legality on it. And that's why the instrument uses the UN and the reality in the talk now, because we don't have a negotiation yet. We have talks that have been sponsored and actually administrated by the U.S. the UN now is sidelined. And the reason is because the international law is clear and the repeated resolution before death, all of them, they have called and demanded that the final status of the territory should be decided through a referendum. And sometimes the referendum was muted, but always there it has to provide for the self determination for the Sahara people. And even like playing with self determination for listeners. And the referendum in itself, it's a huge concession from the Sahra side, what in a. In a just world, in ideal world, Morocco would be called to withdraw from Western Sahara, paying reparation for the Sahra. And those are the steps for a just solution for the Sahrawi past. But the Sahrawi were willing to go to the extra mile and they made the concessions. They accepted the referendum, which is by the way will until a huge number of the settlers will be taken apart in that referendum and would not be just the Sahara. But even with that, Morocco is still not sure that they will even win the support of their own settlers that they brought with them. So they had to ask the US for the help. And of course the US is doing this as a reward for Morocco for being a sub servant state and the watching dog of the European Union for being willing also to go public with their relationship with the Zionist state of Israel. Because for us, we have been seeing this for a long time. Morocco always had those relationships. It was the price of recognizing the Moroccan city of Western Sahara was the price to go public with those relationship. And that's what they did eventually. Morocco is selling themselves to the devils to get support and recognition for their occupation of Western Sahara. They are accepting the Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. They are sending their money to finance the peace board committee that Trump made. They are sending their troops, they are willing to send them even to fight resistance in Gaza. And they are doing everything. They are building chemicals, drone chemicals, factories, Israeli chemicals, factories in Morocco. Everything that people couldn't even imagine. Now it's a reality. And the price is to win APAC and Israel's support and their backing turning the occupation into a fatal company. And not just that, but to even use the UN in the international law and also the international body to impose the occupation of the Sahara. But for us, we know that slavery and many other stuff were legal. So even if they were to outlaw the self determination outlaw our demand for free and independent state, still would not make any difference to us. We are determined to fight for what's ours. And as a Sahrawiyyah ex Sahara leader who passed away told Bush, because this is not the first time, maybe this is public, but this is not the first time. US tried to do this during George W. Bush first term when the twin tower were hit and us wanted to just like rush to solve or to just finish all other conflicts everywhere. They wanted to resolve the occupation of Western Sahara and asking the Sahra to accept the autonomy plan of Morocco and be part and that's it. And he said like when the Sahra leader was pressed to accept that, he said we will not accept it. You know, you are so powerful that you can dictate to people how to live, but you are not powerful enough to dictate to people how to die. So it's the same for us. Nothing changed. Morocco has enjoyed the support for a long time from the majority of the country and especially those like called first world country and free world. All that bs. They have always enjoyed the support, but on the ground nothing changed of course made our independence difficult, but would never make it impossible.
Anna El Kurd
Yeah. The rights of indigenous people are not determined by international law.
Mohammed Salem Murad
Yeah. Yeah. And Morocco is asking for support and want to legalize their occupation first from Western Saharan. They are asking the wrong people and they are waiting the support from the wrong people. And yeah, their teacher and their biggest sponsor are France with all its colonial atrocity in all African American other places and. And the US right was a country that was built on genocide of indigenous people. So they are, they are, they are
Anna El Kurd
in the right company.
Mohammed Salem Murad
Yes, yes, exactly. That's what we. Yeah. Sahara. We say like if someone gives you advice, you have to look at their house and if they are abiding by the advice they are giving you or not. So yeah.
Anna El Kurd
Yeah.
Mohammed Salem Murad
The Morocco chose the right masters and the right sponsors to continue its occupation and graduate from the occupation University.
Hayes Davenport
Hey, this is Hayes Davenport and Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook. Every episode we're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us Improve our careers.
Sean Clements
The show is famously super accessible, so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on.
Hayes Davenport
We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest)
The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anyway, too, right?
Sean Clements
What do you think it is now?
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest)
It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of technology.
Hayes Davenport
Danny McBride.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest or Host)
Oh, that's fantastic. And you make it on. You make your own.
Daisy Kent
That's great.
Hayes Davenport
I call him Tarot Reed.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest or Host)
It's a good name.
Sean Clements
They're all named after cast members of American Pie.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest or Host)
Oh, got.
Hayes Davenport
I call. I don't. I never looked up if she was in this, but I call him Lee Sobieski.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest or Host)
Yeah, I don't think she was an American Pie, but I still haven't looked it up.
Hayes Davenport
Haven't looked it up.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest or Host)
She was prominent. Yeah.
Hayes Davenport
Then Mary Steenbergen.
Mary Steenburgen
Why are you guys talking to me like so down to me that you think I don't understand your little play game?
Hayes Davenport
I just really am trying to set you up for success here.
Sean Clements
Listen to Hollywood handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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I'm Emily Oster. I'm an economist and data expert.
Perry Wilson
And I'm Perry Wilson. I'm a medical doctor.
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And this is our new podcast, Wellness, actually.
Perry Wilson
Because you're getting a staggering amount of health and wellness information nowadays, and some
Emily Oster
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Perry Wilson
Each episode, we tackle the health news of the week and then take a deeper dive into a misunderstood health and
Mohammed Salem Murad
wellness topic, like what's the deal with peptides?
Perry Wilson
What's the deal with GLP1?
Emily Oster
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Perry Wilson
What's the deal with cupping?
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So join us for a weekly dose of sanity. Might actually be just what the doctor
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I'm Stephanie Young. The hit podcast Love Trapped is back with new updates in the case of Laura owens.
Sean Clements
This is CR2025 State vs Laura Owens.
Unknown Male (Love Trapped Victim)
I think she really believes that she still has an out.
Mohammed Salem Murad
I'm quite confident that they're up to something.
Stephanie Young
We're following the case live as the criminal charges finally come to a conclusion.
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Trust us when we tell you, as the victims of Laura Owens, she will not stop.
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Listen to Love trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Anna El Kurd
So for our listeners, I want to also kind of specify that this February, after the UN resolution, the US Convenes secret talks in Madrid between Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Pulisario overseen by Trump's Africa advisor. Yeah, now it's being negotiated behind closed doors. How are ordinary Sahrawis, especially in the camps, what is their relationship right now to these negotiations and to the Polisario leadership?
Mohammed Salem Murad
Yeah, so that's the talk I refer to, because negotiation has to start after you establish a framework for what to negotiate. And until now, that hasn't happened. So they are more accurately should be described as talk, you know, early stages of talk and meetings instead of negotiation. Because negotiation, then when you have a framework for, for the things that you want to achieve and the demands of two parties. And in this case, we haven't even seen one photo of the two negotiating parties. And that's very obvious because it shows just how different and how, how far from each other. And the US Came with the misconception that they think they just like can rush this into solution and be done with it. And when they saw resistance from the Sahrawi negotiation team, and also for the record, also Algeria hesitant to accept the imposing of all those solutions in the Sahrawi, they started to reconsider. And we have many statements from Mossad Bolus, the advisor for North Africa and the Middle east or North Africa, where he's saying this seems to be more difficult than what we early imagined and you know, starts to reconsider his position. As to your question, the Sahra in general, the vast majority of the Sahra consider the Polisario to be a liberation movement and their representative. And even if they don't have a post or work in a certain, they consider themselves to be a Polisario member. That doesn't mean we agree with all Policario or we don't have a different opinion about how things should be managed and how the Sahara we cause should be administrated and how to deal with many things. There is a huge and age gap between the first generation of Polisario that the vast majority of those are the members now and who are at the top of the leadership are people who started the Polisario. So we're talking about people who have been in the leadership position for 50 years. So of course there is an obvious need for them to step down and be replaced by younger generations by people who have the ability, both the physical and the mental and right judgment of the time and of the means that should be employed to accelerate the liberation of Western Sahara. We see them, but the negotiation, as you said, it's happening behind the closed door. There are no press conferences. We are dependent on a statement from there and there to try to build a bigger picture of what's happening. But the biggest takeaway and the conclusion from the three rounds that took place so far, two in Washington and one in Madrid, there's nothing major is happening except the fact that the US is starting to think that it's more difficult and it's going to take more time than what they initially imagined. So that's the biggest, I think. And the Morocco, the autonomy plan, they had it in three pages paper that was their proposal for a solution. And France and US asked them for more extended version where they have to outline details and they haven't showed or produced anything yet. So that's I think they're closest ally and supporter and colonizer as a France is working closely with them to develop that proposal.
Anna El Kurd
I see.
Mohammed Salem Murad
For the Sahrawi that doesn't change a lot because you know, if we wanted autonomy, we would have been better off with Spain. And why would we say no to Spain only to accept it 50 years later to a corrupt monarch and who's a servant and a puppet to the Zionist and France, our occupier is enjoying their support. So nothing new under the sun.
Anna El Kurd
I mean, it's funny that you mentioned that the United States and the Africa advisor is starting to recognize it's not as easy. I mean, you know, very surprising that the Trump administration advisors thought it was going to be easier than it is, but obviously not.
Mohammed Salem Murad
Yeah.
Hayes Davenport
Hey, this is Hayes Davenport and Sean Clements. We host the podcast Hollywood Handbook Every episode. We're trying to help our guests improve their careers by mainly focusing on how they can help us improve our careers.
Sean Clements
The show's famously super accessible, visible, so you can easily jump into any of our 650 episodes and understand what's going on.
Hayes Davenport
We recommend some of our recent episodes with Ben Stiller.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest)
The definition of what is a movie has kind of changed anyway, too, right?
Sean Clements
What do you think it is now?
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest)
It's images and words being spoken, captured by some sort of technology.
Hayes Davenport
Danny McBride, he loves Boba.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest or Host)
Oh, that's fantastic. And you make it on. You make your own. That's great.
Hayes Davenport
I call him Tarot.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest or Host)
Ready? It's a good name.
Sean Clements
They're all named after cast members of American Pie.
Hayes Davenport
Yeah, I call. Yeah, I don't. I never looked up if she was in this, but I call him Leechy Sobieski.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest or Host)
Yeah, I don't think she was an American Pie, but I haven't looked it up.
Hayes Davenport
Haven't looked it up.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest or Host)
She was prominent. Yeah.
Hayes Davenport
Then Mary Steenburgen.
Mary Steenburgen
Why are you guys talking to me
Maria Garcia
like
Mary Steenburgen
so down to me that you think I don't understand understand your little play? Play?
Hayes Davenport
I just really trying to set you up for success here.
Sean Clements
Listen to Hollywood handbook on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Emily Oster
I'm Emily Oster. I'm an economist and data expert.
Perry Wilson
And I'm Perry Wilson. I'm a medical doctor.
Emily Oster
And this is our new podcast, Wellness,
Perry Wilson
actually, because you're getting a staggering amount of health and. And wellness information nowadays. And some of it is awesome and
Emily Oster
some of it is, well, actually bull. Fortunately, we're both people who know how to read studies, parse data, and can tell you what's worth trying out and what you can safely ignore.
Perry Wilson
Each episode, we tackle the health news of the week and then take a deeper dive into a misunderstood health and wellness topic.
Emily Oster
Like what's the deal with peptides?
Perry Wilson
What's the deal with GLP1s?
Emily Oster
What's the deal with creatine?
Perry Wilson
What's the deal with coffee?
Emily Oster
What's the deal with sleep?
Perry Wilson
So join us for a weekly dose of sanity. Might actually be just what the doctor
Emily Oster
or the economist ordered.
Perry Wilson
Listen to Wellness, actually on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Stephanie Young
I'm Stephanie Young. The hit podcast Love Trapped is back with new updates in the case of Laura owens.
Sean Clements
This is CR2025 State vs Laura Owens.
Unknown Male (Love Trapped Victim)
I think she really believes that she still has an out.
Mohammed Salem Murad
I'm quite confident that they're up to something.
Stephanie Young
We're following the case live as the criminal charges finally come to a conclusion.
Unknown Male (Love Trapped Victim)
Trust us when we tell you, as the victims of Laura Owens, she will not stop.
Stephanie Young
Listen to Love trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Anna El Kurd
I wanted to ask a question also about kind of daily life right now for Sahrawis. You know, it's been 50 years after the Madrid accords. You still have Sahrawis under Moroccan control in the territory. And then there's, of course, the refugee camps in Algeria. Now that the diplomatic horizon seems to be narrowing, what's life like for people who are fighting for Sahrawi independence? So, like human rights defenders, the women, the students, you know, I know they face a lot of repression in Moroccan territory, but maybe you can describe to the listeners. Yeah. What the conditions are like.
Mohammed Salem Murad
Yeah, I know it's probably not something we intended to do, but it's not Moroccan territory. It's Western Sahara territory occupied by Morocco.
Anna El Kurd
My mistake. Yes, yes, of course.
Mohammed Salem Murad
Yeah. So the situation there is difficult. The territory, there is a media blockade that's imposed on the territory, so no international observer or journalists are allowed to access the territory and to see the situation on the ground. The people there are. Morocco is using both the stick and the carrots. So trying to buy their illusions to the occupation, try to reward those who are willing to give up their political rights and through giving them housing, putting them on social welfare project and those kind of. It's not a lot, but enough to survive. And on the other hand, has jail and depression and job cutting people from their job and making their life as miserable as possible to the point either they renounce their activism or leave the territory. And in some cases they are sentenced to life in prison, which has happened to many Sahrawi activists. We have a group called the Gdein Music group, have been in jail since 2010. And yeah, there are some of them are serving 30 years, some of them 20, some of them life sentence. And a few of them were released recently. So the situation is very difficult and very deplorable. And what makes it even difficult that the Sahrawi there in the occupied territory are outnumbered. So there are three Moroccan settlers to each Sahrawi. Those are very conservative estimates. It could be more. So anything that's civil disobedience, strategy or tactics will be will be deemed unsuccessful and will not produce any results. So it's very difficult situation. But nonetheless there are still Sahara who are standing their ground or still despite all their oppression and all the economic warfare that Morocco is waging against them, and even social ostracization that try to even threaten people around you. So if you are an activist, even your father, your people around you, they will be laid from their job just as a repercussions for your activism. So they can punish you if you don't care about your own self. Like they punish you through the people, your inner circle and your people close to you. So it's very difficult. And on the other hand, also the infrastructure there are not as fancy as Morocco tried to claim. There aren't a single university and Morocco is building more of jails. And even the president of Sahrawi they sentence them. And when they serving their sentence, they put them far away to punish their families, to make them pay a lot of money and travel inside Morocco to be able to visit their loved ones instead of having them close by, at least in the occupied Western Sahara. So the situation is very difficult. But those who are choosing to stand their ground are a reader of history and they are aware of the price that has to be paid in order to obtain our freedom and our independence. And the darker it gets, we know that closer that there will be another morning that's coming behind that. So we have been here way longer before a Trump administration and his advisor and we will be here. So it's the Morocco I think that they think this is their golden opportunities and that they can use everything, including the international law and international institution and body like the UN to impose their occupation in Western Sahara. But again, they are misguided. At the end of the day, they will have to sit at the table and try to fight.
Anna El Kurd
I think From a Palestinian perspective, like the genocide in Gaza has clarified that the international system is not functioning. So, you know, they're trying to use the international system. Countries like Morocco are trying to use the international system for legitimizing control. But the international system itself needs to be restructured. And I do also want to apologize. I meant Moroccan control of the territory. So I sincerely apologize for that.
Unknown Male (Hollywood Handbook Guest)
Yes.
Anna El Kurd
I also wanted to ask because we, I mean, we have listeners everywhere, but especially for listeners in the United States. You know, our government here is driving this process. What would you want listeners in the United States to take away from this conversation or to do?
Mohammed Salem Murad
To be honest, I have been to the States one time and I have met many Americans and I am a lead reader of their media and I follow their, their famous podcasts and TV channels and Twitter, you know, discussion. And it's very obvious that American, they don't care about what's going on outside America. They care about the prices of oil, of house prices and their rent and the college fees. And it's okay. I think it's okay to a degree when your country is not involved in maintaining and supporting and that your own taxes are used to maintain and support and finance genocide and other military occupation, other words, then you have the luxury of ignoring what's outside. But when it's not, you can just put your head in the ground and imagine I'm just going to care about what's happening here domestically and foreign policy. What's happening there is far away, therefore I don't care. So I would like them to inform themselves about Western Sahara, understand that they have to push their government and fortunately to the Western Sahara at least we don't have a politician in the United States who thinks that the occupation of Western Sahara will accelerate the arrival of the Messiah and that it's far away. It has nothing to do with the ideology, with the religion, belief, with anything like that. And it would be easier, supposedly, and it would be less hesitant politician to take the right stand and the right position. If enough people know that and they have a responsibility to learn and to understand and that their money and their politician and their foreign policy are taking tools on people past, present and the future in a very practical way. And they don't have the luxury to be ignorant or to be to have the apathy. They have to just not care about what's going on. They should care because their money and their political support and their country resources are used against many other people. And then anything happened, we have the Americans acting like we don't know what's happened, why the rest of the world hates you. People hate you for the million of the things that your government and your silence has done and has caused everywhere else. So they have to learn they have a responsibility. They have to speak to their local politician and their representative in Congress and Senate and ask them to just to do the basic thing, to follow the international law and stop supporting Morocco militarily and politically and embolden them to continue their occupation and prolonging the suffering of the Sahai people. That's the very bare minimum.
Anna El Kurd
Well, thank you so much. On that note, I will link Sahrawi voice in the show notes. Yeah, I think that people can learn more about the work that your collective does. And thank you for making the time.
Mohammed Salem Murad
Thank you for the invitation. It was an honor. Thank you.
Anna El Kurd
Take care.
Mohammed Salem Murad
Take care.
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It Could Happen Here is a good pretty of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, Visit our website coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can now find sources for It Could Happen here listed directly in Episode Descriptions. Thanks for listening.
Maria Garcia
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Date: August 4, 2026
Host: Anna El Kurd (Cool Zone Media)
Guest: Mohammed Salem Murad (co-founder of Sahrawi Voice, journalist, and filmmaker)
This episode of It Could Happen Here centers on Western Sahara, a territory in northwest Africa under Moroccan occupation since the 1970s. With Morocco recently in global headlines due to the World Cup and major diplomatic moves, the host Anna El Kurd interviews Mohammed Salem Murad, a Sahrawi activist and citizen journalist. Their conversation provides an on-the-ground Sahrawi perspective on decades of occupation, failed UN promises, current US policy, and the lived reality of Sahrawis both in occupied territory and in Algerian refugee camps. The episode aims to counterbalance mainstream narratives, share direct Sahrawi voices, and highlight the ongoing struggle for self-determination in “Africa’s last colony.”
Timestamps: 02:06–04:48
Timestamps: 04:50–11:06
“Morocco is selling themselves to the devils to get support and recognition for their occupation of Western Sahara... The price is to win AIPAC and Israel’s support.”
(Mohammed Salem Murad, 09:33)
“Even if they outlaw our demand for a free and independent state, still would not make any difference to us. We are determined to fight for what’s ours.”
(Mohammed Salem Murad, 10:29)
Timestamps: 16:13–21:06
“Of course there is an obvious need for them to step down and be replaced by younger generations by people who have the ability...”
(Mohammed Salem Murad, 18:11)
Timestamps: 24:48–29:44
“The situation is very difficult... anything that’s civil disobedience... will not produce any results.”
(Mohammed Salem Murad, 27:23)
Timestamps: 30:13–33:57
“When your country is not involved in maintaining and supporting... military occupation, then you have the luxury of ignoring what’s outside. But when it’s not, you can’t just put your head in the ground...”
(Mohammed Salem Murad, 31:13)
“They have to speak to their local politician... and ask them to do the basic thing—to follow international law and stop supporting Morocco militarily and politically...”
(Mohammed Salem Murad, 33:26)
On UN Legitimacy & Resistance:
“Even if they outlaw our demand for a free and independent state, still would not make any difference to us. We are determined to fight for what’s ours.” (Mohammed Salem Murad, 10:29)
On Morocco’s International Sponsors:
“Morocco chose the right masters and the right sponsors to continue its occupation and graduate from the occupation University.” (Mohammed Salem Murad, 12:05)
On Daily Struggles Under Occupation:
“Morocco is using both the stick and the carrots... on the other hand has jail and depression and job cutting, making their life as miserable as possible...” (Mohammed Salem Murad, 25:32)
On American Responsibility:
“They have to learn, they have a responsibility. They have to speak to their local politician... and stop supporting Morocco militarily and politically and emboldening them to continue their occupation and prolong the suffering of the Sahrawi people.” (Mohammed Salem Murad, 33:26)
This summary preserves the episode’s urgency and gives voice to Sahrawi perspectives, providing clear context and concrete examples for listeners unfamiliar with Western Sahara’s ongoing struggle.