HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD FOR JAILED SAHRAWI ACTIVIST

SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Saturday March 13 2010

WESTERN Saharan prisoner of conscience Ali Salem Tamek has won a new human rights award, local campaigners announced on Saturday.

by JAMES TWEEDIE

The Assembly for Tenerife (AXT), a coalition of residents', environmental and left-wing groups, said that its inaugural José Manuel Méndez memorial prize for the defence of life, human rights and social justice would go to the imprisoned activist.

AXT spokesman Ramón Afonso (pictured, centre) said that Mr Tamek was the only person nominated for the prize.

The award is in honour of veteran local campaigner, communist and trade unionist José Manuel Méndez, who died in December 2006.

Mr Afonso quoted Mr Méndez' favourite saying: “The defeated are invincible,” by which he meant that though one may not achieve one's goals, they have no choice but to continue the struggle against oppression and exploitation.

Mr Méndez was a member of the Communist Youth Union and the CCOO trade union federation in the 1960s and 70s, when those organisations were banned by the fascist dictatorship of general Francisco Franco.

The Tenerife - based Association for Friendship with the Sahrawi People attended the press conference.

Mr Tamek is one of seven Sahrawi independence campaigners held in the Moroccan capital Rabat's Salé prison since October last year.

The group of six men and one woman were arrested at Casablanca airport following a visit to the Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, where much of the desert nation's population have lived for decades.

Mr Tamek had previously been jailed for his political activities in 2003 and 2005 and was declared “public enemy number one” by the Moroccan state.

He claims to have been tortured in custody and his wife Aicha Chafia was raped by five men while visiting him in prison in 2005. Amnesty International considers Mr Tamek to be a prisoner of conscience.

He is a co-founder of the Coalition of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders (CODESA) along with Aminatou Haidar.

Ms Haidar spent a month on hunger strike at Lanzarote airport in November and December 2009, after being denied entry to her home country and having her passport confiscated on return from collecting another human rights award in the US.

Mr Afonso said that the AXT would present the award to Ms Haidar on Mr Tamek's behalf when she was able to visit the Canaries.

Western Sahara, which lies about 100 miles east of the Canary Islands, was annexed by the kingdom of Morocco in 1975 after the withdrawal of former colonial occupier Spain.

The POLISARIO Front national liberation movement fought the Moroccan armed forces until 1991, when a ceasefire was negotiated by the US based on the promise of a referendum on independence.

The referendum was never held, and in recent years Morocco has proposed granting the Western Sahara limited regional autonomy instead.

US secretary of state Hilary Clinton visited Morocco for talks with the government during Ms Haidar's exile and hunger strike, a move which the Moroccan media hailed as a sign of US support for its autonomy plan.

The mystery of the Guanches

The origins and language of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands remain a mystery, writes Dr Sabina Goralski Filonov Translation by James Tweedie The guanches, the aboriginals of the Canary Islands whose origin, lost in the mists of time, still arouses intense and passionate debate and great controversy about their origins and the how the seven Canary Islands were populated – which according to some studies occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 years BC. Literally, the word ‘Guan’ means man or person and ‘Chenech’ or ‘Chinet’ is applied to the island of Tenerife, thus meaning a man or inhabitant of Tenerife – although according to Núñez de la Peña, the Spanish named them the Guanchos during the conquest of the islands. But with the passage of time, experts in the subject are questioning whether the word Guanche was used to designate the primitive inhabitants of all the islands in the pre-Hispanic period. The term ‘Guanche’ has also ceased to be applied to the di...

Venezuela condemns MUD silence over terror attack

Venezuela’s foreign minister condemned the opposition and their foreign backers for their silence over Tuesday’s helicopter attack on the capital. At a press conference on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada said Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition leader Henry Ramos’ only comment on social media was that the attack was “useless.” “Firstly that does not condemn it,” Mr Moncada said. “Secondly it appears he was condemning it because it didn’t have the desired effect, that is to say, that it would blow up the building.” And he asked why fellow Mud leader Henrique Capriles lacked the “moral courage to... repudiate a terrorist act.” The newly-appointed minster and former ambassador to Britain accused fellow members of the Washington-based Organisation of American States of “feigning ignorance” and so protecting the culprits. And he accused sections of the media of portraying the culprit — Police investigator and one-time action film star Oscar Perez — as a “Rambo ...

Los Gigantes Beach Landslide Tragedy - Three Days of Mourning for Victims

SHATTERED IDYLL: Los Guios beach in Los Gigantes in happier times. SANTIAGO del Teide council declared three days of official mourning after two women were killed in a landslide on Los Gigantes beach on November 1. by James Tweedie The local authority announced the period of mourning following an emergency council meeting on Monday November 2, called in response to the tragic deaths of 57-year old British holidaymaker Marion O’Hara and 34-year old Canarian hotel worker Maria Vanesa Arias Romera. Flags at Santiago del Teide town hall were flown at half mast for the period of mourning, and all official functions observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims. The two women were killed when 130-foot wide stretch of the cliffs above the tiny Los Guios beach collapsed from a height of about 200 feet, burying them beneath rubble up to 15 feet deep, according to a spokesman for the Guardia Civil which was conducting the investigation into the accident. The landslide occurred about 3pm ...

Ex-pats hail extinction of ‘mammoth’ development

Socialists and conservatives unite to defeat CC plan for Las Teresitas beach Protesters outside the town hall SAN ANDREAS residents are celebrating victory after Santa Cruz council voted to deny permission for a controversial development on Las Teresitas beach. by James Tweedie The Association of Friends of Anaga, Las Teresitas and its Coast (Asociacion de Amigos de la Playa de las Teresitas, Anaga y su Litoral), which includes a number of ex-patriots, mounted a demonstration outside Santa Cruz town hall on Friday September 18 to urge opposition councillors to “keep their word” and support a Socialist Party of the Canaries (PSC) motion against the mammoth development. Some wore long paper ‘noses’ and chanted “concejal Pinocho” – councillor Pinocchio – to express their distrust of local politicians. A coalition of small businesses in Anaga, the Friends of the Port group and environmentalists Ben Magec – Ecologistas en Accion also supported the campaign against the scheme...

Venezuelan opposition declares "Zero Hour" for regime change

Venezuela’s opposition declared “Zero Hour” in its putsch against the socialist government on Monday — emboldened by US support. Leaders of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition gathered for the announcement of their takeover plan a day after their unauthorised referendum seeking a mandate for regime change. National Assembly vice-president and Popular Will (VP) acting leader Freddy Guevara said the Mud-controlled parliament would announce the results of the plebiscite on Tuesday. It asked voters to reject President Nicolas Maduro’s calling of a constitutional reform assembly demand the army support the opposition and back a “national unity government.” But before the announcement of the result Mr Guevara said the national Assembly would form a new government on Tuesday — a move beyond its constitutional powers — along with 1,020 local “Zero Hour committees.” He called a “national general strike” for Thursday while on Friday the assembly would again exceed its powe...

Search This Blog