Australian Internationalists Gather to Hear Tecber Ahmed Saleh

On her advocacy tour of Australia, Tecber Ahmed Saleh told her audiences: “I was born to fight for this. You just can’t give up.”

Her call for solidarity attracted unionists, internationalists, and activists from around Australia to attend her talks organised by the Australia Western Sahara Association and co-hosted by Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA.

She spoke about the Saharawi people’s forty-year exile in the ‘desert of deserts’ of Algeria, where they hope to return to their homelands in Western Sahara, currently occupied by Morocco.

She spoke about how those 170,000 refugees are on a diet that does not give them adequate nutrition, and about how the water they drink is not fit for human consumption.

She told us about the Saharawi’s long struggle for self-determination, first promised to them in 1991 but still not yet fulfilled.

And she told us about the importance of global solidarity in the Saharawi people’s fight, about its role in building an international campaign for justice. Kamal Fadel, from the Australia Western Sahara Association, told us: “To know that people far away care, this is what keeps us going, this is what gives us strength in spite of all the challenges.”

It was a privilege to hear Tecber’s stories and to co-host her events with the Australia Western Sahara Association. From the Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA community of members, supporters, and activists, we thank Tecber for building solidarity between the Saharawi and Australia people.