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Sandblast Arts

@sandblastcharity

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Raising awareness of the Saharawis of Western Sahara, their self-determination cause & empowering refugees through training and creative education.
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@Saharawivoice co-founder Mohamedsalem speaks to our podcast host @alejantrotabrawi about the ideology driving Morocco’s irredentist claims over the Western Sahara and beyond, comparing it to the well-known Greater Israel project.

Saharawi Voice joins us in our latest podcast episode Palestine, and Africa’s Last Colony to explore how the Palestinian and Western Saharan anti-colonial movements are inherently related. In this episode, the substantive ties between Israel and Morocco are exposed, as well as the uncanny similarities both Palestinians and Sahrawis face living under occupation and in exile.

Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel or wherever you get your podcasts.

Link in bio.

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@saharawivoice co-founder Mohamedsalem speaks to our podcast host @alejandrotabrawi about how Israel and Morocco colonise together.

Saharawi voice joins us in our latest podcast episode ‘Palestine, and Africa’s Last Colony’ to explore how the Palestinian and Western Saharan movements are inherently related. In this episode, the substantive ties between Israel and Morocco are exposed, as well as the uncanny similarities both Palestinians and Sahrawis face living under occupation and in exile.

Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Link in our bio.

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Is this Palestine’s most similar struggle?

Tucked away on the Western coast of Africa lies ‘Africa’s Last Colony’, the Western Sahara. Under Moroccan occupation since 1975, the indigenous Sahrawi population has endured displacement, exile, and complete political suppression of their identity.

As the Moroccan monarchy consistently deepens ties with Israel, the Palestinian and Sahrawi struggles become increasingly harder to separate.

Who are the Sahrawis? What is their struggle? How do Palestinians and Sahrawis relate?

Full episode out now on all platforms 🎙️
Link in bio 🔗

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85 SOUTH IN WESTERN SAHARA CAMPS
“The Berm”- WALL OF SHAME
This video exposes the “Wall of Shame” — Morocco’s 1,600-mile-long fortified berm that runs through Western Sahara, a territory that rightfully belongs to the Sahrawi people. Made of barbed wire, electric fences, thousands of armed soldiers, and an estimated seven million landmines, this wall is 16 times longer than the Berlin Wall and the longest active minefield in the world. It illegally divides a war-torn desert just south of Morocco and northwest of Mauritania.

The video also reveals who arms Morocco’s occupation. Inside a museum, captured vehicles, guns, and military equipment still bore the flags of those same entities. Meanwhile, anyone who dares to arm the Polisario Front is immediately labeled a terrorist. Today, as Polisario gains momentum on the ground, they are being smeared with the same brush, accused of ties to Iran or other so-called terrorist groups. But we know the truth: Iran’s fight is for sovereignty, and Polisario receives no state sponsorship. They fight a guerrilla war, taking enemy weapons, exactly as Sun Tzu described as a rule of war. Before the UN, backed by imperial powers, criminalized helping them, revolutionary movements like Gaddafi’s Libya provided support. That older stockpile, plus weapons captured directly from Moroccan forces, is what they now rely on. The Sahrawi were hunters to begin with…they already had arms.

The Berm is illegal. It is a crime against the Sahrawi people and a violation of international law. It should provoke global outrage and real repercussions. Silence is complicity.

#WesternSahara #Polisario #MoroccanWall #Berm #FreeWesternSahara

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Last week I returned home from my 2nd visit to the Saharwi Refugee Camps and running the Sahara marathon again.

The camps and amazing people that so much of the world knows so little about. A brief history of their story is that 50 years ago they were forced to flee their homeland of Western Sahara due to Morocco illegally occupying the land. So many lives were lost and homes left behind. The Saharwi people fled to the Hamada desert in Algeria and remain there today. This is the Refugee Camps which we visit.

The conditions here are so barren, harsh and extreme it is hard to imagine any life surviving at all. With the help of humanitarian aid the people have no choice but to make it their home with the hope of returning back to their country one day.

Despite the conditions, they remain the strongest, most resilient, kind and generous people I have ever met. Friendships deepening, memories being shared and their homes becoming ours; to be a part of our Saharwi’s family’s life is a privilege.

To the marathon representing kilometres of hope towards freedom for these amazing people, no run would ever be too long or hard with a cause like this.

Sahara Libre❤️🇪🇭

To find out more information:
@sandblastcharity @saharamarathon @westernsaharasupportgroup

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Sahara Desert Marathon 2026

In solidarity with Saharwi Refugees and running for the charity @sandblastcharity this really is a trip which will change your life

Sahara Libre❤️🇪🇭

#sahara #marathon #fitness #beavisionary #running

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In light of the current trip and annual marathon where the @sandblastcharity team are well and truly doing their bit.
I couldn’t help but reminisce on my experience last year and use it as an opportunity to continue to bring attention to the forgotten people of the Western Sahara. Whom continue to live in incredibly limiting and challenging conditions, but despite all, proceed to inspire and emit an abundance of hope and creativity.

WELCOMING.RESILIENT.CREATIVE.INTELLIGENT.GENEROUS.RESOURCEFUL.WARM.DESERVING.KIND.TALENTED.

Just some of the words that spring to mind to describe the incredible Saharawi family I made in 2025, as I flick through the many photos I fondly look upon. I can’t wait to be drinking tea with you all again soon.

They do however continuously need our eyes, ears and fundraising abilities to provide appropriate forward motions and opportunities to bring back the long awaited freedom and independence that was stolen.
SAHARA LIBRE ♥️🇪🇭♥️

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SIEMPRE CON LA DEFENSA DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS
10 DE DICIEMBRE DIA DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS

@sahara_soundscapes @the_art_teapot
@asoc_jovenesaharauis_ @unaeducadoraenelsahara @moviendoarena @jadiyetu_el_mohtar @azizabrahimofficial @cantabriaxelsahara @ceassahara @asociacionsaharagranada @asociacionsaharamerida @sandblastcharity ......

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Getting out of your comfort zone is not easy. None of these things came easy to me. I felt alot of emotions like uncertainty, fear, self doubt etc. These feelings are only temporary, once you start doing the things that are out of your comfort zone they start to become familiar, you become more confident and you feel more capable.

This is where the real growth happens.

Long distance running did not come easy to me, yet when I started putting myself in those uncomfortable distances I saw what I was actually capable of.

Being a beginner at things can feel embarrassing and awkward but everyone has their Day 1. Everyone has to be a beginner at some point in order to get anywhere in life.

Racing with alot of adrenaline and huge crowds once may have felt pressurising and scary but now I thrive.

Throwing yourself into challenges with complete strangers may feel daunting and there might be a million what if’s racing through your mind… but what if they become the most amazing people in your life?

Could getting out of your comfort zone be your goal for next year? If theres one thing I can promise you is that there will never be a time you’ll regret it.

Let 2026 be for growth and being comfortable with the uncomfortable 🙏🏼

#comfortzone #motivation #beavisionary

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✊🏾 Human rights are universal and so must our solidarity. From trade unions, women’s movements, Indigenous struggles, to Sudan, Tibet, the Western Sahara and Palestine, they are all threads of the same resistance and the same demand: freedom.

🎧 In this fortnight's Decolonial Dispatch, we delve into Africa's last colony and the fight for Western Sahara with Danielle Smith, Sandblast Arts founder, a UK-registered charity for raising awareness on the indigenous Saharawis of Western Sahara. Watch or listen to the full episode on YouTube or Spotify Podcasts - link in bio.

🗞️ Join our newsletter to not miss out on newest episode drops covering a range of anti-colonial resistance around the world and upcoming events we are holding in London! Link is also in our bio.

#WesternSahara #DecolonialHistory #AfricaDecolonised #Sahrawi #AntiImperialism #FreeSahrawi #Africa #Decolonise #AntiColonial #AfricanHistory #Decolonial #History #Resistance #Politics #Morocco #Gaza #FreeGaza #Liberation #Spain #Colonisation #SahrawiArabDemocraticRepublic #Humanrights #Decolonialdispatch #🇪🇭 #Solidarity #Liberation #FreePalestine #FreeGaza #Palestine

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🇪🇭 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the contemporary struggle of the Sahrawi people for their liberation and national self-determination after the 1975 signing by Spain of a secret deal to divide Western Sahara between its two neighbours, Mauritania and Morocco, yet most of the world doesn't even know about this.

🇲🇦 Behind Morocco’s picture-perfect holidays lies a brutal occupation. We ask, if you wouldn’t buy goods made in an occupied land, why vacation in one?

🎧 Watch or listen to the full story of Africa's last colony and the fight for Western Sahara with Danielle Smith, Sandblast Arts founder, a UK-registered charity for raising awareness on the indigenous Saharawis of Western Sahara. Episode can be found on YouTube or Spotify Podcasts - link in bio.

🗞️ Join our newsletter to not miss out on newest episode drops covering a range of anti-colonial resistance around the world and upcoming events we are holding in London! Link is also in our bio.

#WesternSahara #DecolonialHistory #AfricaDecolonised #Sahrawi #AntiImperialism #FreeSahrawi #Africa #Decolonise #AntiColonial #AfricanHistory #Decolonial #History #Resistance #Politics #Morocco #Gaza #FreeGaza #Liberation #Spain #Colonisation #SahrawiArabDemocraticRepublic #Humanrights #Decolonialdispatch #🇪🇭 #Solidarity #Liberation

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