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 Cara Buckly wrote an article in the New York Times regarding the Sahara issue. it always intrigues me to read articles about the Sahara when written by someone like Cara Buckly, she worked for the Miami herald, Miramax and other media outlets, she is now a New Times columnist.
she usually writes about local news and events but she likes to venture away very seldom, actually I looked for past articles written on subjects beyond the city borders; I only found the Sahara article; this put her knowledge and ability to write an accurate article in question and doubt for me. I read the article and it is not all bad for someone who normally writes on socio-economic life in the big apple, her adventure was not too catastrophic, a little misleading but not all bad. She talked about the fact that the Sahara is a “colony”, that the Sahrawis are "kind of free under the Polisario" she definitely found excuses for the flagrant human rights abuses in Tindouf, and she also mentioned that High Commissioner for Refugees said they did not know of any refugees who had been prevented from leaving the camps, an information to be verified. The negative rhetoric continued about the Moroccan position, her mentioning that Eric Goldstein, a research director for the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, said “Morocco had encouraged non-Sahrawis to settle in Western Sahara, because of what Morocco views as their historic ties to the land. Sahrawis now form a minority there”. After reading this article carefully, I got the sense that Cara was protecting herself from any personal involvement in this half way around the world conflict; she only reported what others said to her. One may say: what is the
problem with that? Well the problem is that, as she was trying to seem neutral and non bias in this unknown conflict to her and to many Americans, she tipped toward the other party without even knowing it. The negative points she talked about, mentioned above, were all statements made by people with different point of view than that of Morocco, she reported that with sincerity and faithfulness. but when it came to the positive points, remember her objective was to seem neutral there had to be some positive points for Morocco, she immediately dismissed them on the spot, I 'll explain: she talked about a Sahrawi who returned to Morocco and spoke about the atrocities and violations in the camp:“The Polisario people to us just look like the Mafia people,” said Said Abderahman, 28, who said he left a camp with his pregnant wife, Salma Essalek, 25, last fall in what both described as a treacherous escape. “The international agencies are giving plenty of
food, and the local population is not getting it.”
Another Sahrawi refugee, Brahim al-Selem, 34, said he was a policeman in the camps but had to pay a smuggler last August to flee after being imprisoned for speaking out against the Polisario Front.
But then immediately she followed his statement with: "Mouloud Said, who represents the Polisario Front in Washington, went further, denouncing the refugees’ statements as hyperbole and contending that they were being used for political purposes by Morocco.
“These people are brought by the Moroccan public relations companies here, so they have to mislead,” he said."
After reading this article, it made no sense to me, Cara was trying to write her way out of a conflict she ought not to touch again, she should have talked to the Moroccan side to look balanced and non bias but the way she conducted her "research" was one sided and not worthy of getting published on a credible newspaper such as the New York Times. But then we bare some responsibility too, our officials should be ready to counter attack these erroneous claims; their job is to face the media head on with strength and confidence. Many similar articles are written everyday without a Moroccan point view expressed on them, many radio and TV shows are on the broadcast without the Moroccan voice defending the territorial integrity of Morocco.
But then again every Moroccan is a soldier defending Morocco on his and her own terms.
Zak Ettamymy
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'Let Gaza Live' Jan. 10 National March on Washington
