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ABSTRACT
The conflict between the rebel group, the Polisario Front, and the Kingdom of Morocco is nearing its 43rd year. Though under-reported, the conflict itself garners attention for the resilience – some would say tenacity – of the ethnically Sahrawi Polisario Front. Despite shifting regional and international politics and the nearly 150,000 Sahrawi refugees waiting in nearby Algerian camps, the rebel group has survived. What explains its resilience? This article uses Bourdieu’s ‘forms of capital’ to understand the Polisario Front’s persistence. Based on field research in Algeria, Western Sahara, and the United States, it finds that social, cultural, symbolic, and economic capital may provide an explanation.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank those who assisted her in her travels. She also wants to extend many thanks to Aryn Keyel for her research assistance.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Farah, ‘Western Sahara and Palestine’, 20; Smith, ‘The Struggle for Western Sahara’, 545; Darbouche and Zoubir, ‘Conflicting International Policies’, 91; Human Rights House, ‘Western Sahara’; San Martin, Western Sahara, 3; Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara, xii, 256; NOVA, ‘Group NOVA’, 15, 23; Spencer, ‘Western Sahara’; Gopalan, ‘Frozen in the Desert’.
2. Bourdieu, “The Forms of Capital”, ‘Social Space’.
3. Hamilton-Hart, ‘War and Other Insecurities’.
4. See Collier, ‘Economic Causes’; Collier and Hoeffler, ‘Greed and Grievance’; Keen, The Economic Functions of Violence; Humphreys, ‘Natural Resources’.
5. Jensen, Western Sahara.
6. Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara.
7. Ibid, 93.
8. Ibid.
9. See note number 7, 99.
10. Reyner, ‘Morocco’s International Boundaries’, 324.
11. Damis, Conflict in Northwest Africa, 10.
12. Thompson and Adloff, The Western Saharans, 17. Western Sahara is among the top three places on earth with commercially recoverable reserves (in addition to China and the United States) and represents over 70% of the global supply. See Shaw, ‘Top Phosphate Production’.
13. Gretton, Western Sahara, 21–22.
14. See note number 6.
15. Joffé, ‘Sovereignty and the Western Sahara’, 375. Observers have noted that over the previous two years, King Hassan of Morocco had been manipulating the kingdom’s enduring claim to the region to strengthen domestic support for the monarchy. See Joffé, ‘Sovereignty and the Western Sahara’.
16. International Court of Justice, ‘Western Sahara Advisory Opinion’, 100.
17. See note number 6.
18. Jeune Afrique no. 801; Thompson and Adloff, The Western Saharans, 139.
19. Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara, 115.
20. Bhatia, ‘Western Sahara under Polisario’.
21. Polisario’s 3rd General Congress quoted in Barbier, le Conflit Du Sahara, 205.
22. Thompson and Adloff, The Western Saharans, 251. Cracks in this non-tribal unity may exist, as suggested by Zunes and Mundy who note that the Polisario officials’ reluctance to let researchers investigate the power relationships among those of different backgrounds. This, they argue, suggests that tribalism continues to be a sensitive issue among Sahrawi nationalists. See Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara, 118.
23. See note number 6.
24. Thompson and Adloff, The Western Saharans, 249.
25. Ibid.
26. Mouloud Said, Interview with author, 6 December 2017.
27. Dreven et al, ‘The Everyday Reality’.
28. See note number 7., 24.
29. Dreven et al, “The Everyday Reality.
30. Thompson and Adloff, The Western Saharans.
31. Fatima el Mehdi, Interview with author, 9 December 2017.
32. Ibid.
33. Mouloud Said, Interview with author, 7 July 2016.
34. Polisario Soldiers, Interview with author, 10 December 2017.
35. See note 26.
36. See note number 6.
37. Today, the length of the berm stands at 2700 km or 1,700 miles long. CIA, ‘Western Sahara’. Accompanied by the Polisario Front, I visited a point along the berm. One can go only so far before reaching mined area.
38. The current envoy is Horst Köhler, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany.
39. See note number 6.
40. Ibid; Dreven et al, ‘The Everyday Reality’; Amnesty International, ‘Morocco/Western Sahara 2015/2016’.
41. Bourdieu, ‘The Forms of Capital’, 121–22.
42. Bourdieu, ‘The Forms of Capital’, The Fields of Cultural Production, 165–81.
43. Thompson and Adloff, The Western Saharans, 250.
44. Anheier et al, ‘Forms of Capital’, 862.
45. Bourdieu, ‘The Forms of Capital’, 243.
46. See note number 30.
47. See note number 7, 251.
48. Ibid.
49. Urruela, ‘El Parlemento’; Le Marec, ‘La Question Sahraouie’.
50. Benabdallah, ‘The Position’, 423.
51. Liebling, Charles, Interview with author, 16 June 2016.
52. Scholte, Suzanne, Interview with author, 3 September 2017.
53. Embassy of Algeria, ‘U.S. Congressional Delegation’.
54. Castellanos, ‘Javier Bardem’.
55. Sahara Marathon.
56. See note number 35, 25.
57. See note number 55.
58. Shafi, ‘A Global Village’.
59. RFK Human Rights, ‘Kerry Kennedy’; RFK Human Rights, ‘Western Sahara’.
60. Payne, ‘Getting to “Yes”’, 3.
61. Inhofe, ‘Getting to ‘Yes’’, 13.
62. Keene, ‘Our Friends’.
63. See note number 27.
64. Bourdieu, ‘The Forms of Capital’.
65. Morocco’s narrative concerning its claim to Western Sahara is based on three elements: the historical ties of sovereignty between Saharan tribes and Moroccan sultans; colonial records and historical treaties that acknowledge Moroccan control over Saharan provinces; and Morocco’s efforts to liberate several provinces from Spanish rule after 1956. See Maghraoui, ‘Ambiguities of Sovereignty’, 117. Morocco argued that in the nomadic context, tribal and religious connections dominated. See Knop, Diversity and Self-Determination, 134–35. In the government’s view, control over Western Sahara would reconstitute an empire it lost at the time of Spanish colonization. See Dore et al, ‘Self-Determination’, 441.
66. Franck, ‘The Stealing’, 711–12.
67. Omar, ‘The Right to Self-Determination’.
68. Hanauer, ‘The Irrelevance of Self-Determination’.
69. Shaw, ‘Top Phosphate Production’.
70. Secretary General of the United Nations, ‘Report S/2014/258’.
71. See note number 61, 9.
72. Conyers, Jr., ‘Tom Lantos Commission’.
73. Bruderlein, ‘The Role of Non-State’.
74. Metelits, Inside Insurgency, 56.
75. See note number 7, 95.
76. Polisario Member, Interview with author, 7 December 2017; See note 34.
77. See note number 35, 81.
78. Oxfam, ‘40 Years of Exile’; Dreven et al, ‘The Everyday Reality’; See note 25.
79. San Martin, ‘Western Sahara’, 573.
80. Lippert, ‘Sahrawi Women’, 13.
81. Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara, 123.
82. Ibid.
83. It has yet to be seen if the February 2018 regime change in South Africa will affect this backing.
84. Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara, 124–25.
85. Bourdieu, ‘The Forms of Capital’, 244.
86. Rivero Casado, ‘Vida y Educacion’.
87. Dreven et al, ‘The Everyday Reality’, 20.
88. Pothoven, ‘Helping and Hindering’; Mundy, ‘Performing the Nation’; Herz, ‘Humanity Journal’; Shafi, ‘A Global Village’; Oxfam, ‘40 Years of Exile’; Dreven et al, ‘The Everyday Reality’. Though girls reported to drop out at a high rate as they get older to help at home or because female hygiene materials are not available. See Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, ‘Gender, Islam’, ‘Ideal Refugee Women’, ‘Protracted Sahrawi Displacement’.
89. Oxfam, ‘40 Years of Exile’.
90. See note number 79, 589.
91. See note number 87, 19.
92. Firebrace, ‘The Sahrawi Refugees’, 181; Caratini, ‘Système de parenté’, 443; Higgs and Ryan, ‘Leaders in the Desert’; See also Harrell-Bond, cited in Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, ‘Gender, Islam and the Sahrawi’, 67.
93. Belloso and Azkue, ‘Local Human Development’; Nunn ‘The Importance of History’; Dreven et al, ‘The Everyday Reality’.
94. Lippert, ‘Sahrawi Women’; Nunn, ‘The Importance of History’.
95. Zunes and Mundy, ‘Western Sahara’; Dreven et al, ‘The Everyday Reality’; See note 30.
96. See note number 87, 17.
97. See note number 35, 30.
98. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, ‘Gender, Islam and the Sahrawi’, 70.
99. Mehdi, cited in Dreven et al, ‘The Everyday Reality’.
100. See note number 35, 30.
101. Mowles, ‘Desk Officer’s Report’; World Food Programme, ‘Protracted Relief’, 6234.00; World Food Programme; ‘Protracted Relief’, 10,172.02004; World Food Programme, ‘Protracted Relief’, 10,172.1; United Nations Executive Committee, ‘Refugee Women and Mainstreaming’.
102. UNHCR, ‘A Practical Guide’.
103. See note number 35, 81.
104. See note number 64.
105. See note number 35, 32.
106. World Food Programme, ‘Assistance to Refugees’.
107. San Martin, ‘Nationalism, Identity and Citizenship’, 589–90.
108. Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara; Dreven et al, ‘The Everyday Reality’.
109. See note number 106.
110. Ibid.
111. European Commission, ‘Algeria/Western Sahara’.
112. World Food Programme, ‘WFP Algeria’.
113. See note number 106.
114. See note number 112.
115. World Food Programme, ‘US Helps WFP’.
116. Bhatia, ‘The Western Sahara’.
117. Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara, 16.
118. Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara, 9.
119. Bourdieu, ‘The Forms of Capital’, 242.
120. Ibid.