Join Nonviolence International, Solidarity Rising and World Beyond War, for a webinar on Tuesday, July 28, at 5pm Western Sahara and 12pm EST, entitled Creative Resistance and Media Activism in Western Sahara. 
This webinar brings together Sahrawi activists, scholars, filmmakers, and journalists to show that resistance isn't only remembered — it's created, published, and performed every day. Across the refugee camps and the occupied territories, poetry, music, and visual art sustain morale and preserve identity, while citizen journalists and digital organizers break through Morocco's media restrictions and the silence the rest of the world has allowed to settle over Western Sahara. Speakers will trace how their creative and media work operates as a frontline strategy of nonviolent resistance, and open space for connection with journalists, artists, and organizers gathering in the camps near Tindouf, at the Sahrawi Solidarity Summit, in January 2027.
Speakers include Mahfud Bechri, Najla Lamin Salma, Saharawi Voices' Mohamedsalem, and Nazha Khalidi, and host Greta Thunberg.
Najla Mohamed Lamin Salma
Sahrawi human rights and climate activist born and raised in the Sahrawi refugee camps and listed in BBC’s 100 most influential and inspirational women in the world in 2023. She is the founder and director of the Almasar Centre, which educates women and children living in the Sahrawi refugee camps about climate change.
Mahfud Bechri
Saharawi and human rights and climate activist from Sahrawi refugee camps. He is co-founder and member of the coordinating team of the "Western Sahara is Not for Sale" platform which was launched in 2021 by the Saharawi civil society to campaign against multinational companies involved in the plunder of Saharawi natural resources and for the respect of international law. Mahfud was part of the first Saharawi delegation who had access to the blue zone of the UN conference on climate change COP at its 27th edition in Sharm Sheick, in Egypt. Since then he has also been involved in raising awareness among Saharawis about the importance of engaging in climate justice spaces, and to fight against the exclusion of the international spaces of debate on climate change. Mahfud works as the Western Sahara country representative for the Spanish institute for nonviolent action NOVACT.
Mohamedsalem
Saharawi Voice is a media activist group and collective of citizen journalists and filmmakers. Founded in 2011 in the Saharawi refugee camps in southwest Algeria, the collective empowers youth with media tools to share their daily experiences and advocate for the independence of Western Sahara. Mohamed Salem Werad is a co-Founder of Saharawi Voice, and a saharawi journalist and filmmaker, co-director of the documentary Haiyu.
Nazha Khalidi
Nazha Khalidi is a Sahrawi journalist and human rights defender. She has been repeatedly arrested and prosecuted by Moroccan authorities for her reporting on pro-independence demonstrations and documenting police treatment of Sahrawi protesters, drawing condemnation from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and other international rights organizations.
Greta Thunberg
Swedish climate activist known for initiating the global school strike for the climate by protesting outside of the Swedish parliament in 2018. After she addressed the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference weekly climate strike protests took place on Fridays around the world. Since then, she has participated in many climate justice actions across the world and spoken out against the genocide in Gaza. As a keynote speaker of the Sahrawi Solidarity Summit 2025 and 2027, she continues to raise international awareness of the occupation while highlighting its social and climate injustices. She was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people.
Join us for this important conversation by registering here.
Goals
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Center Sahrawi voices directly and focus on resistance
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Frame creativity as resistance: position Sahrawi poetry, music, visual art, and film not as cultural footnotes but as active, nonviolent resistance strategies that preserve identity and sustain morale across the camps and occupied territories
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Spotlight media activism: highlight the work of citizen journalists, bloggers, and digital organizers documenting conditions and breaking through Morocco's media restrictions in the occupied territories, and the international blackout on Western Sahara
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Build cross-movement connections: link Sahrawi creatives/media workers with allied journalists, artists, and organizers from other movements attending the Summit, planting seeds for collaboration in Tindouf
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Call to action: Boycott the Odyssey movie, amplify/share Sahrawi media, fund specific media projects, attend the Summit 2027
