Arts and Social Sciences, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)
History and Sociology, Department of (Okanagan)
DSpace
UBCO
Losier, Rahel
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
University of British Columbia
Since 1977, more than 7,000 Saharawi students, refugees from North Africa, have spent at least four years studying on scholarships across Cuba. Most of these students, now known as Cubarawis, spent their early adolescent years until their university graduation alongside thousands of other international students in Cuba. Despite an emerging research field exploring cooperation between Global South countries, little scholarship has investigated the intricacies of Cuban solidarity with the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which extended across networks of education, health, international congresses, and diplomatic visits since 1975. This doctoral dissertation aims to fill this knowledge gap, examining the convergence between Cuban and Saharawi anti-colonial nationalism, through primarily health and educational cooperation programs, and to what extent these projects shaped each others’ revolutions. The Cuban solidarity program with the SADR will be explored as a site of transferring notions and projects of revolutionary statehood to peoples considered legally stateless, as a crucible for building a narrative of the Saharawi struggle, and as a mode of South-South solidarity in practice. The dissertation uses postcolonial perspectives, and an analysis of cultural sources, including visual culture, to deconstruct the inner workings of Cuban solidarity with the SADR, revealing a more significant role of ties across the regions during the Cold War.
SOLIDARITY BETWEEN CUBA AND THE SAHARAWI ARAB DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC: REVOLUTIONARY FRIENDSHIP FROM 1975-1999 by Rahel Losier B.A., Simon Fraser University, 2015 M.A., Charles de Gaulle University of Lille 3, 2018 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) (Power, Conflict, and Ideas) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) December 2024 © Rahel Losier, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Solidarity Between Cuba and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic: Revolutionary Friendship from 1975-1999 submitted by Rahel Losier in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Dr. Jessica Stites Mor, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisor Dr. Fiona McDonald, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Bonar Buffam, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Fernando Camacho Padilla, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Helen Yanacopulos, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences University Examiner Dr. Denise Blum, Oklahoma State University External Examiner iii Abstract Since 1977, more than 7,000 Saharawi students, refugees from North Africa, have spent at least four years studying on scholarships across Cuba. Most of these students, now known as Cubarawis, spent their early adolescent years until their university graduation alongside thousands of other international students in Cuba. Despite an emerging research field exploring cooperation between Global South countries, little scholarship has investigated the intricacies of Cuban solidarity with the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which extended across networks of education, health, international congresses, and diplomatic visits since 1975. This doctoral dissertation aims to fill this knowledge gap, examining the convergence between Cuban and Saharawi anti-colonial nationalism, through primarily health and educational cooperation programs, and to what extent these projects shaped each others’ revolutions. The Cuban solidarity program with the SADR will be explored as a site of transferring notions and projects of revolutionary statehood to peoples considered legally stateless, as a crucible for building a narrative of the Saharawi struggle, and as a mode of South-South solidarity in practice. The dissertation uses postcolonial perspectives, and an analysis of cultural sources, including visual culture, to deconstruct the inner workings of Cuban solidarity with the SADR, revealing a more significant role of ties across the regions during the Cold War. iv Lay Summary This doctoral dissertation examines the little-explored topic of Cuban solidarity with the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, refugees from a North African liberation movement, who have benefitted from educational, health, and other forms of support from Cuba since 1975. This research delves into the intricacies of Cuban support for the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), as an instance of South-South solidarity, across diplomacy, military, education, health, and global awareness building, arguing that health and education initiatives played a role in shaping both the Cuban and Saharawi anti-colonial revolutions. Using postcolonial perspectives, the study employs cultural sources, including visual sources, to reveal the significant contribution of transnational solidarity during the Cold War. v Preface The supervisory committee has contributed by providing writing suggestions and conceptual feedback on first drafts of the manuscript, and the supervisor, Jessica Stites Mor, has helped with grammatical and syntactical edits on the subsequent draft. The author, Rahel Losier, has conducted most of the writing and research, incorporating edits and suggestions from the committee. The author, Rahel Losier, has identified and designed the research, analysed the data, and prepared the manuscript herself. The author, Rahel Losier, has not used generative artificial intelligence in the research, drafting, or preparation of the dissertation. The following publication arose from work presented in the third chapter of the dissertation. Losier, Rahel, Fernando Camacho Padilla, and Jessica Stites Mor. “Statelessness and Solidarity: Palestinians, Dhofaris, and Saharawis in Tricontinental Media.” Bandung 11, no. 1 (2024): 67-101. The UBC Research Ethics Board approved my Ethics Certificate: H21-00350. vi Table of Contents Abstract .....................................................................................................................................iii Lay Summary ............................................................................................................................ iv Preface........................................................................................................................................ v Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... vi List of Abbreviations ..............................................................................................................viii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................xiii Introduction: “Freedom, Social Justice, the Desire to Move Forward” ..................................... 1 Historiography ...................................................................................................................... 12 Research Questions and Methodology ................................................................................. 21 Archives and Sources ........................................................................................................... 31 Roadmap............................................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 1: “Long Live the Cuban-Saharawi Friendship”: Parallel Histories and Revolutionary Alliances .................................................................................................................................. 41 Colonial Pasts: Cuba (1511-1898) and Spanish Sahara (1476-1958) .............................. 47 Independence Struggles and Neocolonialism ................................................................... 51 The Era of African Decolonization .................................................................................. 54 Parallel Revolutions .......................................................................................................... 59 Algeria as Cuba’s Bridge to Africa: Revolutionary Internationalist Solidarity ............... 63 Solidarity as Political Friendship ......................................................................................... 67 Grassroots and Governmental Friendship ........................................................................ 72 The Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples......................................................... 74 Something New in the Desert, The Saharawi War, and History in the Sands .................. 83 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 86 Chapter 2: “The Desert Country Where Children Have Never Seen a Real Flower”: Cuban Solidarity Within Other Global Campaigns ............................................................................. 88 Postcolonial Discourse of Responsibility Versus Rights ..................................................... 91 The Communist International’s Approach Towards Revolutionary Nationalism ............... 96 The World Peace Council and Cuba’s Peace Movement ..................................................... 99 The Spanish “Holidays in Peace” Program and Other European Campaigns .................... 103 African, Asian, and Latin American Solidarity.................................................................. 110 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 112 vii Chapter 3: “Sahara, a Victorious Struggle”: Cuban Solidarity Through Media Framing of the SADR ..................................................................................................................................... 115 Cuban Media Landscape: National Sovereignty and State Media ..................................... 118 Framing Social Movements Through Mass Media ............................................................ 121 Cuban Coverage of the SADR ........................................................................................... 125 Prensa Latina, Photography and Visual Framings ............................................................. 140 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 156 Chapter 4: “Contributing Our Grain of Sand”: Transforming Political Consciousness Through Solidarity in Cuba’s Education and Medical System ............................................................ 160 Colonial and Postcolonial Educational and Medical Systems in Cuba and the SADR ..... 164 Conciencia and “Imagined Communities”: Cuban Socialist Political Consciousness Through Education ......................................................................................................... 171 Cuban Education for Saharawi Students ............................................................................ 173 The Isle of Youth and Saharawi Students ...................................................................... 176 Testimony From Saharawi and Cuban Mentors Working with International Students in Cuba ................................................................................................................................ 191 Saharawi Students in Cuban Higher Education Centers ................................................ 198 Cuban Solidarity Through Medical Missions in the SADR ............................................... 206 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 217 Conclusion: A Story of Solidarity That is Still Being Written .............................................. 219 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 228 viii List of Abbreviations AACA Asociación de Amistad Cubano-Árabe (Association of Cuban-Arab Friendship) AAPSO Afro-Asian People’s Solidarity Organization APS Algérie Presse Service (Algerian Press Service, APS) CEAMO Centro de Estudios sobre Africa y Medio Oriente (Center for African and Middle Eastern Studies) CIA Central Intelligence Agency (United States) COMECON Council for Mutual Economic Assistance EAC Escuelas Al Campo (Schools to the Countryside, Cuba) ELAM Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina (Latin American School of Medicine, Cuba) ESBEC Escuela Secundaria Básica en el Campo (Secondary School in the Countryside, Cuba) FAL Fundación de Estudios Libertarios Anselmo Lorenzo (Anselmo Lorenzo Foundation for Libertarian Studies, Madrid) FAR Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces) FEU Federación Estudiantil Universitaria (University Student Federation, Cuba) FLN Le Front de Libération Nationale (Algerian National Liberation Front) FNLA Frente Nacional de Libertação de Angola (National Liberation Front of Angola) ICAIC Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry) ICCP Instituto Central de Ciencias Pedagógicas (Central Institute of Pedagogical Sciences, Cuba) ICJ International Court of Justice (Netherlands) IISH International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam, Netherlands) INDER Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Fisica y Recreación (National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation, Cuba) ix INRA Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria (National Institute of Agrarian Reform, Cuba) LADLA Liga Anti-imperialista de las Americas (Anti-Imperialist League of the Americas) LAI League against Imperialism and Colonial Oppression MINED Ministerio de Educación (Cuban Ministry of Education) MININT Ministerio del Interior (Cuban Ministry of the Interior) MINREX Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations) MINURSO Mission des Nations Unies pour l’Organisation d’un Référendum au Sahara Occidental (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) MPLA Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola) NAM Non-Aligned Movement NIIO New International Information Order OAU Organization of African Unity OSPAAAL Organización de Solidaridad con los Pueblos de Asia, África y América Latina (Organisation of Solidarity of the Peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America) PCA Parti Communiste Algérien (Algerian Communist Party) PCC Partido Comunista Cuban (Cuban Communist Party) PCE Partido Comunista de España (Spanish Communist Party) PCF Parti Communiste Français (French Communist Party) PLO Palestine Liberation Organization POLISARIO Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro) PRC People’s Republic of China SADR Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic x UJC Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas (Union of Communist Youth) UJSARIO La Unión de la Juventud de Saguía el-Hamra y Río de Oro (The Youth Union of Saguía el-Hamra and Río de Oro) UN United Nations UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNGA United Nations General Assembly USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics WIDF Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF) WPC World Peace Council xi List of Figures Figure 1.1. Photographer Julio P. Aniversario y Visita por el XVI año de la fundación del Frente Polisario. Sobre No. 152. May 10th, 1989. Photography. Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), Havana, Cuba. Área política: Afro-Asia. Used With Permission. ... 42 Figure 1.2. Map of Western Sahara. Kmusser, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons ....................... 56 Figure 1.3. Map of Saharawi refugee camps. OpenStreetMap contributors, GrandEscogriffe, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.................................................................................................................................................. 57 Figure 1.4. ICAIC Newsreel, Abdelaziz visits Cuba, used with permission. .......................... 73 Figure 1.5 ICAIC newsreel, Saharawi performance for the visit of Mohamed Abdelaziz to the Isla de la Juventud. Used with permission. .............................................................................. 73 Figure 1.6. Photographer Roberto. Premiación Concurso Saharaui, Terraza. Photography. Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), Havana, Cuba. May 29th, 1981. Sobre No. 264. Área política: Africa-Medio Oriente. Used With Permission. .................................. 76 Figure 1.7. Unknown Photographer. Conferencia y Proyección Filmico en solidaridad con F. Polisario. Photography. Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), Havana, Cuba. December 20th, 1978. No. 1144. Area politica: Afro-Asia, Celia Suarez. Used With Permission. ............................................................................................................................... 78 Figure 1.8. Unknown Photographer. Conferencia y Proyección Filmico en solidaridad con F. Polisario. Photography. Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), Havana, Cuba. December 20th, 1978. No. 1144. Area politica: Afro-Asia, Celia Suarez. Used With Permission. ............................................................................................................................... 79 Figure 1.9. Unknown Photographer. Bonfire of Friendship for Peace and Solidarity. ICAP, House of Music for Cuban Families, at Rodeo Parque Lenin, in Havana. 2015. Used with Permission. ............................................................................................................................... 82 Figure 2.1. "'Sahara Libre', A ‘floral tribute’ to West Sahara.” Spanish Communist Party Archive. Reproduced with permission. .................................................................................... 89 Figure 2.2. “Saharawi Youth Arrive in Madrid,” Spanish Communist Party Archive. TEL PHOTO EUROPA PRESS. SAHARA, CHILDREN. 1979. Reproduced with Permission.. 105 Figure 2.3. Spanish Communist Party Archive. Spanish Communist Party supported Solidarity Event for the Polisario Front. Reproduced with permission. ................................ 105 Figure 3.1. Unknown Photographer. Photography. “Acto de Solidaridad por el XV Anniversario del Inicio de la Lucha Armada,” Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos xii (ICAP), Havana, Cuba. May 20th, 1988. Sobre No. 148. Area politica: Africa y Medio Oriento. Used With Permission. ............................................................................................ 116 Figure 3.2. Alberto García. Untitled. Havana, Cuba. 1985. Framed painting in Saharawi Embassy in Havana by painter, “Alberto García,” signed by the artist in May of 1985. Reproduced with permission from the Saharawi Embassy staff in Havana, photo taken by thesis author, Rahel Losier. .................................................................................................... 126 Figure 3.3. Unknown Photographer. Despite the difficulties the children are studying. Saharawi Refugee Camps in Algeria. June of 1978. Prensa Latina, Fototeca, Folder 152.19, No. 5A. República Árabe Saharawii Democrática: Educación. Used with permission. ....... 136 Figure 3.4. "Polisario,” OSPAAAL (1980). Source: Palestine Poster Project. Used with Permission. ............................................................................................................................. 146 Figure 3.5. Lino Fernández (Photographer). Saharawi Refugee Camps in Algeria. SADR, Algeria, January 1977. Prensa Latina, Fototeca, Folder 152.48, No. 72. Parte del material se encuentra en el sobre personal de Aga Khan en Irán. Used With Permission. ...................... 147 Figure 3.6. Lino Fernández (Photographer). Saharawi Refugee Camps in Algeria. SADR, Algeria, January 1977. Prensa Latina, Fototeca, Folder 152.48, No. 72. Parte del material se encuentra en el sobre personal de Aga Khan en Irán. Used With Permission. ...................... 152 Figure 3.7. Unknown Photographer. Mujeres pasan la instrucción militar básica. Saharawi Refugee Camps, Algeria. June 1978. Prensa Latina, Fototeca, Folder 152.09.07, No. 32A. República Árabe Saharawii Democrática: Clases de Grupos Sociales Mujeres. Used with permission. ............................................................................................................................. 153 Figure 4.1. Marlin Esposa de Mustafa. Special Municipality of the Isle of Youth, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 1982. From the archives of Ozman Ahmed Bahiya. Used with Permission. .. 181 Figure 4.2. Dr. Mario Ponce León’s personal photographic archive/scrapbook. Label reads: “Act for July 26, 1984. Right: Mohamed Abdelaziz (President of the Republic). Left: Dr. Mario León (Office of Cuban Collaboration in the SADR and Cuban Medical Mission). Used with permission. ..................................................................................................................... 209 Figure 4.3. Dr. Mario Ponce León’s personal photographic archive/scrapbook. Top Row on the Right: Dr. Mario León, seen with a group of 37 other Cuban brigade members. Used with permission. ............................................................................................................................. 211 Figure 4.4. Dr. Mario Ponce León’s personal photographic archive/scrapbook. Left: Dr. Mario Ponce León with the Sahara Libre musical group. Used with permission.................. 212 Figure 4.5. Dr. Mario Ponce León’s personal photographic archive/scrapbook. Newspaper clipping from Granma Internacional, March 1983. Used with permission. .......................... 214 xiii Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the help and support of so many people in Cuba, Canada, Spain, and the US. Firstly, I am incredibly fortunate to be a student of Dr. Jessica Stites Mor. I decided to attend UBC at the last minute in the spring of 2020 when the pandemic hit, and Jessica accepted to be my supervisor. Little did I know at the time how wonderful of a supervisor she would be, how lucky I was to have her mentorship, and to be in BC during the long years of the pandemic. She is patient, incredibly articulate, and humorous at explaining the world of academia, giving me the freedom to find my own way while also guiding me when I was totally lost. I’m also very grateful to Dr. Fiona McDonald for her enthusiasm in a research methods course that I took with her and for her expertise in visual culture and visual anthropology. Fiona also provided in-depth writing and research methods feedback from start to finish of my doctoral journey, for which I am forever grateful. Dr. Fernando Camacho Padilla provided enormous support in my field research in Cuba and Madrid, opening many doors and sharing his contacts with me. Furthermore, Fernando pointed me in the right direction for many archives and provided insightful comments on my thesis proposal and dissertation drafts. My fieldwork in Cuba was greatly enriched by Fernando’s hard work from having done his own fieldwork there before me. Dr. Denise Blum was an incredible source of insight and wisdom on the Cuban education system and how to navigate doing field research there. Dr. Bonar Buffam also provided wisdom on theoretical aspects of postcolonialism and challenged me to think more deeply about interdisciplinarity, for which I am very grateful. All my committee members provided brilliant suggestions throughout the research, writing, and revision process, encouraging me to think through different perspectives and sources. Of course, I also could not have done it without the support of archivists in Madrid, such as Juan Cruz at the Fundación Anselmo Lorenzo archive, Patricia González-Posada at xiv the Archivo Histórico del PCE, José and his colleagues at the Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí in Havana, and Luis Colli Leon at the Cuban Heritage Collection in Miami, Florida. There were numerous other people whose names I did not receive, who brought me dusty torn newspapers, books, pamphlets, and more. In particular, the archivists and employees of the José Martí National Library who searched for hundreds of newspapers, pamphlets, and educational books for me were integral to my work. Finally, I thank the Cubans and Saharawis who shared their stories with me and helped me access archives in Havana and the Island of Youth. I also would like to thank Dr. Sabine Lehr for providing me advice and encouragement via video chat in the early stage of my research, as well as Dr. Emily Snyder whose work also greatly inspired my own. I met Emily Snyder in Madrid at a conference, and she kindly shared her dissertation with me as well as tips for archives and life in Cuba. Of course, I am very grateful to my family and friends, who have supported and believed in me throughout the entire process. I could not have done it without them providing an ear and discussing my research with me on many occasions. I am also appreciative of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program at UBC Okanagan for their financial and other support, as well as my colleagues and classmates who I was lucky enough to meet along the way. 1 Introduction: “Freedom, Social Justice, the Desire to Move Forward” In May of 2023, I witnessed a solidarity event in Cuba, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro (Frente POLISARIO, referred to as the Polisario) celebrated in Havana, Cuba. The Polisario Front is the politico-military organisation in charge of protecting and managing Saharawi people living in Algerian refugee camps, exiled from their homeland, the Western Sahara. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canal attended this solidarity event for a country that remains unrecognized by most Western countries, alongside numerous members of key cultural and political Cuban organizations and concerned citizens. Why did Cubans celebrate the 50th anniversary of a politico-military organization and national liberation movement that exists some 7,500 km away? In part, Cuba’s solidarity with the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) people remains resolute after 49 years, driven by their conviction that aiding national liberation movements under the weight of Western imperialism is a moral duty, also demonstrated by their ongoing support for Palestine.1 Recently, in 2023, civil cooperation agreements have been signed in Cuba with the SADR to increase networks of solidarity in the fields of journalism, arts, and culture, and continue ongoing and longstanding education and health cooperation agreements.2 But, I wondered about what else this solidarity demonstration meant to both Cubans and Saharawi people. Cuban solidarity towards the Saharawi people goes back to May of 1975, when Marta Jiménez Martínez,3 a key Cuban revolutionary member was sent on a 1975 United Nations 1 Losier, R., Camacho Padilla, F., & Stites Mor, J. (2024). Statelessness and Solidarity: Palestinians, Dhofaris, and Saharawis in Tricontinental Media. Bandung, 11(1), 67-101. https://doi.org/10.1163/21983534-11010003. 2 Omar Bulsan, interview with author, May 30th, 2023, Havana, Cuba. 3 EcuRed, “Marta Jiménez Martínez,” https://www.ecured.cu/Marta_Jim%C3%A9nez_Mart%C3%ADnez; Redacción Nacional, “Falleció la combatiente Marta Jiménez,” Granma, March 6th, 2016, https://www.granma.cu/cuba/2016-03-06/fallecio-la-combatiente-marta-jimenez-06-03-2016-22-03-07 2 mission visiting Spanish Sahara, Spain, Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria, and met with leaders of the Polisario, to assist in the decolonization process of the Spanish Sahara. Marta Jiménez is interviewed in the 2011 documentary, El Maestro Saharaui (The Spanish Teacher), by film artist Nicolás Muñoz Avia, in which Jiménez says, “[f]reedom, social justice, the desire to move forward ... Many things coincide between the Cuban Revolution and the Saharawi people.”4 These important parallels implied by Jiménez and her ongoing support for the SADR has made her a celebrated figure for many Saharawi people. Jiménez largely agreed with the findings submitted in the report of the visiting mission to the United Nations, but she also felt the need to elaborate in an annex that: Peoples have the legitimate right to be the masters of their own destiny in accordance with General Assembly resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, which states: ‘All peoples have the right to self-determination; by virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.’ The exercise of this right cannot be limited, much less subordinated to the interests of other nations. The actions of the United Nations must be directed towards ensuring that the Saharan people freely determine their own destiny, and the administering Power and neighbouring countries must contribute to this objective in an atmosphere of peace and mutual security.5 Marta Jiménez remained in contact with the Saharawi and Algerian leaders and was invited numerous times by the Polisario leadership to visit the refugee camps and greet the Saharawi peoples she had met in 1975. While the Cuban government officially recognized the SADR in 1980, the decolonizing mission with Marta Jiménez Martínez in 1975 represents the first act of informal Cuban solidarity towards Saharawi people. While the visiting mission was important, it was not able to stop the impending invasion of the Spanish Sahara by Morocco and Mauritania that began 4 The Saharan Teacher, directed by Nicolas Muñoz (2014, Spain), Vimeo, documentary video, 32:15, https://vimeo.com/69188589. 5 UN General Assembly, “Report of the Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples,” United Nations Digital Library, (1977: New York), Volume III, Thirtieth Session, Supplement No. 23 (A/10023/Rev.1), https://www.usc.es/export9/sites/webinstitucional/gl/institutos/ceso/descargas/A_10023_Rev1_SO_en.pdf 3 in October of 1975. In Madrid, on November 14th, 1975, a treaty known as the Madrid Accords was signed, in which Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania arranged a temporary administration in the area pending a referendum. The Saharawi population, united under the Polisario Front in 1973, proclaimed the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) on February 27, 1976. In 1991, after a fifteen-year armed struggle, and with the backing of the United Nations, a process commenced for the peaceful and negotiated resolution of the conflict.6 However, Morocco, with the support of the US and France, has stalled the referendum, and today still occupies the territory of the Western Sahara, leaving the majority of the approximately 200,000 Saharawi people stuck in refugee camps in one of the hottest deserts on earth.7 From 1977 to 2014, at least 7,000 Saharawi students8 studied in boarding schools dotted across Cuba’s Isla de le Juventud (Isle of Youth).9 Invited by the Cuban government together with other African national liberation movement exiles and war orphans, many of these students spent their upper middle, high-school, and university years in Cuba. The 6 Zunes, Stephen, and Jacob Mundy. Western Sahara: War, nationalism, and conflict irresolution. Syracuse University Press, 2022, xxxiv. 7 This is a rough population estimate of Saharawis in the Tindouf camps and Liberated Territories, excluding Saharawis sympathetic to the movement in the occupied Moroccan territories. See: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Saharawi Refugee Response Plan 2024–2025. November 2023. https://reporting.unhcr.org/algeria-Saharawi-refugee-response-plan, p. 14. 8 Due to a lack of access to specific data on this topic, this number is an educated guess based on reconciling calculations extrapolated from sources at the Municipal archives on the Isle of Youth, and secondary sources from Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. “Representing Saharawi Refugees’ ‘Educational Displacement’ to Cuba: Self-Sufficient Agents or Manipulated Victims in Conflict?” Journal of Refugee Studies 22, no. 3 (September 1, 2009): 323–50. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fep019; Gómez Martín, Carmen, Ahmed Correa Álvarez, and Ahmed Correa Álvarez. “La emigración cubana y saharaui. Entre la ‘traición’ y la esperanza.” Íconos - Revista de Ciencias Sociales 19, no. 51 (January 16, 2015): 83. https://doi.org/10.17141/iconos.51.2015.1474; and José Antonio Monje, “Solidaridad con nombre de isla y arena,” Rebelión, April 3, 2012, https://rebelion.org/solidaridad-con-nombre-de-isla-y-arena/. 9 Most of the Western Saharan territory has been occupied by Morocco since 1975, however, the Polisario and the SADR government have reclaimed parts of the Western Sahara, called the Liberated Territories, and govern partially from there. 4 Polisario solicited Cuba’s help in 1976 to educate their students who were forcibly displaced when Morocco and Mauritania invaded the Western Sahara in 1975.10 The term Cubarawi is used to indicate a Saharawi student that studied on the Isle of Youth in Cuba. A personal account from a Cubarawi, Ebnu, posted on an exile blog and entitled “1978,” reads: I remember those first days with that sad and bitter feeling. Of being perplexed by an experience that was just beginning and the curiosity to discover a new world full of illusions and surprises. Mango, guava, mamey, ‘Pelota’, Baseball, ‘how is it possible that they play something like that, do they not know soccer or what?’ The contrast between sweet and salty. The sweet was very sweet and the salty was very salty. How to eat rice every day, day and night? I don’t like rice.11 Ebnu describes his formative experiences in Cuba, where many international students resided on the Isle of Youth, the second largest Cuban island, without seeing their family for more than a decade. The excerpt by Ebnu describes how numerous Saharawi students discuss their time on the Isle as a beautiful and difficult ordeal. The Isle for thousands of international students was characterized by forging new friendships, discovering a new culture and peoples, and growing up in a relatively safer environment than the refugee camps, while at the same time having to adapt to new cuisines, climates, cultures, hierarchies, day-to-day routines, dialects, gender relations, forms of entertainment, labor, and extended distance and prolonged time away from family, with few mechanisms of communication. Upon departure from the SADR by boat or flight, many children didn’t know where Cuba was on a map, nor had they seen or remember their own homeland, the Western Sahara. 10 Omar Bulsan, the diplomatic representative of the SADR, interview with author, in Havana, December 22nd, 2021 and June 1st, 2022; Luz Marina Mateo, “Crónicas de Saharauis En La Habana: La Cooperación de Cuba Con La RASD (Parte II),” Voz Del Sahara Occidental En Argentina (blog), June 17, 2013, https://rasdargentina.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/cronicas-de-saharauis-en-la-habana-la-cooperacion-de-cuba-con-la-rasd-parte-ii/.; The Saharan Teacher, directed by Nicolas Muñoz (2014, Spain), Vimeo, documentary video, 10:15, https://vimeo.com/69188589; Ozman Ahmed Bahiya, “Antecedentes de las Relaciones Entre Cuba y la RASD (1975-1980),” April 25th, 2023, Master’s thesis, University of Poitiers, France (Forthcoming). 11 Ebnu, “1978,” Generación de la Amistad (blog), September 24th, 2008, https://generaciondelaamistad.blogspot.com/search?q=ebnu+1978, translation my own. 5 The students were to eat, study, work, and play, in boarding schools organized by nationality, surrounded by fields of citrus trees. Cuban and Saharawi teachers would educate them during one half of the day, and the other half would be spent tending to the sprawling citrus fields. This unparalleled experience educated Saharawi students who went on to become important members of their society in the SADR, such as politicians, diplomats, doctors, administrators, teachers, journalists, engineers, and more. The support extended by Cuba to educate and train Saharawi students was complemented by sending Cuban teachers and doctors to the SADR. Cuba also provided strategic revolutionary advice and championed the cause of the SADR in international congresses. These forms of assistance are interpreted in this dissertation as an instance of South-South solidarity. Solidarity implies a bond based on common interests, mutual aid, social interdependence, and often, as in the case of South-South solidarity, is rooted in support shared among countries in the Global South12 that experienced a similar history of colonialism and struggle towards a common future free of colonial relations.13 Solidarity has been crucial in rebuilding societies in the wake of colonialism and in promoting a shared sense of purpose among countries of the Global South. The terminology of the “Global South” has been questioned extensively,14 as have all the other terms to capture complex and 12 The term Global South refers to countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America that share a common past of having once been colonized, governed, or owned by a European imperial power. Terms such as “Global South” and “Third World” reflect distinct geopolitical shifts and social phenomena. The dynamics of the Cold War and decolonization, including the transformations that ensued in the post-1991 era, reveal the evolution of these terminologies and their relation to countries like Cuba and the Western Saharan territory. From the age of imperialism, the geopolitical map of colonizers was divided between imperial powers and the colonized majority. As the modern nation-state emerged from the aftermath of imperial decline, a more contemporary map would be drawn more than 200 independent states, which would then be divided between the First (the capitalist West), Second (state socialist or “Communist” Bloc countries), and Third Worlds, to what is now often considered a world divided into two: the Global South and the Global North. 13 Jessica Stites Mor, South-South Solidarity and the Latin American Left, Critical Human Rights (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2022); David Featherstone, Solidarity: Hidden Histories and Geographies of Internationalism (London: Zed Books, 2012). 14 Yulia Gradskova, The Women’s International Democratic Federation, the Global South, and the Cold War: Defending the Rights of Women of the ‘Whole World’?, 1st ed. (New York, NY : Routledge, 2020), 1, 6 shifting geopolitical power relations and dynamics. Thus, while limited, I still use the terms Global South, Third World, and longer geographical definitions of this region (Asia, Africa, and Latin America) interchangeably, depending on the terms used in source material, context, and for different emphasis. Historical Background Diverse social movements in the 19th and 20th centuries, from anti-slavery organizing, labour movements, and the origins of the welfare state drew upon concepts relating to solidarity, such as “worker’s unity,” as a weapon against social and political adversaries.15 David Featherstone defines solidarity as a transformative relation “forged through political struggle which seeks to challenge forms of oppression,” and is as much about recognizing likeness amongst communities as it is about actively creating new ways of relating.16 Solidarity also conceives of novel ways of configuring political relations. For example, transnational solidarity arose when tens of thousands of International Brigades from at least fifty countries volunteered to fight for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War from 1936-38, opening up new political possibilities.17 Solidarity from “below” can be powerfully shaped by working class movements such as when Communist solidarity came together as a weapon against National Socialists and Fascists. In contrast to Marxist-Leninist conceptions https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003050032; Wolvers, T. & S. Salvedra. (2015) The Concepts of the Global South. https:// kups.ub.uni koeln.de/6399/1/voices012015_concepts_of_the_global_south.pdf, Accessed April 2022. 15 Featherstone, David. Solidarity: Hidden histories and geographies of internationalism. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012; Steinar Stjernø, Solidarity in Europe: The History of an Idea (Cambridge University Press, 2004), 1. 16 Featherstone, David. Solidarity: Hidden histories and geographies of internationalism. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, 5. 17 Lisa A Kirschenbaum, International Communism and the Spanish Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 2015). 7 of class as the foundation of solidarity, Fascists (both Italian Fascists and Nazism) drew upon the nation and race as the basis of right-wing versions of solidarity.18 Solidarity is often highly inventive in forging links in opposition to common enemies.19 For example, conceptions of anti-imperialism, self-determination, and revolutionary friendship are the foundations of South-South solidarity, drawing diverse communities together. Cuban state sponsored solidarity draws upon pre-existing and ongoing demands for social change, such as the accessibility of medical care for rural and war-torn communities. For example, Cuban medical and teaching brigades, such as the Henry Reeves Medical Brigade and the Manuel Ascunce Domenech Pedagogical Brigade, are sent to treat and educate communities upon request from allied or beneficiary countries. The post-revolutionary Cuban state facilitates and promotes these calls and campaigns for Cuban workers to participate in distant struggles, creating new connections amongst civilians. Cuban solidarity institutionalisation means that the state organises, sponsors, and promotes such internationalist solidarity working groups and political organs of action.20 Cuban solidarity combines Marxist conceptions of class as the foundation of solidarity with South-South solidarity, in which a common shared history of colonialism and a shared opposition against imperialism is also the foundation of solidarity. The educational solidarity projects on the Isle of Youth from 1977 to 201421 represent one of the most surprising aspects of Cuban solidarity towards the SADR. As this dissertation 18 Stjernø, Solidarity in Europe: The History of an Idea, 265. 19 Featherstone, David. Solidarity: Hidden histories and geographies of internationalism. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, 7-8. 20 While Cuban internationalists are volunteers, they may also face social and political repercussions or career stagnation if they reject a call to work abroad or participate in brigades. 21 The program ended in 2014, due to a lack of funding, infrastructure, and momentum on the Isle of Youth, which had been closed to most other international students in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Saharawi students were among the last students to leave the Isle’s boarding schools due to the fact that most of the other international students represented on the Isle came from countries that achieved national liberation, whereas the Saharawis have not. Instead of taking students to study in boarding schools on the Isle, international students now study in post-secondary institutions in Cuba. 8 explores, the South-South solidarity extended by Cuba to the SADR went beyond mere educational assistance. It encompassed substantial support in the realms of medicine and established Cuba as a powerful ally and vocal champion in international congresses. Through these alliances, Cuba amplified the voices and needs of the Saharawi exiles as well as numerous other stateless peoples in Asia and Africa who were denied the right to sovereignty and national independence. This dissertation provides a multilayered analysis of Cuban solidarity towards the SADR. Beginning with the broad historical context of the early days of support, it examines the underpinnings of Cuban and Saharawi anti-colonial nationalism and friendship. In doing so, the dissertation looks at other global solidarity campaigns for the SADR, sources including print and visual media campaigns launched by Cuba to spread awareness of the Saharawi struggle, and educational and medical personnel exchanges. Ernesto Gómez Abascal, the Cuban ambassador to several Middle Eastern countries, describes how Polisario Front members had been in Cuba in 1975 and 1976 to ask for support from Cuba.22 Relations between the Cuban government and the Polisario Front were more formally established in October of 1977 when Cuban Communist Party members went to the SADR for fact finding missions.23 The 1977 visit was very important in building a body of photographs now stored in the photographic library of Prensa Latina (see Figure 3.5, Figure 3.6, and Figure 3.7, for examples), that document direct information about the SADR conflict, relationships formed between Cubans and Saharawis, and Cuban lived experience in the refugee camps. These images would be used to communicate the situation to broader 22 The Saharan Teacher, directed by Nicolas Muñoz (2014, Spain), Vimeo, documentary video, 10:15, https://vimeo.com/69188589. 23 Omar Bulsan, the diplomatic representative of the SADR, interviews with author, in Havana, December 2021 and June 2022; Mateo, “Crónicas de Saharauis En La Habana: La Cooperación de Cuba Con La RASD (Parte II).”; The Saharan Teacher, directed by Nicolas Muñoz (2014, Spain), Vimeo, documentary video, 10:15, https://vimeo.com/69188589; Ozman Ahmed Bahiya, “Antecedentes de las Relaciones Entre Cuba y la RASD (1975-1980),” April 25th, 2023, Master’s thesis, University of Poitiers, France (Forthcoming). 9 audiences. Hundreds of photographs taken in the fact-finding missions were used in a wide variety of print publications in Cuba about the Saharawi struggle. Formal support was not extended to the SADR at first, partially because a revolutionary and unified movement of Saharawi independence leaders did not yet exist until the 1970s. In addition, after the US embargo, Cuba hoped to maintain its advantageous trade relationship with Spain under General Franco. But after Franco’s death and the Madrid agreement, Cuba extended official support to the Polisario in 1980, with the stated aim of supporting its commitments to justice, the right to self-determination, and to promoting economic self-sufficiency in the Global South.24 The basis of solidarity between Cuba and the Western Sahara had its underpinnings in a shared experience of occupation and intervention. After the Spanish withdrew from Cuba in 1898, the US frequently occupied the island. Cuba was occupied by the US from 1899 to 1902, 1906 to 1909, and from 1917 to 1922.25 The US became a global empire after the Second World War, establishing 815 military bases abroad by 1953, and 800 bases abroad by 2020, including Guantanamo Bay Base in the southern part of the main island of Cuba.26 Furthermore, commercial expansion by the US into Cuba created a market for American products and a source of extractive wealth accumulation. The US invested in tobacco and 24 Haruko Hosoda sheds light on Cuba’s relationship to Spain from the 1950s to 1980s, arguing that a common “Spanish heritage” informed diplomacy between the two countries. While tensions were high at different periods in the relationship between Franco and Castro, Spain and Cuba never broke diplomatic relations, and Spain even signed a five-year agreement with Cuba to purchase sugar at a price higher than the international market rate. Even after Franco died in 1975, the Spanish and Cuban relationship continued. Cuba also had little choice but to maintain ties with Franco who was willing to trade with Cuba given their heavy sanctions and a desire to not depend entirely on the Soviet Union. See: Hosoda, Castro and Franco: The Backstage of Cold War Diplomacy, Routledge Studies in Modern History (London; New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, 2019), 3. 25 Michael E. Neagle, America’s Forgotten Colony: Cuba’s Isle of Pines, 1st ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2016), 7, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316480168. 26 Secrecy of US military bases abroad makes these figures difficult, see: David Vine, The United States of War: A Global History of America’s Endless Conflicts, From Columbus to the Islamic State (University of California Press, 2020), 5; Rémy Herrera and Joëlle Cicchini, “Some Notes about the US Military Bases and Personnel Abroad:,” Journal of Innovation Economics & Management n°12, no. 2 (June 1, 2013): 128, https://doi.org/10.3917/jie.012.0127. 10 sugar companies, gambling casinos, luxury housing, and major hotels for US tourists. As a consequence of hasty tourist development, cities like Havana saw rising crime and corruption. As Cubans struggled to secure a place in this rapidly shifting economy, illicit trade and sex work rose to new levels. Anti-Americanism and anti-corruption along with rising demands from students, workers, veterans and other organized groups culminated in widespread support for social change, eventually leading to the 1959 revolution. The obvious parallel between US intervention in Cuba and its role in Western Sahara is well documented.27 Figures such as Henry Kissinger and Ronald Reagan made decisive contributions in preventing the independence of the North African territory.28 The strong consensus between UN Security Council members, particularly the US and France, enabled the continued Moroccan occupation of the territory, leaving Saharawi people feeling angry about the role of the US and more broadly about international organizations. Both the US and France failed to adhere to the responsibility to decolonize the territory outlined in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 1514 (1960) and Resolution 34/37 (1979). The shared experiences of subjugation under a US-backed neo-imperial international order united the Saharawis and the Cubans in their common cause, partly explaining the longstanding solidarity and friendship the two peoples feel towards each other. Solidarity formed under these conditions can be witnessed across many projects of South-South 27 Stephen Zunes and Jacob Mundy, Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution, 1st ed., Book, Whole (Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2010); Stephen Zunes, “Western Sahara, Resources, and International Accountability,” Global Change, Peace & Security 27, no. 3 (September 2, 2015): 285–99, https://doi.org/10.1080/14781158.2015.1080233; Lino Camprubí, “Resource Geopolitics: Cold War Technologies, Global Fertilizers, and the Fate of Western Sahara,” Technology and Culture 56, no. 3 (2015): 676–703, https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2015.0077; Pablo San Martín, Western Sahara: The Refugee Nation (University of Wales Press, 2010); Raquel Ojeda-Garcia, Irene Fernández-Molina, and Victoria Veguilla, eds., Global, Regional and Local Dimensions of Western Sahara’s Protracted Decolonization: When a Conflict Gets Old (New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2017), https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95035-5. 28 Domingo Garí, Estados Unidos En La Guerra Del Sahara Occidental (Los Libros de la Catarata, 2021); Domingo Garí, “Reagan’s Strategy for North Africa Aggravated the Crisis in Western Sahara,” Humanities and Social Sciences 10, no. 5 (2022): 294, https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221005.13. 11 solidarity,29 but the persistence of Cuban solidarity with the SADR exhibits other unique aspects that this dissertation explores. One significant aspect of Cuban solidarity towards the SADR has been the historicization of the Saharawi national movement. In sharing news from the SADR and building an historical memory of the Saharawi struggle, Cuban print and visual media have led to an unprecedented body of materials that help readers visualize and understand the Saharawi cause through the Cuban lens. In print media, Cuban journalists, writers, politicians, artists, and concerned citizens have composed numerous testimonies of Cuban solidarity with the SADR including: narrative articles and books about their experiences in Cuba; scholarly books about the Saharawi cause and history; published interviews with Saharawi people; published photographs that illustrate numerous aspects of the war, and day-to-day life in the camps; painted illustrations of life in the Sahara rendered and displayed by adults and children in Cuba; newsreel films about the Saharawi cause; dispatches about military triumphs of the Polisario Front, collaborations with Cuba, and state-level visits of Cuban and Saharawi delegations published in daily newspapers; and more. This body of work has provided a significant archive as well as historical record of the Saharawi cause and Cuban solidarity towards this North African liberation movement. Part of the impulse of this dissertation is the collection and analysis, for the first time, of a relatively comprehensive Cuban archive of materials and interprets Cuban solidarity in contrast to other forms of support provided to the Saharawi people. 29 See Paolo Capuzzo and Anne Garland Mahler, The Comintern and the Global South: Global Designs/Local Encounters, 1st ed. (London: Routledge, 2022), https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003154976; Prathama Banerjee, Elementary Aspects of the Political: Histories from the Global South. Duke University Press, 2021; Walter D. Mignolo, "The Global South and world dis/order." Journal of Anthropological Research 67, no. 2 (2011): 165-188; Eugénia Palieraki, "The Origins of the ‘Third World’: Alfred Sauvy and the Birth of a Key Global Post-war Concept." Global Intellectual History (2023): 1-30. 12 Historiography Although Cuba’s role in extending support towards African national liberation movements has been increasingly researched over the past few years, little scholarship has been produced with a sustained interest in Cuban solidarity campaigns themselves. This can be partially explained by the state of the historical field of Cold War research, in which Cuban foreign relations are often characterized as merely a projection of the sphere of Soviet influence. These accounts rarely take seriously the work conducted as part of solidarity campaigns between Cuba and those groups on the receiving end, except inasmuch as they involved military transfers and active fighting. Notably, some scholarship has begun to push the limits of diplomacy to consider the impact of the cultural Cold War, following the cultural turn of the 1990s.30 Cultural and visual materials produced in Cuba are often dismissed as governmental or Soviet propaganda. However, exploring Cuban cultural sources that speak to Cuban engagement in African liberation movements and civilian cooperation programs builds upon the emergence of a new way of thinking about regional history that emphasizes the agency of Global South countries, organizations, and peoples, moving beyond the dominant Cold War frame.31 30 Joseph, Gilbert M., Daniela Spenser, and Emily S. Rosenberg, eds. In from the cold: Latin America’s new encounter with the cold war. Duke University Press, 2020; Westad, Odd Arne. The global Cold War: Third World interventions and the making of our times. Cambridge University Press, 2005; Joseph, Gilbert M., Catherine C. LeGrand, and Ricardo D. Salvatore, eds. Close encounters of empire: writing the cultural history of US-Latin American relations. Duke University Press, 2020. 31 Kerry Bystrom, Monica Popescu, and Katherine Zien, The Cultural Cold War and the Global South: Sites of Contest and Communitas, 1st ed. (New York: Routledge, 2021); Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (Cambridge University Press, 2007); Jessica Stites Mor, South-South Solidarity and the Latin American Left, Critical Human Rights (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2022); Jessica Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle: OSPAAAL, Cuban Poster Art, and South-South Solidarity at the United Nations,” Anuario de Historia de América Latina 56 (December 6, 2019): 42–65; Thy Phu, Erina Duganne, and Andrea Noble, eds., Cold War Camera (Durham: Duke University Press, 2022); Jeffrey James Byrne, Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization and the Third World Order (Oxford University Press, 2016); Anne Garland Mahler, From the Tricontinental to the Global South: Race, Radicalism, and Transnational Solidarity (Durham: Duke University Press, 2018); Antoni Kapcia, A Short History of Revolutionary Cuba (Bloomsbury Academic, 2021); Fernando Camacho Padilla and Jessica Stites Mor, "Presence and visibility in Cuban anticolonial solidarity. Palestine in OSPAAAL’s 13 The historiography on Cuban foreign relations with Africa began in earnest with Piero Gleijeses’ ground-breaking research, as the only foreign scholar to have accessed Cuba’s Castro-era government archives.32 Gleijeses interviewed hundreds of Angolans, Cubans, Namibians, South Africans, and US officials. His research remains within the remit of diplomatic and military history largely praising the role of Cuba in ending apartheid South Africa’s regime. The social, cultural, and civilian history of exchange between Cuba and some African countries has been little researched, and much less from a cultural or visual history perspective. Historians of Cuban international relations have sometimes nuanced these discussions by pointing to dimensions of Cuba’s civil engagement in the Global South, although their interpretations of the importance of these engagements was usually ignored within the wider field.33 Christine Hatzky produced the first comprehensive investigation into the civil sphere of cooperation, examining grassroots exchanges in the form of medical, educational, social, and cultural exchanges produced by Cuban involvement in Angola. Her research on this topic shifted away from a focus solely on Cold War politics to a more comprehensive exploration of memory politics, internationalist solidarity, South-South cooperation, and the guiding principles used in Cuban propaganda in order to motivate Cuban citizens to engage with solidarity missions in Angola. Her study delves into the personal motivations of former participants, reframing both civil and military engagement in Angola. Education is one key area that Hatzky explores, arguing that “the education sector and the establishment of a new education system were among the most important and far- photography and poster art" in Sorcha Thomson and Pelle Valentin Olsen, eds., Palestine in the World: International Solidarity with the Palestinian Liberation Movement (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2023). 32 Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976; Piero Gleijeses, “Moscow’s Proxy? Cuba and Africa 1975-1988,” Journal of Cold War Studies 8 (2006): 98–146; Piero Gleijeses, Visions of Freedom: Havana, Washington, Pretoria, and the Struggle for Southern Africa, 1976-1991 (The University of North Carolina Press, 2013); Piero Gleijeses, “Cuba’s First Venture in Africa: Algeria, 1961–1965,” Journal of Latin American Studies 28, no. 1 (February 1996): 159–95. 33 S. Diaz-Briquets, Cuban Internationalism in Sub-Saharan Africa (Duquesne University Press, 1989); Eckstein, Susan Eva. Back from the future: Cuba under Castro. Routledge, 2004. 14 reaching remits of cooperation.”34 Emily Snyder, Sabine Lehr, and Denise Blum also contributed important works on the Cuban education system and have written on internationalist educational experiences or the work-study components required of all Cuban and some international students.35 Their pioneering work sheds light on the Isle of Youth educational experiments and includes extensive interviews with Cuban and international students about their school experiences. It has shed light on the challenges faced by international students, the promotion of revolutionary nationalism within the schools, and the underlying philosophy behind the Cuban education system, in addition to enhancing our knowledge about the day-to-day lives of students in Cuba. In general, histories of Cuban international relations have ignored the agency and importance of Global South actors, such as Cuban and Saharawi revolutionaries, focusing on the centrality of the US-Soviet Cold War narrative. Furthermore, archival, and linguistic challenges have limited transnational and historical scholarship about countries of the Global South. The source materials that have been most extensively used are often from a European or US diplomatic perspective, preventing the development of a more robust Global South historiography of foreign relations. For example, in the case of Angola, European and North American observers perceived Cuba’s sustained interests and massive intervention in Angola, which included the active exchange of around 430,000 Cuban people, as merely a correlate of the demands of the Soviet Union.36 Hatzky was one of the first non-Cuban historians of Cuba to collect materials in both Cuba and Angola, and interviewed many Cubans who spent time 34 Christine Hatzky, Cubans in Angola: South-South Cooperation and Transfer of Knowledge, 1976-1991, Africa and the Diaspora: History, Politics, Culture (Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2015), 5. 35 Emily Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990” (Yale University, 2021); Sabine Lehr, “The Children of the Isle of Youth: Impact of a Cuban South-South Education Program on Ghanaian Graduates” (University of Victoria, 2008); Hatzky, Cubans in Angola; Denise F. Blum, Cuban Youth and Revolutionary Values: Educating the New Socialist Citizen (University of Texas Press, 2011), https://doi.org/10.7560/722606. 36 Hatzky, Cubans in Angola. 15 in Angola as well as Angolans who were involved with Cuban internationalists. Hatzky’s work demonstrates how rich and varied were the reasons Cubans involved themselves in the case beyond any connection to the Soviet Union’s interests. Gleijeses drew on archival materials in Cuba to argue that Cuba actually often enlisted the support of the Soviets for their own actions.37 Further, Hatzky argues that Cuba was intent on proving itself to be independent from the Soviet Union, a goal that followed the political principles established in the 1960s in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). 38 The introduction of postcolonial theory to the study of global history led to an increase in interest in South-South solidarity39 and led to changes in perspective and new research interest in Cuba’s involvement in Africa. Antoni Kapcia argues that rather than forcing the Cuban revolution into unhelpful paradigms such as the polarization of the Cold War, it would be better to consider Cuban socialism in the context of the “many post-colonial regimes of Africa and Asia in the late 1950s and early 1960s, often driven by the same priorities which preoccupied the Cuban leaders.”40 Indeed, Cuba made efforts to connect their revolution to that of sympathetic post-colonial regimes of Africa and Asia in numerous visual and textual campaigns. They did this partly in order to bring international recognition to the values of the Cuban revolution and partly to encourage Cubans to become internationalists.41 Cuba fastened its revolutionary possibilities to those of the Algerian revolution. In this way, Cuba could be seen by other Afro-Asian movements as allied with other important causes in the decolonizing Global South. Cuba portrayed itself as more interested in 37 Gleijeses, Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976, 391. 38 Hatzky, Cubans in Angola, 81. 39 Stites Mor, South-South Solidarity and the Latin American Left; Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, South-South Educational Migration, Humanitarianism, and Development: Views from the Caribbean, North Africa, and the Middle East, Routledge Studies in Development, Mobilities, and Migration (London ; New York, NY: Routledge, 2015). 40 Kapcia, A Short History of Revolutionary Cuba, 2. 41 Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle.”; Michelle Chase, “Picturing Solidarity: Photography and Cuban Internationalism during the Vietnam War,” Trans Asia Photography 13, no. 1 (2023). 16 modelling their revolution on that of Asian and African national liberation struggles rather than in following the direction of the Soviet Union.42 Despite the fact that after the Bay of Pigs Cuba would become dependent on the financial subsidies that the Soviets offered, Cuban leaders and diplomats prioritized connection with the Non-Aligned Movement to prove that they were not a mere proxy. Cuba’s revolutionary project hoped to be viewed as having less in common with the Marxist-Leninism or Stalinism of the Soviet Union and more connection with the radical African and Asian anti-colonial nationalist liberation movements that were inspired by the pre-colonial communal lives of their forebearers. Importantly, this included armed revolution, such as the Algerian revolution. Jessica Stites Mor writes about the Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America (OSPAAAL), an organization born out of the Tricontinental Conference in Havana in 1966. Stites Mor’s research examines a visual practice integral to South-South organizing, conceptually termed “rendering solidarity.”43 This practice involves producing visual objects as acts of solidarity, harnessing the power of the visual to provide pathways for crafting and realigning political subjectivities.44 Her work describes how government-sponsored organizations such as the OSPAAAL “rendered solidarity” in text and 42 In the twenty years since the end of the Cold War, China became one of Cuba’s key strategic allies. Despite positive early relations, from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, Havana and Beijing were often at odds on major international issues. On September 1st, 1960, Fidel Castro proclaimed that the government would break ties with Taiwan and establish links with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government. Diplomatic relations were established on September 28th, 1960, whereby the PRC then provided political, economic, and military aid to Cuba. The Sino-Soviet split, led to a deterioration of Sino-Cuba relations too. Odd Arne Westad, argues that the subsequent Cuban and Vietnamese challenges to the Cold War were enabled by the Sino-Soviet split, opening opportunities and dangers for Communist parties in the Third World. China couldn’t offer Cuba as much economic and military support that the Soviet Union did, yet tried to rely on propaganda to accommodate Cuba, knowing that Cubans were ideologically more sympathetic to the Chinese views on international politics and communism. Eventually, Che Guevara was rebuffed by Mao Zedong and in March 1965, Castro openly criticized Chinese authorities for distributing propaganda favorable to their views among the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces. Catherine Krull and Louis A. Pérez, eds., Cuba in a Global Context: International Relations, Internationalism, and Transnationalism, Contemporary Cuba (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2014). See also Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (Cambridge University Press, 2007). 43 Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle.” 44 Stites Mor, 44. 17 images that rhetorically and semiotically represented and forged solidarity between diverse liberation struggles worldwide. These campaigns of solidarity, she argues, compellingly and artfully highlighted common issues, shared interests, and unifying reasons for individuals and nations to make sacrifices to collectively support one another against imperialism. The art of image-making became a powerful tool to convey these political framings and the self-construction of the Third World as a community in shared struggle.45 Alberto García Molinero also has examined Tricontinental visual culture, with a feminist lens, considering the works of the Tricontinental as a powerful form of counterpropaganda, although limited in the critique of patriarchy and women’s emancipation.46 Lillian Guerra argues that early-revolutionary leaders in Cuba held an “obsessive reliance on images and image-making to crystallize revolutionary messages.”47 Guerra argues that images enabled the state to instantly represent how citizens were supposed to interpret policies, goals, and their own reality. One of the reasons for the overwhelming presence of imagery in the early years of the revolution was that many illiterate and semi-literate people may not have otherwise picked up newspapers. Through images, such sources became increasingly accessible and were successful at communicating news and ideas. Furthermore, the literacy campaign of 1961 enabled rural and disenfranchised Cubans to build their reading skills and knowledge through such sources of print media. Lisa Corrigan’s work on visual rhetoric and oppositional consciousness in Cuban poster art argues, further, that the Cuban 45 Schmiedecke, Natália. “Oppressed, Resistant, and Revolutionary: The Third World as Designed in the OSPAAAL Graphic Art.” Antíteses 16, no. 31 (2023): 251-291. 46 Alberto García Molinero, La Imagen Tricontinental. La Feminidad, El Che Guevara y El Imperialismo a Través Del Arte Gráfico de La OSPAAAL (Ariadna Ediciones, 2022), https://doi.org/10.26448/ae9789566095651.50; Alberto García Molinero, “Historia, Género y Feminidad En El Arte-Gráfico de La Tricontinental (1966-1990),” Revista Izquierdas, June 2023. 47 Lillian Guerra, Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959-1971, Envisioning Cuba (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012), 28, quoted in Chase, “Picturing Solidarity.” 18 revolution “effectively reinvented the poster […] as a rhetorical medium.”48 Cuban print media and poster art, she argues, created a new visual language grounded in iconic photographs, rhetorically building on what Chela Sandoval termed “oppositional consciousness.”49 Maria-Carolina Cambre echoes these arguments that iconic images go beyond mere visual documentation, but are also a form of cultural labour.50 Cambre examines the reproduction of Alberto Korda’s famous photograph of Ernesto “Che” Guevara as the image takes on new meanings and interpretations across different revolutionary landscapes, such as in Venezuela and East Timor, and also in corporate branding and queer spaces.51 Cambre’s work highlights the myriad possibilities of images as complicated, affective, and powerful. In the early days of the revolution, as José Quiroga describes, “[t]he photograph had a duty to perform; it was a document and, as such, it contained a certain kind of knowledge that would be used to produce more knowledge in turn. From the point of view of the state, and from the point of view of the nation, which [photographers and journalists] belonged to, the common producer of language was photography.”52 Guerra continues that in the struggles over a grand narrative such as the Cuban Revolution, images that were photographic, imaginary, and personal, played a role in positioning Cubans outside their mundane circumstances and into a “hyper-reality” of the Revolution, or a “utopia caught in the process of becoming.”53 Hyper-reality, she explains, refers to spaces in which collective action 48 Lisa M. Corrigan, “Visual Rhetoric and Oppositional Consciousness: Poster Art in Cuba and the United States,” Intertexts 18, no. 1 (2014): 74, https://doi.org/10.1353/itx.2014.0006. 49 Corrigan, 74. 50 Carolina Cambre, “The Efficacy Of The Virtual: From Che As Sign To Che As Agent,” Public Journal of Semiotics 4, no. 1 (October 1, 2012): 83–107, https://doi.org/10.37693/pjos.2012.4.8839; Maria-Carolina Cambre, The Semiotics of Che Guevara: Affective Gateways (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015). 51 Cambre, The Semiotics of Che Guevara: Affective Gateways, 1. 52 Quiroga, José. Cuban palimpsests. Vol. 19. U of Minnesota Press, 2005, 95, quoted in Chase, Michelle. “Picturing Solidarity: Photography and Cuban Internationalism during the Vietnam War.” Trans Asia Photography 13, no. 1 (2023), https://read.dukeupress.edu/trans-asia-photography/article/doi/10.1215/21582025-10365006/376304/Picturing-Solidarity-Photography-and-Cuban. 53 Guerra, Visions of Power in Cuba, 29–30. 19 endows participants with a “superhuman awareness of their own individual importance as actors in a national drama being played out on the world stage.”54 Michelle Chase’s work examines the roles that photography played in shoring up revolutionary sentiments between Cubans and Vietnamese peoples.55 Chase traces how photography played a crucial role in illustrating and articulating Cuba’s evolving perception of the Vietnam War, portraying it as a conflict that mirrored Cuba’s own revolutionary journey.56 Cuban imagery that came out of these efforts paralleled the Cuban revolution with numerous “heroic struggles” from across the world. Cuban women, peasants, intellectuals, artists, and racialized Cubans could see themselves in the struggles of South Africans fighting against apartheid, Vietnamese peasants engaging in guerilla warfare, or Saharawi women educating their children in adverse conditions. As Michelle Chase argues, Cuban revolutionary leaders privileged photography as having special “communicative, pedagogical power, untainted by the suspicion or stigma attached to ‘bourgeois’ art forms.”57 Similarly, Thy Phu, Erina Duganne, and Andrea Noble, argue that photography actively participated in Cold War conflict. By examining the visual networks that connect different regions, their edited volume Cold War Camera unveils the profound influence of decolonization on geopolitical reconfigurations. Decolonization, according to the book, should not be seen as a mere backdrop to the Cold War but as an integral and inseparable aspect of this protracted conflict. 58 From posters to photographs visual artifacts of Cuban solidarity “renders”59 a world it seeks to bring into being. This relates to Adom Getachew’s notion of “anticolonial 54 Guerra, Visions of Power, 30. 55 Michelle. “Picturing Solidarity: Photography and Cuban Internationalism during the Vietnam War.” Trans Asia Photography 13, no. 1 (2023). 56 Chase, “Picturing Solidarity.” 57 Chase, “Picturing Solidarity.” 58 Phu, Duganne, and Noble, Cold War Camera. 59 Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle.” 20 nationalism as worldmaking,”60 recasting decolonization as a project of reordering “juridical, political, and economic institutions” to secure non-domination.61 Image-making can be seen, thus, as a dynamic cultural practice employed by states, media, and individuals to propagate diverse visions, including socialist utopias and capitalist desires.62 The anti-colonial worldmaking of Afro-Asianism, OSPAAAL, and other solidarity organizations can also be interpreted as creating “imagined communities”, a concept introduced by Benedict Anderson.63 Nations are comprised of communities of disparate people that are imagined to be unified through ideals of deep and horizontal comradeship.64 Cuban internationalism and South-South solidarity are expressions of this too, with notions of friendship and comradeship towards allied revolutionaries as central to the Cuban revolutionary state discourse. Thus, examining these manifestations are important in understanding histories of South-South solidarity. However, Anderson’s work on imagined communities overlooks key aspects of colonial power dynamics, agency within colonized communities, and the unique processes of nation-building in cases such as the SADR, a national liberation movement.65 Partha Chatterjee, a leading postcolonial theorist, argues that Anderson’s model, premised on the Western liberal doctrine of nationalism, cannot fully account for nationalist movements in colonial and postcolonial societies, which often appropriate and transform 60 Adom Getachew, Worldmaking After Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination (Princeton University Press, 2019). 61 Getachew, 2. 62 Phu, Duganne, and Noble, Cold War Camera, 5. 63 Anderson, Benedict. 2016. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London, England: Verso Books. 64 Ibid., 7. 65 Anderson primarily uses examples from European and Latin American contexts, which postcolonial critics argue overlooks the distinct forms of nationalism and nation-formation in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, where nationalism developed both as a reaction to colonialism and as a decolonial force. Ranajit Guha argues that Anderson’s theory fails to capture the ways subaltern classes actively shaped nationalist ideologies through resistance to colonial rule. See: Chatterjee, Partha. “The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories.” Princeton UP (1993); Guha, Ranajit. Dominance without Hegemony: History and Power in Colonial India. Harvard University Press, 1997. 21 ideas in ways unique to their sociopolitical contexts.66 For example, in much of the Global South, nationalism developed both as a reaction to colonialism and as a decolonising force.67 In Cuba’s case, revolutionary nationalism has enshrined internationalist solidarity as a core value, deeply embedded in Cuba’s historical narrative as a nation that owes its freedom, in part, to internationalist support. By drawing on revolutionary narratives from past liberation movements, Cuba’s expression of nationalism through internationalism positions itself as an ongoing decolonizing force, reinforcing its commitment to anti-imperialist solidarity. Research Questions and Methodology Following this intellectual trajectory, this dissertation examines the following central research question: How did Cuban print media campaigns and visual representations contribute to the narrative of the Saharawi struggle and how does it relate to other forms of global solidarity with the SADR? The work further considers how Cuba’s engagement with the SADR evolved from 1975 to 1999, including a reflection on the key events and shifts in Cuba’s stance during this period. I further consider how Cuban solidarity has evolved into the present moment, offering reflections on developments beyond 1999. As a corollary, I also consider to what extent ideas about revolutionary statehood ideals in the context of Cuban solidarity with SADR may have influenced the trajectory of Cuba’s own revolution. The main scope of my research is limited to 1975-1999, as Cuban solidarity with the Saharawis informally began with the UN Decolonization Committee of 1975. While this solidarity has continued into the present, the 1980s and 1990s stand out as the decades when the most intensive support took place. The prevailing methodological approach to examining 66 Chatterjee, Partha. “Whose imagined community?” Millennium 20, no. 3 (1991): 521-525; Chatterjee, Partha. Nationalist thought and the colonial world: A derivative discourse. Zed Books, 1986. 67 Adom Getachew describes how anticolonial nationalists pursued self-determination through nation-building and worldmaking. See: Getachew, Adom. Worldmaking after empire: The rise and fall of self-determination. Princeton University Press, 2019, 15. 22 Cold War history has predominantly centered on the analysis of state and national archives, and primarily those in the US and Europe. Unfortunately, this emphasis has resulted in the oversight of perspectives from the Global South. This study interprets several state and non-state sources, mainly from Cuba, Spain, the US, and the SADR. Looking at transnational solidarity activism from a grassroots and revolutionary state perspective also requires a collaborative historical approach with archives. The specific methodological approach I use to interpret sources builds on traditional cultural and social history methods, interpreting print and mass media by journalists and artists, such as books, newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets, alongside interviews with Cubans and Saharawis involved in the various cooperation programs. I conducted semi-directed interviews with Saharawi embassy staff, Cuban internationalists, and Saharawi students in Cuba and Madrid.68 These interviews helped to supplement the material from archives in governmental and non-governmental institutions. Semi-directed interviews also require similar tests of reliability as other sources, such as “searching for internal consistency, cross-checking details from other sources, [and] weighing evidence against a wider context.”69 In all instances of key facts from oral sources, I checked details from other sources and weighed their evidence against a wider context. Little evidence exists in Cuba and elsewhere in which to examine the relationship between Cuba and the SADR, and what does exist can be hard to access in both countries, thus oral sources are of great value in this research project.70 Interviewees were selected based upon their experiences 68 I received the contact of Omar Bulsan, the Saharawi ambassador in Cuba through Fernando Camacho Padilla and his contact with Miriam Mujica. Miriam visited the SADR refugee camps in the 1980s. Miriam is a Cuban woman who studied in Syria and has long worked as an Arabic speaking translator for the Cuban government when foreign delegations require translators. Through snowball sampling, Omar and Miriam helped me gain contacts with Saharawis in Cuba. The embassy staff had the greatest insights into the institutional and historical aspects of Cuba’s educational solidarity missions, 69 Paul Thompson and Joanna Bornat, The Voice of the Past: Oral History, Fourth edition, Oxford Oral History Series (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2017), 222. 70 Thompson and Bornat, 222. 23 relating to Cuban internationalism in the SADR and Saharawi experiences as students and teachers in Cuba. The second main methodology I use is an analysis of visual sources and perspectives on images of various types. This methodology utilizes a range of visual materials including photographs, posters, magazine layouts, paintings, and illustrations with visual culture methodologies specific to each source type. I analyze and interpret the circulation and cultural impact of a few key visual sources and incorporate these into each chapter in which image-based materials were used in relation to pertinent aspects of Cuban internationalism, education systems, global solidarity campaigns, and bilateral relations with the SADR. This methodological practice reconceptualises the visual as within the realms of embodied, material, and “politically charged” entities.71 Visuality is a social practice that culturally constructs how we see the world, and also constructs what is invisible.72 For example, I look at photographs of solidarity efforts, delving deeper than their surface appearance, recognizing them as more than mere images. I view them as a medium of communication of past events and as an active component in shaping perspectives, influencing how we understand the world, and conveying nuanced interpretations.73 They play a crucial role in organizing historical subjects’ aesthetic connections to their social and political contexts and can even construct alternative realities. This dissertation utilises a critical visual methodology, drawing upon the works of Gillian Rose, and David Bates’ exploration of documentary and evidentiary photography, to analyse a collection of over 800 photojournalistic photographs, and various posters, drawings, 71 Gillian Rose and Divya P. Tolia-Kelly, Visuality/Materiality: Images, Objects and Practices (Ashgate Publishing, 2012), 3. 72 Gillian Rose, Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials, 4th ed., Book, Whole (London: Sage Publications, 2016), 2–3. 73 Paul, Gerhard. “Visual History (English Version),” 2011. https://doi.org/10.14765/zzf.dok.2.792.v1. 24 and paintings.74 These visuals, produced primarily by Cuban and Algerian photojournalists and artists, offer crucial insights into the representation of the SADR and the Saharawi refugee camps. Content analysis, in conjunction with a critical visual methodology elaborated by Gillian Rose provides a framework for systematically examining the visual elements and their various underlying, more explicit, and shifting meanings. The visuals found within various archives were not just objects to be catalogued, but mediums that were employed to participate in the construction of narratives about revolutionary friendship and nationalism, the justice of the Saharawi guerrilla struggle compared to the injustice of Moroccan occupation, imperialism, solidarity, and self-determination. Bates’ exploration of documentary and evidentiary photography informed my understanding of the role these images play in documenting historical events while simultaneously shaping perceptions. My analysis also considered the collaborative nature of the photographic process, especially in terms of how Cuban photojournalists worked alongside Algerian and Saharawi media producers and subjects. I questioned the ways in which power dynamics might have influenced the framing of each visual by examining the intersection of visual production, cultural context, and political discourse. I sought to understand how these images conveyed a particular narrative about the Saharawi struggle and the Cuban-Saharawi solidarity, while questioning what might have been omitted or obscured in the archive. To make sense of these materials, I conducted a content analysis, systematically sorting and categorizing the photographs, examining recurring themes, compositions, and the socio-political narratives embedded within them. This included looking closely at the technical and compositional aspects of the images, as well as their circulation and reception 74 Gillian Rose, Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials, 4th ed., Book, Whole (London: Sage Publications, 2016); Bate, David. Photography: the key concepts. Routledge, 2020. 25 within Cuban and Saharawi media and institutional contexts. My project also scrutinises the social conditions surrounding the creation and circulation of these images, and the intended audience and purpose behind these visuals, considering their role in constructing specific narratives about solidarity and in shaping public opinion about the SADR. Furthermore, this research embraces a reflexive approach, acknowledging the researcher’s own visual practices and potential biases when interpreting these images. Representations are based upon an interpretive process that partly manipulates or transforms what is being depicted. The audience being addressed by a visual is often one of the key groups to pay attention to when interpreting how conflict or refugee situations are portrayed. Hence, part of my interpretation requires examining through which organization a visual might have circulated, the objectives of that organization, the audience it addresses, and in which setting the images were viewed. Multiple layers of representation can also exist, driven by different motivations depending on the social group being addressed and depicted. Grassroots and non-state archival sources, including interviews and visual sources, supplement the state-level sources from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, articles from state-run or sponsored print media and news agencies, and various institutions which foster solidarity with the SADR. The interdisciplinary approach I have adopted strengthens this research by providing a more nuanced understanding of Cuban solidarity with the SADR. By integrating sociological theories, social movement frameworks, visual history and culture methodologies, postcolonial theory, and historical analysis, this approach offers a comprehensive lens through which to explore the complex dynamics shaping Cuba’s solidarity with the Saharawi people. Examining visual culture, including photographs, posters, and paintings, alongside interviews and archival materials, also allows for a deeper understanding of the cultural and social impact of Cuban solidarity beyond state-level interactions. 26 This project benefits from being embedded in a larger research team which includes numerous other historians working on transnational research about the Global South. There are a few reasons why working as a team is much more important in this field of history. Firstly, many archives in Global South countries are under-resourced and hard to access. Secondly, there are political difficulties or justifiable suspicions that archivists or gatekeepers might have towards North American or European researchers. In Cuba, building collapses and poor infrastructure caused many archives to constantly be relocating their collections, making it challenging for both the archivists and me to track where I needed to go to find the materials I required. In other cases, archivists didn’t know where to find what I was requesting, and in some cases, I had to sort through many unlabelled archives to find documents pertinent to my topic. This much more laborious form of historical research thus benefits greatly from the sharing of sources among historians in a team of collaborators working on similar topics. For example, at the Instituto de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), I spent a week and a half sorting through almost the entire small archive to collect all of the sources related to my topic. I then took photos of all of the pertinent sources, sorted them, and labelled them on my laptop, and gave this folder back to the archivists as per their request, so that their archive was partly digitized and better organized for future transnational researchers. This dissertation focuses on archives in Cuba and Spain but would be strengthened with archives from Morocco and Algeria. Due to a lack of sufficient funding and the pandemic, I was not able to travel to Algeria and Morocco, but I draw on the work of scholars who have been able to access archives in Algiers and Rabat. Theoretical considerations Theoretical perspectives underpinning this project are a transnational approach to the study of solidarity, with a postcolonial approach to Cold War history. The transnational 27 approach pays special attention to the role of organizations, movements, and ideas that are not contained by national borders.75 Rather than mapping simple transfers or borrowings of discourses, texts, and practices across national borders, I examine transnational processes as complex, in which local agents “adapt, re-interpret, re-contextualize, and in some cases, to use Gayatri Spivak’s term, ‘betray’ ideas found elsewhere.”76 Activists, artists, and intellectuals act as mediators who translate, select, and incorporate globally circulating concepts into their own societies.77 Thus, the way that Cuban and Saharawi artists, journalists, teachers, and students’ chart ideas on their relationship, anti-colonial nationalism, statelessness, education, and globally circulating socio-politics are examined. Following Arne Westad’s work on the global dimensions of the Cold War,78 this research focuses both on the effects that the Cold War confrontation had in bringing Cuba and the SADR together, as well as their shared colonial pasts. The postcolonial approach to Cold War history criticizes the dominance of external interpretations of the “Third World” and the aims and tactics of solidarity mobilizations.79 This research also is inspired by global and entangled history perspectives, that position Latin America’s revolutionary Left as part of a wider network of distant struggles such as Asian independence struggles, Algeria’s War of Independence, the Vietnam War, Palestinian struggles, anticolonial struggles in Africa, and the Chinese Revolution.80 My research follows that of Emily Snyder’s and Glenda Sluga’s calls to integrate the 75 Gradskova, The Women’s International Democratic Federation, the Global South, and the Cold War, 4. 76 Maud Anne Bracke and James Mark, “Between Decolonization and the Cold War: Transnational Activism and Its Limits in Europe, 1950s–90s,” Journal of Contemporary History 50, no. 3 (July 2015): 413, https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009415569815. 77 Bracke and Mark, 413. 78 Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. 79 Chandra Talpade Mohanty, “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses” 2, no. 3 (1984): 333–58; Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference, Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History (Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2000); Leela Gandhi, Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction (London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2020). 80 Tanya Harmer and Alberto Martín Álvarez, eds., Toward a Global History of Latin America’s Revolutionary Left (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2021), 1–3. 28 international into the histories of nations and nationalism.81 Black internationalism, socialist internationalism, transnational labour movements, pan-Arab socialism, Pan-Africanism, and other transnational social movements such as the Non-Aligned Movement, provided a template for Cuba’s revolutionary internationalism. From the turn of the twentieth-century, internationalism rose to prominence, as ideas and “public opinion” spread globally through mass literacy campaigns, the growth of mass media, and also the dangers of nationalism increasingly came to the fore.82 The competing experiences of internationalism and anti-colonial nationalism also divided leftists across the globe, as they contended with trying to foster solidarity with global struggles while also preserving their national sovereignty against European colonialism and neocolonialism. While many of these movements failed to achieve all of their objectives or have had violent moments and betrayals, I do not engage in a cynical reading of them, but rather try to elucidate what their goals were and the ideological underpinnings of such goals, and the governmental, non-governmental, and civilian networks through which they engaged with each other, as this line of inquiry is little researched. This perspective might best be described as an entangled history approach, which utilizes “trans-cultural perspective as the main point of departure [and] centers on the interconnectedness of societies.”83 Solidarity and friendship might be another way of looking at these entanglements, as I hope my research substantiates. Another theoretical influence on my work is that of the subaltern studies group which arose in the 1980s. Influenced by the scholarship of Eric Stokes and Ranajit Guha, subaltern 81 Emily Snyder, "Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990" (2021). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 228. https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/228; Glenda Sluga, Internationalism in the Age of Nationalism (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013): 8. 82 Glenda Sluga, Internationalism in the Age of Nationalism, Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), 2. 83 Bauck, Sönke, and Thomas Maier. 2015. “Entangled History.” InterAmerican Wiki: Terms - Concepts - Critical Perspectives. https://uni-bielefeld.de/institutions/cias/wiki/e/entangled-history.xml 29 studies scholars tried to formulate a new narrative of the history of India and South Asia.84 While leftists, they were critical of the traditional Marxist narrative of the Indian historical process in which semi-feudal India was colonized by the British, elite Indians became politicized, and only their struggles through hunger strikes, legal channels, and high-level political or diplomatic negotiations earned India’s independence. In particular, they are critical of the focus of this narrative on the political consciousness of elites, who in turn inspire the masses to resistance and rebellion against the British. Instead, they focus on non-elites as agents of political and social change. The subaltern studies group have had a particular interest in the discourses and rhetoric of emerging and slow-burning political and social movements and are against focusing on only highly visible actions like demonstrations and uprisings. The legacy of the subaltern studies project helps us understand social movements by historicizing such movements in non-Western settings from a uniquely non-elite perspective. While this approach is challenging in conducting research in Cuba where state propaganda is most accessible, some interviews conducted outside of Cuba and integrating non-state sources from secondary sources helps to supplement a non-elite view of revolutionary Cuban solidarity. Finally, this research builds upon a theoretical understanding of statelessness that critiques the liberal state system and liberal political theory itself, drawing on the works of Tendayi Bloom, Katherine Tonkiss, Phillip Cole, Kelly Staples, Linda Bosniak, and Ruth Rubio-Marín whose work is addressed through the pages of this dissertation, as well as inspired by Cuban, Global South, and insurgent critiques of the post-war liberal state governance system.85 Saharawis have lived experiences of seemingly permanent exclusion 84 Rochona Majumdar, “Subaltern Studies as a History of Social Movements in India,” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 38, no. 1 (February 24, 2015): 50–68, https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2014.987338. 85 Tendayi Bloom, Katherine Tonkiss, and Phillip Cole, Understanding Statelessness, 1st ed. (Routledge, 2017), 255; Rubio-Marin, Ruth. Immigration as a democratic challenge: Citizenship and inclusion in Germany and the 30 and statelessness since 1975, and arguably longer since colonialism by the Spanish denied them many rights and goods that citizenship is designed to guarantee. For example, Saharawi and Palestinian statelessness are a challenge to the very structure of the international state system and the foundations of liberal political theory, thus addressing the challenge of statelessness in their cases requires going beyond liberal political theory frameworks. Phillip Cole argues that we must imagine what a just world would look like in which practices of citizenship, migration, and nation-states are radically revised. Afterall, systems of citizenship and exclusion practiced by states are very much based on arbitrary and rather recent constructs that shape behaviors and daily practices. The Cuban approach to this radical reimagination offers an understanding of statelessness rooted in embodied experiences of centuries of colonialism, neocolonialism, decolonization, and the violence of the Cold War that wreaked havoc in the Global South while the superpowers tested and fought over their spheres of influence, often from a distance. This distance, while a close reality for military members who fought directly in the wars, was engendered in metropolitan spaces that no longer or never retained a collective memory of the wars and conflicts resulting from or exacerbated by the Cold War. Reconstituting these memories of wars, violence, and anti-colonial liberation struggles, that resulted partly from the Cold War and the post-war liberal era of US imperial hegemony, also benefits from and contributes to memory studies, elaborated by sociologists and cultural historians.86 Cuba, offering its support to the SADR, saw their statelessness as a problem of United States. Cambridge University Press, 2000; Bosniak, Linda. The citizen and the alien: Dilemmas of contemporary membership. Princeton University Press, 2006; Staples, Kelly. Retheorising statelessness: A background theory of membership in world politics. Edinburgh University Press, 2012. 86 Jeffrey K. Olick, Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi, and Daniel Levy, The Collective Memory Reader (Oxford University Press, 2011); Louis A. Pérez, The Structure of Cuban History (University of North Carolina Press, 2013); Paul Doolan, Collective Memory and the Dutch East Indies: Unremembering Decolonization (Amsterdam University Press, 2021), https://doi.org/10.5117/9789463728744; Jill Jarvis, Decolonizing Memory: Algeria and the Politics of Testimony (Durham: Duke University Press, 2021); Gerlov Engelenhoven, 31 decolonization, and a situation requiring internationalist solidarity. Cuba’s understanding of statelessness in the Marxist framework, departs from the liberal political theory of capitalist states. Cuba’s understanding of the post-war international state system can be exemplified in the way Cuba has depicted, narrativized, commemorated, and committed solidarity towards Saharawi people, the Saharawi struggle, and other national liberation movements, as problems of decolonization.87 Archives and Sources There are numerous limitations to this study: the research is bounded to in-person interviews and archival material in Havana, Miami, and Madrid. In March of 2022, I visited Madrid for five weeks, spending time at the Archivo Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid, the archive of the Partido Comunista De España, the Fundación Anselmo Lorenzo, the Archivo Histórico Nacional, and various Saharawi Friendship Centres. In December of 2022, I visited Havana for a short preliminary trip of ten days where I gathered archives from the Casa Editorial Verde Olivo and the Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí. In February of 2023, I spent one week in Miami at the Cuban Heritage Collection. In Cuba in April, May, and June of 2023, I visited the Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, the Archivo de Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, the archives of the Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos, the Fototeca of Prensa Latina, the archives of the Instituto Superior Pedagógico Enrique José Varona, and the Instituto Central de Ciencias Pedagógicas (ICCP). I rely on a range of sources for my research, including Cuban state media, Cuban Postcolonial Memory in the Netherlands: Meaningful Voices, Meaningful Silences (Amsterdam University Press, 2022), https://doi.org/10.5117/9789463726177; Miguel Cardina, The Portuguese Colonial War and the African Liberation Struggles: Memory, Politics and Uses of the Past, 1st ed. (London: Routledge, 2023), https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003396925; Sluga, Internationalism in the Age of Nationalism. 87 Rahel Losier, Fernando Camacho Padilla, and Jessica Stites Mor, “Statelessness and Solidarity: Palestinians, Dhofaris, and Saharawis in Tricontinental Media,” Bandung 11, no. 1 (2024): 67–101, https://doi.org/10.1163/21983534-11010003. 32 government archives, diplomatic, press, and personal archives, and a diverse selection of books, pamphlets, and materials sourced from the National Library in Cuba. Unfortunately, a few archival collections were no longer available due to building damage, and organizations being shut down. For example, the Tricontinental photographic archive has been destroyed since OSPAAAL was closed in 2019. It is now impossible to know the full extent of the many photographs collected there, which were received from various agencies and private photographers. Many of these photographs were never reproduced in the magazine and were unique. Since this project examines Cuban and global solidarity campaigns towards the SADR, primary sources from governmental documents and from interviews are important in charting the evolution of Cuba’s solidarity compared to their self-presentation of solidarity from newsprint and media sources. The audience for much of the print media was a Cuban population, to impress upon them the important work that Cuban internationalists were doing, the necessity for sacrifices in Cuba to be able to help revolutions suffering even more than Cuba, and to commemorate the solidarity between Cuba and the SADR. These considerations are important as I interpret either governmental or governmental sponsored sources such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs archive, Archivo de Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (ACMINREX), in Havana, but especially for the newspapers, print magazines, and even photographs and visual sources. Furthermore, I draw on interviews I conducted with Cuban nationals, and Saharawi officials, students, and internationalists to construct testimonies of their individual and collective interpretations of what they were doing, learning, and participating in as part of various solidarity programs. The archives span from Cuba, the United States, Spain, the SADR, and the Netherlands. The study was limited by the challenges of conducting transnational research across multiple countries, languages, and fields, as well as by the inability to travel to Morocco or the Saharawi refugee camps for in- 33 person research due to the pandemic. The main archives from Cuba included the Ministry of the Exterior, the Institute of Friendship, the National Library, and various educational institutions such as the Jose Varona Pedagogical University. Archival access was most challenging in Cuba, in which diplomatic relations and receptiveness to outsider scholars is shaped by decades of difficult relations between North America and Cuba. The post-COVID landscape in Cuba presents significant challenges for Cubans, including archival employees. Food, medicine, and gas shortages have impacted daily work in the archives, with unpredictable working hours often exacerbated by archivists being unable to find transportation to work. Additionally, tropical storms have caused frequent power outages, sometimes forcing the archives to close just hours after an already difficult arrival. Cuban archives are also filled with silences in the material I was allowed to access, due to ongoing security concerns. I was not able to make it to the Isla de la Juventud Municipal Archive due to a severe gas shortage, although I managed to connect with a Cuban historian named Julio C. González through a contact at the National Library that shared with me his archives from the island as well as a colleague named, Ozman Ahmed Bahiya, who went to the Isle and gathered documents about the Saharawi students available there. Ozman was conducting research in Cuba on cooperation between Cuba and the SADR at the same time, and thus we helped each other in our research. Cuban Communist Party documents are still classified as well as those of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR). However, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs allowed me to see documents about the SADR which are no longer classified as “confidential or secret” from each of the following years: 1978, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1998, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2010. The topics discussed range from basic information about the Western Sahara and the SADR to historical narratives of the SADR and the Polisario Front; requests by the SADR embassy in Havana for further funding; 34 solicitations by the Polisario Front for scholarships for Saharawi students; details on subjects Saharawi students are studying in Cuba; Curriculum Vitae of potential Saharawi Ambassadors; letters in support of various Saharawi organizations and international events about solidarity with the SADR, and more. The documents reveal strong support for the Saharawi people and cause but are perhaps not proportionate to the amount of news and media coverage of the Saharawi people and broad Cuban support and awareness of the SADR, as it appeared that many years and important collaborations are either missing from the ACMINREX archive, are held at other institutions, or I did not have permission to see all of the documents and agreements that have been made over time. In the SADR, accessing archives is also quite difficult and requires special permissions, regardless, due to the pandemic, I was not able to travel there. Publications and materials released by the Cuban government hold substantial historical value in testifying to institutional parameters of Cuban solidarity with the SADR. Newspapers, magazines, journals, and published books provide vital insights into the mindset of revolutionary leaders and offer a documented account of Havana’s official standpoint, thus seeing these sources as propaganda requires critical scrutiny. However, since they are the most accessible archives for historians, I have relied on them to enhance information found in other sources such as interviews and internal government records.88 Cuban government sources and scholarly works by Cubans help fill in the story of solidarity with the SADR, yet they nonetheless are primary sources which deserve scrutiny in terms of being voices of the state in defining what anti-imperialism, solidarity, and revolutionary citizenship should look like over the years. On the other hand, these sources can help shed light on the ideologies and imaginaries of Cuban leaders and reflect the official perspective of Cuba. Part of research 88 Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990,” 45. 35 into solidarity examines what actually happened, but what people thought they were doing is of equal historical value. Capturing “unofficial” perspectives is challenging, as it varies as much as the diverse range of Cubans themselves. However, interviews with Cubans and Saharawis helps to bring into focus some of the off-the-record perspectives. I give voice to interviewees who described their experiences in detail without sparing negative sides of their time abroad or in Cuba. Press and sources published by the Cuban government remain the most accessible archive for historians, and thus using them to supplement interviews and other government documents is required. Reading these sources involves considering alternative perspectives, biases, or hidden meanings that might not be immediately evident. Questioning either the perspective, agenda, or bias of a writer of any source helps to not accept assumptions at face value and to question the underlying perspectives of a source, which is especially important for state propaganda. Historical sources are often influenced by the social, political, and cultural context in which they were created, and thus thinking about why certain information may have been omitted or emphasized also helps to uncover subtext. Another important consideration are the power relationships which influence the creation and preservation of each historical source. Not all documents will be preserved, or accessible, which requires contemplation and interrogation. One archive, the public Facebook page, “Ex-Estudiantes Saharauis en Cuba,”89 is a public Facebook page for Cubarawi students, or Saharawi students that studied on the Isle of Youth, and is treated as a digital living archive.90 Filled with unofficial memories and perspectives of Saharawi students, this digital living archive is a space for sharing memories 89 Facebook, “Ex-Estudiantes Saharauis en Cuba,” accessed April 24th, 2024, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064301275117. 90 Laurene Vaughan and David Carlin, eds., Performing Digital: Multiple Perspectives on a Living Archive (Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2015). 36 that may contribute to building bonds, community, and identity in the present. Stuart Hall argued that archives should be seen as ‘living archives’ whereby constituting them is an ongoing project.91 Scholarship on digital humanities and media studies raises key points about the way that online archives can be used to engage in the act of counter-historiography or the re-writing of the historical archive from the perspective of oppressed perspectives. The page hosts a timeline of historical artifacts and accounts documenting the progression of Saharawi liberation struggles and youth migration to Cuba, sharing current reflections and expressions of community experiences and real-time feedback in which notions of the past converge with current sentiments. The page is currently used as a way for Cubarawis themselves to get in touch with their old classmates, to share photos, and to promote the nature of friendship and educational richness that has come from the program. The comments and photos illustrate the profound effects that the Cuban program had on the Saharawis who recount their experiences mostly fondly. The idea of a lasting friendship between Cuba and the SADR is demonstrated in many participant comments on the page. The visual images dispersed throughout the dissertation are found located in various Cuban magazines, newspapers, and archival institutions. Hundreds of photographs of Saharawi peoples and activities were found in the Prensa Latina “Fototeca,” or photographic archive, in Havana, Cuba. I found dozens of photographs in the archive of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, which is a key organization that hosts delegations, organizes events in Cuba that promote friendship with allied revolutions, and is now working on preserving histories of Cuban solidarity and friendship with other countries. Posters and other visuals that appear in Tricontinental Magazine are also interpreted, which were created by the OSPAAAL, in Havana, Cuba. I also interpret several non-Cuban visual campaigns from European leftist organizations, friendship associations, and individual citizens. These sources 91 Hall, Stuart. “Constituting an archive.” Third text 15, no. 54 (2001): 89-92. 37 were found in the Amsterdam Institute of Social History, the Madrid based Spanish Communist Party archives, and the Madrid based Spanish anarchist archive, Fundación Anselmo Lorenz. The Fundación Anselmo Lorenzo holds a significant collection of magazines, pamphlets, and booklets from Spanish anarchist, syndicalist, and leftist solidarity campaigning from Spain and across Europe towards the Polisario and the SADR. I also interpret visuals that adorn the embassy of the SADR in Havana, including a large painting that sits in the main room where visitors are welcomed. Together, these visual sources and a visual culture studies92 methodology expands the scope of my research to understand Saharawis’ depictions in visual artifacts and demonstrate the complexity of Cuban solidarity with North Africa. In the United States, I visited the Cuban Heritage Collection in Miami, which held a large collection of newspaper and magazine sources. I was also lucky enough to have documents shared with me from the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in the Netherlands by my supervisor, as well as numerous sources and field support from Fernando Camacho Padilla and Denise Blum, from their fieldwork in Cuba and elsewhere. The International Institute of Social History in the Hague, Netherlands, contains documents from mostly European solidarity campaigns with the Western Sahara. Approximately 81 visual items are collected in the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam which relate to various, mostly European, campaigns in solidarity with the SADR, the Polisario, and Saharawi peoples’ self-determination. There are mostly posters, however, a few buttons, stickers, photographs, pamphlets, and satire cartoons are also present. The posters aim to generate international support for the Western Sahara’s independence and the Polisario 92 Daniela Bleichmar and Vanessa R. Schwartz, “Visual History: The Past in Pictures,” Representations 145, no. 1 (February 1, 2019): 1–31, https://doi.org/10.1525/rep.2019.145.1.1; Rose, Visual Methodologies; Lauren Beck and Alena Robin, “Latin American Art, Visual and Material Culture in the Long Eighteenth Century: An Introduction,” Arts 10, no. 4 (November 12, 2021): 76, https://doi.org/10.3390/arts10040076. 38 Front’s liberation struggle. The visuals depart only slightly from the Cuban solidarity campaigns in terms of content and visual ideas, and many are likely inspired by Cuban poster art from OSPAAAL. The archive is unique in having a few posters published by Polisario or commissioned by Polisario and depict the victorious fight of the Saharawis and the armed struggle. Roadmap In Chapter 1, I explore the friendship between Cuba and the SADR by looking at the Cuban and Saharawi revolutions as they parallel and mirror each other, drawing upon a discourse of revolutionary friendship as the basis of their solidarity. I discuss the histories of North Africa and Latin America within the ambit of decolonization, postcolonialism, and Afro-Asian movements uniting with Latin American movements. I then focus on explaining the history of Western Sahara and the Saharawi revolution, as this history is lesser known. I also discuss the ways that the Cuban and Saharawi revolutions are interlinked in their decolonization struggles with Spain and framed through a common language of friendship, progressive revolutions, and solidarity. Chapter 2 illustrates comparative leftist global solidarity campaigns for the Western Sahara to contrast these with the Cuban campaigns for solidarity with the Western Sahara. The main argument centers around Cuba’s unique approach in crafting a distinctive space in the global communist world, departing from the Communist International, the Soviet Bloc, and European and other Western leftist movements. The chapter reflects on how the Saharawi nation was intent on building a revolutionary Saharawi nationalism, inspired by revolutionary Cuban nationalism, with minor correlates to Soviet Marxism, but also shaped by the fact that neither the Soviet Union nor any other European Communist state had ever recognized the Saharawi Republic except for Tito’s Yugoslavia, who resisted Soviet influence and cultivated 39 cordial relations with the West.93 Cuba’s efforts in developing a third space outside of the Soviet Union and the US, but within the NAM, may explain Tito’s unique recognition of the SADR. The chapter also focuses on the origins of the Spanish “Holidays in Peace” program as deriving from early efforts by the Spanish Communist Party’s efforts in the late 1970s, and connections that the Spanish Communist Party fostered in the Spanish Sahara in the 1960s. Chapter 3 examines Cuban solidarity narrated through print media campaigns and interviews with Cuban media workers. I trace the evolution of Cuban support for the SADR from 1975 to 2023, highlighting key events and shifts in Cuba’s stance across three phases of Cuban internationalism: symbolic tricontinentalism, non-alignment, and professionalization. The chapter emphasizes the role of Cuban media campaigns in portraying the Saharawi struggle as a thwarted national liberation movement and their critique of international governance institutions, challenging narratives presented by the United Nations, capitalist media, and non-governmental organizations. Overall, the chapter provides an in-depth exploration of Cuban internationalism across three phases with the SADR, examining the roots of this relationship, its evolution, and its alignment with Cuba’s political ideals. Chapter 4 investigates personnel exchanges between Cuba and the SADR in terms of the educational and medical missions. The Cuban internationalist education and medical exchanges are explored through archival sources and interviews with Cuban medical internationalists and Saharawi experts and students living in Cuba. The chapter argues that educational and medical support for the SADR significantly shaped and influenced the SADR in developing its own independence, having trained many prominent Saharawi diplomats, ministers, health-workers, engineers, lawyers, and journalists, and led to bolstering vaccination campaigns, preventive medicine, mental healthcare, and community medicine in the refugee camps. The section on the Cuban education system as a model of South-South 93 San Martín, Pablo. Western Sahara: the Refugee Nation. University of Wales Press, 2010, 211. 40 solidarity examines the Isle of Youth in particular, exploring institutional, diplomatic, and student experiences aspects of the program. The section on medical internationalism focuses on mental health care in the SADR provided by a Cuban expert, and a vaccination campaign conducted by Cuban epidemiologists and experts. The conclusions consolidate a summary of my arguments, findings, and critical assessments of Cuban solidarity, underscoring the imperative for additional research into the subject of Cuban support for African liberation movements. Despite the modest size of the SADR as a revolutionary movement, its influence on Cuba is visible in various domains, encompassing health and educational collaboration, the realms of arts and culture, and the overarching national narrative that integrates transnational internationalism as a fundamental component of the Cuban revolution’s “raison d’être.” I argue that after the late 1970s, solidarity with the SADR became one of Cuba’s leading causes of solidarity for stateless people. It advanced Cuba’s commitment to national liberation movements and also partly shaped the revolutionary process in both Cuba and SADR. The duration and depth of the cooperation is a testament to the Cuban revolutionary project’s lasting influence and helps explain Cuba’s ongoing ties in North Africa. 41 Chapter 1: “Long Live the Cuban-Saharawi Friendship”: Parallel Histories and Revolutionary Alliances In 1989, for the sixteenth anniversary of the founding of the Polisario Front, a solidarity event was held in Cuba with an invited delegation of Saharawis who commemorated the event together at the Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, ICAP). At the anniversary event, as seen in Figure 1.1, a sign, behind two men states, “Long Live the Cuban-Saharawi Friendship,” implying the desire for and importance of a long and enduring relationship between the two peoples, not only the two governments. Although ICAP is closely linked with the Cuban government, it retains a grassroots and unofficial mandate to support sister revolutions and shore up support for the Cuban revolution through conferences, debates, contests, and events designed to promote cultural understanding and friendships between the two populations. This chapter provides historical background to the Cuban and Saharawi Revolutions and examines the similarities between the two countries that help explain their longstanding relationship since 1975. It explores the concept of solidarity as a form of political or revolutionary friendship. 42 Figure 1.1. Photographer Julio P. Aniversario y Visita por el XVI año de la fundación del Frente Polisario. Sobre No. 152. May 10th, 1989. Photography. Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), Havana, Cuba. Área política: Afro-Asia. Used With Permission. The friendship and solidarity that is felt between Cubans and Saharawis extends beyond the international solidarity that the countries have implemented in education and healthcare since 1976. Both the Cuban and the Saharawi revolutions are portrayed in numerous print materials, speeches, and in interviews with both peoples, as having a strong bond of solidarity and friendship. The ICAP, an important institution in Cuba’s internationalism and solidarity landscape, also portrays this attachment in numerous photographs of events celebrating the revolutionary histories and friendship between the peoples. The parallels between these two countries are numerous, as will be discussed in this chapter, and articulated through a variety of photographs of ICAP events. This chapter argues that the historical, visualized, and imagined commonalities between Cubans and Saharawis grounds a longstanding solidarity. The Cuban Ministry of the Exterior describes much of its international relations activity through the lens of friendship. The ICAP, established in 1960 and with close ties to the Ministry of the Exterior, was founded with a mission to strengthen, mobilize, and unite the 43 international solidarity movement in support of the Cuban Revolution. The institute was also charged with upholding the principles of friendship, peace, sovereignty, and solidarity with just causes worldwide.1 The ICAP initially focused on informing the world about the genuine goals of the Cuban Revolution and the progressive changes that had occurred after 1959. During a time when international media mostly presented biased and distorted views of Cuba, organizations like ICAP played a crucial role in conveying a different image of Cuban reality, often openly collaborating with international solidarity campaigns, especially after the US imposed a blockade on Cuba in February 1962. Today, ICAP maintains relationships with over 2,000 solidarity groups globally and nurturing these connections remains its top priority.2 ICAP maintains a photographic archive of Cuban solidarity with the SADR, which it uses to document solidarity activities and as a resource to help disseminate images of Saharawis in Cuba. ICAP presents the Saharawi and Cuban projects as sibling revolutions. This notion is echoed in the thoughts of individuals that took part in solidarity efforts. Saharawi poet Bahia Mahmud Awah recounts in prose one touching similarity between Cuba and the SADR from his experiences in Cuba where he studied in 1979. Upon returning to Cuba, many decades later, he says: [w]hen I returned…looking for faces, names, rhythms of the Cuban son, the strings of the Yemenite lute, African percussion and the Saharawi revolutionary houl, that we listened to those years in that beautiful place whipped by the winds of the Sea Caribbean…I noticed a sign hanging in one of the bungalows that said: ‘Being cultured is the only way to be free.’ It took me back to that popular thought that as a child I heard my mother repeat: ‘The young man must travel to know and bring.’ I realized that the decision she made that autumn of 1975, and that many Saharawi mothers in exile also made when sending their children away to study far away, was 1 “50 years of solidarity,” Cuba Solidarity Campaign, 2011, https://cuba-solidarity.org.uk/cubasi/article/149/50-years-of-solidarity 2 “50 years of solidarity,” Cuba Solidarity Campaign, 2011, https://cuba-solidarity.org.uk/cubasi/article/149/50-years-of-solidarity 44 not in vain.3 The quote implies a similarity between Saharawi and Cuban culture, as Awah connects one of José Martí’s most referenced passages,4 “to be cultured is to be free,” to a quote from his mother during his flight from Western Sahara to Algeria and beyond, “the young man must travel to know and bring.” The excerpt also speaks to the love of music that Saharawis and Cubans share and that helped to develop friendships, as Cubans and international students gathered together at cultural exhibits and musical events. Fidel Castro repeatedly remarked upon the friendship and solidarity between Saharawi and Cuban people, as illustrated in a speech in 1985 in which he calls Saharawi people his “Saharan brothers,” implying consanguineal kinship bonds based on revolutionary friendship.5 Two Saharawi students, Yahdih Sidihamad and Bah Hassena Eida, who were studying in Havana in 2023 also discussed these parallels. “Cuba is a socialist revolutionary country, and [Cubans] understand that one of the main factors or principles of socialism is internationalism. The socialist revolution would not be understood without the lens of nationalism as solidarity between peoples in their struggle to develop mutually.”6 The student went on further to explain that: [A]nother point that influences [the commonality between Cuba and the SADR] is that we have a more or less similar revolutionary normality, I mean, we both suffered the consequences of a dictator before the revolution, we had an occupation coming from imperialism and capitalism. Then also, as from our beginnings, we had this good relationship, the first Cuban brigades, dating back to the 70s, that is, practically little more than one year since the proclamation of the Republic. It is also important that we defended them as founding members of the African Union. We have condemned the blockade. It is something that Cuba appreciated more than once.7 3 An excerpt from “Dulce es volver siempre a Auserd, Argel, La Habana y Madrid,” by Bahia Mahmud Awah, shared with me after our interview in 2022 in Madrid. Awah wrote this ethnography of his experience returning to Cuba thirty years after having studied university there from 1979-1984. 4 José Martí is a Cuban nationalist poet and political figure, a hero of the independence movement from Spain. 5 Fidel Castro, “Discurso pronunciado en la escuela de estudiantes Namibios Hendrick Witbool, el 8 de Octubre de 1985, con motive de la visita de Robert Mugabe, Primer Ministro de Zimbabwe,” October 8 th, 1985, Fidel Castro, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 6 Yahdih Sidihamad, interview with author, May 14th, 2023, Havana, Cuba. 7 Bah Hassena Eida, interview with author, May 14th, 2023, Havana, Cuba. 45 The students articulate the solidarity felt between the two countries based on shared struggles and through championing each other’s revolutions. This support is sustained through demanding justice for each other in international forums. It is important to note that ever since the US economic embargo against Cuba, few countries have spoken out against it. At the U.N. General Assembly, the US and Israel consistently block any potential vote to condemn the embargo.8 Support at U.N. General Assemblies is understood by Cuba as an important demonstration of solidarity. These friendships are grounded at the local level and expressed at the global level through bonds over mutual enemies, shared histories, and empathy.9 This chapter now turns to the significance of Cuba and the SADR as Spanish colonies. The most frequently cited comparisons between the two experiences of colonialism and neo-colonialism appear across much of the solidarity literature produced in both places. These include the following: both experienced dictatorships supported by foreign powers prior to their revolutions, with the Machado and Batista dictatorship in Cuba, and the Franco dictatorship ruling over the Spanish Sahara; both countries have enjoyed strong relationships with Algeria; both consider themselves to be Non-Aligned nations; both countries engage or have engaged in guerilla warfare directly or indirectly against imperialism; and both are at times dismissed, ignored, and undermined by most globally-dominant capitalist countries. Furthermore, both governments promote the necessity of education, the universal right to healthcare, and internationalist solidarity and list these among the most important requisites to achieving liberation and generating alliances. These parallels are not merely imagined, but as will be 8 “U.N. votes to end US embargo on Cuba; US and Israel oppose,” Reuters, November 2nd, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/un-votes-end-us-embargo-cuba-us-israel-oppose-2023-11-02/ 9 Jessica Stites Mor, ed., Human Rights and Transnational Solidarity in Cold War Latin America (University of Wisconsin Press, 2013), 3, https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/94/2/332/11114/Human-Rights-and-Transnational-Solidarity-in-Cold. 46 discussed below, are experienced as commonalities between the two revolutionary governments and peoples. The following sections provide historical background on the Cuban and Saharawi revolutions, explaining the similarities that would be recounted between the two countries that help explain their longstanding revolutionary friendship since 1975. The chapter concludes with a section on the visual and narrative production that accompanied the political gestures of the Cuban state toward the Saharawi cause. Firstly, while having quite different colonial histories, Cuba and the Western Sahara were both governed by Spain for many decades, creating a shared relationship to Hispanophone language and culture. In the wake of the Cuban and Saharawi independence struggles, Spain also let both Cuba and the Spanish Sahara fall into the hands of the United States. As a result, the Saharawi and Cuban revolutions share certain qualities, both rooted in a shared colonial and neocolonial past, and the painful and proud memories of the independence struggles. They both also created close ties to the leadership of the Algerian national liberation struggle, which was one of the earliest successful efforts at decolonization in Africa. Algeria was Cuba’s bridge into Africa in the early 1960s, and Algeria has been the host and protector of the SADR since 1975. This section aims to construct a narrative of regional history that extends beyond the confines of the Cold War. Both the Cuban and Saharawi revolutionary struggles are often oversimplified as mere by-products or manifestations of the broader conflict between communism and capitalism in the 20th century. Delving into their pre-revolutionary histories, both revolutionary movements can be observed to be deeply rooted to interconnected and multifaceted historical contexts that transcend the binary framework of the Cold War. 47 Colonial Pasts: Cuba (1511-1898) and Spanish Sahara (1476-1958) The establishment of Spanish settlements on what are now the islands of Cuba commenced in 1511, following Christopher Columbus’s arrival in 1492.10 This marked the beginning of the enslavement and systematic decimation of the Indigenous Taíno, Guanahatabey, and Siboney peoples. As Spanish settlements expanded, so did the demand for enslaved Africans, leading to a brutal trade that further fueled the island’s plantation economy. The Spanish not only exploited the Indigenous populations of the archipelago but also engaged in the abduction of Indigenous people from neighboring regions to supplement their labor force.11 Sugar and tobacco became increasingly lucrative trades. However, pockets of resistance emerged. Indigenous survivors and runaway enslaved Africans sought refuge in palenques, self-sustaining communities that served as bastions of defiance against colonial rule.12 These palenques laid the groundwork for later resistance movements that emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries. The first to organise against Spain and in search of freedom in Cuba were Afro-Cuban rebels. Turning to the case of the territory now known as Western Sahara, Spain’s presence in Africa dates to the building of fort Santa Cruz Mar Pequeña, close to Akhfennir, in the Tarfaya Province, in Morocco, in 1476.13 The importance of the settlement was derived from its position in the trans-Saharan slave trade, where captives were shipped to sugar plantations on the Canary Islands.14 By 1860, Spanish sovereignty over the enclave of Ifni was recognized by the Moroccan Sultan and other European powers, and Ceuta and Melilla, two 10 Richard Gott, Cuba: A New History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), 11. 11 Gott, 18. 12 Gott, 8. 13 Thomas A. Marks, “Spanish Sahara--Background to Conflict,” African Affairs 75, no. 298 (January 1976): 3, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a096697. 14 Josep Lluís Mateo Dieste, “«Asuntos negros.” Las autoridades españolas frente a la esclavitud y el servilismo en los territorios del Sáhara Occidental (1934-1957),” Historia y Política: Ideas, Procesos y Movimientos Sociales, no. 44 (November 19, 2020): 275–304, https://doi.org/10.18042/hp.44.10. 48 cities bordering Morocco were recognized as “autonomous cities” of Spain after Moroccan independence in 1956.15 Ultimately, it was Europe’s late nineteenth-century colonization in Africa that renewed Spanish interest in the Spanish Saharan region. In this period of the 1880s, Europeans raced to claim treaties and paper deeds, mostly made under false pretenses, to govern vast African territories. Spain, having lost most of its territories in the New World wanted to begin claiming larger parts of Africa and participate in the European competition for lucrative colonial acquisitions.16 During this decade, British businessmen in East Africa produced 389 treaties that allegedly attested to the signing over of indigenous leaders’ sovereignty.17 These questionable treaties were a prelude to the establishment of brutal European colonization that followed by the 1890s and early 1900s. As historian Steven Press argues, these treaties can be characterized as “lawfare,” a cynical manipulation of the rule of law, using legal instruments to undermine an opponent.18 In the case of the Saharan territory, in 1884, one month before the Berlin Conference, Antonio Cánovas, leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister of the Spanish monarch Alfonso XII, sent an expedition to the Sahara. Under the command of Emilio Bonelli, three ships, an Arabist and a lieutenant captain were sent by Spain to colonize the Río de Oro peninsula.19 Bonelli convinced coastal factions of the Oulad 15 The Ifni War, also known as the Forgotten War in Spain, was a conflict that began in October 1957 with Moroccan insurgents’ incursions into Spanish West Africa, culminating in the siege of Sidi Ifni. Spanish forces eventually drove the Moroccans out of Spanish Sahara by February 1958. The Treaty of Angra de Cintra, signed in April 1958, transferred Cape Juby and most of the Ifni territory to Morocco, with Sidi Ifni remaining under Spanish possession until 1969. Ceuta and Melilla are “autonomous cities” of Spain. In 1688, Ceuta remained under Spanish control after the union between Portugal and Spain ends. In 1936, Melilla became the first Spanish town in which the military garrison revolts against the Popular Front Government at the start of the Spanish Civil War. In 1956, Spain retained Ceuta and Melilla after Morocco became independent. 16 Steven Press, Rogue Empires: Contracts and Conmen in Europe’s Scramble for Africa (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2017). 17 Press, 4–5. 18 Press, Rogue Empires, 5. 19 Tomás Bárbulo, La Historia Prohibida Del Sáhara Español: Las Claves Del Conflicto Que Condiciona Las Relaciones Entre España y El Magreb (Barcelona: Ediciones Destino, 2002). 49 Delim tribe to recognize Spanish monarchy as an administrative power.20 This agreement was misrepresented as a cooperation treaty to Saharawi leaders.21 One month later, the document was presented at the Berlin Conference as evidence of Spanish administrative rights over of the territory. In 1900, France and Spain ratified the Paris Convention, delineating the borders of Western Sahara. Upon reaching the Río de Oro region, later named Dakhla, the Spanish encountered a tribal society governed by multiple tribal factions.22 Within this society, Islamic laws wielded notable political sway, with the Reguibat tribe holding substantial influence owing to its numerous factions and predominant population. Despite its original purpose of fostering Saharawi unity, the tribal system underwent manipulation by the Spanish to ensure the allegiance and collaboration of tribal leaders, particularly the chiuj (tribal head), thereby compromising its integrity.23 Noteworthy is the practice within nomadic Saharawi tribal society in which social and military issues were discussed in broader communal gatherings among tribes. Interestingly, while Saharawis were officially colonised by Spain, most of the Saharawi resistance to colonial penetration, some thirty years of struggle, was targeted against France, since the Spanish Sahara was surrounded by French colonies, and the French and Spanish at times fought over the territories and at times collaborated to repress indigenous resistance. This Saharawi resistance was fought out of patriotic solidarity with 20 Tomás Bárbulo, La Historia Prohibida Del Sáhara Español: Las Claves Del Conflicto Que Condiciona Las Relaciones Entre España y El Magreb (Barcelona: Ediciones Destino, 2002), 29. 21 Ahmed Baba Miské, Front POLISARIO: L’âme d’un Peuple (Paris: Éditions Rupture, 1978). 22 Tony Hodges, The Western Saharans, Reports/Minority Rights Group 40 (London: Minority Rights Group, 1984), 11. 23 Ozman AHMED Bahiya, “Antecedentes de Las Relaciones Entre Cuba y La RASD (1975-1980),” (Master’s thesis, Poitiers, France, University of Poitiers, Forthcoming). 50 other Muslims, Arabs, and Africans against French, Spanish, and any European invasion, ideologically partly inspired by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.24 In the initial phase of resistance during the colonial era, the indigenous people of Western Sahara actively engaged in combat against European colonizers. This resistance was quelled by Spain, the governing authority of the region, by the end of 1935, with the establishment of military outposts along the borders with French colonies. A subsequent wave of resistance emerged, influenced by liberation movements in the Maghreb. Between 1956 and 1957, a jihad movement25 advocating anti-colonial ideology, known as the Liberation Army and led by Moroccan nationalist Ben Hamu, gained momentum. Saharawi and Mauritanian guerrillas participated, but the movement was suppressed through a joint Spanish-French military operation in 1958 (referred to as Operation Hurricane or Écouvillon). This escalation prompted Spain to hand over the coastal city of Villa Bens, known also as Tarfaya, to Morocco in 1958 and eventually relinquish Sidi Ifni in 1968 as part of the broader decolonization process. According to Ahmed Baba Miské, the transfer of Villa Bens was seen as a tactic to divert attention from the weakening resistance movement.26 Tomás Bárbulo views it as a catalyst for Morocco to imagine the possibility of its own expansionist ambitions, the “Greater Morocco” project. This impulse was evidenced by the intense pressure and lobbying the Moroccan King Hassan II launched to convince Spain to relinquish the Spanish Sahara to Morocco.27 24 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938; Miské, Front POLISARIO: L’âme d’un Peuple, 89. 25 In his context, jihad refers to a holy war against infidels, which in this case were European invaders. Jihad also refers to the internal struggle for self-improvement, such as battling one’s inner evils, propagating Islam, and fostering moral improvement within the Muslim community. While associated with armed conflict, it also denotes non-violent endeavors. In classical Islamic law, jihad involves armed struggle against non-believers, while modern interpretations often emphasize defensive warfare. Sufi teachings prioritize spiritual and moral jihad. 26 Ahmed Baba Miské, Front POLISARIO: L’âme d’un Peuple, (Paris: Éditions Rupture, 1978). 110–11. 27 Bárbulo, La Historia Prohibida Del Sáhara Español: Las Claves Del Conflicto Que Condiciona Las Relaciones Entre España y El Magreb, 176. 51 Independence Struggles and Neocolonialism Among Spanish colonies in the New World, Cuba was integral to the production and trade of goods, and a key port to funnel resources across the Atlantic. The end of colonialism in the Caribbean was preceded by several confrontations between the Spanish colonial army and Cuban independence movements. Between 1790 to 1820, more than 325,000 Africans were enslaved and imported to Cuba.28 In 1868, planter Carlos Manuel de Céspedes freed his slaves in order to fight with him for an independent Cuba in a rebellion that led to the Ten Years War, in which Dominican rebels volunteered, alongside Chinese indentured servants, and numerous enslaved people and free people of color.29 While the war failed to accomplish true liberation, slavery was finally abolished in 1886, after decades of Afro-Cubans fighting alongside other freedom-seeking groups. A ‘patronage law’ in 1880 granted eventual freedom to slaves but obliged them to continue working for their former owners for six more years.30 The demand for cheap labor never abated, and plantation owners sought other ways of obtaining workers. The Cuban War of Independence endured for three decades, characterized by incremental gains as the independentists gradually undermined Spanish control. An important aspect of the independence wars is that many citizens of other countries helped liberate Cuba, such as Dominicans (Modesto Díaz, Luis Marcano, Máximo Gómez), Americans (Henry Reeve), Canadians (William Ryan), and a Polish man (Carlos Roloff).31 Today, these facts are shared in Cuba to support Cuban internationalism, arguing that without internationalists 28 Ada Ferrer, Freedom’s Mirror: Cuba and Haiti in the Age of Revolution, 1st ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2014), 36, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139333672. 29 Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, “Freedom and Slavery,” in Aviva Chomsky et al., The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Duke University Press, 2003), 115–17. 30 Gott, Cuba, 81. 31 Marie Michèle Grenon, “Cuban Internationalism and Contemporary Humanitarianism: History, Comparison and Perspectives,” International Journal of Cuban Studies 8, no. 2 (December 1, 2016): 201–2, https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.8.2.0200. 52 helping Cuba, their independence might not have been secured. Despite initiatives such as the autonomy law and initial free elections, Cubans remained steadfast in its pursuit of complete independence. José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party from exile in New York in 1892.32 The aim of the party was to achieve full Cuban independence from Spain. The Cuban War of Independence also known in Cuba as “The Necessary War” fought from 1895 to 1898, was the last of three wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years’ War (1868–1878) and the Little War (1879–1880). The final three months of this conflict escalated to become the Spanish-American War, which expanded as the United States deployed its military to three of Spain’s colonies, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands. The expansion of conflict due to U.S. intervention thwarted the Liberation Army’s conclusive push against Spanish colonial rule, marking the culmination of Cuba’s struggle for sovereignty.33 North American intervention forced the Spanish withdrawal from the island in 1898. A United States Congress declared that the people of Cuba should be free and independent and demanded that Spain renounce its sovereignty over its positions in the Caribbean. Consequently, Spain lost its remaining colonies in the Pacific (the Philippines, Guam) and in the Caribbean (Cuba and Puerto Rico). The Treaty of Paris marked the conclusion of the Spanish-Cuban-North American War, resulting in the transfer of Cuba’s custody not to its own people, who had fought three bloody wars for independence, but to the United States, ushering in a new era of Cuban history characterized by American dominance and influence. 32 José Julián Martí Pérez (1853–1895) was a Cuban nationalist, poet, philosopher, and political theorist, celebrated for his pivotal role in Cuba’s liberation from Spanish rule. A prominent figure in Latin American literature, Martí's writings and activism inspired the Cuban War of Independence. His legacy extends beyond his death, as his works continue to shape Cuban politics and culture, with his verses from “Versos Sencillos” immortalized in the iconic song “Guantanamera.” 33 Marifeli Pérez-Stable, The Cuban revolution: origins, development and legacy (Madrid: Colibrí, 1998), 74-83. 53 Under a military government established by the United States on the island in 1899, significant measures were implemented, including the disarmament of the population and the dismantling of the Liberation Army. These measures were intended to ready the way for the United States to begin exploiting the island’s resources and controlling its politics. As a result, vast tracts of land were allocated to foreign businessmen and exploited by American companies. Cuba served as a conduit for extending the United States’ economic and political interests, particularly in Central and South America, including in Panama, Honduras, and Nicaragua. US intervention in Cuba from 1898 onwards became a recurring problem. Turning to the case of the Spanish Sahara, Spain’s minimal coastal occupation was recognized by European and US diplomats as extending into the interior. In 1884, the 14 signatory parties attending the Chancellor of Germany Otto von Bismarck’s Berlin Conference, declared Spanish Sahara to be a protectorate and granting Spain the administration of the territories of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro. The modern borders of Spanish Sahara were defined through a series of French-Spanish agreements between 1900 and 1912, establishing de jure a Spanish Zone of influence in northern and southern Morocco, both zones being de facto under Spanish control, while France was still regarded as the protecting power of Morocco as it was the sole occupying power to sign the Treaty of Fes.34 Between 1884 and 1958, the territory now making up Western Sahara was known as the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara. This nomenclature changed between 1958 and 1976, when it became the Province of the Sahara.35 General Franco declared the then Spanish Sahara as a Spanish province number 53, due to UN pressure beginning in February 1956 to 34 Stephen Zunes and Jacob Mundy, Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution, 1st ed., Book, Whole (Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2010), 100.” 3. 35 Ojeda-Garcia, Fernández-Molina, and Veguilla, Global, Regional and Local Dimensions of Western Sahara’s Protracted Decolonization, 250. 54 carry out a process of decolonization of the territory.36 After 1958, the Spanish began occupying the inland territory and settling the main cities: Dakhla, Laayoune, and La Güera.37 Spain’s primary interest in the territory was to establish an economic presence.38 The establishment of fish processing factories within the Saharawi territory created opportunities for profitable agreements, as did the discovery of phosphates. These findings facilitated the extension of the Spanish sphere of influence. The forced shift towards a non-nomadic lifestyle among the indigenous Saharawi population, coupled with the inability to practice their traditional way of living, necessitated closer relations with the Spanish. The assimilation into the Spanish colonial economy was hindered, however, by the colonists limiting the Saharawi population’s access to education and necessary knowledge of the region’s abundant natural resources from which the Spanish were fabulously profiting. Particularly among the youth, Saharawis saw no future under Spanish rule, with major concerns regarding salary, education, and housing. The Era of African Decolonization Until the late-1950s most Saharawis were still nomadic. Their lives began to change rapidly when the territory’s rich mineral resources became known to Europeans and Americans. The Western Sahara has rich iron ore and phosphate deposits onshore, and oil reserves offshore. It is also one of the best fishing zones in the world, unexploited by the Saharawis at the time. The economic changes of the 1960s and early-1970s brought about the rapid modernization of Saharawi society in the Spanish administrative villages; a majority of the population became sedentary, while the urban population expanded. Further inspired by Moroccan and Algerian radicals who had brought about independence in 1956, Saharawis 36 Martín, Western Sahara, 64. 37 Marks, “Spanish Sahara: Background to the Conflict,” 3–4. 38 Ojeda-Garcia, Fernández-Molina, and Veguilla, Global, Regional and Local Dimensions of Western Sahara’s Protracted Decolonization, 262. 55 rebelled against the French and Spanish in the region. By 1971, the anti-colonial movement was more effectively organized, largely by Saharawis living in Morocco and Mauritania, and those that had studied abroad. However, Franco turned a deaf ear and argued that after converting it into a province the Sahara was already a Spanish territory and not autonomous. Despite repeated insistence by the UN to resolve the independence of the territory, such as resolution 1514 entitled the “Declaration on the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples” of 1960, the resolution 2072 “Question of Ifni and the Spanish Sahara” of 1965, among many others, the territory has yet to be decolonised.39 In 1974, a Saharawi National Union Party was set up by Franco’s regime, and Spain announced a self-determination referendum. The King of Morocco, Hassan II, decided to present the case of the Sahara to the Court of the Hague in the Netherlands. In May of 1975, a UN Commission visited the Sahara. The Hague ruled that the Sahara did not have sovereign ties to Morocco or Mauritania and Hassan II organized the Green March, sending 350,000 Moroccans to enter the Spanish Sahara, falsely claiming that the ruling of the Hague was in his favor.40 On October 12th of 1975, the Polisario proclaimed a national unity of lands and tribes in the face of the incoming Moroccan invasion. The Madrid Agreements were then signed, whereby Spain abandoned the Sahara on November 14th, 1975, and the Sahara was divided between Morocco and Mauritania. The Spanish civilian population was evacuated in late November, and in November and December, the Moroccans and Mauritanians began invading. The Polisario then began organizing a mass exodus to Algeria. On February 27th, 1976, the SADR was proclaimed by the Polisario Front in Bir Lehlu, near the Mauritanian border, in front of a group of international journalists. The next day, the Spanish flag was lowered in Laâyoune (El Aaiún), the largest city in the Saharan territory. 39 Zunes, “Western Sahara, Resources, and International Accountability,” 287. 40 Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara, 5. 56 During this period of intense conflict, the Ford administration,41 supported by Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State, worked behind the scenes to support Hassan II’s interests. In turn, the interests of the US, France, and generally “Western intelligence agencies,” sought to ensure that Algeria, the Soviet Union, and Cuba did not gain access to the resource rich territory, having identified the Polisario Front as a subversive “revolutionary movement.”42 Figure 1.2. Map of Western Sahara. Kmusser, CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons 41 Gerald Ford’s tenure as the 38th president of the United States began on August 9, 1974, upon the resignation of President Richard Nixon, and ended on January 20, 1977. Gerald Ford was a Republican from Michigan. 42 See Pablo San Martín, Western Sahara: The Refugee Nation (University of Wales Press, 2010), 125-140, for a thorough discussion of the horrors of the Moroccan and Mauritanian occupation, and the early formation of the SADR refugee camps. 57 Figure 1.3. Map of Saharawi refugee camps. OpenStreetMap contributors, GrandEscogriffe, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Fears of the Green March triggered many activities in the UN Security Council and implicated several other member states. The drama further incapacitated General Franco when on October 17th, the Spanish cabinet split into two camps, one side hoping to negotiate with Morocco and the other factions seeking UN intervention. Resoundingly, the UN failed to act, and pro-Moroccan formations won.43 Greater Morocco had become central to national identity, Moroccan royal legitimacy was reasserted, and Western Sahara became the nucleus of this movement. On October 31, 1975, the Moroccan military entered the northeast region of the Spanish Sahara where they met the Polisario. The war of attrition would last over 15 43 Zunes, “Western Sahara, Resources, and International Accountability,” 40. 58 years, from 1975 to 1991.44 After the 1991 cease-fire, the “peace process” became war by other means, and the armed war would resume in 2020.45 The inadequate management of the Franco government, under pro-Moroccan “ultraconservative” Carlos Arias Navarro,46 in 1975 also left the decolonization process unresolved and fomented the ongoing conflict. In that same year, the Moroccan Army resorted to napalm bombings in the Saharawi territory.47 A segment of the Saharawi population fled into the desert, pursued by aircraft and troops, and another segment stayed, enduring life under Moroccan repressive occupation in the Saharawi territory. The Saharawi population that sought refuge near Tindouf in Algeria, established refugee camps where they have been confined now for almost five decades. By 1980, Morocco physically divided the two segments of the Saharawi population by constructing over 2,000 kilometers of extensive sand and stone walls in the desert, fortified with military technology, mines, and barbed wire.48 This wall separates Moroccan-controlled areas on the west from the Polisario-controlled areas, known to the Saharawi people as the Free Zone or Liberated Territories, on the east. The barrier mine belt that runs along the wall’s structure is thought to be the longest 44 Some estimate that between 6,000-14,000 individuals were killed. This may have included 5,000 Moroccan soldiers, 2,000 Mauritanian soldiers, 4,000 Polisario soldiers, and 3,000 civilians. Some 200,000 individuals were displaced during the conflict. See: University of Central Arkansas, “Morocco/Polisario Front (1976–present),” Political Science - DADM Project, accessed November 12, 2024, https://uca.edu/politicalscience/home/research-projects/dadm-project/middle-eastnorth-africapersian-gulf-region/moroccopolisario-front-1976-present/; Mundy, Jacob. “The Morocco–Polisario war for Western Sahara, 1975–1991.” In Conflict and Insurgency in the Contemporary Middle East, pp. 221-243. Routledge, 2009. 45 Stephen Zunes and Jacob Mundy, Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution, 1st ed., Book, Whole (Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2010). 46 Carlos Arias Navarro (11 December 1908 – 27 November 1989), served as Prime Minister of Spain during the waning years of Francoist rule and the early stages of the country’s transition to democracy. Initially known for his hardline stance and involvement in the White Terror, he later adopted a more moderate approach. However, his tenure was marked by political unrest and resistance to reform, ultimately leading to his resignation in 1976. Arias was close to the right-wing sectors and joined the Francoist side during the Spanish Civil War. He was public prosecutor in the trials set up by the Francoists in Málaga after the conquest of the city. There, he earned the nickname the “Butcher of Málaga” for his role in the imposition of capital punishment to true or perceived sympathizers of the Republicans, in one of the harshest repressions following the Francoist victory, an estimated total of 17,000 people were summarily executed. 47 Zunes and Mundy, Western Sahara, 114. 48 Zunes and Mundy, 20–24. 59 continuous minefield in the world.49 The US and France have provided extensive military support and training, including massive weapons deals, to Morocco, with at times zero restrictions on the use of such weapons.50 Parallel Revolutions Cuban historiography interprets the Cuban revolution as one instance in a longer history of struggle, going all the way back to the first days of anti-colonial struggle against the Spanish.51 A statue of an Indigenous Taíno chieftain named Hatuey in Cuba posits him as the first rebel of America, in which in 1511, he led an armed struggle against Spanish colonists.52 People from all walks of life participated in the Cuban revolution, and while the typical figures of Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos, Raúl Castro, Célia Sánchez, Vilma Espín, Aleida March, and others come to mind, it is important to remember that the burdens, successes, and efforts of many Cubans--peasants, housewives, working class peoples, and more--led to the revolution too, as is the case with the Saharawi revolution. 49 Theofilopoulou, Anna. “United Nations mission for the referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).” (2014). 50 Jacob Mundy, “Neutrality or Complicity? The United States and the 1975 Moroccan Takeover of the Spanish Sahara,” The Journal of North African Studies 11, no. 3 (September 2006): 19, https://doi.org/10.1080/13629380600803001. 51 For histories of the Cuban revolution, see: Aviva Chomsky, The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015); Lillian Guerra, Heroes, Martyrs, and Political Messiahs in Revolutionary Cuba, 1946-1958 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018); Lillian Guerra, Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959-1971, Envisioning Cuba (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012); Pérez, The Structure of Cuban History; Gott, Cuba; José Bell Lara, Tania Caram León, and Delia Luisa López García, Fidel in the Cuban Socialist Revolution: Understanding the Cuban Revolution (1959-1961) (BRILL, 2020), https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004415737; Samuel Farber, The Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered, Envisioning Cuba (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006); Takkara K. Brunson, Black Women, Citizenship, and the Making of Modern Cuba, 1st ed. (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2021). 52 Aviva Chomsky, A History of the Cuban Revolution (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011), 18. 60 Numerous works have examined the Cuban revolution.53 Richard Gott theorizes that many regions of Latin America remain “white settler” societies.54 However, as a revolutionary state, Cuba has, in principle, built upon and integrated into its socio-political framework the inclusive visions of earlier social movements led by figures such as Simón Bolívar, José Martí, Simón Rodríguez, and others. These movements sought to acknowledge and empower Black and Indigenous peoples, who comprise a significant proportion of Latin America’s population. Today, despite the rhetoric of mestizaje (racial mixture), most of Latin America’s dominant elites continue to be the descendants of the white settler culture that was developed and refined during the nineteenth century. This white settler culture and coloniality55 is frequently very hostile to social movements that draw on the inclusive banners of previous movements. For example, Gott argues that the “sudden social and political advance of [Afro-Cubans] after 1959 had been a matter of considerable alarm to Cuba’s dominant white settler elite,” factoring into their vicious hatred of Castro.56 The Saharawi liberation movement was also drawing upon and incorporating pre-existing social movements, and self-described as “Arab, African [and] Non-Aligned” in the Proclamation of the Independence of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.57 Ahmed Baba Miské argues that the exemplary sacrifices of Vietnamese people and Palestinian people were fervently attended by Saharawi and Mauritanian fighters. He says, “[w]e discovered 53 Gott, Cuba; Guerra, Heroes, Martyrs, and Political Messiahs in Revolutionary Cuba, 1946-1958; Guerra, Visions of Power in Cuba; Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History (Simon and Schuster, 2021). 54 Gott, Richard. “Latin America as a white settler society.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 26, no. 2 (2007): 269-289. 55 Aníbal Quijano, the Peruvian sociologist, has conceptualised ‘colonialidad’ or ‘coloniality’, where societies retain or assume the characteristics of colonialism. See: Quijano, A. (2001) Colonialidad del poder: globalización y democracia. Sociedad y Política Ediciones: Lima. 56 While Cuba today can still be considered within the framework of a white settler society, the revolutionary state has radically re-envisioned and incorporated calls from past social movements to create a more inclusive country. See Gott, Richard. “Latin America as a white settler society.” Bulletin of Latin American Research 26, no. 2 (2007): 271. 57 Claude Bontems, “The Government of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic,” Third World Quarterly 9, no. 1 (January 1987): 168–86, https://doi.org/10.1080/01436598708419967. 61 Afro-Asianism, the Bandung spirit, non-alignment (understood in an offensive sense[…]), Third World and African solidarity.”58 Historical precursors of Saharawi nationalism included movements that resisted Spanish colonisation, and movements from those who gained working-class consciousness among Saharawi wage labourers in Spanish mining camps.59 The influence of Saharawis who earned degrees abroad in Pan-Arabist and socialist countries and the growth of organised temporary camps of displaced Saharawis fleeing Moroccan and Mauritanian military advances in the 1970s also paved the way for Saharawis to appeal to popular notions of national liberation. The earliest documented pro-independence movement among Saharawi actors arose in 1957-58 after fourteen thousand Spanish and French troops were deployed to violently put down rebellions in the Spanish Sahara.60 These movements paved the way for the Advanced Organization of the Sahara, a movement led by Mohamed Bassiri, as Saharawis sought to become architects of their own political, economic, social, and cultural administration.61 This desire was particularly strong among the educated student segment of the Saharawi population, who had access to educational opportunities not available to previous generations.62 Muhammad Bassiri was the first Saharawi to speak publicly about Western Saharan nationalism and independence. He studied Che Guevara and Frantz Fanon,63 and later became inspired by Pan-Arabism social movements while he studied Journalism in Marrakesh, Cairo, and Damascus.64 Upon his return to Spanish Sahara, he was said to be the only Saharawi 58 Miské, Front POLISARIO: L’âme d’un Peuple, 115. 59 Tony Hodges, “The Origins of Saharawi Nationalism,” Third World Quarterly 5, no. 1 (January 1983): 28–57, https://doi.org/10.1080/01436598308419678. 60 Hodges, Saharawi Nationalism, 31. 61 Ojeda-Garcia, Fernández-Molina, and Veguilla, Global, Regional and Local Dimensions of Western Sahara’s Protracted Decolonization, 264. 62 Ojeda-Garcia, Fernández-Molina, and Veguilla, 264. 63 Martín, Western Sahara, 141. 64 Hodges, “The Origins of Saharawi Nationalism,” 47. 62 person in the Spanish Sahara with a university degree at the time. Bassiri began organizing the Liberation Movement called Harakat Tahrir, also known as the Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Wadi el Dhaha, from 1966–1969. The movement called for a dissolution of tribes and the creation of a national Saharawi consciousness. It was the first urban-based Saharawi political movement, and it modeled itself after other national liberation movements worldwide. Bassiri stressed non-violence and was influenced by the peaceful struggle of Mahatma Gandhi, hoping to bring about change through negotiations and peaceful protests. However, Bassiri disappeared in 1970, presumed to be killed by the Spanish Legion, for his anti-colonial activities. Movement leader El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed,65 is considered as the Father of the Nation among Saharawis. Sayed was awarded scholarships to attend university in Rabat, Morocco, in 1970. He studied law and political sciences and met other young members of the Saharawi diaspora who were similarly influenced by Leftist radicalism growing in Moroccan universities in the early-1970s and by self-determination appeals across Africa, Asia and the Americas.66 After a Saharawi demonstration in Tan-Tan in June 1972, a group of 20 participants, including Sayed, were detained and tortured by the Moroccan police; after which, he met with other groups of Saharawis from inside Western Sahara, Algeria and Mauritania, and founded the Polisario Front the following year in 1973. The intellectual underpinnings of Polisario’s leadership, Bassiri and Sayed, paralleled that of many Cuban revolutionary thinkers. They were inspired by the ideas of Frantz Fanon and Che Guevara and looked to the agitation in Morocco of movements supporting Mehdi 65 El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed (1949-June 1976) was a Saharawi nationalist leader, co-founder and second Secretary-General of the Polisario Front. He was born in a Saharawi nomad encampment somewhere on the hammada desert plains in eastern Spanish Sahara or northern Mauritania; some sources give his place of birth as Bir Lehlou, a location that is symbolic for the Polisario Front, for being the place of the proclamation of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). 66 Martín, Western Sahara, 102. 63 Ben Barka,67 pan-Arabism inspired by Gaddafism, Nasserism, and the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party in Syria as models of socialist reform. The militants in the camps sought to prefigure an independent future for Saharawis on a democratic, egalitarian society, absent tribalism or slavery. The day of Sayed’s death, June 9th, 1976, was dedicated by the Polisario to honor all Saharawi martyrs in the war of independence. Explaining the origins of Saharawi nationalism helps to frame the insurgent consciousness that Saharawis in the refugee camps of Algeria had in the early years, marked by decades of suffering at the hands of the Spanish, and then the Moroccans and Mauritanians, predisposing them to politically align with revolutionary Cuba and anti-colonial nationalism. This alignment is possible partly, and perhaps mainly, because of the role Algeria played in these struggles. Algeria as Cuba’s Bridge to Africa: Revolutionary Internationalist Solidarity Due to the US trade embargo against Cuba beginning in 1960, Cuba became increasingly isolated and suffered economically. Cuban revolutionary leaders concluded that their best way to generate allies in the anti-imperial world would be to participate in movements of Afro-Asian anti-imperialism, particularly the Non-Aligned Movement. Eventually, this led to hosting the Tricontinental Conference in 1966 in Havana and the foundation of OSPAAAL. The Algerian war against France which began in 1954 and ended with Algerian independence in 1962 significantly shaped events and anti-colonial nationalist sentiments across Afro-Asian organizing spaces. Algeria gained a heroic image in the postcolonial world, as Jeffrey Byrne argues as it fought one of the first anti-colonial wars in Africa and 67 Mehdi Ben Barka (1920 – disappeared 29 October 1965) was a Moroccan nationalist, Arab socialist, politician, revolutionary, anti-imperialist, head of the left-wing National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP) and secretary of the Tricontinental Conference. An opponent of French Imperialism and King Hassan II, he was “disappeared” in Paris in 1965. 64 left at least one million dead.68 By 1961, Algerian guerrillas and members of the “Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic,” were exiled to Tunis and Cairo or imprisoned on a fortified island off the Breton coast.69 Adding to the weight of the struggle, France was also testing its first nuclear weapons in the Sahara.70 Matthew Connelly argues that the Algerians won independence through diplomacy, since the French ceded the land when the Algerian guerilla fighters were at their weakest point. He says, “[f]or weapons the Algerians employed human rights reports, press conferences, and youth congresses, fighting over world opinion and international law more than conventional military objectives.”71 These tactics helped them succeed in forging allies, and, indeed, the guerrilla fighters were able to outlast the French, whose government leaders had increasingly become obsessed with the war’s impact on its international reputation. With Algerian independence, the new nation embraced its heroic image and pursued “Third World” projects such as gaining responsibility in the Non-Aligned Movement72 and the Group of 77,73 a UN coalition which both sought to maximize the influence of once colonized and developing countries in world affairs.74 The Algerians were also instrumental in the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963, which was considered a model for a postcolonial world free from European imperialism and interference. Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria’s first president saw their socialist experiment as an example that others could follow. Algeria became a hotbed of anticolonial solidarity as guerrilla army members, 68 Byrne, Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization and the Third World Order, 2. 69 Matthew James Connelly, A Diplomatic Revolution: Algeria’s Fight for Independence and the Origins of the Post-Cold War Era (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 3. 70 Connelly, 3. 71 Connelly, 4. 72 The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was founded in 1961 with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold War confrontation. In its first three decades, the Movement played a crucial role in decolonization, formation of new independent states, and democratization of international relations. 73 Founded in 1964, the Group of 77 at the United Nations is a coalition of developing countries, designed to promote its members’ collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations. 74 Byrne, Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization and the Third World Order, 2. 65 insurrectionary exiles, members of national liberation movements, anarchists, Trotskyists, revolution-inspired travellers, and more converged in Algeria.75 Amilcar Cabral, the nationalist rebel that sought independence from Portugal for Guinea-Bissau, dubbed Algeria the “Mecca of Revolution.”76 The potential alliance between Morocco and Algeria, both former French colonies in North Africa, took a divergent path, leading to a bitter enmity. Firstly, the Madrid Accords and Morocco’s recolonization of Western Sahara played a pivotal role. The territorial ambitions under the “Greater Morocco” thesis, which included attempts to annex parts of Algerian territory in the Sand War,77 escalated tensions between the two nations. Secondly, external powers, notably Spain, the United States, and France, supported Morocco in its pursuits over the Spanish Sahara. Additionally, the postcolonial ideological divergence between the two nations played a significant role. Algeria’s early shift towards socialist models and a commitment to revolutionary internationalism set it on a course that conflicted with Morocco’s increasingly despotic and monarchical political orientation. This ideological discord exacerbated existing geopolitical tensions, further turning North Africa into a theater for embittered Cold War politics. It was from this context that Cuban revolutionary leaders sought to ally themselves with Algeria, seeing it as a powerful player in a possible new world order. Cuba had already been providing military and civilian assistance to the Algerian National Liberation Front (NLF) and Algeria’s first President, Ahmed Ben Bella from 1961-1965. The Cuban government saw Algeria as their “bridge to Africa.”78 Peiro Gleijeses 75 Byrne, Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization and the Third World Order. 76 Byrne, Mecca of Revolution, 3. 77 The Sand War was a border conflict between Algeria and Morocco fought from September 25 to October 30, 1963, although a formal peace treaty was not signed until February 20, 1964. It resulted largely from the Moroccan government's claim to portions of Algeria's Tindouf and Béchar provinces. The Sand War led to heightened tensions between the two countries for several decades. 78 Byrne, Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization and the Third World Order, 5. 66 argues that “Algeria was Cuba’s first love in Africa,” and as Sussanah Rodriguez Drissi argues, Cuba’s first love in the Arab world.79 Algeria became a key member of the NAM, as a strong supporter of other Arab, African, and Non-Aligned nations independence struggles. Cuba, through its alliance with Algeria from 1961-1965, sought to make connections in the same struggles in which Algeria was involved. One decade later, after ongoing partnerships between Cuba and Algeria, the Polisario Front established the SADR. In the wake of fleeing from Moroccan, Mauritanian, and French armies, they founded refugee camps in the Algerian Saharan desert near Tindouf. Algeria’s hosting of the mostly exiled SADR is one of the key reasons why Cubans came into contact with Saharawi independence leaders. Cuba became involved with the Polisario Front partly as an extension of its longstanding relationship and fascination with Algeria. This interest was even evident in pre-revolutionary Cuba through Bohemia, an anti-Batista magazine, which extensively covered the Algerian War of Independence to covertly critique the Cuban dictatorship under Batista.80 Early in the aftermath of defeating the Batista regime in Cuba, on June 12th, 1959, Castro sent Che Guevara out on a three-month tour of mostly Bandung Pact countries, including Morocco, Sudan, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Yugoslavia, Greece, and the cities of Singapore and Hong Kong. Later, Guevara toured Africa in 1965, delivering a speech at the Second Economic Seminar of Afro-Asian Solidarity on February 24th, 1965, and addressing the United Nations General Assembly on December 11th, 1964.81 Preparing for his involvement in the liberation movement in Congo, which began in April 1965, Che’s participation in the Algiers 79 Susannah Rodríguez Drissi, “Between Orientalism and Affective Identification: A Paradigm and Four Case Studies Towards the Inclusion of the Moor in Cuban Literary and Cultural Studies” (Dissertation, 2012), 148. 80 Rodríguez Drissi, “Between Orientalism and Affective Identification: A Paradigm and Four Case Studies Towards the Inclusion of the Moor in Cuban Literary and Cultural Studies,” 124. 81 Richard L. Harris, “Cuban Internationalism, Che Guevara, and the Survival of Cuba’s Socialist Regime,” Latin American Perspectives 36, no. 3 (May 2009): 34, https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X09334165. 67 conference reflected Cuba’s relationship to the Global South. Che had outlined the experiences of the Cuban Revolution, explaining that he had accepted the invitation to attend “only in order to offer a little history of our economic development, of our mistakes and successes, which might prove useful to you some time in the near future....”82 Cuba’s active engagement with Algeria underscored the revolutionary leaders’ aspiring to a greater role in Afro-Asian anti-colonial movements. Algeria had become a vanguard of revolutionary movements that Cuba actively sought to engage with and establish links. Thus, Cuba’s friendship with Algeria predetermined their friendship with the SADR. Solidarity as Political Friendship Thomas Brønd argues that political friendships as an analytic category has often been overlooked in studies of social movements, civil society, and political organizing more generally.83 Tribe, kin, and family have long been concepts used by anthropologists to explain what people do in “other” societies and how those societies are composed.84 Friendship institutes, centers, and societies have long existed, yet little research exists in thinking about political friendship in many relevant contexts. For example, Michelle Obeid remarked in 2010 that “[l]iterature on friendship as an analytical category, but also as an ethnographic subject in Arab contexts, is almost non-existent.”85 Even more recent work on Islamic leisure and social 82 Because Latin America experienced colonialism and wars for independence dating to the 1400s, and then US imperialism and neocolonialism in the late 1800s, Cuban revolutionary leaders argued that they could provide expertise to Global South leaders in warding off new forms of cultural and economic neocolonialism. See: David Deutschmann, Che Guevara Reader (Ocean Press), 457. 83 Thomas Vladimir Brønd, “The Most Beautiful Friendship: Revolution, War and Ends of Social Gravity in Syria,” Middle East Critique 26, no. 3 (July 3, 2017): 283–96, https://doi.org/10.1080/19436149.2017.1331517. 84 Abu-Lughod, Lila. “Zones of Theory in the Anthropology of the Arab World.” Annual review of anthropology 18, no. 1 (1989): 271-275; Brendan Hokowhitu et al., eds., Routledge Handbook of Critical Indigenous Studies (Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, 2021). 85 M. Obeid (2010) Friendship, Kinship and Sociality in a Lebanese Town, in Desai & Kilick (eds) The Ways of Friendship, pp. 93–114; Other scholars that have contributed to thinking about political friendships include: S. Bell & S. Coleman (eds) (1999) The Anthropology of Friendship (Oxford and New York: Berg); A. Desai & E. Killick (eds) (2010) The Ways of Friendship; Gandhi, Leela. Affective communities: Anticolonial thought, fin-de-siècle radicalism, and the politics of friendship. Duke University Press, 2006. 68 movement mobilization in the Middle East do not consider friendship as an analytical category.86 Thomas Brønd argues that revolutionary friendship, as a mode of sociality, may seem mundane, romanticized, or even irrelevant when analysing social movements, including Arab revolutions, yet his findings present friendship as a mode of sociality that is instrumental in forming revolutionary subjectivities.87 This conception of political friendship in establishing civil society bonds beyond kindship helps to frame not only the work of organizations like the Cuban Institute of Friendship but also the friendship societies with and in Cuba, as zones of intercultural political relationship building. When the ICAP invites Polisario and SADR delegations to visit Cuba and hosts cinema events, cultural competitions, award ceremonies, discussions, chats over cafecito (Cuban coffee), and other events, the notion of friendship takes on new relevance in solidarity building. There are tensions and power dynamics to these revolutionary relationships, too, as is the case between Cuba and the SADR. However, as Jacques Derrida theorized regarding political friendships, these political tensions may also be what nurtures the connection between them.88 Thus, friendship can be a defining moment in shaping, framing, and explaining solidarity in which relations are based on a recognition of inequality alongside a desire for equality. Since friendship is an intimate formative experience that can occur across all sectors of society, the concept of friendship also helps define political relationships that transcend state diplomacy. Friendship among different Cuban internationalists, such as host families in Cuba and the SADR, patients of Cuban doctors, students of Cuban teachers, and Cuban and Saharawi people who meet each other socially, also create a foundation that grounds and strengthens broader state solidarity. 86 L. Deeb & M. Harb (2014) Leisurely Islam: Negotiating Geography and Morality in Shi’ite South Beirut (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press); J. Beinin & F. Vairel (eds) (2013) Social Movements, Mobilization, and Contestation in the Middle East and North Africa 2nd ed. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press). 87 Brønd, “The Most Beautiful Friendship,” 286. 88 Brønd, “The Most Beautiful Friendship,” 288. 69 As a political resource, friendly relations can be extremely threatening to people who stand to lose from alliances between those who are jointly oppressed by them.89 Much of Cuban visual and textual communication is anchored in this realization. Like most political diplomacy during the Cold War, with its shifting alliances and at times dangerous friendships, the optics of friendship were carefully managed and at times concealed depending on political strategy. Cuba, as a relatively small country in the Cold War sphere, has played an outsized role partly due to the ability to generate political friendships, circulate images of friendship and alliance, and South-South solidarity. Visual compositions of friendship help to show the world, and particularly the US, that Cuba had friends all over the world and was part of a bloc of power in the Non-Aligned Movement grounded in authentic relationships. These friendships were based on common struggles rather than patronage, as often define North-South relationships. The following section examines how part of Cuba’s focus on friendship is rooted in the Soviet Union’s articulation and practice of revolutionary friendship, too. A precondition of interaction within internationalist friendships is thus that differences are accepted, which was an idea rooted in treaties and agreements, but also in past interactions that had strengthened mutual trust first between peoples in the USSR.90 Florin and Zeller argue that in the Soviet Union, normative concepts of internationalism referred to relationships expressed in the language of “people’s friendship” in which friendship presupposes “the existence of distinct personalities, usually from different families or (biological) kin groups, who interact, sympathize with, and trust each other.”91 The Friendship Schools in Moscow in the early 1960s were a series of international schools 89 Shai Zamir, “Debating Friendship in Seventeenth-Century Lima, 1678–1681,” Colonial Latin American Review 32, no. 3 (July 3, 2023): 415, https://doi.org/10.1080/10609164.2023.2246840. 90 Moritz Florin and Manfred Zeller, “Soviet Transnationalism: Urban Milieus, Deterritorialization, and People’s Friendship in the Late Soviet Union,” Ab Imperio 2018, no. 4 (2018): 131–46, https://doi.org/10.1353/imp.2018.0095. 91 Florin and Zeller, “Soviet Transnationalism,” 136. 70 established by the Soviet government as part of its efforts to promote Soviet-style education and culture internationally,92 as well as the “new historic community” that the Soviet Union promoted.93 The notion of internationalism from the Soviet Union also helps to ground the notion of political friendship that Cuba operates with, in which differences are accepted among people interacting in mutual solidarity. Sociologists of friendship have noted that equality is the main constitutive feature of true friendship.94 Thus, we can see that the ideological promotion of friendship in the Soviet Union, and Cuba, as the basis of relations between Cuba and the SADR, reinforces their campaigns of equality and brotherhood underlying internationalist politics which continues today. Revolutionary upheaval gives birth to a new type of “brotherhood.”95 Both Cuba and the SADR witnessed these radical dissolutions of pre-existing bonds and the concerted effort to generate new types of local and distant friendships. The Polisario sought to dissolve tribal relations in order to generate new bonds based on shared struggle among Saharawi people, so as to avoid divisions and hierarchies that would impede the sustainability and growth of the revolution.96 The Cuban revolutionary leaders sought to dissolve class, racial, and gender relations that existed prior to the revolution as well as the divide between rural and urban folks, so as to promote greater equality among the new revolutionary Cubans. The final section of this chapter will draw on visual sources to further 92 Riikkamari Johanna Muhonen, “‘Good Friends’ for the Soviet Union : The Peoples’ Friendship University in Soviet Educational Cooperation with the Developing World, 1960-1980,” 2022, https://doi.org/10.14754/CEU.2022.05. 93 Tillett Lowell, The Great Friendship: Soviet Historians on the Non-Russian Nationalities (University of North Carolina Press, 1969). 94 Leela Gandhi, “Affective Communities: Anticolonial Thought, Fin-de-Siecle Radicalism, and the Politics of Friendship” (Duke University Press, 2006), https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822387657; Brønd, “The Most Beautiful Friendship”; Sorcha Thomson, “Worldmaking in the Palestinian Radio Stations (1965–1982): Revolutionary Love and Anticolonial Afterlives,” The Global South, no. 2 (n.d.): 19. 95 Brønd, “The Most Beautiful Friendship," 289. 96 Alice Wilson, Sovereignty in Exile: A Saharan Liberation Movement Governs, The Ethnography of Political Violence (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016), 10. 71 illustrate the conceptualization of the relationship between Saharawi and Cuban revolutionary struggles. Nations are “imagined communities” cultivated through shared narratives, mythologies of resistance, and publications that evoke a collective identity and bind disparate individuals into a unified national entity.97 Central to this nationalism is “deep, horizontal comradeship,” and a sense of fraternity that transcends social, economic, or geographic divides.98 This comradeship forms a unifying psychological and emotional force among citizens, who may never meet yet feel connected enough to imagine themselves part of the same community, willing to sacrifice for one another. In the case of revolutionary movements like Cuba’s solidarity with distant anti-colonial or socialist movements, “horizontal comradeship” develops based upon revolutionary ideals rather than on shared citizenship.99 Shared visual and verbal languages, shared readings, and collective memories further cement these bonds that resemble friendship in its deep sense of emotional loyalty and ideological alignment. This friendship is evident in numerous cultural and governmental institutions promoting internationalist solidarity in Cuba. 97 Anderson, Benedict. 2016. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London, England: Verso Books. 98 Anderson, Benedict. 2016. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London, England: Verso Books, 7. 99 For postcolonial critiques of Anderson’s work, and discussions on the processes of rebuilding national cultures and solidarities after colonisation see: Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994. Chatterjee, Partha. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Princeton University Press, 1993. Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Translated by Richard Philcox. Grove Press, 2004. Mbembe, Achille. On the Postcolony. University of California Press, 2001. Said, Edward. Orientalism. Pantheon Books, 1978. Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” In Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader, edited by Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman, 66-111. Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1993; Gandhi, Leela. Affective communities: Anticolonial thought, fin-de-siècle radicalism, and the politics of friendship. Duke University Press, 2006. 72 Grassroots and Governmental Friendship The Cuban national film institute (Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos, ICAIC), produced a newsreel in 1982 with a section dedicated to Saharawi former Polisario Secretary General and first SADR president Mohamed Abdelaziz’s visit to Cuba. Abdelaziz visited Havana and the Isle of Youth, hugging Fidel Castro upon his arrival, and received the Order of Playa Girón award, which recognized his leadership and military actions against imperialism and his contributions to world peace.100 ICAIC newsreels were produced weekly from 1960 to 1990 and represent an extensive record of the Cuban political process with 1,490 regular editions, each averaging about ten minutes in length.101 They were shown each week in Cuban theaters before the main feature, and some Cubans went to the cinema specifically to revel in the newsreels. The appearance of Mohamed Abdelaziz visiting Cuba in a newsreel is an important indication of the Cuban government’s desire to foster support at home for the SADR. In the background of the newsreel clip is a song in Spanish which is about sovereignty and people fighting for their freedom, which sonically compels a comparison between Cuba and the Saharawi people’s struggle for self-determination. Abdelaziz is seen visiting the Isle of Youth, and the narrator recounts that during his stay on the Isle of Youth, he spent time with many young Africans and Saharawis who were studying in Cuba. 100 Noticiero No. 1072, 7 May 1982, ICAIC, May 7th, 1982, Archivo Fílmico del Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC). 101 Mariana Johnson, “The Revolution Will Be Archived: Cuba’s Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano,” The Moving Image: The Journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists 13, no. 2 (2013): 2, https://doi.org/10.5749/movingimage.13.2.0001. When I was in Havana in the Spring of 2023, it coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Polisario Front. Two documentaries about Western Sahara were screened on Cuban television, with lengthy political discussions and debates beforehand to prime the audience with more context and information about the situation, as well as providing the Cuban perspective on the topic. This illustrates that while ICAIC Noticiero’s are no longer being produced, Cuba still emphasizes internationalism and solidarity in film and TV and makes ongoing efforts to visually parallel the Cuban and Saharawi revolutionary processes. 73 Figure 1.4. ICAIC Newsreel, Abdelaziz visits Cuba, used with permission. Figure 1.5 ICAIC newsreel, Saharawi performance for the visit of Mohamed Abdelaziz to the Isla de la Juventud. Used with permission. The video is interspersed with footage of the state visit, as Abdelaziz converses with many students, watches performances put on by the various students on the Isle, as well as scenes from the refugee camps, to sensibilize the Cuban audience to life there and provide further reason for the audience to sympathise with the Saharawi cause. Abdelaziz briefly speaks in 74 the video, saying, “[o]ur area in North Africa, witnesses a dangerous penetration of US imperialism in support of the expansionist regime of Morocco. This direct military intervention tends to eliminate the aspirations of our people and destroy our glorious revolution.” The narrative provides a voice over while Fidel Castro puts the pin for the Order of Playa Girón on Mohamed Abdelaziz, which says, “[t]he leadership of our party and government awarded the outstanding combatant the Playa Girón national order.” Castro and Abdelaziz hug with great warmth, symbolizing Cuban and Saharawi comradeship in their struggle against imperialism that is repeated in numerous other sources. The Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples In May of 1977, Cuban Communist Party members went to the SADR for a fact finding and information gathering mission. Afterward, Cuban solidarity and friendship with the SADR greatly expanded. For example, Cuba sent a delegation from the Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas (Young Communist League, UJC) to the International Youth Conference of Solidarity with Western Sahara, in Rome, Italy, sponsored by the Pan-African Youth Movement and Italian Youth Communist and Socialist Organizations in February of 1978. Marta Jiménez attended the conference as an invited personality, working as an official for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent to strengthen contacts with Algeria and the SADR. Marta was a member of the Political Subcommittee of the Non-Aligned Movement at the time, too, and was asked to use the opportunity to speak with Algerian leaders about issues that Cuba and Algeria confronted within the Non-Aligned Movement. The presence of the delegation of the UJC allowed Cuba to express, on a bilateral and multilateral level, the solidarity of their organization and of the Cuban Youth with “the just cause of the Saharawi people for their 75 self-determination and independence.”102 These early expressions of solidarity are well exemplified in the ICAP archive, in which many photos depict these ongoing bridges that were established after Western Sahara was invaded by Morocco and Mauritania. The photos of events held between Cuba and the SADR are helpful in visualizing revolutionary friendships because we can imagine alternatives to superpower paradigms that characterized the Cold War period, such as musical collaborations, poetry contests, movie nights, and tea shared between new friends. For example, in May of 1981, an event was held for an awards ceremony after an unspecified contest relating to the Saharawi people, seen in Figure 1.6.103 Many photographs, especially from the 1981 event also depict Saharawis and Cubans in modes of leisure, sitting around a table drinking coffee, singing, laughing, dancing, whilst communing over their shared struggle, in effect, depicting revolutionary friendships. Visual practices underpinning South-South organizing are termed “rendering solidarity” by Jessica Stites Mor, who articulates the ways that visual culture mobilizes the historical agency that can be embedded in visual objects created as acts of solidarity.104 In this sense, visuals shape discourse and artists have the power to render solidarity, both testifying to it, creating it, and imagining it in the future. Cuban photographers and photojournalists, and news media producers can be said to be constructing transnational visual alliances through creating visuals, exchanging photographic equipment and technical knowledge, and “socialist ways of seeing” when they documented events that spoke to solidarity and friendship. 102 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cuba, “Viaje compañera Marta Jiménez a Europa.” Box 1, Folder 1978, Collection Sahara, Archivo Central del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba, Havana, Cuba (ACMINREX). 103 Premiacion Concurso Saharaui, 26th of May 1981, Collection No. 264, Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos, Havana, Cuba. 104 Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle,” 44. 76 Figure 1.6. Photographer Roberto. Premiación Concurso Saharaui, Terraza. Photography. Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), Havana, Cuba. May 29th, 1981. Sobre No. 264. Área política: Africa-Medio Oriente. Used With Permission. ICAP photographers worked to document solidarity between stateless Saharawi people enacted through a Cuban non-governmental organization whose mission it was to reach out to the international community and form ties of friendship between Cuba and citizens of other countries. The photographs are meant to illustrate these friendships. ICAP was clearly part of a large network of solidarity, keeping visual records of Saharawi state visits to Cuba, and any events relating to solidarity with Saharawis in Cuba. Eventually a permanent Asociación de Amistad Cubano-Árabe (Association of Cuban-Arab Friendship, AACA), as well as a cultural centre Casa de los Árabes (House of Arabs), would be built and dedicated to such events. They would provide permanent space for discussion and friendships between Cuban and Arab people, including Saharawi people. The earliest example of photographs held in ICAP about the SADR are from December 20th of 1978, depicting a conference that was held with the Polisario Front, followed by a film 77 projection. These photographs are significant in illustrating one of the first solidarity events that ICAP and Cuba had for the Saharawi people and the Polisario Front, as grassroots relations between regular Cuban and Saharawi people were just being established in 1977 and 1978. The photos depict six people, three women and three men, sitting behind a desk-like podium to present about the film and the Polisario Front. Approximately one hundred Cubans, Saharawis, and others were in attendance, including the permanent representative of the Polisario in Cuba headed by Bulahe Mohamed Fadel who spoke at the event, see Figure 1.7.105 In attendance to the event would have been Saharawi students that had been in Cuba for only a short time and would have been one of the first times many Cuban people were able to meet Saharawi people in person. The event had full attendance with all of the seats taken, as can be seen in Figure 1.8, indicating that there was popular interest in the situation of the Saharawi people in Cuba. The flags of the SADR and Cuba standing side by side illustrates this early friendship and solidarity, and depicts an “imaginative and affective construction”106 of a solidarity to come, that although was lacking material reality for the most part at that time, still aspired towards a strong future of friendship, especially when taken in the context of many political declarations, subsequent coverage in the late 1970s, and agreements made between Cuba and the SADR. Later images provide evidence that Cuba had begun to produce posters, signs, and even had a woven carpet hung on the inside wall of a room that represented the SADR. As the material culture grew, the aesthetic working out of how to best depict the Polisario Front and Saharawi people was being constructed through institutions like ICAP. 105 Conferencia y P. Filmico en sala daridad con F. Polisario, 20th of December 1978, Collection No. 1144, Envelope Fotografia, Area politica: Afro-Asia, Celia Suarez, Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos, Havana, Cuba. 106 Sarah Bassnett, Andrea Noble, and Thy Phu, “Cold War Visual Alliances,” Visual Studies 30, no. 2 (May 4, 2015): 119, https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2015.1024976. 78 Figure 1.7. Unknown Photographer. Conferencia y Proyección Filmico en solidaridad con F. Polisario. Photography. Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), Havana, Cuba. December 20th, 1978. No. 1144. Area politica: Afro-Asia, Celia Suarez. Used With Permission. 79 Figure 1.8. Unknown Photographer. Conferencia y Proyección Filmico en solidaridad con F. Polisario. Photography. Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), Havana, Cuba. December 20th, 1978. No. 1144. Area politica: Afro-Asia, Celia Suarez. Used With Permission. In November of 1981, another event was held that hosted another film projection commemorating the sixth anniversary of the Madrid Accords in which the Saharawi people’s territory, the Western Sahara, was handed over to Morocco and Mauritania.107 Included in the event was the Polisario Ambassador to Cuba, Bulahe Mohamed Fadel; Rafael Ruiz, a functionary of the Foreign Ministry; Dolores Ortiz, member of the executive committee of the AACA; and Reynaldo González, executive secretary of the AACA. On May 16th, 1983, a solidarity event was held for the tenth anniversary of the Polisario Front at the Victoria Girón 107 Proyeccion Filmica VI anniversario del los acuerdos de Madrid, 19th of November 1981, Collection No. 524, Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos, Havana, Cuba. 80 School of Medicine. A large audience attended, and seven men presented at the event in which photos show the Cuban and Saharawi flag standing side by side once again.108 In November of 1985, an event was held for an act of solidarity with the SADR.109 The photographs show a table full of booklets, pamphlets, and photobooks of the Polisario Front and the SADR, with curious onlookers flipping through the booklets and some Saharawi people explaining what the items are. Another photograph shows a large audience looking towards twelve people standing on a stage. These images reinforce notions of an internationalist community in shared struggle, reinforcing and projecting the power of these alliances. Sarah Bassnet, Andrea Noble, and Thy Phu explore Cold War visual alliances, arguing that while the Cold War was fought on a range of fronts, visual culture was also highly conflictual, exhibiting manifestations of power, metanarratives, symbolism, and a bipolarity that still captures the imagination of Western countries.110 Much of the work of this Cold War bipolarity in visual culture was to render invisible the global scope of the conflict in the Global North, such as the hot wars over the “Third World.” Much less visible in the imaginaries of peoples from the Global North, but visible in the Global South partly due to the efforts of the Cuban government, are the diplomacy of the Bandung Conference, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Tricontinental Conference, and other expression of South-South solidarity. This visibility was a threat to many actors in the Global North, and the US and the Soviet Union in particular, who feared that they would lose their spheres of influence if South-South solidarity succeeded. In fact, members of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 108 Acto de solidaridad X anniversario del Frente Polisario, Escuela de Medicina Victoria de Giron, 16 th of May 1983, Collection No. 945, Envelope Africa y Medio Oriente, Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos, Havana, Cuba. 109 Acto de solidaridad con la Republica Arabe Saharaui Democratica, 13th of November 1985, Collection No. 259, Envelope Africa y Medio Oriente, Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos, Havana, Cuba. 110 Bassnett, Noble, and Phu, “Cold War Visual Alliances.” 81 of the United States spent time combing through Cuban visual and textual materials in order to understand what Cuba was doing, saying, and rendering visible.111 The visual practices of South-South solidarity that ICAP showcased were helpful in circumventing the bipolarity of visual culture during and later about the Cold War. These images testify to the importance of South-South solidarity visual cultures in terms of the massive production of image-based documentation that Cuba produced. Images are integral aspects of war, as weapons, and tools of liberation or subversion, both “shaping and generating forces in the political process.”112 Images also have the power to shape and change our historical awareness, and Cuban visual culture testifies to an awareness of this fact in a determination to produce historical testaments to lesser-known anti-colonial liberation movements such as the SADR. The Cuban revolution was inspired very early on to produce historical testimonies of revolutionary activities, for example, Celia Sánchez, one of the most well-known revolutionary heroines in Cuba documented the early revolution as an archivist.113 Images were important for many of the events that were hosted in Cuba for representing the Saharawi struggle, as they were displayed on walls, through films, in pamphlets and booklets for people to peruse, in posters, and even on carpets. These images were creating a world, a testimony, and a way of reinforcing the legitimacy of the armed struggle and of the existence of the Saharawi people. 111 “Worldwide Active Measures and Propaganda Calendar,” CIA, Reference Aid, October 1987, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88T00706R000500420004-0.pdf; Paul D. Bethel, “Black Power and Red Cuba,” May 21st, 1968, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88-01314R000100410007-3.pdf; No title, CIA, April 1968, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/1.%20sanitized%20has%20just%20rep%5B15250609%5D.pdf; CIA, 1970, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP83-00566R000100050013-3.pdf; CIA, November 1969, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88-01315R000400220026-9.pdf. 112 Paul, Gerhard. “Visual History (English Version),” 2011. https://doi.org/10.14765/zzf.dok.2.792.v1. 113 Nancy Stout, One Day in December: Celia Sánchez and the Cuban Revolution (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2013). 82 ICAP would go on to host three events in 1988 to celebrate the SADR: one a literary contest, one a postage stamp commemorating the beginning of the armed struggle of the SADR, and one a day of solidarity. An event in February of 1991 celebrated the proclamation of the SADR. Events like these continued throughout the years. The most recent photographs still held in the collection are from 2015, when ICAP organized a Bonfire of Friendship for Peace and Solidarity, in salute to the 56th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban revolution, at the House of Music for Cuban Families at Rodeo Parque Lenin in Havana. The event hosted by ICAP invited various delegations of students and visiting ambassadors from different cultures to showcase their music, dance, and food, and to express solidarity and friendship towards each other, see Figure 1.9. Figure 1.9. Unknown Photographer. Bonfire of Friendship for Peace and Solidarity. ICAP, House of Music for Cuban Families, at Rodeo Parque Lenin, in Havana. 2015. Used with Permission. Overall, these photos are essential in documenting and celebrating the enduring friendship, cooperation, and solidarity between Cuba and the SADR, emphasizing their shared commitment to justice and mutual support. The photographs and documented events also reflect an intention to showcase various forms of cultural and artistic expression of 83 Cubans and Saharawis, as well as political discussion, debate, and to raise awareness among the Cuban populace of the Saharawi struggle. Each event received a good turn-out and were mentioned in Cuban periodicals like Granma, Cuba’s daily newspaper. These photographs serve as visual testimonies to the strong bond between the two nations and their collaborative efforts. From 1978-2015, as the photographs help visualize, Cuban people were intent on determining how best to aesthetically represent the Saharawi struggle in posters, carpets, booklets, pamphlets, and to support them in activities and events, but were also interested in narrating their struggle for a domestic audience. Something New in the Desert, The Saharawi War, and History in the Sands Beyond visual displays of solidarity, Cuban journalists and politicians were dedicated to documenting their own testimonies, and those of their comrades, through substantial written works. By 1994, when Juan Almeida Bosque published his book entitled Something New in the Desert, he had already visited Algeria three times and stridently supported Saharawi self-determination. Bosque was a key Cuban revolutionary figure and writes “[w]ithout internationalism and international solidarity, the Cuban Revolution would not exist. For this reason, this visit is well worth it to learn more about the Saharawi people who, like us, have been fighting for more than a hundred years, and to express our support for their cause and that of the Arab peoples, especially that of the Palestinians, in these harsh conditions of the desert.”114 Bosque was an Afro-Cuban politician and one of the original commanders of the insurgent forces in the Cuban Revolution. After the rebels took power in 1959, he was a prominent figure in the Communist Party of Cuba. At the time of his death, he was a Vice-President of the Cuban Council of State and was its third ranking member. Juan Almeida Bosque represents the high-level governmental support for the Saharawi people, and 114 Bosque, Juan Almeida. Algo nuevo en el desierto. Editora Política, 1994, 14. 84 also describes key aspects of why Cuba so enthusiastically supported the SADR. He visited the refugee camps in February of 1986 and participated in the tenth Anniversary of the SADR. His semi-autobiographical account weaves together narratives of his travels, historical memories, personal memories, and descriptions of the Saharawi people, culture, and their liberation movement. Bosque argues that supporting the Algerian revolution was a matter of principal for the Cuban people, supportive of decolonization and independence, having recently achieved their own independence. Bosque says, “[w]e have always responded to the call that progressive governments have made to us, no matter how far they have been, because we have considered it fair and supportive.”115 Bosque represented to the many Afro-Cubans the triumph of the revolution and promises of the improved position for Afro-Cuban people. Bosque also says in the book, in reference to solidarity with African nations, that “[n]o one should forget that the African blood of the thousands of men who were extracted from this continent to be exploited as slaves in colonial Cuba runs through our veins.”116 The Cuban delegation visited the “9th of June” School in which refugee children live and study, whose parents were fighting at the front. The slogan of the school is “[t]he whole country or martyrdom,”117 which further illustrates the bond between the SADR and Cuba, in the famous Fidel Castro expression “Patria o Muerte” (“Homeland or death”). While Bosque exemplifies the high-level governmental support for the SADR, Cuban internationalism must also be remembered for more often falling on the shoulders of Cuban civilians, who made great sacrifices in supporting sister revolutions and peoples across the globe. Fernando Nápoles Tapia’s Sahara Occidental: la Guerra Saharaui (Western Sahara: The Saharawi War) is an important example of civilian solidarity, in which a Cuban writer 115 Bosque, Juan Almeida. Algo nuevo en el desierto. Editora Política, 1994, 13. 116 Bosque, Juan Almeida. Algo nuevo en el desierto. Editora Política, 1994, 13. 117 Bosque, Juan Almeida. Algo nuevo en el desierto. Editora Política, 1994, 18. 85 dedicated many years to historicizing the Saharawi struggle.118 Fernando Nápoles Tapia was a Cuban writer and researcher and served as editor-in-chief of the Gente Nueva Publishing House of the Ministry of Culture at the time his book was published. A scholar of the Maghreb region, he has specialized in the problems of Western Sahara for a long time. Many of his articles and his book constitute a historical outline and development of the conflict between the Saharawi peoples and Morocco. His book, published in 1988, compiles his many years of journalistic coverage and scientific research on the Western Sahara. Fernando Nápoles Tapia also worked since 1974 at the Cuban Book Institute and at the publishing houses of Ciencias Sociales and Gente Nueva. Numerous articles of his have been published on the conflict in Western Sahara in magazines such as Tricontinental, Patria Libre of Nicaragua, El Official, Cuestión latinoamericana of Sweden, and Sahara Libre, a SADR press agency. Finally, Alberto Fernández Vera, another Cuban journalist and writer published a book in Editorial de Ciencias Sociales in 1979 entitled History in the Sands, which draws together his journalistic pieces published in Prensa Latina, Tricontinental Magazine, and Prisma Latinoamericano. These three books together demonstrate a strong interest in the Saharawi cause among Cubans, and the friendships forged between governmental and non-governmental actors to inspire such long written narratives. These books, Alberto Fernández Vera’s book in 1979, Fernando Nápoles Tapia’s book in 1988, and Juan Almeida Bosque’s book in 1994, each helped to shape Cuban and other perspectives on both what happened during the Saharawi struggle for independence and what parallels the revolutionary process had there to the Cuban revolution. 118 Fernando Nápoles Tapia eventually wrote a book published in Havana entitled Sahara Occidental: La Guerra Saharaui in 1988 published by Ciencias Sociales. 86 Conclusion By treating political friendship as a serious analytical category, this chapter reveals how essential friendship has been as a promoted form of sociality in shaping revolutionary identities and subjectivities. Thomas Brønd’s exploration of “political friendship,” combined with the idea of comradeship within an “imagined community” of international solidarity, offers a useful framework for understanding the strong bond between the Cuban and Saharawi peoples. This connection, forged through shared struggles and sustained by cultural exchanges organized by institutions like Cuba’s Friendship Institute, reflects a commitment to mutual support and collective resistance. ICAP has fostered civil society bonds between Cuban and Saharawi people, extending beyond kinship ties to cultivate friendly political relationships and solidarity. These connections are vital to advancing their collective vision of a liberated Western Sahara, demonstrating how friendship can serve as a foundation for sustained political collaboration in revolutionary projects. The Cuban state’s embrace of the SADR, a revolutionary nationalist movement unrecognized by most other states, also illustrates the complex interplay between state power and social movements. This solidarity demonstrates how revolutionary states can be responsive to and shaped by the demands of pre-existing and ongoing social movements. Cuba’s support for the SADR was not simply a top-down imposition of state power but rather an expression of the pre-existing radical social demands for decolonisation and Third World solidarity that were long circulating within Cuba and the wider Global South. By responding to these tendencies and incorporating them into their foreign policy, revolutionary Cuba and the SADR fostered and built upon their shared political consciousness to unify under the banner of fraternity. This approach, grounded in a more inclusive vision of Latin America and the Global South, challenged the traditional binary between state and social movements, revealing how revolutionary states can act as catalysts for long demanded social change. 87 Photographs from the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples also help imagine renderings of visual solidarity envisioned and encapsulated by Cuban photographers, photojournalists, and media producers. Seeing Cubans and Saharawis in moments of leisure, political events, having fun together, and in serious conversation, was a means of framing, amplifying, and communicating the notion of revolutionary friendship and powerful alliances between Cuba and the SADR, which has been crucial in further reinforcing their shared political consciousness, as explored in Chapters 3 and 4. Finally, three substantial books were written by two Cuban journalists and a politician, historicizing and discussing the Saharawi cause, which also demonstrates the sustained interest and engagement formed from these longstanding friendships. 88 Chapter 2: “The Desert Country Where Children Have Never Seen a Real Flower”: Cuban Solidarity Within Other Global Campaigns Solidarity towards the Western Sahara is a global phenomenon, perhaps best exemplified by a grassroots Japanese solidarity event organized by a working committee of young Tokyoites in 1986. As seen in Figure 2.1, a Japan Press Service photograph illustrates a charity concert for relief of the Western Sahara.119 The working committee was composed of Japanese youth who were greatly impressed by what Mitsuhiro Kaneko, chief of the Secretariat of the Japanese Communist Party, had told them on his return from a trip to the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic the previous January. Presumably, he told them that Saharawi children, who lived in the desert as refugees, had never seen flowers growing there. Thus, part of the campaign was organized to send “water pumps to the desert country where children have never seen a real flower.”120 Among the performers at the concert were well-known Japanese jazz musicians, as well as amateur bands. The audience was greeted by Chief of the Secretariat Kaneko and Hamza Yahia-Cherif, chargé d'affaires of Algeria, who acted on behalf of Western Sahara as no diplomatic relations with Japan had been established. 119 Japan Press Service, “Charity concert for the relief of West Sahara,” September 25, 1986, Photographic archive, Photo No. 86-181-183, PCE archive, Madrid, Spain. 120 Japan Press Service, “Charity concert for the relief of West Sahara,” September 25, 1986, Photographic archive, Photo No. 86-181-183, PCE archive, Madrid, Spain. 89 Figure 2.1. "'Sahara Libre', A ‘floral tribute’ to West Sahara.” Spanish Communist Party Archive. Reproduced with permission. Asian solidarity towards the Western Sahara is little documented, although many Asian countries, as part of the Non-Aligned Movement or other affiliations, recognize or once recognized the struggle of the SADR, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Iran, North Korea, Syria, India, Afghanistan, East Timor, Papua-New Guinea, and Yemen.121 To better understand the uniqueness of Cuban solidarity, this chapter explores global solidarity campaigns for Western Sahara, highlighting the distinct features of Cuban efforts while acknowledging dialogue across different movements. The examination of the Communist International and the World Peace Council helps to distinguish Cuban solidarity, characterized as a form of South-South solidarity, from Soviet activities abroad, which are representative of North-South solidarity. The Communist International, founded in 1919, was led by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and advocated for world communism. The 121 “RECONOCIMIENTOS DE LA RASD,” Centro de Estudios do Sahara Occidental da USC, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain, https://www.usc.es/en/institutos/ceso/RASD_Reconocimientos.html 90 World Peace Council, created in 1949 by the Soviet Union’s Cominform, also played a role in countering capitalist incursions in the Global South.122 Cuba has uniquely positioned itself in South-South solidarity efforts by creating a “fourth”123 space that merges communism, self-determination, anti-imperialism, and anti-colonial nationalism. This approach rejects both the post-war liberal constitutional framework, which often denies stateless people any agency, and the Soviet framework that sought to leverage nationalist movements for communist ends through the Communist International and the World Peace Council. Instead, Cuba’s governmental policy embraces revolutionary nationalism as a means for self-determination and responded to calls for aid, rather than shaping other communist parties to its image, as the Soviet Union did.124 Through actively embedding civilian medical support and educational training for stateless peoples and liberation movements, they helped these movements prefigure their future nations. In the case of the SADR, Cuba also supported their guerrilla warfare and armed struggle through media campaigns and advice. Cuban policy from the 1970s-1990s in Africa was also partly a way to prove their independence from the Soviet Union and counter accusations that Cuba was merely a proxy of the Soviets.125 The only other country demonstrating as long-term and strong solidarity with the SADR as Cuba is Spain. Spanish solidarity, whether from socialist, communist, anarcho-syndicalist, or grassroots movements, stems primarily from civil society rather than state 122 The Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers’ Parties, commonly referred to as Cominform, was a coordinating body for Marxist-Leninist communist parties in Europe during the early Cold War. It was established partly as a replacement for the Communist International. Cominform’s role was to promote communist interests and counter the spread of anti-communism following World War II, during the Cold War period. According to the Zhdanov Doctrine, it divided the world into war mongering imperialist and anti-imperialist factions. 123 If one considers the Soviet-USA divide as a conflict between capitalism and communism, and the Non-Aligned Movement as a “third” space that incorporated anti-colonial nationalism while rejecting alignment with either capitalism or communism, Cuban policies can be argued to represent a “fourth” space. In this space, anti-colonial nationalism and a distinctively Cuban socialism are merged, serving as a template to be adapted and re-created in different contexts abroad. 124 Margaret Randall, Exporting Revolution: Cuba’s Global Solidarity (Durham: Duke University Press, 2017), 80. 125 Randall, 83. 91 policy, since the Spanish government declared itself exempt from responsibility of the territory in 1976.126 This civilian solidarity is often articulated through a sense of historic guilt, as Spain was the colonial power that failed to successfully decolonize the Western Sahara.127 Spanish and other European solidarity campaigning had provided important arguments in favor of human rights and highlighting the unjust colonial occupations of the Western Sahara. Cuban campaigning, on the other hand, is uniquely and powerfully grounded in a shared history of the lived experience of colonial exploitation and internationalist solidarity as a pillar of Cuban identity.128 While other examples of South-South solidarity from Latin American, Asian, and other African countries towards the SADR is also based in a shared history of colonialism, Cuba is unique during this period for its extensive support and unifying principles for so many different liberation movements across the Global South.129 This is best exemplified by its Tricontinentalist and Non-Aligned advocacy. By embedding these qualities within government mandates in Cuba, these visions and advocacy efforts had a broad reach in the NAM, the World Peace Council, the Communist International, and the United Nations. Postcolonial Discourse of Responsibility Versus Rights Cuban state policy towards the SADR revolves around notions of historic responsibility,130 human rights, justice, progressive ideals, and the armed struggle of the 126 Irene Fernández-Molina and Matthew Porges, “Western Sahara,” in Gëzim Visoka, John Doyle, and Edward Newman, eds. of Routledge Handbook of State Recognition, 1st Edition (Routledge, 2019), 384. 127 Over the years, the Spanish government’s official position, along with the European Union’s, has been to support a U.N.-sponsored referendum to settle the territory’s decolonization. 128 Randall, Exporting Revolution, 25. 129 Mahler, From the Tricontinental to the Global South; Losier, Padilla, and Mor, “Statelessness and Solidarity: Palestinians, Dhofaris, and Saharawis in Tricontinental Media”; Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle.” 130 Randall, Exporting Revolution, 83; Raquel Ribeiro, “The Meaning of Internationalism When the Cubans ‘“Exporting”’ the Revolution or Becoming ‘“the Good Colonizers”’?,” Outre-Mers 101, no. 384 (2014): 267–86, https://doi.org/10.3406/outre.2014.5125. 92 Saharawi people who have been denied justice as a thwarted national liberation movement in an unequal global state-based system.131 This departs from the human rights discourse that prevails in the language of the UN and state-centric international law when it comes to talking about migration and refugees. Jessica Stites Mor argues that: campaigns waged on behalf of distant others by discrete translocal networks, political communities, and social actors in Latin America…illuminates the way that longstanding leftist notions of anti-imperialism, pan-regionalism, solidarity, and social and economic justice found a way to compete with the powerful discursive frame of human rights and democracy whose tone was often set by the imperialist ambitions of the United States, complicit nation-states, and military regimes.132 This distinction is clearly exemplified in the case of Cuban solidarity on behalf of the Saharawi peoples, particularly in the way that Cuban critiques of the occupation indict Morocco as a US-backed gendarme in the region, and calls for anti-imperialism, solidarity, and social and economic justice. Indeed, Cuban campaigns present stateless Saharawi refugees as a thwarted national liberation movement, reframing the dominant discursive imperialist frame set by the US and Morocco in rejecting the claims of the SADR and the Polisario Front. This reframing positions Saharawi people not as helpless stateless victims stuck in refugee camps waiting for citizenship from a surrounding country, but rather as agents justified in fighting for their own deserved independence given the historic formulation of Morocco, Spanish Sahara, and the desires of the Saharawi political community in the aftermath of Spanish decolonization. What further distinguished Cuban campaigning from the North-South efforts of Soviet organizations, Spanish grassroots campaigns, or other examples of South-South solidarity across Asia, Latin America, and Africa was Cuba’s intense focus on uniting the Saharawi struggle for self-determination with similar cases. The long list of similar cases also 131 Losier, Padilla, and Mor, “Statelessness and Solidarity: Palestinians, Dhofaris, and Saharawis in Tricontinental Media.” 132 Stites Mor, Human Rights and Transnational Solidarity in Cold War Latin America, 15. 93 reinforces the fact that these issues are inherent to the post-war liberal state governance system, and not mere aberrations.133 Saharawis have lived experiences of seemingly permanent exclusion and statelessness since 1975, and arguably longer since colonialism by the Spanish denied them many rights and goods that citizenship is designed to guarantee. For example, Saharawi and Palestinian statelessness are a challenge to the very structure of the international state system and the foundations of liberal political theory, thus addressing the challenge of statelessness in their cases requires going beyond liberal political theory frameworks. Phillip Cole argues that we must imagine what a just world would look like in which practices of citizenship, migration, and nation-states are radically revised. Afterall, systems of citizenship and exclusion practiced by states are very much based on arbitrary and rather recent constructs that shape behaviors and daily practices. Cuba also uniquely called out the multiple historical and political responsibilities of occupying and colonial powers, setting its approach apart from others. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak argued that human rights suffer from uneven enforcement, but perhaps more from privileging rights-based cultural formulations of injustice rather than those of notions of responsibility.134 Human rights-based arguments are often weakened by presentist interpretations of conflicts, which tend to overlook the colonial roots of many ongoing rights abuses. In contrast, focusing on responsibility and historical accountability allows for a reframing of these issues, linking them to past events that have contributed to current crises. Critics also highlight that rights-based concepts of political community are rooted in a distinctly Western model of political and economic development, which prioritizes 133 Tendayi Bloom, Katherine Tonkiss, and Phillip Cole, Understanding Statelessness, 1st ed. (Routledge, 2017), 255. 134 Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, A Critique of Postcolonial Reason (New York: Routledge, 1999). 94 individualism over community and struggles to accommodate diversity.135 Thus, critics seek to move beyond individuals being tied to the nation-state as the exclusive guarantor of their rights and welfare. Indeed, Cuban campaigns have also been outspoken about these deficiencies, highlighting the historic responsibilities of the global community in righting past wrongs. Cuban solidarity presents a discursive framework that rejects the notion that human rights are tied to statehood, since statehood is still denied to millions of people worldwide. In many cases, Cuba viewed revolutionary statehood as only one essential step toward liberation, combined with anti-imperialist advocacy and calls for unity among Global South countries. This approach aimed to counteract the hegemonic influence of capitalist nations, emphasizing the need for collective resistance and solidarity towards revolutionary movements against imperialism. The postcolonial state in the 20th century led to competitive constructions of nationalism, often encroaching upon, and competing with neighboring nationalisms. This was the case with Morocco and Algeria in the 1960s upon their independence from France. This was also the case in the recolonization of Western Sahara by Morocco and Mauritania in 1975 when Spain withdrew from Western Sahara. Furthermore, multinational corporations and transnational trade have undermined the state’s authority over individual subjects, rendering national protection for individuals increasingly precarious.136 National citizenship has failed to protect and define the rights and responsibilities of communities in and outside of state borders.137 The prevalence of those who lack access to protections based on the universal social contract of the nation state such as refugees, immigrants, excluded minorities, exiled and displaced peoples, colonized peoples, and more, has led to a critique of nationalism and the nation-state in failing to extend responsibility to 135 Ibid. 136 Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2000). 137 Bloom, Tonkiss, and Cole, Understanding Statelessness. 95 protect such people.138 Jessica Stites Mor argues that solidarities have greater staying power when they result through “long-standing constructions of political community, most often those that have been codified into law or legitimized by cultural practice, that agents of change are able to turn or to broaden to include a new circumstance or a previously excluded group.”139 The fact that the Cuban government sponsors solidarity activities and campaigns with so many liberation movements and countries, such as the SADR, provides an example of the staying power they have had in supporting the SADR. The Spanish state has also legitimized the “Holidays in Peace” program, where Saharawi youth stay with Spanish families in the summer, by approving its activities and partly sponsoring it. This has guaranteed its continued existence until today. However, this sponsorship is not the same as Cuban governmental policies in establishing bilateral agreements to support and legitimize the statehood of the SADR and the Polisario Front. Overall, Cuba’s use of historical responsibility and anti-imperialism frameworks differs from presentist human rights frameworks in arguments for solidarity by focusing on the deep-rooted, systemic origins of global injustices, rather than viewing them as isolated, contemporary issues centered on the violation of individual freedoms and safety from violence. Moreover, solidarity embedded in state policy, as exemplified by Cuba’s consistent anti-imperialist stance and support for the SADR, tends to have greater staying power than the more variable efforts of civil society, ensuring a sustained and impactful commitment to addressing these historical injustices. These differences will be further explored and 138 Alliances to protect human rights in the failure of the state and international state legal systems to arbitrate such issues arose through extensive transnational advocacy networks in Latin America and across the globe that pushed for recognition of human rights as a matter of historic responsibility, rather than rights, during the Cold War, as well as for economic justice and wealth redistribution. See Stites Mor, Human Rights and Transnational Solidarity in Cold War Latin America, 8. 139 Stites Mor, 4. 96 historically contextualized in the following section. The Communist International’s Approach Towards Revolutionary Nationalism Anti-colonial organizing was not always a priority for European communists, who often focused on their own class struggles rather than the brutal violence their governments inflicted in the colonies.140 While many European communists did oppose colonialism, critical decisions often revealed the priorities of their leaders. For instance, when faced with the choice between ending colonial rule in Algeria and combating European Fascism and Nazism, the Communist International prioritized European struggles.141 They urged their allies in the colonized world to support their fight, driven by a Eurocentric belief that dismantling capitalism required establishing socialist governments in Europe first.142 This notion of solidarity demanded that communists globally unite against extreme violence, but it did not always extend as enthusiastically to communists in the Global South, who also faced severe oppression. In contrast, Cuban revolutionaries viewed anti-colonialism and revolutionary nationalism as the key avenue through which capitalism could be dismantled and the wellbeing of formerly colonized peoples could be secured. During this period, Latin America was dominated by dictatorships, many of which openly opposed the Cuban Revolution. As a result, Cuban leaders looked to the continent of Africa as a crucial nexus for conjoining their revolutionary ideals. Cuba’s independence movement and national heroes promoted a single Latin American identity and unity, seeing nationalism in its “broadest terms: as humanity.”143 On the other 140 John P. Haithcox, “The Roy-Lenin Debate on Colonial Policy: A New Interpretation,” The Journal of Asian Studies 23, no. 1 (November 1963): 93–101, https://doi.org/10.2307/2050635; Tim Rees and Andrew Thorpe, International Communism and the Communist International 1919-1943 (Manchester University Press, 1998). 141 Allison Drew, We Are No Longer in France: Communists in Colonial Algeria, We Are No Longer in France: Communists in Colonial Algeria (Manchester University Press, 2014), 5, https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2015.1040652; Haithcox, “The Roy-Lenin Debate on Colonial Policy.” 142 Rees and Thorpe, International Communism and the Communist International 1919-1943, 6; Haithcox, “The Roy-Lenin Debate on Colonial Policy.” 143 Randall, Exporting Revolution, 23. 97 hand, when nationalist movements came on the radar of communists in the Soviet sphere, the Communist International was more often concerned with how to utilize them towards Communist ends, with narrow conceptions of what a nation could be.144 The Bolshevik Party served as the foundation for the World Communist Party, also known as the Communist International or Comintern. Operating from 1919-1943, the Comintern aimed to create a centrally organized movement for global communism. The Comintern was the biggest revolutionary organization in history in terms of the number of people who were represented by it.145 Comintern organizing pre-dated the revolutionary movement in Cuba and had opposed Cuban dictatorships prior to 1959. The Comintern subscribed to a narrower concept of the nation than Cuba did, whereas the large variety of global Marxists held many theories on nationalism.146 The history of the Communist International is important in elucidating debates that socialist-aligned movements were having all over the globe in the early 20th century with regards to where and how to best focus their fight.147 One of the biggest failures of the Comintern project was its rigid and overly disciplined 144 Conversely, socialist activists in the Global South, along with those sympathetic to the Communist International, often prioritized ending colonial rule. They believed that achieving this would ultimately lead to the collapse of capitalist regimes in Europe and supported the self-determination of nationalist movements. They argued that without their colonies, these metropolitan countries could not sustain their economic systems as they were. Kevin McDermott and Jeremy Agnew, The Comintern (London: Macmillan Education UK, 1996), https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25024-0; Haithcox, “The Roy-Lenin Debate on Colonial Policy.” 145 Manuel Caballero, Latin America and the Comintern: 1919 - 1943, Cambridge Latin American Studies 60 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1987), 8. 146 Oleksa Drachewych and Ian McKay, Left Transnationalism: The Communist International and the National, Colonial, and Racial Questions (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019), 8. 147 The Baku Congress is one interesting example of the Comintern’s project in supporting an anti-colonial agenda. The Comintern Executive Committee sent a call to all peoples of Asian, inviting them to a conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, after Lenin had rejected a proposal for autonomy from Turkestan communists. The Congress sought to mobilize Muslim support for the new Soviet regime, also fearing British encroachments in Persia after WWI, and what the outcome of Mustafa Kemal’s Turkish National Movement would be. Around 2000 delegates joined the Congress. Alliances between Muslims and communists were precarious, and much discussed in the Congress, with some ethnic tensions. The event did allow the Bolsheviks to first position themselves as crossing the “color line dividing the world.” In the end, the Bolsheviks rejected the formation of pan-Islamic alliances within the Soviet Union as the glue for political organizing, rather seeking “national, secular, and capitalist states with which they could form an alliance.” See Mahler, From the Tricontinental to the Global South, 21–22. 98 attempt to apply the model and history of the Bolshevik revolution to countries with radically different socio-historical contexts.148 Another challenge they faced was whether to ally with bourgeois nationalists across the globe, or with more communist aligned but less organized revolutionary movements. Cuba appears to have learned from these mistakes in rejecting certain doctrinal aspects of Soviet policy, forging a nation based on their own national heroes and narratives, and encouraging grassroots as well as more elite nationalist led movements that were amenable to revolutionary politics across the globe.149 Given its own history of exploitation, which is more similar to that of most Global South countries than to the Soviet bloc, Cuba crafted a more adaptable and context-sensitive approach to international solidarity. Cuba also importantly only responded to calls for aid, whereas the Comintern imposed itself in many countries.150 Many elements within the Comintern led to distrust, division, and exasperation for members. People who broke with Comintern lines could face assassination, particularly in the Stalinist phase of the organization. For example, Sandalio Junco, an Afro-Cuban communist once responsible for Latin America and parts of the Caribbean, broke with the Comintern, and was killed by Stalinists in 1942.151 These factors partly led to the dissolution and failure of the Comintern, including the Eurocentrism of the party, despite its attempts to involve the 148 Randall, Exporting Revolution, 18–21. 149 China, as an agricultural revolution compared to the more industrial revolution of the Soviet Union, has also played a large role in Global South solidarity. Nonetheless, these larger imperialist nations of China, US, and the Soviet Bloc offered foreign aid differently from Cuban aid. While Cuba was an ally of Moscow and the Soviet Bloc from the 1960s to 1991, it was also entirely invested in the goal of anti-colonial liberation movements and internationalist solidarity in the Global South in a different way than that of the Soviet Union. What set Cuba apart from European and Soviet campaigns of solidarity was Cuba’s role as one of the epicenters of both Third Worldist revolution and socialist revolution, simultaneously. Cuban internationalism and solidarity campaigns with national liberation movements, in for example, Vietnam, Western Sahara, the Congo, Nicaragua, Palestine, among others, were unique from the efforts of the Soviets in that they emphasized local autonomy and self-determination. See Randall, 18. 150 Caballero, Latin America and the Comintern; Randall, Exporting Revolution. 151 Capuzzo and Mahler, The Comintern and the Global South, 107. 99 Global South.152 Caballero argues that the Comintern, from Lenin, Trotsky, Bukharin and Stalin, overall prioritised the European interests of the Comintern, choosing to defend the Soviet Union and European leftists over making the colonies the heart of revolutionary political activities.153 However, Cuba’s internationalist campaigns and missions abroad, in contrast, were guided by the belief that the loss of colonies, combined with revolution in metropolitan countries, would be the key to the end of capitalism. And it posited that self-determination, health, and education in these territories should be their priority in the short term. The World Peace Council and Cuba’s Peace Movement Far from being isolated in the global sphere, Cuban actors have been involved in the World Peace Council since 1949.154 The World Peace Council (WPC) is a global movement 152 The Comintern, especially under Stalin, was invested in ensuring the diplomatic and imperialist interests of the Soviet Union and in defending itself against threats such as the British, the US, or the Nazis. See Drachewych and McKay, Left Transnationalism: The Communist International and the National, Colonial, and Racial Questions, 23. 153 The Comintern is categorized in periods, in which this Eurocentrism was at times subverted, depending on the prevailing mood of World Congresses, the Soviet Union, and Europeans. The inflexibility, yet constantly shifting ideological sensibilities of the Comintern, partly led to its downfall. The ideological line of the Comintern was first of a “revolutionary offensive” where the Bolshevik revolution was supposed to lead to Communist conquests in Western Europe, especially Germany. However, a shift occurred where from 1921 to the mid-1920s, Communist parties were more willing to co-operate with various organisations such as social democrats in a “united front” policy. The next line of the Comintern arose as a “class against class” policy, after the Sixth Congress in 1928. Some blamed this line for dividing the German working class which might otherwise have prevented the rise of the Nazis, though most historians dispute this. In 1935, at the Seventh World Congress, another line was presented, shifting towards “the popular front” based on the idea that all anti-fascists should unite to defeat the main threat of fascism in Europe: the Nazis. This line was pursued most fervently by the British, French, and American parties. The French Communist party grew from “86,000 members in 1935 to 328,000 in September 1937” as a result of the “popular front” line. Stalin feared the Nazis and allied with the US, British, and others, to defeat the Nazis, thus dissolving the Comintern in 1943 to appease the capitalist countries during the late stages of WWII. Interestingly, these periods have also been categorized differently according to a Leninist versus Stalinist policy of the Comintern, as well as seeing Comintern’s focus on Europe as a defensive position in defending the Soviet Union rather than an offensive position in promoting revolution in the colonies. See Caballero, Latin America and the Comintern, 21; Drachewych and McKay, Left Transnationalism: The Communist International and the National, Colonial, and Racial Questions. 154 Centro de Informacion del Consejo Mundial de la Paz para America Latina Y el Caribe, “Editorial,” Movimiento por la Paz y la Soberania de los Pueblos, 1979, Sintesis Informativa, Instituto de Amistad Con los Pueblos, Havana, Cuba. 100 with a presence in over 100 countries, making it one of the largest international peace structures, drawing inspiration from international agreements and charters, such as the UN Charter; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement; the African Union; the League of Arab States; and the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.155 As a non-governmental organization member of the United Nations, the WPC collaborates with various specialized UN agencies and inter-governmental bodies to promote peace, disarmament, and social and economic development. The WPC is actively involved in initiatives to eliminate nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, reduce conventional arms, dissolve military blocks and pacts, dismantle military bases, and withdraw foreign troops.156 It also advocates for a new international economic and information order and the resolution of regional conflicts based on the right of self-determination for peoples. The WPC was initially influential during the Cold War, though its relationship to and funding by the Soviet Union, and its reluctance to criticize Soviet involvement in conflicts, contributed to a decline in its influence in non-Communist countries starting in the 1950s.157 The Council, funded by national peace committees, donations, and the Soviet Union, inspired and dialogued with Cuba’s peace movement, the Movimiento por la Paz y la Soberanía de los Pueblos (Movement for Peace and Sovereignty of the Peoples, MOVPAZ).158 The WPC was a rejoinder to the CIA-funded Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), both hoping to attract 155 World Peace Council, “Who We Are,” https://www.wpc-in.org/about-wpc. 156 Petra Goedde, The Politics of Peace: A Global Cold War History (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2019); World Peace Council, "Who We Are," https://www.wpc-in.org/about-wpc. 157 Goedde, 15. 158 Romesh Chandra was the President while Orlando Lopez Fundora was the Vice President in the WPC and President of the Movement for Peace and Sovereignty of the Peoples. Members of the WPC Presidential Committee also included two other Cubans and representative from the SADR, Sheddad Kaid, the President of the Saharawi Committee for Peace and People’s Liberation. Rene Capote Anillo, Secretary General of OSPAAAL also represented Cuba. Other members of the WPC from the SADR included Malainin Bakada, Kaltum Jayat, Muena Mahfud, Ali Mojtar, and Breika Tayeb. See: Information Centre of the World Peace Council, “World Peace Council, List of Members 1983-1986,” Helsinki, Finland, Archive of the Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, Havana, Cuba. 101 artists, intellectuals, and gain cultural and political power.159 However, MOVPAZ exhibits distinct characteristics that set it apart from the World Peace Council (WPC) such as discussing issues related to Latin America and the Global South much more frequently, highlighting the importance of sovereignty and the Non-Aligned Movement, and championing liberation movements that the Soviet Union never supported explicitly.160 The WPC often aligned its conception of peace with the strategic objectives of Soviet foreign policy, presenting itself as a peace-centric organization in contrast to U.S. foreign interventions, which it portrayed as inherently war-mongering. While the WPC and the Cuban MOVPAZ have been dismissed by many scholars as mere instruments of Soviet propaganda, they were of importance to Western Sahara.161 MOVPAZ itself championed the Western Saharan issue in numerous bulletins and newsletters. In various informational syntheses or newsletters from MOVPAZ, topics of importance for peace in the Global South were discussed and sometimes the Cuban perspective departed from the World Peace 159 Patrick Iber, Neither Peace nor Freedom: The Cultural Cold War in Latin America (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2015), 2. 160 Cuba was publishing the newsletter of World Peace Council from their Information Center for the Americas and the Caribbean in Havana, where each national information center could disseminate information about the WPCs’ activities. The WPC emerged from a meeting in Wroclaw, Poland in August of 1948, called the “World Congress of Intellectuals for Peace”, which produced an organization called the “International Liaison Committee of Intellectuals”, and convened the “First World Peace Congress” in 1949 in Paris. Following this event, the Permanent Committee of Partisans of Peace emerged which later evolved into the World Peace Council in November 1950. See Iber, 50. 161 The “Newsletter of World Peace Council Information Centre for the Americas and the Caribbean” was published in Havana. It highlighted findings and declarations by the World Peace Council meetings and advocated against nuclear weapons. It condemned nuclear bomb research and called for nuclear disarmament. The newsletter also called for the decolonisation of Puerto Rico, Western Sahara, Palestine, and other non-sovereign peoples; championed the Non-Aligned Movement; celebrated independence movements; and presented findings from working groups of other continental World Peace Council meetings. At the WPC congress in Warsaw in May of 1977, where a Commission on Non-Alignment was lobbied for and established, the Cuban delegate was designated as President. The Commission outlined that their greatest struggle for world peace rested in fighting against imperialist policies of destabilization by the US against the NAM, the world peace movement, and the UN.161 The WPC maintains regular communication with its partners in Cuba and established a particularly strong connection with MOVPAZ. This collaboration underscores the intricate network of international relationships that contribute to the effectiveness of both the WPC and Cuba’s peace movement. 102 Council’s take on the issue.162 In 1988, a MOVPAZ article highlighted the need for solidarity with Africa and Asia in light of Israeli apartheid against Palestinians, and imperialism against Western Sahara by Morocco.163 Cuba reaffirmed the right to self-determination of the Saharawi people and gathered support for the efforts of the OAU and the UN in finding a peaceful solution to the problem and the decision to send a delegation from the World Council of Peace to the SADR. In April 1981, the Presidential Committee of the WPC met in Havana and championed the socio-economic progress of Cuban people and its broad policies of peace and international solidarity. With such a broad reach, Cuban support of the SADR continued to extend into every organization that they participated in, including the WPC, and the WPC had a Saharawi representative for many years.164 Cuba’s choice to support the SADR illustrates the independence of Cuban campaigning, given that neither the Soviet Union nor any other European Communist state, except for Joseph Tito’s Yugoslavia, supported the Saharawis.165 Spanish conflict specialist, Pablo San Martín, notes that Polisario publications until 1990 rarely, if ever, mention the Soviet Union.166 This omission reflects the minimal influence and lack of relations between the Soviet Union and the Polisario revolution.167 The unique space that Cuba was intent on fostering was grounded in their experiences as an anti-colonial nationalist movement, an independence movement, and as a region “under siege” that required the solidarity of allied 162 These were disseminated through the Centro de Informacion del Consejo Mundial de la Paz para America Latina y el Caribe. 163 Centro de Información del Consejo Mundial de la Paz para América Latina Y el Caribe, Movimiento por la Paz y la Soberanía de los Pueblos, 1988, Volume 2, no. 6, Síntesis Informativa, Instituto de Amistad Con los Pueblos, Havana, Cuba. 164 The exact years that the Polisario were represented in the WPC is hard to estimate without access to the WPC archives. 165 See Chapter 3 endnote 43 for a comment about an interview with Bachir Mustafa Sayed in Pablo San Martín, Western Sahara: The Refugee Nation, 2010, 211. 166 Ibid. 167 I did meet Saharawi people in Paris who had studied in the Soviet Union, however, so there were connections, although seemingly minimal. 103 nations to survive.168 Recognizing the Polisario as representatives of the aspirations of the Saharawi peoples in 1975, Cuban campaigning allied with Algerian forces in uplifting the SADR as part of their broader “fourth space” movement. This work was discussed in numerous MOVPAZ articles, where Cuban calls for peace within the WPC highlight the independence of MOVPAZ and Cuban solidarity work. The Spanish “Holidays in Peace” Program and Other European Campaigns Spanish communists initiated some of the first solidarity campaigns for Western Sahara after Morocco and Mauritania jointly invaded the region. Members of the Partido Comunista de España (Spanish Communist Party, PCE) were in support of Saharawi activists as early as 1961.169 In 1979, four years after the recolonization of the Western Sahara, the PCE organized efforts to bring 100 Saharawi youth to Spain.170 The role of the PCE in bringing Saharawi youth to Spain in 1979, led to the creation of the successful, and ongoing, Spanish “Holidays in Peace” program.171 This program gained growing popularity after the 1991 ceasefire agreement between Morocco and the SADR, as Spanish civil society became more comfortable supporting refugees who were no longer involved in an armed conflict. The centrality of the PCE in inspiring this program is under researched, largely 168 Bolender, Keith. Cuba under siege: American policy, the revolution and its people. Springer, 2012. 169 “Executive Committee from the Communist Party of Spain,” February 20, 1961, PCE archive, Madrid, Spain; Informe, Microfilm, Seccion Andalucia, Signatura 971, Ref. 315/8. Informe de (1), Querido camarade (222), PCE archive, Madrid, Spain; “Solidaridad con los pueblos Saharauis,” European Assembly of Workers' Commissions, June 1970, Sección Mov. Obrero, signatura 372, PCE archive; “Ante el conflict con Marruecos, Libre derecho de autodeterminacion del pueblo del Sahara Occidental,” Microfilm, Seccion Madrid, Signatura 601, Reference 223/26. Cop. 15-5-73, PCE archives, Madrid, Spain. 170 The precursor to the Holidays in Peace program was headed by PCE Secretariat of Relations Marcos Ana. Marcos Ana was a Spanish poet and reputedly Spain’s longest-serving political prisoner, convicted during Francoist Spain for three murders he denied committing. He spent 23 years in prison, longer than any other republican combatant, before being released in 1961 and exiled to Paris. The program was supported by a few municipalities, particularly in the south of Spain. A large part of their funding was obtained from citizen support. 171 According to anthropologists Gina Crivello, Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh and Dawn Chatty, the Holidays in Peace program was formally established in 1988 by some 300 Spanish solidarity friendship associations (Amigos del Pueblo Saharaui) in partnership with the Union of Polisario Youth (UJSARIO) in the camps. However, this narrative leaves out the efforts of the PCE. 104 unacknowledged, and deserves recognition. Their early program aimed to provide respite to Saharawi children who faced inhospitable desert conditions in the Algerian refugee camps, hearing reports from the extremely dire first summer of 1976.172 The PCE and various solidarity associations played a key role in bringing these children to Spain, establishing and expanding this program with grassroots Friendship Associations. These associations and concerned citizens have since brought over 100,000 Saharawi youth to Spain for two summer months since the project began.173 In comparison to the Cuban educational solidarity program, Spain has brought ten times more students who have benefited from the Spanish program, although students stay in Spain for only two months rather than sometimes decades, as was the case with Cuba’s Isle of Youth program. In 1979, 100 children of Polisario combatants from the Sahara were invited by the PCE and arrived in Madrid, to spend a vacation in Spain. PCE members such as Miguel Castro, Santiago Carrillo,174 and Marcelino Camacho,175 played central roles in bringing the first Saharawi youth to Spain.176 Figure 2.2 and Figure 2.3 depict these events, in which in Figure 2.2, the Saharawi students first arrived in Spain. Various Spanish political figures accompany them as they rejoice for the youths’ arrival. In Figure 2.3, the sheer number of Communist Party members who supported the Polisario Front at the time is depicted in a solidarity event. 172 “Comienzan las Vacaciones en Paz en España,” July 23rd, 2023, https://saharaoccidental.es/announcement/comienzan-vacaciones-en-paz/ 173 “The Government approves the ‘2023 Holidays in Peace’ programme, which will bring around 2,800 Saharawi minors to Spain,” Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, June 20th, 2023, Press Release 032, Unión Europea 174 Santiago Carrillo was a Spanish politician who led the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) from 1960 to 1982. He played a significant role during the Spanish Civil War and was later exiled during Franco’s dictatorship. Carrillo became a prominent figure in the democratic opposition, contributing to Spain’s transition to democracy. 175 Marcelino Camacho Abad (1918-2010) was a Spanish trade unionist, politician, and founding member of Comisiones Obreras (CCOO). He served as its first Secretary-General from 1976 to 1987. Camacho was also a communist deputy for Madrid Province from 1977 to 1981. 176 “Homenaje a Miguel Castro, Sevilla 22 de octubre de 2022,” October 21, 2022, Coordinadora estatal de Asociaciones Solidarias con el Sahara, https://ceas-sahara.es/homenaje-miguel-castro/ 105 Figure 2.2. “Saharawi Youth Arrive in Madrid,” Spanish Communist Party Archive. TEL PHOTO EUROPA PRESS. SAHARA, CHILDREN. 1979. Reproduced with Permission. Figure 2.3. Spanish Communist Party Archive. Spanish Communist Party supported Solidarity Event for the Polisario Front. Reproduced with permission. The subsequent stay of the children, normally between 8 and 13 years old and coming from the refugee camps, was initially based on accommodation in hostels and school 106 residences. The change in model occurred against the background of the declaration of a ceasefire in Western Sahara in 1991 when shelter then began to be carried out in families from different Spanish communities.177 Also inspiring these early initiatives was work done first by the Algerian Ministry of Youth and Sports that offered Saharawi refugees some 700 places in the Sidi Frej summer camp in Algiers,178 among other cultural initiatives. Together, Miguel Castro and Marcos Ana were essential in conceiving of and inspiring solidarity with Saharawi youth.179 Furthermore, the PCE had acquired, over the years, the collective experience of having the children of the Spanish war sent to be cared for in the Soviet Union, which “served to raise awareness and explain the situation to citizens [abroad],” inspiring the decision to take in Saharawi youth.180 The Mundo Obrero chronicle recorded Ana’s words regarding the Spain-Saharawi youth initiative: [t]his initiative is not merely humanitarian, but we value it in its political aspect. It is not just about these hundred children getting to know our landscapes and resting with our children. It is about being a living, emotional testimony of the fight that a people maintain for its freedom. They are more than just guests. They are a political symbol.181 177 Also inspiring these early initiatives was an event that occurred in 1976, where, due to the harsh summer months, the Algerian Ministry of Youth and Sports offered Saharawi refugees some 700 places in the Sidi Frej summer camp in Algiers. See Hindu Gailani, “Vacaciones en Paz, el Proyecto,” Una Mirada al Sahara Occidental, January 23, 2023, https://saharaoccidental.es/quizas-te-interese/vacaciones-en-paz-el-proyecto/ 178 Miguel Castro, militant of the PCE and one of the founders of CEAS-Sáhara, who had been the promoter of the initial “Holidays in Peace’ precursor in 1979, actively participated together with the poet, Marcos Ana, on the arrival of the first Saharawi boys and girls to Spain, the creation of RASD TV and ARTifariti. RASD TV is the Saharawi state-owned satellite and terrestrial public-service television broadcaster. Its offices are located in the Saharawi refugee camps of Tindouf Province, Algeria. The ARTifariti event is an international forum for arts and human rights, bringing together Saharawi artists with their counterparts from different countries in defense of the Saharawi cause. 179 Fernando Macarro Castillo, better known by the pseudonym Marcos Ana, was a Spanish poet considered the political prisoner of the Franco regime who spent the longest time in prison, and who upon leaving Franco’s prison and going into exile in France, began to take children of retaliated Spanish politicians to vacation there. “Homenaje a Miguel Castro, Sevilla 22 de octubre de 2022,” October 21, 2022, Coordinadora estatal de Asociaciones Solidarias con el Sahara, https://ceas-sahara.es/homenaje-miguel-castro/ 180 Ricard Jiménez, “VACACIONES EN PAZ: los orígenes, su regreso tras la pandemia y los círculos que cierra Lehbib,” Nueva Revolución, https://nuevarevolucion.es/vacaciones-en-paz-los-origenes-su-regreso-tras-la-pandemia-y-los-circulos-que-cierra-lehbib/ 181 Ricard Jiménez, “VACACIONES EN PAZ,” Nueva Revolución. 107 This is an important legacy of the early start of the program, however, today, the Holidays in Peace program is not without controversy. While acknowledging its long history and its formation of a fundamental support network, critics point out that its welfarist nature now tends to normalize the political conflict and the situation in the occupation, without successfully demanding a resolution or a way out of it.182 Furthermore, the Spanish program has led to many Saharawi youth being informally adopted in Spain, which has been criticized for removing them from their families, dissolving the revolutionary potential of those youth, or letting them become complacent in more comfortable Spanish families.183 Spanish anarchist papers and newsletters were particularly concerned with the legal situation facing the Saharawis and criticized the Spanish, Moroccan, and Mauritanian states extensively.184 Anarchist publications focused most intensely on grassroots solidarity, anti-state campaigning, and best articulate the failures of various governments and international institutions in protecting the most basic needs of the Saharawi people. For example, in an article from La Campana from 1998, a concise chronicle of the history of the Western Sahara, commencing with its colonization in 1884 and culminating in the events of 1991, is provided.185 The article highlights the legal efforts to address the situation, including a lawsuit filed in September 1998 against Moroccan King Hassan II and the Spanish people for genocide against the Saharawi. The article questions the lack of international attention to these crimes, suggesting that geopolitical interests and media silence contribute to the 182 Andrea Liba, “Esperando poder ser saharaui en el Sáhara,” Pikara magazine, February 19th, 2020, https://www.pikaramagazine.com/2020/02/esperando-poder-ser-saharaui-en-el-sahara/ 183 Ibid. 184 “Sahara: Homenaje a la Esperanza,” p. 10, December 14th, 1999, La Campana, 70-98, Seminario de información y pensamiento anarquista, Edita escuela Errico Malatesta. Sindicato unico de Trabajadores “Solidaridad Obrera”, Asociación Amigos del Pueblo Saharaui, Madrid, Spain; Ricardo Colmero, “Sahara: Todo un Pueblo Traicionado: Indignidad y cobardia del gobierno socialista Espanol,” p. 10-11, May 30th, 2005, La Campana, Pontevedra, Spain. 185 Ricardo Colmeiro, “De Nuevo la Traicion: Por que este silencio de la vocingelria justiciera,” p. 8-9, February 11th, 1998, Num. 94, La Campana, 70-98, Seminario de informacion y pensamiento anarquista, Edita escuela Errico Malatesta. Sindicato unico de Trabajadores “Solidaridad Obrera,” Pontevedra, Spain. 108 impunity of those involved in the atrocities. While much less consistent and frequent as Cuban media campaigning, these articles and efforts from the PCE and anarchist activists in Spain demonstrate that campaigning for the SADR was most supported through grassroots and civil society efforts. The other grassroots organization to support the broader Saharawi cause in Spain was “Friends of the Sahara,” created in Madrid in January 1976, that brought “humanitarian aid on the economic, health and cultural levels to the populations of the Sahara.”186 Various Friendship Associations in each province and Autonomous Community of Spain have played a crucial role in facilitating aid to the Saharawi people living in the refugee camps. Spanish solidarity is comprised of a variety of different civil society groups contributing to cultural changes, artistic festivals, and a market economy in the camps, as well as the informal adoption of Saharawi youth to Spain. The Holidays in Peace program continues to stand out as one of the largest, most coordinated, comprehensive, and helpful solidarity programs towards the Saharawi people in improving their material conditions and providing moral and other support. Overall, Spanish leftist solidarity from grassroots civil society organizations, labor syndicalist, and communist campaigning display similar discourse, visual language, and arguments as Cuban campaigning, although to a lesser extent, and don’t focus on uniting similar liberation struggles as much. Cuban campaigning more heavily emphasizes the rights to armed struggle while uniquely unifying the SADR struggle with that of other movements for self-determination in the Global South. Spanish solidarity towards the SADR illustrates the powerful support amongst the Spanish people for helping Saharawi people. This support is rooted in notions of historic responsibility, guilt, and humanitarianism, despite their 186 Asociacion Amigos del Sahara, FAL archive, 32 FCN, Expediente: 4/32-FCN, fecha 1978-1987, Madrid, Spain. 109 governments’ avoidance of the issue. European government and NGO campaigning that supports the rights of Saharawi people focus on human rights, and less on critiquing the broader social and political context that led to the occupation of the Western Saharans. European governmental campaigning also downplays the armed struggle and less frequently presents a justification for it. Sweden, Norway, Italy, Belgium, France, and other European countries have and had large solidarity movements.187 For example, the Polisario Komitee, a Dutch committee for support for the Polisario and the Saharawi was founded in 1977.188 These organizations operated piecemeal, with financial contributions being integral to the committee’s efforts, funding initiatives such as the publication of the Polisario Newspaper, brochures, press releases, exhibitions, lectures, and direct support.189 This stands in contrast once again to Cuban campaigning which benefited from generous government support and funding. Finally, European solidarity campaigns placed a strong emphasis on lobbying for political changes within their own countries, such as pressuring governments to recognize the SADR and end support for Moroccan policies. Cuban campaigns, by contrast, often sought to 187 “Amis du Peuple du Sahara Occidental,” France, https://apsoeditions.wixsite.com/home, “Western Sahara Resource Watch,” Belgium, https://wsrw.org/en, “Solidarity Rising,” Sweden, https://www.facebook.com/SolidarityRising/, and the Swedish Western Sahara Committee (SVK), https://www.svenskavastsaharakommitten.se/en/om-oss/, “Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara,” https://vest-sahara.no/en/about-the-organisation, “Asociación de Amistad con el Pueblo Saharaui de Sevilla,” https://saharasevilla.org/; “La Asociación de amigos del Pueblo Saharaui de Madrid,” https://saharamadrid.es/nosotros-2/, “Asociación de Amistad con el Pueblo Saharaui de Sevilla,” https://saharasevilla.org/; “La Asociación de amigos del Pueblo Saharaui de Madrid,” https://saharamadrid.es/nosotros-2/ 188 Operating under a national secretariat in Rotterdam and relying on donations for funding, the committee articulated its mission in alignment with the strategy and policy of the Polisario Front. Their objectives included fostering understanding and friendship between the Dutch and Saharawi people, disseminating information about the Saharawi people’s situation and liberation struggle, and garnering political support in the Netherlands for key matters such as the recognition of the SADR, pressuring Morocco to withdraw from Western Sahara, and ending Dutch support for Moroccan aggression while acquiring material support for Saharawi refugees. The Polisario Newspaper, published four times a year, informed about developments in the liberation struggle, reconstruction efforts, and support activities. See: “27 februari 1976-27 februari 1986: Tien jaar Demokratische Arabische Republiek Sahara,” Polisario Komitee Newspaper, p. 3, Jan Keulen Collection, Location: 10183.4, Box 132-140, Folder 133, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 189 Ibid. 110 directly empower revolutionary movements and governments in the Global South through various forms of material and logistical support. African, Asian, and Latin American Solidarity It is important to mention the historical dimensions which tie the Saharawi people with Latin American peoples, which was a common, albeit distinctive, colonial history. A common “Hispanicity” links language, literature, and culture of the Saharawi people with that of Latin America. Having Hassaniya as the first language, and Spanish as the second official language of the Saharawi nation, enabled direct links in the diplomatic and cultural field to be established with many Latin American countries, and this helps explain why Spanish became such an essential element of national identity for Saharawi people. Latin American countries have largely supported the Saharawi cause based on two main principles: self-determination of the peoples, seeing the case as an unfinished process of decolonization, and the integrity of borders.190 Argentina and Brazil did not recognize the SADR and are exceptions. Venezuela, Panama, Cuba, and Mexico have bilateral relationships with the SADR. Various African nations have at one time recognized the SADR.191 Algeria, is of course the greatest supporter of the SADR, providing a second home, education, some citizen-like rights, and opportunities for Saharawi people. The African Union has also extended its support for the SADR and for a resolution and referendum for the Saharawi people. Although it is not recognised by the UN, the SADR has held full membership of the African Union (AU, formerly the Organisation of African Unity, OAU) since 1982, not long 190 Prof. Arcelia Flores Castro, “El Sáhara Occidental y América Latina: Historias Comunes y Futuros Coincidentes” (Centro de Estudios do Sahara Occidental da USC, n.d.), https://www.usc.es/es/institutos/ceso/index.html. 191 “RECONOCIMIENTOS DE LA RASD,” Centro de Estudos do Sahara Occidental da USC, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain, https://www.usc.es/en/institutos/ceso/RASD_Reconocimientos.html: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina-Fasso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Lybia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tchad, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe 111 after Cuba recognized the SADR as a state in 1980. The SADR first sought membership of the OAU at the 17th Sumit Conference in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in 1980.192 This was followed by a successful diplomatic campaign by the Polisario Front, lobbying the UN, the NAM, and the OAU’s Ad Hoc Committee, calling for self-determination for the disputed territory’s people. Morocco objected to the SADR being recognized in the OAU and threatened to withdraw if they did. The crisis that the OAU faced when attempting to vote on the recognition of the SADR into the organization was the biggest threat to the existence of the OAU to date.193 Morocco withdrew from the OAU in 1984 following the organization’s acceptance of the SADR as a member state, returning only in 2017 once Morocco felt confident in its control of the Western Saharan territory.194 Because of Cuba’s extensive links with various African countries that were part of the OAU, Cuban advocacy may have partly influenced the OAU’s decision to accept the SADR, despite Moroccan threats. There are 84 states all over the world that have recognized the SADR. There are currently 46 UN member states and South Ossetia that recognize the SADR, while 38 of them have “suspended,” “frozen” or “withdrawn” recognition, with 7 of them (Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Paraguay) violating their international obligations. Numerous Latin American countries have recognized the SADR.195 Only the US, Israel, and Togo have recently recognised Western Sahara as part of the Kingdom of Morocco through official announcement, although this trend seems to be accelerating.196 192 J. Naldi, “The Organization of African Unity and the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic,” Journal of African Law 26, no. 2 (1982): 152–62, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021855300013127. 193 Naldi, “The Organization of African Unity and the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic,” 158. 194 “Morocco rejoins the African Union after 33 years,” Aljazeera News, January 31st, 2017, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/1/31/morocco-rejoins-the-african-union-after-33-years 195 “RECONOCIMIENTOS DE LA RASD,” Centro de Estudos do Sahara Occidental da USC, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain, https://www.usc.es/en/institutos/ceso/RASD_Reconocimientos.html: Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Vicent and The Grenadines, Saint Lucia, St. Kits y Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela. 196 Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Western Sahara.” Encyclopedia Britannica, August 17, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/place/Western-Sahara. 112 Some Asian countries and Oceania countries have recognized the SADR.197 Finally, in Europe, only Albania and the former Yugoslavia had recognized the SADR. While these recognitions are not extensive, the timing and geographic patterns of the main supporters of the SADR, in Latin American and Africa, do suggest a strong influence of Cuba and Algeria in promoting the cause of the SADR. Conclusion The Cuban perspective on statelessness, influenced by Marxist and anti-imperialist frameworks, sharply contrasts with the liberal discourse on human rights that prevails within the United Nations and international law. Cuban solidarity campaigns diverge by framing Saharawi and Palestinian statelessness not merely as crises of rights but as unresolved struggles for decolonization. Here, Cuba calls upon the historic responsibility of colonial and occupying powers, challenging the presentist approach that also limits much of human rights advocacy. Saharawi statelessness, entrenched since 1975, reflects a profound crisis rooted in colonialism and intensified by the post-war liberal state system. Since the Spanish colonial period, the Saharawi people have been denied the fundamental rights and protections that citizenship purports to guarantee. This ongoing exclusion underscores, as critics of statehood like Tendayi Bloom, Katherine Tonkiss, and Phillip Cole argue, the need for a radically revised framework that reconsiders the relationship between citizenship, rights, and the state. Cole urges that to imagine a just world, practices surrounding citizenship, migration, and the nation-state must be re-envisioned beyond their current arbitrary and exclusionary foundations. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has critiqued the presentism underpinning human rights 197 Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Iran, Laos, North Korea, Papua-New Guinea, Syria, East Timor, Vietnam, and Yemen. In Oceania, the following states have recognized the SADR: Kiribati, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu. 113 discourse, arguing that it neglects historical accountability, thereby weakening the discourse on rights by detaching contemporary injustices from their colonial roots. Cuba’s focus on historical accountability and anti-imperialism situates statelessness within a broader critique of the post-war liberal order and its prioritization of individualism and state-centric frameworks that marginalize collective rights and diverse political communities. Cuban solidarity campaigns, therefore, do not equate rights with statehood, recognizing that millions remain denied such status. Instead, Cuba’s approach calls for an internationalist solidarity that transcends state-centric boundaries, aligning Saharawi self-determination with other liberation movements worldwide to counter the hegemonic narratives advanced by capitalist states. Cuba’s continued support for the SADR also supports Jessica Stites Mor’s argument that solidarity has greater endurance when grounded in longstanding, culturally embedded notions of political community. This chapter demonstrates how Cuba’s support for the SADR reflects a commitment to countering these hegemonic structures by mobilizing historical memory and the lived experiences of Global South communities who suffered under colonialism, neocolonialism, and Cold War interventions. Cuban solidarity, as exemplified by the state’s continuous support for the SADR, also has more staying power than the more variable efforts of civil society. This chapter’s exploration of global solidarity campaigns for the SADR, compared with Cuban campaigns, also provides a nuanced understanding of how Cuba carved out a unique “fourth space” within the global socialist landscape. Cuban solidarity is distinct from North-South campaigns including efforts from Soviet institutions, Spanish communists and anarchists, European campaigns, and instances of support from Latin America and Asia. The importance of this chapter lies in understanding the longevity and institutionalization of Cuba’s engagement since solidarity has long been a core feature of governmental policy, 114 promoting South-South solidarity and the self-determination of countries seeking Cuba’s assistance. In contrast, elsewhere, solidarity often originates in grassroots associations, political parties, and networks of concerned citizens. Positioned both within the USSR’s sphere of influence and as a singular advocate of socialist internationalism, non-alignment, and Third World revolutionary politics, Cuba has stood out. 115 Chapter 3: “Sahara, a Victorious Struggle”: Cuban Solidarity Through Media Framing of the SADR Cuba’s extensive media campaigns, serving as forms of solidarity from 1975 to 1999 and beyond, have played a pivotal role in supporting the Saharawi struggle for self-determination and national liberation. Cuban print media campaigns have skillfully advocated for and broadcast their solidarity in the fields of education, healthcare, international congresses, and diplomacy to narrativize, contextualize, and render meaningful the Saharawi revolution. These efforts make the complexities of the Saharawi struggle more compelling to a global audience, thus cultivating broad-based sympathy for the Saharawi cause. By highlighting the active role of Cuban media in shaping international perceptions and advocating for the Saharawi cause, this chapter argues that Cuba’s efforts have been crucial in both portraying and supporting the Saharawi struggle against Moroccan and capitalist cultural imperialism. Examining Granma newspaper, Verde Olivo magazine, Prisma Latinoamericano magazine (Prisma for short), and Tricontinental magazine addressing the Saharawi revolution reveals a unique form of Cuban solidarity towards the SADR. These printed materials leverage genuine connections between Saharawi and Cuban journalists, writers, artists, photographers, diplomats, students, and others to translate and advocate for the Saharawi revolution to an extent unmatched by any country except Spain. Cuban sources primarily frame the Saharawi revolution as teetering on the brink of success, countering the pervasive sense of hopelessness and the daunting odds faced by such a small army against Morocco’s authoritarian monarchy. For example, Figure 3.1 features a 1980 poster by Alberto Blanco González with the slogan, “Sahara, a Victorious Struggle,” displayed during an ICAP event. The poster, projecting an imminent victory of the SADR, uses a psychological framing strategy that reinforces the Saharawi liberation movement’s resolve and justifies its ongoing struggle. Cuban reporting predominantly emphasizes hope 116 and celebrates the defeats of the enemies of the revolution. This narrative approach bolsters Cuban-led educational and medical initiatives in the region, which are framed as the building blocks for a soon-to-be liberated Western Sahara. Figure 3.1. Unknown Photographer. Photography. “Acto de Solidaridad por el XV Anniversario del Inicio de la Lucha Armada,” Instituto Cubano de Amistad con los Pueblos (ICAP), Havana, Cuba. May 20th, 1988. Sobre No. 148. Area politica: Africa y Medio Oriento. Used With Permission. Cuba strategically employed media campaigns using multilingual slogans and visual materials to forge global alliances and foster a shared anti-colonial identity and solidarity across diverse international audiences. Jessica Stites Mor terms this “rendering solidarity” 117 referring to the ways that cultural practices and forms can “communicate judgment, suggest ethical considerations, describe the particularity of events, and frame narratives in the service of political consciousness.”198 Social movements, such as the Cuban and Saharawi revolutions, rely on framings, in which grievances are interpreted and diffused in strategic ways to garner support.199 Sociologist Steven Buechler defines frames, akin to sociologist and social psychologist Erving Goffman, as “interpretive schemata that people use to identify, label, and render meaningful events in their lives.”200 This chapter will explore different types of framing used in social movements, such as “frame bridging,” “amplification,” “extension,” and “transformation,” as well as “diagnostic framing,” “prognostic framing,” and “motivational framing,” as these techniques were employed by Cuba to generate solidarity and compel audiences across the Global South to see themselves united in a collective struggle. As seen in the poster in Figure 3.1, the intention of publishing print media in multiple languages using simple yet near universally understandable imagery allowed OSPAAAL to render solidarity across borders. For example, the Tricontinental Bulletin, Magazine, and posters were published in English, Spanish, French, and sometimes in Arabic, and diffused to 87 countries worldwide.201 As Fernando Camacho Padilla and Eugenia Palieraki argue, OSPAAAL is especially remembered for their visual materials, in which they produced “308 posters between 1967 and 2002, with 42 dedicated to the causes of the Muslim world, about 13 percent of the total.”202 The Saharawi case became prominent at the end of the 1970s and remained among the most frequently reported causes of the Muslim world, in both the 198 Stites Mor, South-South Solidarity and the Latin American Left, 19. 199 Steven M Buechler, Understanding Social Movements: Theories from the Classical Era to the Present (Routledge, 2016), 146. 200 Ibid. 201 Mahler, From the Tricontinental to the Global South, 10; Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle.” Mahler, From the Tricontinental to the Global South, 10; Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle.” 202 Camacho Padilla and Palieraki, “Hasta Siempre , OSPAAAL!,” 417. 118 bulletin and the magazine, until the 1990s, with 15 articles in 14 Tricontinental magazine issues and 3 articles in 3 Tricontinental bulletins.203 This reveals that Cuban campaigns were sharply focused on liberating the Saharawi people, especially in the 1980s. By articulating cases like that of the Saharawi and ideologically and visually framing them as connected to Asian and Latin American causes in local languages, Cuba engaged in a form of media solidarity that few other countries have done. Cuba’s focus on media sovereignty and their well funded state-owned media organizations drove these comprehensive efforts to address challenges faced by many national liberation movements, including the Saharawi. For example, one of the focal issues addressed in stories about the Saharawi struggle in North Africa included underlining the challenges of statelessness. Describing the nature of the struggle as a common one of many peoples who were likewise deprived collectively of self-determination; these articles spoke to all victims of imperialism or neocolonialism about the condition of voicelessness and to the limits on the political agency of peoples not offered the benefit of belonging as a citizen to an officially recognized state. These issues intensified during the cultural Cold War, when sophisticated propaganda was launched by major international media outlets that undermined these anticolonial efforts. In response, Cuban media campaigns continued to actively support the Saharawi struggle. Cuban Media Landscape: National Sovereignty and State Media In March 1959, Cuba launched the news service Prensa Latina, asserting its role as a powerful advocate for local news production in Global South countries and combating the damaging effects of cultural imperialism on self-determination. As Cuba’s official state news agency, Prensa Latina has been a beacon of media sovereignty in a media landscape 203 Losier, Padilla, and Mor, “Statelessness and Solidarity: Palestinians, Dhofaris, and Saharawis in Tricontinental Media,” 77. 119 dominated by powerful international media companies.204 Castro’s call to seize the means of media and news production led to the government nationalising all media production on the archipelago. Less than a month after the Cuban revolutionaries triumphed, 400 journalists and photographers gathered from around the world for Operation Truth. Castro announced, “[w]e do not have international cable news. You, Latin American journalists, have no other choice but to accept what the cable news that is not Latin American tells you.”205 In order to counter the control of information from outside the region, Castro introduced Prensa Latina as a new source of international cable news. As such, Prensa Latina quickly reshaped the international and local flow of information, especially for Latin America.206 Since 1959, the media landscape in Cuba, rather than being beholden to a corporate monopoly,207 is beholden to the state.208 Recognizing that the production of knowledge is a political act, Cuba sought to use media to help unify a political consciousness amongst the Global South based on more accurate and revolutionary readings of international power 204 Media sovereignty refers to the ability of a nation or community to control and manage its own media and communication systems without external influence or interference. Media sovereignty is crucial for maintaining cultural identity and ensuring that information is not dominated or manipulated by foreign powers or multinational corporations. It allows a nation or community to assert its own narrative and resist media imperialism, in which external forces impose their own viewpoints and agendas. While the media in Cuba is dependent on the state, Cuban efforts on the global stage led to the reinforcement of independence movements, sovereignty of Global South countries, and anti-colonial nationalism. 205 Renata Keller, “The Revolution Will Be Teletyped: Cuba’s Prensa Latina News Agency and the Cold War Contest over Information,” Journal of Cold War Studies 21, no. 3 (August 2019): 88, https://doi.org/10.1162/jcws_a_00895; Ocean Press, Prensa Latina: The News Agency That Was Needed, 2019, 1. 206 Keller, 90. 207 Robert B. Horwitz, “On Media Concentration and the Diversity Question,” The Information Society 21, no. 3 (July 2005): 181–204, https://doi.org/10.1080/01972240490951908; Victor W. Pickard, Democracy without Journalism? Confronting the Misinformation Society (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2020); Ben H. Bagdikian, The New Media Monopoly (Beacon Press, 2004); Dean Alger, Megamedia: How Giant Corporations Dominate Mass Media, Distort Competition, and Endanger Democracy, vol. 36 (Rowman & Littlefield, 1998), http://choicereviews.org/review/10.5860/CHOICE.36-6111; Jesse Owen Hearns-Branaman and Tabe Bergman, Journalism and Foreign Policy: How the US and UK Media Cover Official Enemies, 1st ed. (London: Routledge, 2022), https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003162964. 208 Anne Natvig, “Diverging Ideals of Autonomy: Non-State Media in Cuba Challenging a Broken Media Monopoly,” Journal of Alternative & Community Media 4, no. 2 (July 1, 2019): 14–30, https://doi.org/10.1386/joacm_00046_1. 120 dynamics. As Renata Keller argues, Prensa Latina was “a powerful weapon in Castro’s revolutionary arsenal because it provided a new way for the Cuban government to gather and shape information and to build international solidarity.”209 Keller argues that Prensa Latina was a forerunner of a larger postcolonial collective movement in the 1970s, advocated within the Non-Aligned Movement, to reshape the international means of mass media production in favor of the Global South.210 Cuban leadership in media sovereignty, exemplified by initiatives such as Prensa Latina and OSPAAAL, gained significant international recognition during Fidel Castro’s tenure as chair of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1979-1983. This coincided with the largest global debate over media representations of the developing world, that emerged in UNESCO in the late 1970s and early 1980s. During the late 1970s, members of the Non-Aligned Movement, under Cuban influence, highlighted the overwhelming control of global information by Western agencies like Associated Press and Reuters. Members of the NAM argued that Western news agencies were advancing “cultural imperialism,”211 accused of owning 95 percent of worldwide information flows, namely Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, United Press International, and Reuters.212 This discussion took center stage at the Non-Aligned Symposium on Information in Tunisia in 1976, which focused on decolonizing 209 Keller, “The Revolution Will Be Teletyped,” 90. 210 This movement became known as the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO). See Sean MacBride, Many Voices, One World. Communication and Society Today and Tomorrow. Towards a New More Just and More Efficient World Information and Communication Order (Report by the International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems), London 1980, p. 145; Saad Qasem Hammoudi, “The New International Information Order: Why and How?” in: Hans Köchler (ed.), The New International Information and Communication Order. Basis for Cultural Dialogue and Peaceful Coexistence among Nations, Vienna 1985, p. 29–46; Divina Frau-Meigs et al., From NWICO to WSIS: 30 Years of Communication Geopolitics (The University of Chicago Press, 2012). 211 Sašo Slaček Brlek and Jernej Amon Prodnik, “‘What Happened Was Foremost an Assault by Interests of the Big Capital.’ An Interview with Breda Pavlič.,” tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society 15, no. 1 (March 27, 2017): 251, https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v15i1.860. 212 See Divina Frau-Meigs et al., From NWICO to WSIS: 30 Years of Communication Geopolitics (The University of Chicago Press, 2012), 3. 121 information channels to mitigate cultural imperialism.213 These debates extended beyond mere information control to encompass cultural and social dimensions of imperialism. Member states argued that capitalist imperialist dominance in media not only shaped political and economic discourse but also perpetuated colonial cultural values. Responding to these challenges, the Non-Aligned Movement, inspired by Cuban advocacy, pushed for concerted action in media and communications during the Algiers Summit.214 The aim was to reorganize communication channels inherited from colonial rule, thus fostering a more equitable global media landscape. Cuba’s strategic utilization of media platforms and campaigns has not only redefined its global influence but has also championed the causes of nations still striving for self-determination and independence, such as the SADR. National identity is built upon evolving and often contested stories about who constitutes the nation and what it stands for.215 Cuban media agencies thus narrate and construct notions of Cuban internationalism and the Saharawi nation, using testimonio (text produced based on eyewitness testimony),216 and strategic framing devices. Framing Social Movements Through Mass Media The Cuban revolutionary government controls mass media in the country, with major media agencies sponsored, funded, and subsidized by the government. Cubans are discouraged from listening to independent, private, or foreign broadcasts and media sources, 213 Jayantanuja Bandyopadhyaya, “The Non-Aligned Movement and International Relations,” India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs 33, no. 2 (April 1977): 158, https://doi.org/10.1177/097492847703300201. 214 “4th Summit Conference of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement,” Non-Aligned Movement, 5-9 September, 1973, Algiers, Algeria, http://cns.miis.edu/nam/documents/Official_Document/4th_Summit_FD_Algiers_Declaration_1973_Whole.pdf, 88. 215 Berger, Stefan, Linas Eriksonas, and Andrew Mycock, eds. Narrating the nation: Representations in history, media and the arts. Berghahn Books, 2022, 1. 216 Whitfield, Joey. “Narratives of internationalism in Angola: myths,” testimonio”, fiction.” International Journal of Cuban Studies (2010): 231-248. Whitfield argues that three elements were central in propelling the politico-historical myth of Cuban internationalism in Angola: redemption through struggle, racial solidarity, and the narrative of self-sacrificing guerilla exemplified by the Hombre Nuevo (New Man). 122 especially those from countries such as the United States. The rationale behind Prensa Latina in 1959 was to put the power of the media back into the hands of local producers, rather than in the hands of imperialist countries. Cuban foreign press agents were thus tasked with capturing images and stories as a crucial form of advocacy, communicating information about conflicts from one national context to another. The tasks of translating conflicts required careful framing and sophisticated ways of shaping opinions. Media like Prensa Latina used visual, rhetorical, and textual strategies to frame events such as military triumphs, workers’ grievances, the problem of statelessness, ongoing colonialism, and much more. In social movement literature, framing is particularly relevant when examining mass media covering global conflicts. In all social conflicts, there are at least three parties, the two partners in conflict, and a broader audience that observes the conflict and may have some agency to influence the conflict. Shaping the opinions, motivations, and emotions of the audience is the political act that gives media makers or information disseminators a unique power. Cuba recognized this powerful role of media, and nationalized all media, to give revolutionary actors in the state the power to shape public opinion and foster solidarity actions. Framing refers to the way conflicts, social movements, and grievances are socially constructed, shaping perceptions and influencing action. For instance, if climate change is presented as an issue driven by individual behaviors, solutions will likely focus on changing personal habits. Conversely, if it is framed as a systemic problem, strategies might demand stringent regulations on polluting industries or governmental reforms. Thus, the way a problem is defined inherently suggests different responses and interventions. Additionally, frame alignment is the task of linking individual interests, values, and beliefs to a movement’s activities, goals, and ideologies. If these align, then a movement may more successfully recruit a committed membership base. Social movement theorist Steven 123 Buechler has identified four main frame alignment processes. Firstly, he describes “frame bridging” which connects two or more preexisting frames, helping individuals recognize that if they already share common views on certain issues, they should join this social movement.217 For example, Cuba frequently bridged the issue of Palestine with the issue of the SADR, drawing on preexisting recognizable narrative frames to encourage readers to recognize similar injustices in the case of the SADR. Secondly, Buechler explains that “frame amplification” is a tool that enhances the importance of certain values and beliefs, linking them to a movement’s goals. This process might involve framing appeals in the language of democracy or addressing beliefs that support or hinder action on a particular issue. For example, Cuba vehemently challenges colonialism and imperialism by framing the statelessness of the Saharawi people as a decolonization issue. This amplifies preexisting values and beliefs about the nature of colonialism, thereby strengthening the connection of the particular cause to an already identified movement value, in this case anti-colonialism. Thirdly, Buechler’s concept of “frame extension” involves the adaptation of frames to include external people’s concerns when there are no preexisting fits between a movement and its target recruits. For instance, framing the Moroccan colonization of Western Sahara as an impediment to peace and justice can help attract broader peace activists and position the SADR struggle as a fight for peace. Finally, Buechler’s “frame transformation” involves creating new meanings or reinterpreting misunderstood issues. Through Cuban narrativization and historicization of the SADR, the occupation of their territory, often framed as unfortunate by the United Nations, is instead depicted as intolerable and immoral, deliberate and connected to wider patterns. This chapter employs Buechler’s schema to describe the specific framing activities that Cuban media has 217 Buechler, Understanding Social Movements: Theories from the Classical Era to the Present, 146. 124 employed to cover the SADR, using examples to help explain the underlying rationale of these media gestures.218 Cuban media relies not only on the framing techniques described above, but also uses a few other techniques when writing about the case of the SADR. Cuban media coverage of the Saharawi struggle strategically employs three robust collective action frameworks: injustice, agency, and identity. ‘Injustice’ frameworks generate moral indignation about the harms inflicted on the Saharawi people; ‘agency’ frameworks suggest that these issues are amenable to change through concerted effort; and ‘identity’ frameworks delineate the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ narrative, recasting the SADR’s struggles in terms of a collective identity of colonized countries against imperialists such as the US, Spain, and France. Through these frameworks, Cuba has effectively rendered the SADR cause comprehensible and compelling, aligning it with broader goals of fostering unity and solidarity across the Global South. This strategic framing not only underscores the shared struggles against imperialism and colonialism but also mobilizes support by highlighting the shared destiny and common cause among the nations of the Global South. Cuban media frame the SADR using these three core master frameworks through three specific narrative strategies. This chapter will explore each of these in detail. All three—injustice, agency, and identity—are used to tell a story about how audiences might relate to the SADR cause. The first is a story about the SADR on the brink of victory; the second is a story that compares the situation in SADR to that of Palestine; and the third, which is often presented with the other two, historicize and provides testimonies of the Saharawi struggle to situate it within a wider critique of colonialism. 218 Other broad framing mechanisms according to Buechler include diagnostic framing, which identifies a problem, and attributes blame or causality to it. Conversely, prognostic framing outlines the tactics and strategies needed to address the problem, effectively framing the nature of the problem itself. For instance, framing an issue as political suggests that a political solution will be most effective. Lastly, motivational framing offers a rationale for action, convincing people that change is possible and that their participation is crucial. People understand events by combining experiential knowledge, popular wisdom, and media discourse. 125 Cuban Coverage of the SADR In 1985, Alberto García painted an image that has sat in the entrance and meeting room of the SADR embassy in Havana for as long as Pilar Barbarita Hueche, the secretary who has worked there since 1986, could remember.219 The painting (Figure 3.2), reproduces a 1977 black and white photograph of Saharawi guerilla fighters taken by the Algeria Press Service.220 This same photograph can be found in the Prensa Latina photographic collection. Cuban painter, Alberto García,221 gifted this work to the Saharawi embassy in Havana. This remarkable work of art makes a poignant visual parallel between the Saharawi struggle and the Cuban revolutionary journey. It features Saharawi guerilla fighters donned in olive-green uniforms reminiscent of the Cuban military attire. The main difference between the photograph and the painting is that in the painting, the Saharawi flag is prominently centered, whereas in the photograph, there is no flag. García chose the photograph of the Saharawi guerrillas, out of many other photographs, making a clear connection between the SADR and Cuban symbols of patriotism: guerrilla fighters and armed resistance. Choosing a photograph that tells the story of combatants, waving a flag in the desert, identifies the people as Saharawi, and as guerilla fighters just like their Cuban early revolutionary predecessors. For people visiting the Saharawi embassy, the painting provides a window into Saharawi patriotism, as well as into Cuban solidarity with the SADR. In the 1960s and 1970s, the construction of revolutionary sensibilities and the envisioning of solidarity across the Global South heavily relied on the significance of visual culture.222 The photograph, taken in 1977, captures a moment in the Saharawi struggle two years after 219 Interview with author, Pilar Barbariche Huete, May 30th, 2023, Havana, Cuba. 220 Algeria Press Service, “Guerrilleros del F.Polisario,” 1977, Prensa Latina photographic archive, Folder “Guerrillas,” Havana, Cuba. 221 I could not find any information about the painter, and the SADR embassy staff did not know more about him either, except that he was a friend of the staff in the 1980s. 222 Stites Mor, South-South Solidarity and the Latin American Left; Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle”; Michelle Chase, “Picturing Solidarity: Photography and Cuban Internationalism during the Vietnam War,” Trans Asia Photography 13, no. 1 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1215/21582025-10365006. 126 their displacement to Algeria, coinciding with the arrival of the first Cuban missions to the refugee camps for information gathering. At the time, hundreds of photographs were taken or shared of Saharawi people, to help continue the long Cuban tradition of drawing on visual evidence to convey solidarity. By echoing this specific historical context, the painting not only pays homage to the shared revolutionary spirit but also aligns itself with the critical period when Cuban support, and thus the demands placed on Cuban internationalists, became more formally intertwined with the Saharawi cause. Figure 3.2. Alberto García. Untitled. Havana, Cuba. 1985. Framed painting in Saharawi Embassy in Havana by painter, “Alberto García,” signed by the artist in May of 1985. Reproduced with permission from the Saharawi Embassy staff in Havana, photo taken by thesis author, Rahel Losier. Today, the larger and ongoing exchange of photographs between the Algeria Press Service, the Saharawi Press Service, and various Cuban news and print media agencies speaks to a direct and enduring network of professional and grassroots media cooperations 127 between Cuba and the SADR.223 Agreements that continue up to the present day extend beyond information exchange to include personnel exchange. For instance, Saharawi students studying journalism in Cuba can undertake internships or practicums at Prensa Latina. Such networks are built on strategic insights Cuba developed since the early 1960s, fostering relationships with other liberation movements in the Global South.224 Cuban journalistic solidarity campaigns for the SADR were most robust from the late 1970s until 1991. Cuban journalists followed many issues relating to the SADR. The most covered stories involved Cuban solidarity campaigns which encompassed medical support, educational initiatives, military advice, advocacy for the SADR in multilateral forums, and historicizing the conflict. Four key print sources illuminate Cuba’s concerted efforts to construct accurate historical narratives to situate the struggle. Each highlight the leadership of the Polisario Front and the SADR government, and each focus on relating what are identified as key events in the region. The analysis of these print outlets provides invaluable insights into the nuanced dimensions of Cuba’s commitment and support for the SADR. Each state-run media in Cuba took a slightly different approach to reporting on the SADR. Granma is the daily official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. Granma is published daily and is the most widely read newspaper in Cuba. Granma provided breaking news and short form coverage of events in the Western Sahara beginning in 1975 and continues to do so to the present day. Most of its coverage comes 223 As Yadira Cruz Valera, current Editor-in-Chief of Prensa Latina’s Middle East and North Africa branch, explained in an interview, media agreements have strengthened significantly. In March 2023, agreements were established between Prensa Latina, the Saharawi Press Agencies, and the SADR. During the 16th Polisario Congress in 2023—the first congress held during a war situation since 1991—Cuban party members and Prensa Latina representatives were present. The delegation, led by Yudí Rodríguez from the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the PCC, not only provided coverage but also signed agreements with both the Algerian and Saharawi agencies. Prensa Latina, “Saludan en Cuba realización del XVI Congreso del Frente Polisario (+Foto),” January 14th, 2023, https://www.prensa-latina.cu/2023/01/14/saludan-en-cuba-realizacion-del-xvi-congreso-del-frente-polisario; Interview with author, Yadira Cruz Valera, May 30th, 2023, Havana, Cuba. 224 Interview with author, Yadira Cruz Valera, May 30th, 2023, Havana, Cuba. 128 directly from the Prensa Latina service. Granma tends to frame the SADR cause as primarily a question of injustice, discussing the first days of occupation in 1975-1976, and highlighting shocking conditions that the Saharawi endured over the next decades. A second source of information that covers the SADR is Verde Olivo, a magazine published by the Cuban armed forces magazine. As the official publication of the Cuban military, Verde Olivo covers a wide variety of topics, such as diplomacy, defense strategies, and events of major importance to Cuban soldiers abroad. It discusses allied independence movements from strategic military perspectives, profiling army members, and fleshing out the kind of warfare that takes place in various conditions and regions of the world. When it discusses the Saharawi struggle, which it does only sparsely, this means treating topics of warfare in the desert. In discussing the Saharawi struggle, Verde Olivo draws on the most common master frame of the SADR, which is that of projecting the imminent victory of the Saharawi struggle. The Tricontinental magazine was the product of OSPAAAL, an organization that was birthed in 1966 from the Tricontinental Conference in Havana. OSPAAAL brought 82 nations together to champion a “tricontinentalist vision of Third World solidarity.”225 Its reporting tended to promote a particular interpretation of the Cold War as ongoing colonialism and was aimed at strengthening South-South solidarity not only across participating nations but also in international organizations, such as the UN, and among members nations of the Non-Aligned Movement. OSPAAAL emerged as a potent reference point on anti-imperial issues. It issued news of national liberation movements and worked to maintain contact with its various delegations. It also reprinted speeches by key revolutionary 225 Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle,” 43. 129 idealogues, and long form analyses of global issues penned by important figures.226 The Tricontinental magazine’s reporting exemplifies solidarity framing. Finally, Prisma Latinoamericano magazine, which was only published from 1979-1987, also covered SADR. Prisma mostly published in-depth articles from Cuban Special Envoys who went to the Western Sahara and Cubans who are familiar with the case. Prisma Latinoamericano was produced and edited by Prensa Latina. The original Prisma was first published in 1975, and sold in Spain, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela, and also was published in Portuguese and sold in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Portugal, and Brazil. An English edition, providing monthly information about Latin America and the world, came later.227 The magazine discusses issues relating to Western Sahara numerous times, mostly penned by authors Armando Lopez Junco; Andres Escobar; Julio Hernandez; Juan Buria; Nersa Caballero; Mary Simon; and Jose Luis Morales. Western Sahara is featured in each of the following years: 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1987. With the expansion experienced in the 1970s and 1980s, Prensa Latina reached a production of about 400 dispatches daily in Spanish, English, French, and Portuguese; offices in 40 countries; publications with international circulation such as the magazines Cuba Internacional and Prisma Latinoamericano; as well as photography, radio and television services.228 Seeing Cuban state media campaigns as a form of codified solidarity provides a comprehensive understanding of how media serves as a critical tool in Cuba’s foreign policy. 226 Ibid. 227 “Cuba: Castro’s Propaganda Apparatus and Foreign Policy,” CIA, December 1983, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP84S00897R000200050008-4.pdf; Prensa Latina has been studied very little, and Prisma Latinoamericano even less, with the only reference I could find to it in scholarly and web mentions was in a CIA document. The CIA and US agencies frequently read and described Cuban activities in the Global South, at times sharing accurate information, and other times sharing propaganda. 228 Ibid. 130 Across these various publications, the most significant and frequent framing that Cuban media provides is the image of the Saharawi guerilla fighters as more powerful, strategic, and successful than the Moroccan regime. Most articles discuss the advantage that the Polisario has in knowing the terrain of the desert better than most Moroccan soldiers. They are presented as adept at dealing with 50 degrees Celsius weather and successful at capturing weapons and enemy combatants, leading to important military successes. For example, in a Prisma Latinoamericano article from 1980, by Vivian Nuñez, entitled “Elites Against Guerrillas: The Offensive of the Polisario Front Continues in Advance,” Nuñez describes and depicts captured weapons and over 100 ambushes carried out by the Polisario. Nuñez argues that this coincided with the time when the Moroccan monarchy deployed “elite units” to “cleanse” the Western Saharan guerrillas. In one article, “Western Sahara: The Final Stage,”229 Armando Lopez Junco expresses hope for a just resolution at the upcoming NAM meeting. Cuban reporting particularly revels in the fact that while the Moroccan army was backed by the US and France, with elite weapons and units, they still lost to ambushes by the Polisario, reinforcing the superiority of guerilla warfare. In another issue of Prisma from 1980, Manuel Somoza, as Special Envoy, interviews Bachir Mustafá Sayed, deputy secretary general of the Polisario Front. The article once again describes the profound skill the Saharawi fighters have, and Sayed ends the interview saying, “victory is closer than ever,” with a photograph of numerous captured soldiers and tanks.230 Photographs are used that underline the story of overcoming injustice and imminent victory. In an issue of Tricontinental in 1978, Moises Saab interviews Ahmed Bujari and 229 Armando López Junco, “Sáhara Occidental: ¿La etapa final?” Prisma Latinoamericano Magazine no. 83 (1979), Journals F1401.P75, University of Miami Cuban Heritage Collection, Miami, Florida, US, 21. 230 Manuel Somoza, “Jaque al Rey: Una guerra que se aproxima al fin,” Prisma Latinoamericano Magazine no. 91 (1980), Journals F1401.P75, University of Miami Cuban Heritage Collection, Miami, Florida, US, 17. 131 Bilal Ahmed, leaders of the Polisario Front, while in Havana on a trip to Cuba.231 Bujari asserts that the Saharawi are the most powerful force in the region, announcing that since 1977, Polisario have captured hundreds of prisoners, incapacitated 25,000 enemies through death and injury, and neutralized or seized dozens of planes, helicopters, and other war materials. The photographs below the page depict Polisario members, captured guns, and a crate of seized weapons adorned with a US flag and two hands shaking. The subsequent page features a Saharawi woman with a scarf around her head and hair, holding a baby in one arm and carrying a rifle over her shoulder, symbolizing the fertility and strength of Saharawi women.232 These frames overall highlight the struggle and resistance against perceived oppressors, specifically Morocco, the US, and France. They underscore the injustice and victimization of the Saharawi people, casting the Moroccan monarchy and Western powers in a negative light. This strategy also often involves depicting enemies in degrading or trivializing ways, which visually conveys their perceived vulnerability or moral deficiency. For example, one cartoon illustration in Prisma magazine233 depicts a bust of Hassan II as a balloon, with a hand poised to pop it, metaphorically deflating the hubris of the Moroccan monarchy. The repetitive portrayal of Saharawi military victories over imperial forces and the heroic depiction of Saharawi guerrilla soldiers amplifies the values of courage, resistance, and resilience. These are values likely already admired by the intended audience and serve to further deepen emotional engagement and moral alignment with the Saharawi cause. 231 Moisés Saab, “De la guerre dans le desert,” Tricontinental Magazine no 110 (1978), OSPAAAL Collection, 50-51. 232 Moisés Saab, “De la guerre dans le desert,” Tricontinental Magazine no 110 (1978), OSPAAAL Collection, 53. 233 Julio Hernández, “Marruecos no aplica los acuerdos: mientras las negociaciones continuan bloqueadas en la OUA, los Saharauis siguen sus combates por la independencia,” Prisma Latinoamericano Magazine no. 135 (November 1983), Journals F1401.P75, University of Miami Cuban Heritage Collection, Miami, Florida, US, 35. 132 The second major narrative framing used in the Cuban press was that of comparison. Cuba actively supported the Saharawi struggle against Western-backed Moroccan neocolonialism, drawing parallel narratives between the Saharawi liberation movement and various other liberation struggles. One key strategic framing visible in multiple media outlets is that between the pre-existing paradigm of Palestinian national liberation, which was often presented in Cuban press outlets as mirroring the struggle of the Saharawi people. The rich template that OSPAAAL’s publications produced for representing the cause of Palestinian liberation was partly adapted to promote the case of the SADR. This approach was designed to communicate effectively and efficiently the situation of the Saharawi people, as another anti-colonial Arab nationalist group enduring statelessness, occupation, and imperialism. For example, in Tricontinental no. 113, a special issue, Taysir Kyba argues that Israel is imperialism’s essence in the Middle East, acting as a US-backed gendarme to crush the potential spread of the Palestinian revolution to oil-rich Arab countries.234 This issue compares the role of Israel to that of Morocco in Western Sahara and the North African region. Cuba also dedicated substantial effort to historicizing the Saharawi struggle and movement, which also raised further similarities between the SADR and the case of Palestine. For example, one Tricontinental article described the occupation as a “war of walls.”235 The reporting details the strategy of building physical barricades that Morocco began in 1979 and formally completed in 1980 with the construction of “Wall 1,” a system of walls also referred to the “Useful Triangle,” which protects Moroccan economic interests while keeping the Polisario and SADR citizens out. This image of walls protecting citizens 234 Taysir Kyba, “The Palestinian Revolution is Indestructible,” Tricontinental Bulletin no. 113 (1978), OSPAAAL Collection, Havana, Cuba, 24. 235 Fernando Napoles Tapia, “Sahara Occidental: La Guerra de Los Muros,” Tricontinental Magazine issue no. 121 (1989), OSPAAAL Collection, 15. 133 against the stateless echoes Tricontinental reporting on Palestine. The 450-kilometer stretch of border wall in the Western Sahara was designed to prevent the Polisario from entering the occupied areas. The article reports that US military advisors sent by Reagan and Kissinger helped to establish the defensive walls. Just as the Israeli Defence Forces began to consider strategic barrier walls and border policing during the first intifada, reporting on Western Sahara furthered the critique of illegal border making and control at the heart of these disputes. This demonstrates the ongoing attention Cuba was paying to detailed events happening with the SADR, and their effort to share these injustices with the world. In another Tricontinental article, Mohamed Lamin Ahmed, President of the Council of Ministers of the SADR, argues that the 750,000 Saharans, whose territory is rich in resources, were deemed incapable of determining their own future by the Spanish, French, Americans, and Moroccans.236 This perspective mirrors the way Palestinians were seen as unable to govern themselves by Great Britain and later the United Nations. One cover of a Tricontinental issue featured a rare cover photograph from the Saharawi struggle. The image is of a smiling Saharawi child holding the SADR flag while wearing a shirt with the Saharawi flag on it.237 The subtitle on the cover photo says, “The Struggle in the Sands,” implying a struggle in Algeria and the Liberated Territories, and other more distant sands such as in Palestine. The beginning of the issue also discusses the regional gendarmes of Israel and Morocco as perpetrators of great suffering against both the Palestinian and Saharawi people.238 These examples demonstrate how Cuba historicized and rendered comprehensible the struggle of the SADR by modelling visual, discursive, and rhetorical arguments on pre-existing and similar liberation movements such as Palestinian liberation movements. 236 Mohamed Lamin Ahmed, “Guerrilla Warfare is Also Possible in the Desert,” Tricontinental Magazine no. 110 (1978), OSPAAAL Collection, 39. 237 Alberto Fernández Vera, “La Lucha en las Arenas,” Tricontinental Magazine no. 59 (1978), OSPAAAL Collection, Havana, Cuba, 65-77. 238 Tricontinental Magazine no. 59 (1978), OSPAAAL Collection, Havana, Cuba, 1-4. 134 Related to the previous example of Palestine twinned with the SADR, identity framing is also used in these instances. By showing images and articles about Saharawi soldiers alongside those from the Palestinian struggle, Cuban media leverages a well-recognized global narrative of resistance and injustice.239 This not only helps unfamiliar audiences quickly align their understanding and sympathies with the Saharawi cause but also strengthens the identity frame by drawing parallels between two struggles. An “us versus them” narrative constructs a clear divide between the oppressors (Morocco, US, France) and the oppressed (SADR), fostering a collective identity among viewers that transcends national boundaries. The use of images that connect the Saharawi struggle with that of the Palestinians is a classic example of frame bridging. It connects two ideologically similar but structurally separate struggles, suggesting that supporters of Palestinian freedom might also consider supporting Saharawi independence due to the similar shared experiences of colonization, resistance, and liberation. Cuban media consistently framed the Saharawi struggle as a just struggle for self-determination. In one example reported in 1975, Ricardo Alarcón Quesada, Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations, asserted Cuba’s stance at the UN.240 In a speech before the Colonial Affairs Commission, Alarcón Quesada articulated Cuba’s position on the issue of Western Sahara: “[m]y delegation pointed out that the General Assembly must reaffirm, consequently, the inalienable right of the Saharawi people to self-determination and independence in accordance with resolution 1514.”241 After asking the General Assembly to adequately address the Polisario “as the legitimate spokesperson of the Saharawi population,” the Cuban diplomat expressed his conviction that the Polisario’s fight is just and that sooner 239 Tricontinental Magazine no. 59 (1978), OSPAAAL Collection, Havana, Cuba. 240 Ricardo Alarcón Quesada, “Pronunciase Cuba en ONU por la independencia del Sahara Occidental,” Granma (November 20, 1975), Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba, 7. 241 Ricardo Alarcón Quesada, “Pronunciase Cuba en ONU por la independencia del Sahara Occidental,” 7. 135 or later it will be crowned with victory.242 Such framing, shared as early as 1975, not only sustained morale but also legitimized Cuba’s continuous support, suggesting that each Saharawi military victory is a step closer to final liberation. Cuban media framed the education in the Saharawi refugee camps as a potent feature legitimizing self-determination and the just struggle of the people to become their own country. The image of children being educated projects an image of the future, as seen in Figure 3.3, captioned “[D]espite the difficulties children are studying.” The message is clear, when the SADR liberates the Western Sahara, an educated and bright cadre of young adults will be able to manage the country. The title of the photograph projects a notion of strength despite difficult circumstances, giving agency to the Saharawi people, reinforcing their rightful self-determination. This narrative approach is essential in bolstering Cuban-led educational and medical initiatives in the region, which are depicted as foundational steps toward the imminent liberation of Western Sahara. 242 Ibid. 136 Figure 3.3. Unknown Photographer. Despite the difficulties the children are studying. Saharawi Refugee Camps in Algeria. June of 1978. Prensa Latina, Fototeca, Folder 152.19, No. 5A. República Árabe Saharawii Democrática: Educación. Used with permission. One of the strongest narrative frames related to education revolves around the Isle of Youth as a clear example and showcase of Cuban solidarity. The Isle became a hub for Saharawi students in Cuba, with new students arriving there beginning in 1977 and continuing until 2014 when the Island’s schools closed.243 Four schools were dedicated to the SADR, each accommodating hundreds of students, usually hosting between 400 to 600 students.244 The Isle of Youth provided Cuban leaders with a concrete example of efforts to support national liberation to foreign visitors, often members of the Non-Aligned Movement, and to illustrate their success in revolutionary experiments and in instilling values of non-alignment among students. These events were discussed at length in Granma, framing the 243 The number of students arriving each year is hard to estimate, although some statistics have been shared with me from documents collected by MA student Ozman Ahmed Bahiya and Cuban professor, Julio Hernandez, both of whom collected documents from the Municipal Archive of the Island of Youth in 2023. 244 Document, Investigación inicial para la elaboración de una monografía sobre las escuelas internacionalistas de la isla de la juventud, Archivo Histórica Municipal, Fondo: Donativos y Remisiones, No. Cajuela: 18, Expedienties: 450 A/478, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 137 successes of the Isle as a symbol of solidarity by which the entire world could be inspired. For example, in 1982, Lucas Correoso Perez reported that the schools were “a potent symbol of solidarity,” with important activities blooming across the Isle that developed a mutual form of solidarity between Cubans and international students.245 These boarding schools became symbols of solidarity that amplified values and beliefs, such as the importance of helping others, education as a peaceful crucible for liberation, and decolonization as an important historical goal, underlining the crucial nature of teaching the history of African countries. Cuban media also frequently foregrounded their more universally accepted forms of humanitarian aid such as health and medical collaborations with the SADR. Media sources highlighted the effectiveness and moral imperative of their involvement by appealing to a broad audience that valued health and scientific advancement as part of international solidarity. For example, in 1982, Granma reported that Cuban medical collaborations were taking place in 26 countries with the participation of 2,692 internationalists.246 Highlighting such quantitative reports of Cuban collaboration underscored the notion of Cuba as a powerhouse of solidarity. Medical delegations went to many countries, where, for example, in 1982, eight Cuban doctors were reported to have finished their work in the SADR and were celebrated for their extraordinary contribution to solidarity efforts.247 In 1983, the first scientific conference on health was made in the SADR, partly sponsored by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs.248 The Ministry of Health of the SADR made an opening speech, and Saharawi and Cuban doctors participated in the Conference. During the course of the event, 54 scientific works were presented, and debates were offered 245 Lucas Correoso Pérez, “Un símbolo de la solidaridad,” Granma (May 4, 1982), Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba, 2. 246 Joaquin Oramas, “Se realiza en 26 países la colaboración medica cubana con la participación de 2 692 internacionalistas,” Granma (September 2, 1982), Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba, 1. 247 Lucas Correoso Perez “Graduanse 8 medicos cubanos que laboran en la Republica Saharaui,” Granma (September 7, 1982), Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba, 5. 248 Granma Internacional, March 1983, personal archive of Dr. Mario Ponce León, Havana, Cuba. 138 in two roundtables, with the participation of Saharawi and Cuban doctors. The works dealt primarily with preventive and curative issues in which local health characteristics of the territory were used as examples, demonstrating the depth of Cuba’s engagement with the SADR and its intention to provide resources for Saharawi medical advancement. To organize a scientific and medical conference for the first time in the SADR, and discuss it in print media, marks the lasting legacy Cuba has had in the country, preventing, and curing certain diseases and promoting scientific innovation. Cuban print outlets also dedicated substantial effort to historicizing the Saharawi struggle and movement in the 1980s. Extensive coverage followed delegations and meetings between high-level Cubans and Saharawis, effectively reinforcing the alignment of values and objectives between Cuba and the SADR and enhancing the perceived legitimacy and necessity of their partnership. For example, in 1981, Fidel Castro was reported as warmly receiving the Foreign Minister of the SADR, Hakim Brahim.249 In 1982, interviews were held between Isidoro Malmierca and the Saharawi Ministry of Information, Mohamed Salem-Ould Salek, and Granma reported the signing of agreements of collaboration between Cuba and the SADR.250 Reporting on exchanges of diplomats and ministers also worked to highlight the efforts on the ground that Cubans were undertaking to strengthen Cuban relations abroad. The consistent highlighting of high-level engagements and the successes of these diplomatic interactions serve as motivational frames. They underscore the effectiveness and importance of these actions, encouraging continued support and involvement from audiences at home and potentially abroad. These exchanges included not only Saharawis visiting Cuba but also high- 249 “Recibio Fidel al canciller de la Republica Arabe Saharaui Democratica,” Granma (September 20, 1981) Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba, 1. 250 “Entrevistase Malmierca y el Ministro de Información de la RASD,” Granma (May 5, 1982), Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba, 3; “Firman acuerdo de colaboración Cuba y la RASD,” Granma (May 7, 1982) Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba, 3. 139 level Cubans visiting the SADR. For example, in 1982, a Cuban delegation presided by Jorge Risquet arrived in the SADR where a popular event was held for the Cuban delegation, and Mohamed Abdelaziz and Jorge Risquet held talks and interviews in Raboni.251 In 1983, diplomatic interactions continued to flourish, when the President of the SADR, Mohamed Abdelaziz, received the Cuban ambassador, which led to numerous media stories. In 1986, Juan Almeida Bosque, an important Afro-Cuban revolutionary, participated in the tenth Anniversary of the SADR and later wrote a book about his experiences there.252 These framing techniques in the media served not only to inform but also to construct a particular narrative that positioned Cuba, and the SADR as closely aligned and mutually supportive entities within a larger anti-imperialist context. These strategic uses of media helped to cultivate a unified image of solidarity and cooperation aimed at both domestic and international audiences. Tricontinental issues often featured interviews with key Saharawi political figures, aiming to inspire and mobilize support by highlighting influential voices who articulated the reasons for continued struggle and international solidarity. These interviews served not only to inform but to motivate readers by magnifying the voices of their leaders who were directly involved in nation-building and the defense of the revolution. For example, more recent Tricontinental issues, such as those from 1996, 1999, and 2004, reflected optimistically on the Polisario, SADR, and Saharawi people’s struggle. The 1996 issue features an interview with Mr. Brahim Ghali, Defence Minister of SADR and former Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, giving readers a detailed account of developments in his country’s struggle.253 Further, 251 Alcibíades Hidalgo, “Arriba a la República Árabe Saharaui Democrática delegación de Cuba presidida por Jorge Risquet,” Granma (June 15, 1982), Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba, 5. 252 “Participara Almeida en X aniversario de la República Árabe Saharaui Democrática,” Granma (February 25, 1986), Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba, 1. 253 CEAMO is a scientific, autonomous, non-governmental association. Its creation in 1979 responded both to the impact of African and Arab traits in Cuban culture as well as to the evolution of Cuban relations with Africa and the Middle East since 1959. 140 the 1999 issue featured an interview with Noemí Benítez who was Cuba’s Vice Minister for Foreign Investment and Cooperation, and since 1971 has been linked to diplomatic work with the African continent as an internationalist collaborator, specialist, and director. The discussion in these issues help make political leaders more relatable as they discuss issues of the common Saharawi or Cuban person, connecting their struggles to each other and other national liberation movements. These examples exemplify the role of a dynamic and institutionalised media system in Cuba in promoting solidarity across different historical periods. Despite intense shortages in Cuba in the 1990s, the media system managed to sustain itself in part because it was a governmental priority. State-supported media had a duty to sustain solidarity through reporting. The importance of the early fact-finding missions and information gathering of the late 1970s, as well as the network of collaboration between journalists, archivists, artists, media workers, diplomats, ministers, and government officials who spread these media around the world, cannot be understated in providing alternative narratives and frames of the Saharawi struggle that counter propaganda from the US and European media sources. Today, Cuba continues to highlight the case of the SADR to draw attention to the imperialist actions of the US, France, Spain, and Morocco. While Cuban reporting frequently declared the imminent victory of the SADR, which thus far has proved to be incorrect given the power and support behind the Moroccan monarchy, this reflects Cuban bravado as well as the Cuban belief in the power of media in shaping discourse that then has the power to shape events on the ground. Prensa Latina, Photography and Visual Framings While Cuban print journalism demonstrates powerful narrative framing of solidarity, the visuals that accompany these print sources also bear analysis. Certainly, the photographs that frequently appear in the print outlets of OSPAAAL, Prensa Latina, Verde Olivo, and Granma reinforce the arguments and coverage presented in Cuban media’s textual discourse. 141 However, these images offer unique elements and perspectives that only visual media can provide, enhancing the overall narrative. Many of the photographs are collected and curated in Prensa Latina’s photographic collection in Havana, of which are approximately 800 photographs of the SADR. Photographs played a crucial role during the cultural Cold War, particularly evident when examining the Prensa Latina collection, which uniquely reflects a Cuban photojournalistic perspective. Grasping the meaning of photography requires looking beyond the image itself to consider the full range of photography as a cultural practice. This includes examining the conditions of production, the actors involved in this process, the ways images are remediated, the diverse sites of circulation, and the cultural work that images perform.254 While cultural critics of photography have extensively examined the East-West axis during the Cold War, and some research has explored the North-South axis, little research has investigated the South-South axis.255 Cuban, Algerian, and Saharawi photojournalists staged, captured, and curated photographs that illustrate South-South solidarity between Cuba and the SADR. These images tell a compelling story that reinforces the nation-building efforts and legitimacy of the Polisario and the SADR, highlights the resilience of the Saharawi people despite the injustices they face, and depicts the unified, nonaligned, and shared guerrilla revolutionary sensibilities between Cuba and the SADR. Through these photographs, the images held in the Prensa Latina collection demonstrate the Cuban belief in the power of visual media to shape cultural and political narratives during the cultural Cold War. 254 Phu, Duganne, and Noble, Cold War Camera, 2–3. 255 Phu, Duganne, and Noble, 4. 142 Photographs and images possess unique characteristics that make them especially powerful in framing narratives and influencing public perception.256 Many campaign photographers whose work accompanied the print media articles mentioned in the previous section echoed the ideas, frames, and concepts from the text. However, some images transcend the limitations of words, as they possess a documentary or evidentiary quality that supplements memory and adds a sensory dimension to campaigns.257 Memory is an important aspect of the function of many photographs, with images holding collective memory of cultural events or peoples, or for standing in for an absent person, landscape, or past events.258 Photographic collections such as the Prensa Latina curation of photographs of the SADR is politically significant in holding the collective memory of the early years of the Saharawi struggle. Yet, photographs also show viewers something they may never have seen before. Photography extends the human capacity for sight, in adding to the memory and documentation of things one’s naked eye may never see.259 Photography transformed how people recollect, remember, and experience things, events, and people. While photographs are curated artworks that reflect the photographer’s culture, perceptions, and biases, audiences often perceive them as a privileged documentary and “eyewitness” medium. Photographs are perceived as providing empirical evidence,260 yet the art of staging is crucial to documentary and news reporting.261 Campaigns by Cuban photojournalists of the Saharawi cause effectively bridge the gap between artistic representation and eyewitness accounts, enhancing an article’s power to shape public 256 David Bate, Photography: The Key Concepts, English ed, The Key Concepts (Oxford ; New York: Berg, 2009); Phu, Duganne, and Noble, Cold War Camera; Ariella Azoulay, Civil Contract of Photography (New York: Zone Books, 2008). 257 Bate, Photography: The Key Concepts, 10. 258 Wells, Liz. Photography: a critical introduction. Routledge, 2015, 34; David Bate, Photography: The Key Concepts, English ed, The Key Concepts (Oxford; New York: Berg, 2009). 259 Bate, Photography, 9. 260 Ibid. 261 Bate, Photography, 58. 143 perception and support for the Saharawi cause. For example, these photographs are often positioned on the page of an article describing the daily life of guerilla fighters to act as documents of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, with Saharawi people portrayed as heroic freedom fighters. Framing, staging, and the photographic genre classification significantly influences the viewer’s perception and interpretation of the subject. For example, documentary photography is critiqued for constructing a victim for a more privileged audience to view, in terms of class, ethnicity, gender, or other social category.262 However, Cuban reporting, and South-South visual media as part of solidarity, construct a different view of subjects in documentary photography. Cuban reporting was targeting an audience of revolutionary Cubans, and revolutionary people from the Global South, such as those who subscribed to the Tricontinental magazine. Cuban reporting positions the subject as a peer and as a fellow victim of imperialism in order to connect different liberation struggles. These elements are apparent in the staging and framing of the photographs, as well as their contexts within the narrative articles in the print media. For example, two issues of Prisma Latinoamericano feature Saharawi people on the cover page. One shows men with guns staring directly at the photographer, headlined “The Whole Country,” while the other shows women staring at the photographer, holding flags, and making the peace sign with their fingers, headlined “The Tomb of a Monarchy.”263 By positioning the subjects to stare directly at the photographer, and thus at the viewer, the direct gaze and the titles of the articles imply an indictment of imperialism for forsaking the future of an entire country. They also celebrate the resilience of the Saharawi people, who continue to protest and fight, hinting at the possible end of the Moroccan monarchy. 262 Bate, 62. 263 Prisma Latinoamericano Magazine no. 135 (November 1983) and no. 119 (July 1982), Journals F1401.P75, University of Miami Cuban Heritage Collection, Miami, Florida, US. 144 The position of the observer has an impact on perceptions of the main subject, both in terms of aesthetics and in interpretation of its meaning. Framing, sometimes known as composition, is the organization of raw material into photographic codes, to create a “reality effect.”264 Examples of visual framing include symbolic framing, as when Saharawi, Palestinian, and Cuban flags are juxtaposed, drawing parallels that deepen a sense of solidarity and shared fate. Visuals are adept at using symbols that resonate deeply with viewers. For example, images of military attire, flags, or iconic figures evoke strong emotions and associations. However, much of the photography curated by Prensa Latina include “descriptive photographs,” designed to offer a more disengaged position, in which the photographers took a somewhat objectified, distanced, but sympathetic position to the scene and the subject. Furthermore, the captions are highly descriptive, explaining aspects of Saharawi culture, society, and the revolutionary army. This mode of photography presents itself as “witnessing life,” crucial to documentary forms, and are sometimes referred to as “eyewitness photographs.”265 By balancing symbolic and descriptive framing, these images create powerful reality effects that engage viewers on multiple levels. Another power that images possess is a stronger ability for emotional framing, in which the mirror neurons of the audience can be activated to engage the same emotions as those of the subject in the photograph.266 For example, photographs showing a subject in pain can elicit sympathy and may also activate pain neurons in the audience’s brain. Images of suffering, joy, or triumph can stoke empathy, anger, or pride, driving viewers to emotionally invest in the cause. There are many photographs in the Prensa Latina collection that depict 264 Bate, Photography, 58. 265 Bate, 59. 266 Kislinger, Leopold. “Photographs of actions: What makes them special cues to social perception.” Brain sciences 11, no. 11 (2021): 1382; Plata-Bello, Julio, Nicole Privato, Cristián Modroño, Yaiza Pérez-Martín, África Borges, and José Luis González-Mora. “Empathy Modulates the Activity of the Sensorimotor Mirror Neuron System during Pain Observation.” Behavioral Sciences 13, no. 11 (2023): 947. 145 the violence endured by Saharawi people, in which the injuries many received in the early days of the war are on display. For example, the folder in the category of “SADR, Counterrevolutionary activities, Aggression” and “SADR, captured arms, counterrevolutionary activities” depict various aspects of the armed conflict, its impact on civilians, and the capture of arms during the conflict.267 Images that depict the grim consequences of aggression against the Saharawi population include: a woman with burns from napalm, the result of bombardment in the Sahara in December 1977 lying on a bed with a gaping wound; children wounded and mutilated by napalm during aggressions against the Saharawi camps in April 1976, including a boy with an injured head and another with a missing arm; scenes from the battlefield after Moroccan aggressions in 1979, showing scattered clothing and a missing person poster; an injured child in full-body bandages, likely a result of the conflict; a youth of 16 years old who was enrolled in the Armed Forces of Mauritania and wounded in a battle against the Saharawis. These photographs focus on the subject, illustrating the visceral and devastating impact the war has had on each person, indicting the actions of Morocco, the US, and France. Narrative visual framing is another example of how images operate in this context. Images can tell a compelling story quickly and powerfully. A series of images can depict a narrative of struggle, survival, and resistance, or progression from conflict to peace, encapsulating complex stories in a way that is immediately accessible and often more impactful than words alone. 267 Photograph, Saharaoui Democratifca, Rep. Arabe, “Actividades Contrarevolucionarias, Agressiones,” folder 152.01.05, Prensa Latina Fototeca, Havana, Cuba. 146 Figure 3.4. "Polisario,” OSPAAAL (1980). Source: Palestine Poster Project. Used with Permission. For example, in the poster “Polisario,” in Figure 3.4, we see a guerrilla combatant with a rifle, the Saharawi flag juxtaposed just behind the figure. This image tells a story of triumph and strength. The Saharawi flag is prominently featured, but without the distinctive star and crescent symbol in the middle, making it resemble the Palestinian flag. This visual choice reinforces the symbolic parallel between the Saharawi and Palestinian movements and a sense that the struggle hasn’t been settled. The photograph encapsulates the emotions of joy and triumph, and pre-figures a liberated Western Sahara, while rhetorically connecting peace to the armed struggle. The poster says, “For Independence and Peace,” framing the Polisario as fighting for regional peace and symbolizing a distinctive Cuban portrayal of guerrilla fighters as peace advocates, reflecting the tricontinentalist vision of militant anti-imperialism. 147 Another powerful framing device that visuals provide is ethical framing. Images can pose ethical questions or highlight moral dilemmas through what they choose to show or omit. Depicting the harsh realities faced by civilians in conflict zones can challenge viewers to question their own positions and the actions of their governments or other entities involved in those conflicts. For example, in Figure 3.5, the image of Saharawi women standing in protest, with a sign that reads, “Neither Hassan’s bombers, nor Mojtar’s tanks will silence the defenders of the right,” elicits sympathy for women. Children are also seen in the photograph, protesting peacefully and drawing attention to the injustices faced by the Saharawi, subjected to bombing campaigns and military assaults. These visual frames combine the power of images, with their immediate impact, emotional connection, universal language, memorability, credibility, realism, and aesthetic appeal. The importance that Cuban media agencies placed in collecting, storing, curating, and managing photographs, posters, and other visual artworks attests to a recognition of this power. Figure 3.5. Lino Fernández (Photographer). Saharawi Refugee Camps in Algeria. SADR, Algeria, January 1977. Prensa Latina, Fototeca, Folder 152.48, No. 72. Parte del material se encuentra en el sobre personal de Aga Khan en Irán. Used With Permission. 148 Another documentary aspect of many of the photographs of the Saharawi cause is in reinforcing the statistical significance of large groups of Saharawis in protest, as seen in Figure 3.5. This can also be seen in celebration, in classrooms, and beyond, to transmit the fact that there are many Saharawis, and their cause is deserving of consideration. The large photographic collection of the SADR stored and managed by Prensa Latina showcases the pivotal role of documentary and solidarity photography in crafting the historical narrative of the SADR. Cuban, Algerian, Saharawi, and other journalists’ photographs are stored and managed there, illustrating the important role of photography in Cuba and among its partners in solidarity, as a rhetorical medium. The publication and circulation of photographic images from ICAP, OSPAAAL, Verde Olivo, Prensa Latina, Tricontinental Magazine, Algeria Press Service, Sahara Press Service, Granma, and more, established documentary and solidarity photography as a form of visual “evidence” and as a critical component of the narrativization of modern Cuban and Saharawi history. Visual culture was crucial for constructing revolutionary sensibilities and imagining solidarity across the Global South in the 1960s and ‘70s.268 Most of the photographs of the Saharawis in the Prensa Latina photographic collection are documents from this phase of internationalism, in the late 1970s, when Cuban expertise in disseminating visual symbols of liberation struggles, and “rendering solidarity” to the Global South, was at its peak. The photographs give form to nonaligned political affinities and communities, while also portraying quotidian experiences, in contrast to the imperial discourses that persisted in other international media. Cuban visual propaganda didn’t mask its motivations as much as a capitalist media, although there were subtexts to images that required careful interpretation and extrapolation, especially along the South-South axis of solidarity. 268 Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle.” 149 These photographs that Prensa Latina collected serve as visual touchstones to provide documentary proof of the struggle, to reinforce narratives, and to shore up support for Cuban revolutionary internationalism. Revolutionary Cuba is recognized as one of the most important sites for the production and global dissemination of these solidarity-oriented materials. Cuba’s militant internationalism and support for revolutionary movements have long been recognized, but most scholarship has focused on the island’s export of arms, military training, theories of guerrilla warfare, humanitarian aid, and occasionally soldiers. Stites Mor and Camacho Padilla’s work raises the importance of understanding Cuban cultural production in imagining and sustaining solidarity across the Global South.269 In revolutionary Cuba, photography was esteemed not only for its communicative prowess but also for its pedagogical impact, making it a key medium in the nation’s cultural arsenal. For example, photography was a privileged medium on the island, especially in the 1960s, due to Cuba’s uneven pre-revolutionary development that resulted in flourishing journalism, commercial photography, and advertising in Havana, while much of the impoverished rural population was scarcely literate. Cuban revolutionary leaders viewed photography as being imbued with a special communicative, pedagogical power, untainted by the suspicion or stigma attached to “bourgeois” art forms and able to reach across the divide between urban and rural peoples, and across borders and languages.270 The organizational schema of the Prensa Latina photographic collection mirrors Cuban ideological perspectives, categorizing images in a manner that emphasizes themes resonant with Cuban solidarity and revolutionary ideals. I counted over 800 photographs documenting social, military, political, cultural, and visual aspects of the Polisario Front and the SADR. The organization of the archive reflects a perspective of the Cuban archivists, in determining 269 Stites Mor; Camacho Padilla and Palieraki, “Hasta Siempre , OSPAAAL!” 270 Chase, Michelle. "Picturing Solidarity: Photography and Cuban Internationalism during the Vietnam War." 150 what categories apply to which photographs, and the meanings implied by each category tell a different story. The bias of the photographers also begs the question of to what extent Cuban photojournalists were reproducing themes and categories of images that would be familiar and elicit sympathy from a Cuban audience. The themes and categories of the folders may have been produced retroactively in hindsight by Cuban Prensa Latina archivists, spontaneously, or Saharawi people may have played a role in curating and staging the photographic subjects and images. While these questions remain largely unanswered, the photographs do contain notes and descriptions with dates, names, journalists, and commentary, which are invaluable in interpreting the images themselves, and understanding the Cuban visual and journalistic perspective in terms of the value of the photographs. Spanning a diverse array of themes, the Prensa Latina photographic collection offers a comprehensive scope of the Saharawi struggle. The folders contain photographs covering topics from guerilla activities to public health challenges.271 The folders with the most photographs focus on counterrevolutionary activities and guerillas and combatants, subjects that also have the highest visibility in print media campaign articles. Most of the photographs are from the late 1970s and early 1980s, with a few digital photos from the 2000s, highlighting the fundamental importance of the fact-finding missions undertaken by Cubans in 1977 and 1978 to document the situation of the SADR. The visual, journalistic, and informational alliance between Cuba, the SADR, and Algeria exists through five core channels: the permanent SADR embassy in Havana, the Cuban embassy in Algeria, Prensa Latina journalists who are in contact with Saharawi peoples, regular state-visits between Cuba and the SADR, and grassroots exchanges involving students, medical experts, and 271 Approximately twenty-four folders group together various topics that cover: “cities and regions,” “classes and social groups,” “counterrevolutionary activities,” “Cuban and Saharawi collaborations,” “education,” “flags,” “the founding of the Republic,” “guerillas and combatants,” “history,” “geography,” “maps,” “parties and political groups,” “politics and elections,” “population,” “poverty,” “protests,” “public health,” “refugees,” “solidarity of Africa and the Middle East,” “solidarity of Asia,” and “women.” 151 teachers. These channels demonstrate that Cuban print media articles are supported by in-person exchanges, and authentic relationship building between Cuban and Saharawi people. This implies a horizontal process of Cuban media production, where insights, information, and narrative control remain in the hands of those whose stories are being told. Therefore, while Cuban journalists employ fixers reminiscent of other conflict photojournalism, these exchanges are not one-sided or fleeting but are built upon longstanding relationships. The diverse themes in the Prensa Latina photographic collection helps to illustrate the depth and authenticity of the Cuban-Saharawi collaboration. The multifaceted role of visuality as a cultural tool is demonstrated in examples of photographs in the Prensa Latina archive. Photographs in Cuba were used to combat colonialism, imperialism, and to defend an emergent national identity.272 These qualities are also evident in Cuban photographs of Saharawi society. For example, in Figure 3.6, Saharawi men are depicted holding up peace signs with their fingers, with one SADR flag, addressing the need to defend the emergent national identity of the SADR. Saharawi men holding peace signs while displaying the SADR flag use symbolism effectively, again encapsulating a narrative of peaceful resistance and the desire for national self-determination, crucial aspects in the framing of the Saharawi cause as just and deserving of international support. The subject of the photograph is not focused on any one individual but on evoking the largesse of the Saharawi population and their unity. In Figure 3.7, women are training in the military, passing basic military instruction, to be prepared for any battles that may approach them in the camps, or if they are needed on the front. This visual framing not only challenges traditional narratives around the roles of women in conflict zones but also emphasizes the 272 Story, Isabel. "Debating the revolution: the evolving role of the visual arts in Cuba." Journal of Languages, Texts, and Society 2, no. 2018 (2018): 5. 152 preparedness and active participation of the Saharawi people in their own defense, akin to the Cuban people. Figure 3.6. Lino Fernández (Photographer). Saharawi Refugee Camps in Algeria. SADR, Algeria, January 1977. Prensa Latina, Fototeca, Folder 152.48, No. 72. Parte del material se encuentra en el sobre personal de Aga Khan en Irán. Used With Permission. 153 Figure 3.7. Unknown Photographer. Mujeres pasan la instrucción militar básica. Saharawi Refugee Camps, Algeria. June 1978. Prensa Latina, Fototeca, Folder 152.09.07, No. 32A. República Árabe Saharawii Democrática: Clases de Grupos Sociales Mujeres. Used with permission. By analyzing the composition of the Prensa Latina photographic archive of Saharawi people and comparing it with the most reproduced images in print media sources, I determined which symbols and imagery were most important to the Cuban solidarity project. The most reproduced images depicted Saharawi guerrilla fighters (both men and women), counterrevolutionary activities, and Polisario Front triumphs, with very few images portraying Saharawis as passive victims. These subjects are most easily relatable to other revolutionary movements such as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), for publications like Tricontinental Magazine, to be broadly dispersed amongst organizations and leaders allied with tricontinentalist ideals.273 Many of the images frame their subjects as part of a unified mass of people, to reinforce Saharawi nation building efforts. Most sources were produced during the war years; however, photographic coverage could just have easily focused on the refugee camps in which Saharawi women and children were organizing the 273 Stites Mor, “Rendering Armed Struggle,” 50. 154 country. Perhaps, the visual focus on armed guerrilla fighters, counterrevolutionary activities, captured Moroccan soldiers, and captured weapons was due to an awareness that a Cuban audience related best to revolutionary armed insurgency, having fought numerous wars for independence, and continuing to fight to keep their independence. Photographs in the Prensa Latina collection contextualize and translate the Saharawi plight for Cuban and anti-colonial audiences, reinforcing revolutionary solidarity. Cuban journalists and photographers found innovative ways of transporting and translating images of Saharawi people to the Cuban context, both rendering their situation more legible, and at the same time fulfilling different purposes. One effect was to shore up support in Cuba for the revolution, by demonstrating the numerous victims of imperialism, further justifying the strictness of Cuban revolutionary policies. Another purpose was to celebrate the triumphs of the Saharawi revolution, implying that it partly succeeded because of Cuban support. Other large folders contain photographs of the founding of the Saharawi Republic, different classes and social groups, and refugees, which showed the dire living conditions of the Saharawi and provided a further call for solidarity. Overall, visually conveying the concepts of equivalency and interconnectedness through photos of the SADR echoed Cuba’s own revolutionary position. By strategically selecting and displaying images, Prensa Latina emphasized the strength and determination of the Saharawi people, aligning with Cuba’s revolutionary support and ideological stance towards their struggle. The visual coverage from the war years from Cuban sources highlight the agency and armed struggle of the Saharawis much more than European solidarity representations in print sources. There are a few photographs featuring very happy children, such as on the cover page of a Tricontinental Magazine’s issue.274 One photograph 274 Alberto Fernandez Vera, “La Lucha en las Arenas,” Tricontinental Magazine no. 59 (1978), OSPAAAL Collection, 64-77. 155 in Verde Olivo features a man with a rifle among other armed Saharawi men, but the man who is framed is carrying a baby in his hands.275 A similar photo is featured in Tricontinental Magazine, however this time it is an armed Saharawi woman with a baby.276 These photographs draw on pre-existing imagery of symbols of revolution, including the reproduction of the armed struggle and nationhood through images of children who are born into a struggle they will fight for in the future. Anthropologist Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh analyzes how these representational contests are strategically employed to garner support and solidarity from both state and non-state actors, mirroring dynamics common in global conflicts.277 Fiddian-Qasmiyeh argues that Saharawi participation in educational displacement to Cuba symbolizes many different dynamics for the Moroccan, SADR, and Spanish, each “strategically mobilized to obtain support for their respective political standpoints.”278 This fact can also explain the organization of the folders in the Prensa Latina collection, as the photographic categories seem to mobilize empathy and support for the SADR from a Cuban perspective, without foregrounding victimhood. Another set of photos shows the capture of arms during the conflict,279 which powerfully reinforce the international allegiances involved in the conflict. For example, many photographs are of North American ammunitions taken by the Moroccan army, suggesting and critiquing US involvement in sustaining an armed conflict. The sheer quantity of arms captured by the Polisario Front displayed in numerous photographs also indicate the scale of the conflict. For example, a photo reportage from 1976 shows destroyed enemy tanks and 275 Vivian Núñez, “Encuentros en el Sahara,” Verde Olivo, Issue 11 (1988), Havana, Cuba, 20. 276 Alberto Fernández Vera, “La Lucha en las Arenas,” Tricontinental Magazine no. 59 (1978), OSPAAAL Collection, 76. 277 E. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, “Representing Saharawi Refugees’ ‘Educational Displacement’ to Cuba: Self-Sufficient Agents or Manipulated Victims in Conflict?,” Journal of Refugee Studies 22, no. 3 (September 1, 2009): 345, https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fep019. 278 Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, "Representing Saharawi Refugees," 345. 279 Photograph, Saharaoui Democratifca, Rep. Arabe, “Actividades Contrarevolucionarias, Armas Capturados,” folder 152.01.03, Prensa Latina Fototeca, Havana, Cuba. 156 downed aircraft, with Polisario fighters in the liberated zones; another report produced in 1980 features a significant quantity of military equipment recovered from Saharawi fighters, including Moroccan prisoners and Saharawis forcibly enrolled in the Moroccan armed forces who joined the Polisario; the capture of gun-armed trucks; and more. These photographs provide a visual record of the conflict, its consequences, and the arms captured during the Western Sahara conflict in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They also testify to the strength and ingenuity of Saharawi fighters and the defeat of their enemies, reflecting the overarching Cuban framing that the Saharawi people will prevail. These photographs showcase a significant historical record of the conflict in Western Sahara and the Saharawi struggle for self-determination, as well as a visual network between Algerian Press Service (APS) and Prensa Latina. Cuba’s possession of this visual archive is essential as it testifies to their solidarity with the SADR. In particular, the first years of life in the refugee camps and revolutionary activities are documented, as are the gains made by the Polisario Front and guerilla activities. These images serve as a testimony to Cuba’s desire for the global community to be aware and informed of the situation in Western Sahara and of the support the Saharawi people received, particularly from nations like Cuba. Conclusion This chapter examines how Cuban solidarity campaigns for the SADR have helped to construct the Saharawi nation as a political entity deserving of statehood. The chapter builds on the theory of the nation as an “imagined political community”, a social construct formed through shared narratives that create a sense of belonging. By disseminating media that frame the Saharawi struggle within a broader context of anti-imperialism and self-determination, Cuban solidarity campaigns contribute to shaping international perceptions of the SADR and mobilising support for their cause. Cuban media agencies narrate and construct notions of Cuban internationalism and the Saharawi nation through strategic framing devices, such as 157 drawing parallels between the Saharawi struggle and that of the Palestinians. This approach strategically leverages a pre-existing and globally recognised narrative of Palestinian resistance and injustice to generate empathy and support for the SADR. Through this lens, Cuban media consistently frames the Saharawi struggle as a just struggle for self-determination, highlighting their right to armed struggle and independence. These framing techniques are evident in Cuban print media, which frequently use testimonio (text produced based on eyewitness testimony), compelling visuals, and strategic framing to promote the SADR’s political legitimacy, resilience, and determination. Cuban solidarity, therefore, reflects Cuba’s own revolutionary nationalism, a social movement and an institutionalised framework in which internationalist solidarity is a core value and Tricontinentalism visibilizes and visualizes anticolonial worldmaking and imagined communities.280 Cuban solidarity, as expressed through printed media, played a significant role in raising awareness about the issue of statelessness and provided an anti-imperialist, anti-colonial nationalist, and Tricontinentalist framework for understanding the limitations of the international system.281 Solidarity with Western Sahara was framed by the Cuban revolutionary government as a policy supporting national liberation movements in the Middle East and North Africa, while also defending those denied state-based representation by the UN and its allied states and institutions. Cuban analyses and coverage of the SADR stand out as among the most valuable historical sources for understanding contemporary events in the region from an anti-imperialist Global South perspective. This distinction arises from the fact that Cuban analysts, media makers, and leaders have not only spent considerable time within the SADR but also maintain ongoing exchanges with the Saharawi people. These interactions 280 Parrott, R. Joseph, and Mark Atwood Lawrence, eds. The Tricontinental Revolution. Cambridge University Press, 2022; Getachew, Adom. Worldmaking after empire: The rise and fall of self-determination. Princeton University Press, 2019; Anderson, Benedict. 2016. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London, England: Verso Books. 281 Losier et al., “Statelessness and Solidarity.” 158 occur, as mentioned, through various channels, including diplomatic engagements, media collaborations, educational initiatives, healthcare partnerships, and other grassroots networks. As a result, the Cuban perspective offers a nuanced and firsthand insight into the unfolding events and dynamics in the region, providing a rich and informed historical context. Cuban leaders and concerned citizens sought to end the statelessness of the Saharawi people by pushing for the proposed referendum for their self-determination. Cuban media coverage focused extensively on the machinations of imperialism and neocolonialism in the region, in which Morocco and Western powers supporting Moroccan occupation hindered the economic and political independence of hundreds of thousands of Saharawi people. Cuban print outlets were particularly interested in combating the imposed voicelessness upon the Saharawi people, in which a global media hegemony dominated by Western powers did little to provide fair coverage of the Moroccan occupation. Western media outlets restricted people from spreading awareness about events in their regions to global audiences, meanwhile Western media often launched propaganda campaigns undermining anticolonial liberation movements. Cuba, however, consistently championed the cause of stateless peoples, validating claims of statehood by national liberation movements, particularly in the cases of Western Sahara and Palestine.282 The chapter argues that Cuba’s efforts extend beyond simply presenting information; they actively shape political consciousness by employing frame alignment processes like bridging, amplification, extension, and transformation. For example, Cuban media links the Saharawi struggle with the Palestinian cause (bridging), emphasizes shared anti-colonial values (amplification), connects it to global peace and justice movements (extension), and reframes the conflict from a regrettable situation to an intolerable injustice (transformation). The chapter 282 Losier, Padilla, and Mor, “Statelessness and Solidarity: Palestinians, Dhofaris, and Saharawis in Tricontinental Media.” 159 highlights how Cuba uses these framing techniques, alongside robust collective action frameworks of injustice, agency, and identity, to mobilise support and challenge hegemonic Western capitalist narratives. This analysis also underscores how visual imagery in Cuban photojournalism further reinforces these frames, moving beyond mere illustration to evoke emotions and shape perceptions. By examining how Cuba asserts its media sovereignty through challenging Western narratives and advocating for self-determination, the chapter contributes to a broader understanding of media hegemony and counter-hegemonic efforts in the Global South. 160 Chapter 4: “Contributing Our Grain of Sand”: Transforming Political Consciousness Through Solidarity in Cuba’s Education and Medical System You will leave this school prepared for life, prepared for a useful job in your own countries. In addition, you are developing your love for your countries. You are developing your customs, your traditions, your culture and above all you are developing a great revolutionary conscience…Today, the great majority of African peoples are independent. Only a few have not achieved independence, including Western Sahara, Namibia, and the people of South Africa, who live under brutal oppression.1 - Fidel Castro, 1985 Cuban educational and medical solidarity towards the SADR are keystones of Cuba’s internationalist solidarity for Saharawi people. The relationship between the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and Cuba began when the Polisario Front requested the Cuban government take 22 Saharawi students who had been studying in Spain to study in Cuba in 1976-1977.2 The Cuban government agreed to this request, marking the beginning of educational ties between the two nations. These early successful experiences laid the groundwork for a significant educational and healthcare exchange program, resulting in at least 7,000 Saharawi youth studying in Cuba on full scholarships from 1977 to 2014 and 439 Cuban health workers providing free care to the Saharawi people from 1976 to 1999.3 Abdelmayid Ailala Farachi (referred to as Mayid), who worked on the Isle of Youth as a teacher and monitor, reflected upon his experiences there: [w]e are very happy to have contributed a grain of sand to our cause, that is what we have really done. The only thing that we have been able to contribute is to educate this generation and create in them and train them so that in the future they 1 “Zambia’s Kaunda Visits Isle of Youth,” Castro Speech Database, http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1985/19851015-1.html, Havana Television Service in Spanish, 1232 GMT, October 15th, 1985. 2 This request came at a time when Spain, under the leadership of Francisco Franco, had abandoned its colonial territories in the Sahara. Thus, the Saharawi students that were studying in Spain left and sought opportunities to continue studying. Omar Bulsan, interview with author, December 2022, Havana, Cuba. 3 Gómez Martín, Carmen, Ahmed Correa Álvarez, and Ahmed Correa Álvarez. “La emigración cubana y saharaui. Entre la ‘traición’ y la esperanza.” Íconos - Revista de Ciencias Sociales 19, no. 51 (January 16, 2015): 83. https://doi.org/10.17141/iconos.51.2015.1474; Clara Pulido, “Los sellos de la ayuda de Cuba,” Tricontinental Magazine no. 141 (1999): 21. OSPAAAL, Havana, Cuba. 161 can lead us well and that the country may be a stronger country, a country with a leader, a country with university graduates.4 Mayid’s testimony exemplifies the rationale behind the educational project on the Isle of Youth, which was to train future cadres who could govern and manage a liberated Western Sahara. Exchanges between Cuban internationalists also began when Cuban doctors and teachers first went to the refugee camps in 1976 to provide aid.5 This chapter highlights the transformative role of personnel exchanges in deepening the shared political consciousness between Cuba and the SADR, focusing on the experiences of Saharawi mentors and students, and Cuban medical professionals. Mayid, a Saharawi mentor, has worked in Cuba since 1986, while Pilar Barbarita Hueche, a Cuban woman, has worked in the Saharawi embassy since 1986. Their testimonies represent the enduring exchange of educational personnel between Cuba and the SADR. Cuban medical solidarity is illustrated through two interviews with Cuban doctors who spent time in the SADR in the 1980s. In one touching example, a Cuban man named Dr. Rigoberto Torres, who worked as an epidemiologist in the SADR for a week in June of 1981, shared a poignant memento from his experience.6 At the end of our interview, he proudly displayed a small vial of sand he had preserved from his time in the Sahara over forty-two years prior. This vial of sand symbolized his contribution to the larger cause, akin to adding a grain of sand to a vast effort, echoing Mayid’s comment.7 Saharawi and Cuban people are predisposed to a similar political consciousness rooted in anti-colonial nationalism, based on similar histories of oppression. Yet, a distinctive 4 Mayid now works at the SADR embassy in Havana. Mayid, interview with author, June 2023, Havana, Cuba. 5 Omar Bulsan, interview with author, December 2022, Havana, Cuba; San Martín, Pablo. Western Sahara: the refugee nation. University of Wales Press, 2010, 130. 6 Dr. Torres worked in the SADR as part of a medical brigade team on a vaccine campaign to combat poliomyelitis, which was afflicting many Saharawi at the time. Dr. Rigoberto Torres, interview with author, May 2023, Havana, Cuba. 7 Dr. Rigoberto Torres, interview with author, May 2023, Havana, Cuba. 162 contemporary political consciousness arises through their personnel exchanges that have occurred since 1976, grounded in developing a lived experience of each other’s revolutionary contexts, conditions, and cultures. Evidence of the state narrativization of a shared revolutionary experience is most apparent in Cuba’s education system for international students, where the intertwining of shared revolutionary ideals and parallel histories are championed in its curricula, speeches, built environment, and institutional frameworks. Together, these programs and interactions fostered deeply impactful experiences that united individuals through common revolutionary narratives. Saharawis who studied on the Isle of Youth in Cuba are called Cubarawis,8 since the extended amount of time and early age that they arrived led them to take on a transcultural attitude. The majority of Cubarawis were brought from the extreme climatic conditions and violence of the war years (1976-1991) to be given education and care in a more institutionalized revolution in Cuba. The program led to the emergence of a vocal and highly educated subset of Saharawi society that also conceive of and inspire new forms of revolutionary politics upon returning home.9 Saharawis who are sent only as young adults to study in Cuban universities are not usually called Cubarawis as they go later, once their Saharawi identity has been more cemented amongst their culture during the critical period of childhood. In both instances, Cubarawis and other Saharawis who studied at Cuban universities are not given a path to Cuban citizenship. Consequently, they are expected to return to their homeland to contribute to the liberation movement.10 8 This exchange represents the most amount of Saharawis that spent time in Cuba, where at least 7,000 thousand students studied on the Isle of Youth from 1977-2014. 9 Martín, Western Sahara, 170–73. 10 Some Saharawis who studied in Cuba also go to Spain or wherever they can to earn a higher salary or find employment in their profession and contribute to the SADR from afar. Cubarawis have distinct ways of being which shape new ideas in the SADR and even abroad. The Cubarawis are considered ‘tribe C’, an almost entirely new tribe in the camps. Many of the dreams, ideas, and cultural codes of ‘Tribe C’ clash with the more traditional camp atmosphere. The Cubarawis constitute a significant percentage of the degree-holding Saharawi 163 Cubarawis also provide much needed human resources to the camps, serving as teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers and in other professional roles. Cuban support of Saharawi nationalism has emboldened the movement, provided vital human resources, and also opened another avenue for Saharawi voices in opposition, critique, and support of nationalism.11 Since 1959, the Cuban government has offered full scholarships to thousands of international students hailing from a staggering 120 different countries, which has also meant that Saharawi students have had the opportunity to interact with a diverse group of people.12 One investigation by a group of Cuban researchers explicitly measured Cubarawi and Saharawi university students’ extracurricular success by how well the students had developed internationalist and patriotic attitudes.13 Similar to educational solidarity, Cuban medical solidarity programs have benefited numerous countries across the Global South. The Cuban state facilitates and promotes calls and campaigns for Cuban workers to participate in medical brigades. Over the years, Cuban Brigades, or volunteer groups of doctors, teachers, nurses, and others, have provided services to various countries. For example, the Henry Reeves Medical Brigade is an example of a well-known brigade that has treated more than 3.5 million people since its founding in 2005.14 Cuba has more medical personnel serving in developing countries than those of the people and while they don’t currently hold many administrative positions, they are said to play a large role in the future of the camps. 11 Pablo San Martín, Western Sahara: The Refugee Nation, 2010; Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, South-South Educational Migration, Humanitarianism and Development: Views from the Caribbean, North Africa and the Middle East, 0 ed. (Routledge, 2015), https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203066850; Wilson, Sovereignty in Exile; Alice Wilson, “Democratising Elections without Parties: Reflections on the Case of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic,” The Journal of North African Studies 15, no. 4 (December 2010): 423–38, https://doi.org/10.1080/13629380903424380. 12 Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, “Representing Saharawi Refugees’ ‘Educational Displacement’ to Cuba,” 333. 13 Elizabeth Calzadilla et al., “Trabajo Investigativo sobre las escuelas Internacionalistas en la Isla de la Juventud,” 1986, folios 49, Fondo 5, Inventario 1, Expediente 225, Legajo 11, Fondo: Colección de Archivo, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 14 Pan-American Health Organization and World Health Organization, “Cuba's Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade receives prestigious award,” Geneva, May 26, 2017, https://www3.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13375:cubas-henry-reeve-international-medical-brigade-receives-prestigious-award&Itemid=0&lang=en#gsc.tab=0 164 G8 countries combined, and more than those from Doctors without Borders and the World Health Organization.15 Cuba offers various medical services on a free or modestly compensated basis, reflecting its commitment to international solidarity while also recognizing the value of its scientific and technical expertise.16 The scientific and social development achieved in important branches of the Cuban health system prompted many countries to request to send personnel for training in Cuba, for example at the Latin American School of Medicine. Through these efforts, Cuba has played a crucial role in supporting the development of partner countries while also furthering its own diplomatic and economic interests, with 38,000 medical personnel working in developing countries in 2013.17 This chapter examines the significance of educational and medical exchanges in shaping a new generation of Saharawi leaders committed to their nation’s wellbeing and liberation. It also looks at the role of Cuban health workers in extending the broader ideals of international solidarity. Colonial and Postcolonial Educational and Medical Systems in Cuba and the SADR The colonial and early independent education systems in SADR left many people underserved, especially Saharawi women and girls. In general, colonial systems reserved quality education and healthcare for a small elite and reproduced patriarchal gender dynamics.18 To compound the issue further, the independence process left many countries 15 Chris Walker and John M. Kirk, “From Cooperation to Capacitation: Cuban Medical Internationalism in the South Pacific,” International Journal of Cuban Studies 5, no. 1 (April 1, 2013): 11, https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.5.1.0010. 16 Many people have critiqued the Cuban medical system as using doctors to generate wealth for the Cuban government, which is the case for many brigades. See Ciara Nugent, “How Doctors Became Cuba’s Biggest Export,” Time, November 30, 2018, https://time.com/5467742/cuba-doctors-export-brazil/; John M. Kirk, “Cuba’s Medical Internationalism: Development and Rationale,” Bulletin of Latin American Research 28, no. 4 (October 2009): 497–511, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-9856.2009.00314.x. 17 Ibid. 18 During the Spanish colonial period in Cuba, the term “peninsulares” referred to Spanish-born individuals who were considered to be at the top of the social and administrative hierarchy in the colonies. “Criollo” referred to 165 lacking doctors and teachers as Europeans with high levels of education often fled.19 Unsurprisingly, education became a central aspect of anti-colonial liberation movements due to colonial policies that restricted books and knowledge, censored information, and limited educational development to producing native colonial administrators, informants, and collaborators. One of the main campaigns of the Polisario Front, born in May of 1973, was education.20 Replacing the pre-colonial and Catholic education system, the Polisario Front established a “mixed, universal, obligatory and ‘secular education system’ in the camps,” to prefigure a self-sufficient Saharawi nation.21 Blum asserts that Castro’s declaration to transform the island nation of Cuba into “one huge school” underscores this idea that education extends beyond the confines of traditional school buildings.22 Indeed, the archipelago became a place of many educational experiments, with an early and ongoing emphasis on bringing urban youth to the countryside and rural youth to the cities. The origins of this approach stem from the experiences of revolutionary guerrilla fighters in the Sierra Maestra who discovered that by teaching literacy and providing medical attention to rural farmers and laborers, they could gain their support. These guerrilla fighters were also transformed through their time working with rural people, reinforcing their conviction in the revolution and the need to bridge regional socioeconomic disparities. The post-revolutionary Cuban education system also built upon the ideas of José Martí.23 Martí, a individuals of Spanish descent who were born in the Americas and also occupied a significant social and economic position within the colonial hierarchy. Afro-Cubans, who are people of African descent, lived through the institution of slavery and the plantation economy during the Spanish colonial period. 19 In the wake of anticolonial revolutions, national independence struggles, war, and conflict, many educated people left hoping to find better opportunities and more stability elsewhere. 20 Wilson, Sovereignty in Exile, 26. 21 Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, “Paradoxes of Saharawi Refugees’ Educational Migration,” 436. 22 Blum, Cuban Youth and Revolutionary Values, 8. 23 Martí is one of Cuba’s greatest writers and the intellectual father of Cuba’s independence from Spain, as well as the Cuban Revolution. The principle of linking study with work was rooted in Marti’s ideals about the necessity of combatting people’s unwillingness to engage in physical labor, especially urban people, which grew with the advent of enslavement and the colonial period. This also melded well with Marxist principles around non-alienated labor and promoting a moral duty to work regulated less by financial gain and more by 166 role model for Fidel Castro and many Cubans, is represented as standing at guard of most Cuban schools, in the common form of a bust or on a placard.24 Core features of the Cuban education system, such as mandatory agricultural labor for all students, aim to transform and socialize students into a new political consciousness. This approach encourages students to work together, sacrifice for the community, and embrace revolutionary values. These include valuing hard work, sacrifice, patriotism, equality, anti-imperialism, responsibility, collectivism, and solidarity with the proletariat, since these qualities are required for communal labor on the land.25 The Marxist-Leninist underpinnings of the study-work principles are to promote collective participation, collective decision making in work, and distinct understandings of work and study to eliminate hierarchies in both.26 Historian Michelle Chase examines the interplay between the city and the country during the early days of the Cuban revolution, arguing that “many of the earliest revolutionary initiatives were animated by a desire to reduce the distance between city and country,” to rectify historically produced hierarchies between peasants and urban dwellers.27 For example, the literacy campaign of 1961 allowed for the mass mobilization of a populace that had largely supported the revolution but had not yet participated in it in the way that the 1959 groups had. The campaign targeted 979,000 people identified as “illiterate”, and some contributing to the common good. The education system until the 1980s was however more driven by socialist pedagogy inspired by Soviet and Chinese models. 24 Blum, Cuban Youth and Revolutionary Values, 30; Sheryl Lutjens, The State, Bureaucracy, and the Cuban Schools: Power and Participation, Latin American Perspectives Series, no. 17 (Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1996), 75. 25 Denise Blum, “Socialist Consciousness Raising and Cuba’s School to the Countryside Program,” Anthropology & Education Quarterly 39, no. 2 (June 2008): 141, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1492.2008.00013.x. 26 Blum, Cuban Youth and Revolutionary Values. 27 Chase, Michelle. “The Country and the City in the Cuban Revolution.” Colombia Internacional 73 (2011): 121-142. 167 268,420 teachers prepared to become literacy teachers in mostly rural areas.28 As one Cuban educator explained, “[t]he revolution no longer was a phenomenon reserved for a small group, zealous and active; it was converted into a true mass movement.”29 Many of the teachers were urban dwellers who had never experienced the hardships of life in rural Cuba. Thus, living with farmers and peasants in remote areas for nearly a year often led to a growth in revolutionary thinking and support for the revolution. Insights from this phenomenon were built into subsequent educational reforms in Cuba. Seguimiento, or follow-up, continued into the 1960s, providing adult education modelled on the example of the literacy campaign. The next formulation of work-study was established in a program called Escuela Al Campo por 45 días (EAC or 45-Day Field School), which entailed the voluntary mobilization of students and teaching personnel from basic secondary schools and pre-university institutes, all engaged in productive agricultural labor. By 1966, the EACs had become a major part of Cuban educational policy, and all urban junior high school students were expected to spend this short time in the countryside.30 Within the EAC program, students resided in collective housing for up to 45 days and worked on farms, attempting to contribute to the fulfillment of the nation’s agricultural quotas. This pioneering initiative marked a pivotal moment in Cuba’s educational and economic history. The next iteration of the work-study component was based on the successes and failures of the EAC program and was called Escuelas en el Campo (ESBECs or Schools in the Countryside), in which students spent the entire year in boarding schools in rural areas 28 Teachers from the literacy campaign also often worked in the day with illiterate folks and taught them Spanish in the evening; this work-study aspect of revolutionary education became a keystone innovation of the Cuban system. See Lutjens, The State, Bureaucracy, and the Cuban Schools, 99. 29 Max Figueroa, quoted in Richard Fagen, The Transformation of Political Culture in Cuba (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1969), 59, and, on the campaign see 33-68. See also: “UNESCO, Methods and Means Utilized in Cuba to Eliminate Illiteracy”, 2d ed. (Havana: Instituto del Libro, 1971), and Felipe de Jesús Pérez, Las coordenadas de la alfabetización (Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1988). 30 Blum, Cuban Youth and Revolutionary Values, 179. 168 working half the day in agricultural activities and the other half of the day studying. The first ESBEC was formally inaugurated in the 1971-1972 school year in which students lodged full time in the schools during the school year.31 Students from the urban middle classes could become more aware of the difficult living standards of the rural population and were tasked with guiding them towards the revolutionary process, while rural youth could gain access to urban schools, sometimes for the first time. Edelso Moret, an Afro-Cuban man who works as a guide and translator at the Martin Luther King Center in Havana, shared an anecdote which illustrates how generations in the decades after the revolution were inspired by the early Cuban revolutionaries. When he was in seventh grade in Havana in 1975 or 1976, he said that a group came to his school to talk about the possibility of studying in a rural boarding school on the Isle of Youth. Edelso was quick to volunteer. At the time, he was just 14-years-old, and he vividly recalls making the trip in either 1976 or 1977. Edelso said that they were calling the idea to study in the countryside a way to follow one of José Martí’s principles about education that valued combining work with studies. Edelso said, At that time, we didn’t have this hardship regarding economy. We were part of the Soviet Bloc. We were receiving a lot of resources. So, it was at that time, it was OK. The government could support that. I remember the food was excellent. Ice cream, meat, you name it. It was very good. After that? When the Soviet bloc collapsed, all those plans had to stop. The government couldn’t. The school in the countryside, do you know what they did? Those schools were turned into houses for farmers because some people coming from other provinces, coming closer to Havana, they didn’t have a place to live.32 31 By the 1972-1973 school year, ESBEC’s were serving 11% of the young students enrolled in the first cycle of secondary education. See Figueroa, Max, Abel Prieto, and Raúl Gutiérrez. La Escuela Secundaria Básica en el Campo: una innovación educativa en Cuba. Unesco, 1974; See Lutjens and Blum for historical background on Cuban educational policies: Lutjens, Sheryl L. The state, bureaucracy, and the Cuban schools: Power and participation. Routledge, 2019; Blum, Cuban Youth and Revolutionary Values, 8. 32 Edelso Moret, interview with author, Havana, Cuba, June 2023. 169 Edelso’s testimony reflects the sense of adventure and desire to contribute to the revolution that these programs held for many young Cubans. Edelso said, “it’s the same that happened with the literacy campaign. Young people wanted to do something that could be compared to what the guerrilla fighters did.”33 This anecdote further exemplifies one aspect of the transformation of political and social consciousness that these programs had in inspiring youth to become like the mythic heroes they grew up seeing and hearing so much about. In the 2010s, both ESBECs and EACs were slowly reduced in amount, and today EAC experiences are ongoing but with durations of between 15-30 days.34 The nature of the ESBECs led some critics to liken these institutions to colonial missionary schools or “Marxist training camps”.35 However, unlike missionary schools, which often aimed to impose foreign values and cultures on students, Cuba’s international boarding schools focused on fostering a shared revolutionary consciousness and solidarity among diverse nationalities by drawing on each country’s revolutionary or anti-colonial struggles. Missionary schools, on the other hand, were religious institutions developed by missionaries with the goal of “Westernizing” local populations.36 These schools were prevalent during the colonial era, seeking to replace indigenous cultures and beliefs with Western values and religions. Mission schools appeared as early as the 16th century in India and eventually spread to almost every continent.37 Contrastingly, Cubans named their schools after national heroes from students’ home countries, organized cultural and sports activities to celebrate and share each nationality’s heritage, and taught students their own languages, 33 Edelso Moret, interview with author, Havana, Cuba, June 2023. 34 Many of the ESBECs have been reused to provide housing for farmers, been squatted by unhoused people, or repurposed into other community spaces. 35 Jo Thomas, “Cuba’s School for Exporting Marxism,” October 4, 1981, New York Times Magazine, https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/04/magazine/cuba-s-school-for-exporting-marxism.html 36 Kochhar, Rajesh. English Education in India, 1715-1835: Half-caste, Missionary, and Secular Stages. New Delhi: Routledge India, 2020, 1; May, Helen, Baljit Kaur, and Larry Prochner. Empire, education, and Indigenous childhoods: Nineteenth-century missionary infant schools in three British colonies. Routledge, 2016. 37 Ibid. 170 cultures, and histories with the help of mentors from their countries. By requiring scholarship holders to return to their home countries based on bilateral agreements, this also ensured an authentic development of their nations’ human resources. Although some students felt a sense of cultural dislocation upon returning home, due to their time away from family and immersion in Cuban education, this experience was mitigated by the schools’ efforts to honor and integrate their cultural backgrounds.38 By preserving and respecting their heritage, Cuban schools avoided the cultural erasure typical of missionary schools and instead fostered a sense of pride and resilience, rather than shame in their cultures, reinforcing the broader argument that Cuba’s internationalist education system promoted a more respectful and empowering form of political and social consciousness. Finally, the curriculum of ESBECs was varied, with some focus on Marxist-Leninist thinking and concepts, and the majority of the curriculum designed to train skilled professionals. Political socialization through education is influenced by a variety of factors. For example, extracurricular activities, the curriculum, the built environment and institutional frameworks of the programs, speeches from teachers and leaders, peers, youth student unions, and more, were all persuasive techniques used to influence students to positively appraise the Cuban revolution. The Isle of Youth’s boarding schools for international students in particular served as a critical site for the convergence of revolutionary discourse on patriotism, statehood, development, solidarity, internationalism, and alliances with other anti-colonial movements, effectively utilizing various levers of political socialization. For example, Cuba’s unique way of inculcating patriotism to numerous different nationalities and distinct national liberation groups included extracurricular activities with strong emotional components such as: having forums for students to sing songs and present dances from their 38 Other students took issue with the agricultural labor required by the Cuban ESBEC’s, and many students didn’t understand before leaving how long they would be away from their families. 171 countries; having students compete in sports and other friendly competitions with other nationalities; and having students present their cultures through national days of celebration events, revealing Cuba’s intent in encouraging the reproduction of its own success in overcoming the challenges of colonial and neocolonial education systems in other places. Through these immersive extracurricular experiences, Cuba sought to foster a new generation of leaders equipped with the values, knowledge, and commitment necessary to advance their own national liberation movements with pride, solidarity, and internationalism. Conciencia and “Imagined Communities”: Cuban Socialist Political Consciousness Through Education The Cuban Ministry of Education considers having students regularly work in the countryside as “an incubator for revolutionary commitment.”39 The character-building qualities theorized to be gained from communal labor on the land are considered integral to developing Cuban revolutionary consciousness. In Cuba, these values are known as conciencia. Leaders of the Cuban revolution saw education and revolution as synonymous, in which major economic and social objectives of the revolution were manifested in aspects of educational change.40 For Guevara, conciencia was more than consciousness, it was a commitment to action created from political education and participation in revolutionary activities, and for Castro, it was an attitude of “struggle, dignity, principles, and revolutionary morale.”41 Revolutionary leaders recognized that early experiences of mass mobilization and militarization raised revolutionary consciousness, understanding that it was not developed through propaganda alone but from practice and lived experience. 39 Blum, “Socialist Consciousness Raising and Cuba’s School to the Countryside Program,” 141. 40 Samuel Bowles, “Cuban Education and the Revolutionary Ideology,” Harvard Educational Review 41, no. 4 (December 1, 1971): 472–500, https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.41.4.a154342585h3226l. 41 Blum, “Socialist Consciousness Raising and Cuba’s School to the Countryside Program,” 142. 172 Denise Blum, an anthropologist of Cuban education, argues rather that a double consciousness, or doble conciencia has been inculcated in students.42 These students must manage publicly aligning with governmental and societal norms, while also functioning in contradictory economic and political realities. For example, Cubans deal with the black market, capitalist intrusions, and interacting with tourists, all phenomena that demand different and competing ideological values to succeed.43 Educational experiments in which youth work in the countryside have also become a place for the reproduction of new, unofficial personalized norms and practices, including the Isle of Youth’s boarding schools. Today in Cuba, Saharawi students develop a triple conciencia, navigating the Cuban government norms, Cuban cultural norms, the norms from the SADR government, and their own cultures. Cuban educational curricula and international student programs, along with medical missions to the SADR, aim to foster an imagined, shared community rooted in struggle, solidarity, and friendship, while also affirming the unique identities and national narratives of each. Thus, solidarity is not merely a form of material support; it is a process of political and social transformation that shapes individuals, communities, and nations. Cuba’s educational curriculum and internationalist medical missions present alternative models of nationhood that resonate with Saharawi people based on their shared past and ongoing experiences of colonialism.44 42 This is especially true in the post-Soviet era in Cuba, when many subsidies disappeared, and the economy suffered greatly. See Blum, “Socialist Consciousness Raising and Cuba’s School to the Countryside Program,” 157. 43 Blum, “Socialist Consciousness Raising and Cuba’s School to the Countryside Program,” 157. 44 In revolutionary friendships, solidarity must also be attentive to the asymmetries and unique struggles each partner faces. This requires acknowledging that while Cuba and the SADR share a common anti-imperialist vision, their experiences, and those of marginalized, non-elite communities within each, are distinct. These internal differences can complicate notions of solidarity, as diverse voices within each nation may challenge or reshape the unified ideals of revolutionary friendship. 173 Cuban Education for Saharawi Students Numerous countries reap the benefits of Cuban education, but Saharawi students continue to stand out as a unique group. Saharawi people are the second-most long-standing refugee case for the United Nations, after Palestinian refugees.45 They are among the few scholarship recipients who thus continue to enjoy almost entirely free education in Cuba.46 Bilateral educational relationships often began when Cuba received requests from various countries to host and educate their students.47 In 1977, a small group of Saharawi students were sent to study in Cuba. By July 1978, when the program became official, Mansour Omar, a Saharawi Polisario member,48 solicited the Embassy of Cuba in Algeria for scholarships for 300 Saharawi students to be sent to Havana. Omar requested further help in educating students from their primary to their baccalaureate degrees and through pre-university cycles.49 The students in 1978-1979 in Cuba included 31 students in the Cuban Ministry of Higher Education for specialties ranging from chemistry and biology to journalism, nursing, and laboratory technology, as well as 210 students for the Isle of Youth, undertaking sixth to twelfth grades.50 By the 1980s, there were three schools for the Saharawi students on the Isle of Youth, with room for 500-600 students.51 45 Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, South-South Educational Migration, Humanitarianism and Development, 2. 46 This distinctive status also made them some of the last scholarship recipient international students on the Isle of Youth. See Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, South-South Educational Migration, 2. 47 Mansour Omar, “Solicitud de becas para Tres-cientos estudiantes,” July 6, 1978, Ref. No. 284, Ordinario 1978, Sahara, ACMINREX, Havana, Cuba. 48 Mansour Omar is the Saharawi ambassador to Europe and European institutions, and member of the Polisario Front’s National Secretariat. He was part of the first government in 1976 in the Polisario, and since then has alternated between the role of diplomat and that of governor or minister. 49 Mansour Omar, “Solicitud de becas para Tres-cientos estudiantes,” July 6, 1978, Ref. No. 284, Ordinario 1978, Sahara, ACMINREX, Havana, Cuba. 50 “Becarios de la Republica Arabe Democratica del Sahara, total en el Ministerio de Ensenanza Superior,” Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Cuba, Ordinario 1978, No. 433.2, ACMINREX, Havana, Cuba. 51 Elizabeth Calzadilla, Iban Rivero, Ernesto Capote, Rafaela Alvarez, Luis Martinez, Miriam Molina, Carlos Labrinaga, et al., "Trabajo Investigativo sobre las escuelas Internacionalistas en la Isla de la Juventud," 1986, Fondo: Colección de Archivo, Número del fondo: 5, Inventario: 1, Expediente: 225, Legajo: 11, pp. 1-10, Archivo Histórica Municipal Isla de le Juventud, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 174 The responsibility of the administration and organization of the schools fell upon the Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Agrarian Reform.52 The first group of international students to arrive were 850 Angolan students and more than 1,100 students from Mozambique.53 Each school had room for 500-600 students, with around 500 hectares of additional land to cultivate divided into nationalities represented. By 1982, over 22,000 international students had come to the Isle.54 The decision to divide the schools and plots of land by nationality, including stateless students, was used as a way to promote patriotism and common sensibilities among students from the same place of origin. Encouraging a national and socialist unity of co-nationals was seen as a way of emphasizing the autonomy of the movements that sent their students to be guests in Cuba. It was also useful in promoting a friendly competition amongst each school.55 Cuban scholarships covered all tertiary students’ university or polytechnic costs, as well as all necessary study materials, clothes and uniforms, housing in student residences, and catering for their nutritional, medical, and dental needs.56 Additionally, students received a very small stipend for additional expenses. Students could return home once they graduated, and they were allowed to take with them the books relevant to their area of expertise, as well as with 10 kg of excess baggage. Further, the Cuban government covered all national transportation costs, although students’ states of origin were responsible for their international travel. The major exception 52 Investigación inicial para la elaboración de una monografía sobre las escuelas internacionalistas de la isla de la juventud, Fondo: Donativos y Remisiones, No. Cajuela: 18, Expedienties: 450 A/478, Archivo Histórica Municipal Isla de le Juventud, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 53 Ibid. 54 Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990,” 185–88. 55 Elizabeth Calzadilla, Iban Rivero, Ernesto Capote, Rafaela Alvarez, Luis Martinez, Miriam Molina, Carlos Labrinaga, et al., "Trabajo Investigativo sobre las escuelas Internacionalistas en la Isla de la Juventud," 1986, Fondo: Colección de Archivo, Número del fondo: 5, Inventario: 1, Expediente: 225, Legajo: 11, pp. 1-10, Archivo Histórica Municipal Isla de le Juventud, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 56 Investigación inicial para la elaboración de una monografía sobre las escuelas internacionalistas de la isla de la juventud, Archivo Historica Municipal, Fondo: Donativos y Remisiones, No. Cajuela: 18, Expedienties: 450 A/478, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 175 to this rule was when students were in Cuba through agreements made with non-state organisations or liberation movements, including the Polisario.57 Fiddian-Qasmiyeh estimates that the total number of Saharawi beneficiaries is estimated as being well over 4,000.58 Another study argues that between 1980 and 1999, nearly 800 Saharawi youth left for Cuba annually to train in various professions.59 By the year 2000, the number of annual departures dropped to 200, and now the number is much lower.60 Thus, the number of Saharawis who have studied in Cuba is likely to be more than 7,000 people today, which means a significant part of the Saharawi population spent time in Cuba. Internationalism on the Isle of Youth was encouraged by leaders, who hoped to persuade the youths that the island was a place designed to help “righting historic wrongs wrought by capitalist powers” and to expand pre-existing forms of solidarity between Cuba and African countries.61 For example, speaking to Namibian students at a celebration for the visit of Robert Mugabe, the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Castro in 1985 said: Imperialism is right to feel concerned about these schools on the Isle of Youth, because they are proof. Not because Cuba is disseminating or propagating subversive ideas, no. The ideas do not go from Cuba to Africa, but rather they come with you from Africa to Cuba, and when they arrive in Cuba, we find that our ideas and your 57 Omar Bulsan, interview with author, June 9th, 2023, Havana, Cuba. 58 Fiddian-Qasmiyeh shares in “Representing Saharawi Refugees’ ‘Educational Displacement’ to Cuba,” on page 333 a table counting Saharawi students in Cuba compiled from UNHCR reports, Cuban media reports, and other sources. Data from 1990-91 is missing, whereas in documents shared with me from Cuban historian, Julio Gonzalez from the Archivo Histórico Municipal de la Isla de la Juventud, it reports that 1578 Saharawi students were there in that year. One reason that the precise number of students is hard to calculate is that Saharawi students were often dispersed in various schools and data is not easily available. Secondly, if 200 students were graduating each year and returning to the refugee camps, it is hard to know if only 200 new students were arriving each year or 800 new students arriving each year as calculated by José Antonio Monje, “Solidaridad con nombre de isla y arena,” Rebelión, April 3, 2012, https://rebelion.org/solidaridad-con-nombre-de-isla-y-arena/ and Martín, Carmen Gómez, and Ahmed Correa Álvarez. "La emigración cubana y saharaui. Entre la “traición” y la esperanza." Íconos. Revista de Ciencias Sociales 51 (2015): 83-98. 59 Gómez Martín, Correa Álvarez, and Correa Álvarez, “La emigración cubana y saharaui. Entre la ‘traición’ y la esperanza,” 5; José Antonio Monje, "Solidaridad con nombre de isla y arena," Rebelión, April 3, 2012, https://rebelion.org/solidaridad-con-nombre-de-isla-y-arena/. 60 Gómez Martín, Correa Álvarez, and Correa Álvarez, 5. 61 Fidel Castro, “Discurso pronunciado en la escuela de estudiantes Namibios Hendrick Witbool, el 8 de Octubre de 1985, con motive de la visita de Robert Mugabe, Primer Ministro de Zimbabwe,” October 8th, 1985, Fidel Castro, Archivo Histórico Municipal de la Isla de la Juventud, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 176 ideas are the same, that our feelings and your feelings are the same, that your internationalist spirit and our internationalist spirit they are the same.”62 He would speak at events for various student groups there and bring country leaders and UN members to showcase the Isle of Youth, further instilling pride in the students that such important leaders valued their participation. The Isle of Youth and Saharawi Students The second largest Cuban island, the Isle of Youth, previously known as the Isle of Pines, has served powerful symbolic functions throughout Cuban history. Once called the Isle of Pines by the Spanish for being largely blanketed in a pine forest, the island also served as a pirate haven followed by the prison colony, Presidio Modelo, where Fidel Castro was once imprisoned and wrote his infamous “History Will Absolve Me” speech.63 The prison was also used to detain without cause various prisoners of war during WWII, including Japanese Cuban men.64 Under US occupation, the Isle was a center of North American farms and export businesses. These various reasons made it particularly important for the revolutionary government in 1959 to reappropriate the Island as a key frontier of the new social revolution.65 After the revolution, much of the Isle was transformed into a citrus plantation, where soldiers, youth brigades, and counterrevolutionary prisoners were recruited for labor, to “reincorporate them into society” in the 1960s.66 In the wake of Hurricane Alma in 1966, revolutionary leaders set out to transform the Isle into the “first communist region in Cuba”.67 62 Ibid. 63 Neagle, America’s Forgotten Colony, 7. 64 Chris Cheng, “Excerpt from Japanese Cubans: Past, Present, and Future: World War II — Cuba Allies with the United States,” August 16, 2016. https://discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2016/8/16/wwii/. 65 Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990,” 158. 66 Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990,” 164. 67 Ibid., 167. 177 In the 1960s and 1970s, Cuban leaders sought to even more heavily populate the Isle and launched massive recruitment efforts, so as to also be able to ward off any attacks by the US. The Isle adopted its current name in honor of the thousands of young people who studied there and collaborated in the development, reconstruction, and urbanisation of the Isle. The Isle has thus long been used as a controlled space, at times to isolate and re-educate problematic citizens, due to its geographic distance from the centre. Reconnecting the Isle to the mainland revolutionary project was bolstered when ‘Basic Secondary Schools in the Countryside,’ or ESBEC were created in 1971 for secondary level Cuban students.68 Between 1959 to 1981, a total of 56 schools were built on the Isle.69 The Isle was formally renamed La Isla de la Juventud (the Isle of Youth) in 1978, also coinciding with the celebration of the XI World Youth Festival.70 The renaming of the Isle symbolically marked its transformation into the core of a social experiment that relied heavily on youth labor. By 1977, the Isle became home to thousands of international students, emerging as a center for internationalist education until the 1990s. The first cohort of students consisted of 850 from Angola and over 1,100 from Mozambique. By 1982, the Isle hosted more than 22,000 foreign students, who lived, studied, and worked in schools that were organized along national lines. The initiative was designed to foster the growth of anti-colonial revolutionary nationalism, where students not only learned about their own cultures but also, through friendly competition with other schools, strengthened their cultural and revolutionary identities, ultimately shaping them into internationalists. 68 “Anuario Estadístico de Cuba 1989,” Comité Estatal Estadística, 1991, Havana, Cuba. 69 Ibid. 70 See Emily Snyder’s work on the Isle of Youth for a history of how the Isle went from a penal outpost colony to the “headquarters of internationalist education”: Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990,” 187. 178 The work students did in the ESBECs was part of an economic development plan elaborated by the state for all of Cuba, not just the Isle of Youth.71 By 1977, all across Cuba, over 200,000 Cuban students were also studying in ESBECs and pre-university facilities in the countryside in more than 450 schools.72 On the Isle of Youth, students and young people began to revitalize citrus farming activities in the Isle by dedicating their non-study hours to cultivating the fields.73 Ultimately, from the 1960s until the 2000s, the metamorphosis of this once sparsely inhabited Cuban island brought about a profound shift in both its population dynamics and economic potential. On the Isle of Youth, the curriculum of the schools replicated the Cuban education system in its entirety, although international student experiences were slightly different for a few reasons. Firstly, at least 6 to 8 mentors and teachers from their home countries accompanied each school group of students, and they would be responsible for teaching history, geography, culture, and language from their home country. Students that didn’t speak Spanish were able to spend six months to one year in an intensive Spanish program before beginning to learn the regular Cuban curriculum. Secondly, the Cuban school routine adapted to the international student needs, at times quite significantly. For example, Saharawi students mostly couldn’t eat pork, and the Cubans found ways to provide alternative proteins, despite food shortages. The Cuban school administrators found ways to also allow for prayer and other accommodations for different cultural needs. Thirdly, international students were at times treated better than domestic students, since the Cuban government was attuned to the 71 In the post-revolutionary phase, it transitioned into a citrus plantation and later functioned as a site for educating or re-educating wayward Cubans and urban youth. Today, the island’s primary use is promoting protected wildlife and tourism. 72 “Breve version de las palabras pronunciadas el 12 de Octubre, 1977 en la ESBEC ‘Samora Moises Machel’ con estudiantes Mozambicanos y en compania de Samora Moises Machel,” October 12th, 1977, Fidel Castro Speech, Archivo Histórico Municipal de la Isla de la Juventud, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 73 E. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, “Representing Saharawi Refugees’ ‘Educational Displacement’ to Cuba: Self-Sufficient Agents or Manipulated Victims in Conflict?,” Journal of Refugee Studies 22, no. 3 (September 1, 2009): 323–50, https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/fep019. 179 optics of the program and was intent on creating positive images of Cuba for international audiences. Fourth, the schools promoted cultural competitions through dance, sports, singing and music, cuisine, and also academic competitions. Top students could become class monitors and even be selected to receive trips and other privileges. Finally, another key difference between the Isle of Youth ESBECs and regular ESBECs for Cuban students is that the international students often wouldn’t see their families or go home for a decade, although this depended on at what age the students arrived and if they went on to study at a Cuban university. Top students could sometimes earn a trip home to visit their families. Cuban history and civics curriculum reinforced notions of internationalist solidarity, anti-imperialism, and participation in a Marxist-Leninist society. For example, an eighth grade history lesson from the 1970s would typically include the celebration of the independence struggles of the Americas and note the advancement of the working class and communist movements in the Global South using sophisticated socioeconomic and political analysis.74 In discussing the imperialist underpinnings of the 19th and 20th century, such lessons would include European and North American exploitation of colonised peoples and the commonalities and differences associated with exploitation across regions.75 Another textbook for the ninth grade, entitled Fundamentals of Political Knowledge, teaches students about “the internationalist attitude and the contribution of Cuba to the liberation of other peoples” asserting that “[…] this occurs because proletarian internationalism is the essence and starting point of the international policy of the Communist Party of Cuba and of our socialist State.”76 Students learn about the legal history and details of the socialist Cuban 74 Ministerio de Educación. Historia Moderna, 8 grado. José Martí National Library, Sala Juvenil, 373, His., H., Havana, Cuba, 1980. 75 Ministerio de Educación. Historia Moderna, 8 grado. José Martí National Library, Sala Juvenil, 373, His., H., Havana, Cuba, 1980, 128-154. 76 Ministerio de Educación. Fundamentos de los conocimientos políticos, 8 grado. José Martí National Library, Sala Juvenil, 355.43, Fun., F., Havana, Cuba, 1980, 1-2. 180 Constitution, internationalist foreign policy, the Family Code, and the National Assembly of People’s Power. They are also taught that in order to learn about Marxist-Leninist principles, students must actively participate in society, and that this is the only way to truly understand the ideas.77 By integrating Cuban history and civic education into the struggles and triumphs of the working class and communist movements in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas, the curriculum centered a critique of imperialism and its long-range impacts. Various institutional aspects of the Isle of Youth boarding schools and their built environment also contributed significantly to the socialization of students. For example, in Figure 4.1, a Saharawi ESBEC can be seen in an archival photograph (Figure 4.1) with the slogan “Todo la Patria o el martirio” (“All of the country, or martyrdom”). This is a Saharawi adaptation of the Cuban slogan, “Hasta la victoria siempre, patria o muerte” (“Until victory always, country or death”). The Saharawi slogan signifies that while the Polisario Front and the SADR fought to retain parts of the Western Sahara, they also aimed for complete liberation. Instead of death, they refer to martyrdom, which is a term that in the Saharawi context denotes a religious reference for those who suffer persecution and death for fighting for their cause or refusing to renounce a religious or political belief demanded by someone else.78 Additionally, schools on the Isle were named after national heroes and revolutionaries from the students’ home countries alongside those of Cuba, with such slogans that parallelled Cuban and international revolutionaries, reinforcing a sense of shared revolutionary heritage. 77 Ibid., 3. 78 David Cook. Martyrdom in Islam. Vol. 4. Cambridge University Press, 2007, 137-138. 181 Figure 4.1. Marlin Esposa de Mustafa. Special Municipality of the Isle of Youth, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 1982. From the archives of Ozman Ahmed Bahiya. Used with Permission. Another aspect built into the institutional and bilateral arrangement between Cuba and the recipient country was that students were taught to be proud of their cultural backgrounds through artistic workshops and the showcasing of cultural artistry. To instill pride in students in where they came from, they were encouraged to share their culture with others. For example, a book by Cuban journalist Mariem Núñez Más and Cuban artist Rafael Manuel Calvo González shares testimonials and photographs that show the unique cultural expressions of these students, featuring photographs of artworks created by Saharawi students.79 One particularly compelling piece is a circular wooden sculpture including the outline of Western Sahara overlapping with the outline of the Cuban islands. Another photograph captures three circular artworks: one with the crest of the SADR, another with the Cuban crest, and the third featuring the intersecting maps of Western Sahara and Cuba with 79 The book celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the Isle of Youth internationalist schools: Mariem Núñez Más and Rafael Manuel Calvo González, Africa en una Isla Cubana: Designios ancestrales e internacionalidad (Havana: Editorial People and Education, 1997), ISBN 959-13-0652-0. 182 the word “Amistad” (“Friendship”) inscribed above.80 These artworks vividly illustrate the deep gratitude, connection, and friendship that Saharawi students felt towards Cuba at the time and the innovative approach the Isle had in fostering cultural pride. To guarantee the objective of maintaining the cultures and traditions of students’ national origins, activities were carried out periodically in which these traditions were promoted. Oscar Elejalde Villalón, a distinguished professor at Cuba’s University of Pedagogical Sciences, spent ten years teaching on the Isle of Youth.81 As the head of the educational division and director of the foreign student education program, he argued that the Isle of Youth played a crucial role in helping students preserve and express their national identities in various ways.82 For example, cultural festivals were organized each year. The festivals gained enormous popularity for the opportunity for students to perform national songs, dances, and poetry. Festival exhibits included sculpture, art, hair styles, and even fashion.83 There were food competitions in schools and colleges, as well as sports competitions. Each school also had a small farm to meet their own food needs, in which some raised chickens, goats, or pigs; grew vegetables, herbs, and spices; and could produce foods particular to their own cuisine. Another purpose of the Isle schools was to educate students to see themselves as producers, not just consumers, with humanistic and self-reliant 80 Rafael Manuel Calvo González is a plastic artist, and he hosted workshops on the Isle to work with students in developing their traditional crafts as well as learn Cuban artistic techniques. Yet another photograph depicts screen-printed and embroidered images of Che Guevara and El-Ouali Mustapha Sayed, a Saharawi nationalist leader and co-founder of the Polisario Front. Additionally, there is a drawing showing the Cuban and Saharawi flags standing side by side. 81 Villalón was the recipient of the prestigious “Frank País García” award. 82 Anne Hickling-Hudson, Jorge Corona Gonzalez, and Rosemary Preston, The Capacity to Share: A Study of Cuba’s International Cooperation in Educational Development, Postcolonial Studies in Education (New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2012), 221, https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230115293. 83 Events called Friendship Festivals began to be organized in promoting culture, and a set of pieces of the Saharawi Arab Republic from ESBEC “Vladimir Komarov” got a special mention for their cultural presentations numerous times. Another example was the holding of inter-school meetings and sports competitions, in which students could utilize sports facilities to practice the sports they were used to practicing, which was soccer for many of the students. For example, very early on, soccer championships were held on November 30th of 1978, among the students of the Mozambican, Angolan and Ethiopian schools, and most years after that. 183 personalities and a commitment to their home countries.84 Villalón felt proud to have contributed to this system, in which foreign students graduated and went on to fill positions in their governments and educational institutions, start businesses, and become leaders in national or international organizations.85 Another director of the schools, José Rojas Magdariaga, oversaw the Cuba-SADR Friendship school and worked with around 16 nationality-based groups. He said: Here we do not interfere in their traditions, customs, or religious beliefs, including the Saharawis who fast during Ramadan. I was there in the camps for two months for the selection of the new students and I met many who were here, and they feel very grateful. You have to dedicate all your time to this job, there are no weekends or vacations, only the pleasure of winning the battle of turning those human beings into true human beings.86 The testimony of an educator and director of the internationalist schools exemplifies how Cubans involved with ESBECs conceived of nurturing young people from very different cultures, with the intention of preserving their pride in their place of origin and cultural identities, while also introducing them to Cuban ways of life and to new templates for revolution. Another powerful form of socialization was through speeches given by Cuban and foreign leaders. These speeches were a significant way to transform the political and revolutionary consciousness of students, signalling to them the importance of the project that they were participating in. Castro and other Cuban leaders would frequently bring delegates, diplomats, and world leaders to visit the Isle of Youth as a showcase of Cuban solidarity and internationalism.87 Indeed, Castro invited at least 17 world leaders and presidents to visit the 84 Hickling-Hudson, Corona Gonzalez, and Preston, The Capacity to Share: A Study of Cuba’s International Cooperation in Educational Development, 222 85 Ibid. 86 Robin Marín Sánchez, “Amor sin fronteras,” Victoria, September 15, 2001, 5. Photos by Evelio Medina Rodríguez. 87 Document shared from Cuban historian, Julio Gonzalez from his research on the Isle of Youth, no date or title of document, p. 23, from Archivo Histórico Municipal de la Isla de la Juventud, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. 184 Isle from 1977-1989.88 He spoke on behalf of the Saharawi students in one such event in 1985 in the company of Samora Moises Machel,89 saying, “[n]ow that I am hearing the slogans being chanted by our Saharan brothers, I want to express in the name of our people, our sympathy, our admiration for their heroism, our faith in the victory of the heroic Saharan people, our support, and our complete solidarity.”90 Fidel Castro was said to have maintained a constant interest in the Isle of Youth and was a core speaker cementing revolutionary political socialization amongst the students, who felt honored by his visits.91 Emphasizing the fact that Africans brought to Cuba to receive free education was a gesture towards justice after the European enslavement of so many African peoples, Castro said, “[d]on’t forget that many of your ancestors saw Cuba and formed part of our people and our blood. We are, therefore, Africans and Cubans, open to ideas and brothers in the blood. Homeland or Death, we will prevail.”92 Castro’s infamous speeches cleverly drew on unifying rhetoric to shed light on why the students should join the Cuban cause of anti-imperialism. Assessing the Educational Outcomes on the Isle of Youth 88 The leaders were: Samora Moisés Machel, President of the People’s Republic of Mozambique, Mengistu Haile Mariam, President of Ethiopia, Sadam Hussein, from Iraq, Kurt Waldheim, Secretary General of the United Nations, Agostinho Neto, Angolan President, Todor Zhivkov, First Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party, José Eduardo Dos Santos, Angolan President, Erick Honecker, General Secretary of the United Socialist Party of Germany, Rafael Calderas, President of the Latin American Parliament, Ali Nasir Muhammad Al-Husani, the former leader of South Yemen serving as General Secretary of the Yemeni Socialist Party between 1980 and 1986, twice president of South Yemen and once the Prime Minister, Samora Moises Machel, Javier Pérez de Cuellar, Secretary General of the United Nations Organization, Julius Nyerere, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Robert Mugabe, President of ZANU-PF and Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Kenneth Kaunda, President of the Republic of Zambia, Eduard Shevardnadze, who served as the final Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1990, and the President of Guyana, Desmond Hoyte. From a document shared from Cuban historian, Julio Hernández from his research on the Isle of Youth, no date or title of document, p. 23, from Archivo Histórico Municipal de la Isla de la Juventud, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba 89 Samora Moises Machel was the first Mozambican president after independence. He was a military commander and political leader. 90 An excerpt from a speech delivered by Fidel Castro on October 12th in the ESBEC “Samora Moises Machel” with Mozambican Students in the company of Samora Moises Machel. 91 Ibid. 92 Fidel Castro, “Discurso pronunciado en la escuela de estudiantes Namibios Hendrick Witbool, el 8 de octubre de 1985, con motive de la visita de Robert Mugabe, Primer Ministro de Zimbabwe,” October 8 th, 1985, Fidel Castro, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 185 Solidarity was a cornerstone of the revolutionary project on the Isle of Youth, instilling in students a collective commitment to anti-imperialism and the fight against it. For example, numerous reports on the Isle about student progress measured success by how far the schools went in inculcating an internationalist attitude. Students across the various national schools were anticipated to interact with trust, mutual solidarity, and respect of each others’ differences.93 In a research project about the boarding schools conducted in the mid-1980s by numerous Cuban researchers, students were measured in their appreciation of these principles, following Fidel Castro’s assertion that “[r]evolutions are made by the peoples, but they need the solidarity of other peoples.”94 Through speeches, curriculum, and the design of the boarding schools, students were guided to understand how their collective liberation was interconnected. For example, the authors wrote: Others from distant reaches of the planet also struggled for total Cuban independence, and after one hundred years of endless combat, consolidated the advent of the Socialist Revolution that further strengthened internationalist sentiments in Cuba, whose greatest promoter was Commander Ernesto Che Guevera, himself from Argentina. Taking these heroes as paradigms, Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro, has educated his people in noble and true feelings of internationalism without borders, giving up, if necessary, even his life.95 The report describes how students appreciated that the “brother peoples of Africa” had also been mounting numerous liberation movements to break the yoke of colonialism and should be able to count on the friendship of Cuba “in the unconditional support for the consolidation 93 Elizabeth Calzadilla, Iban Rivero, Ernesto Capote, Rafaela Alvarez, Luis Martinez, Miriam Molina, Carlos Labrinaga, et al., Fondo: Colección de Archivo, Título: Trabajo Investigativo sobre las escuelas Internacionalistas en la Isla de la Juventud, Fecha 1986, Folios: 49, Número del fondo: 5, Inventario: 1, Expediente: 225, Legajo: 11, Isle of Youth, Cuba; "Investigación inicial para la elaboración de una monografía sobre las escuelas internacionalistas de la Isla de la Juventud," Archivo Histórico Municipal de la Isla de la Juventud, Fondo: Donativos y Remisiones, No. Cajuela: 18, Expedientes: 450 A/478, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. ; Fidel Castro, “Discurso pronunciado en la escuela de estudiantes Namibios Hendrick Witbool, el 8 de Octubre de 1985, con motive de la visita de Robert Mugabe, Primer Ministro de Zimbabwe,” October 8 th, 1985, Fidel Castro, Isle of Youth, Cuba. 94 Elizabeth Calzadilla, Iban Rivero, Ernesto Capote, Rafaela Alvarez, Luis Martinez, Miriam Molina, Carlos Labrinaga, et al., Fondo: Colección de Archivo, Título: Trabajo Investigativo sobre las escuelas Internacionalistas en la Isla de la Juventud, Fecha 1986, p. 1, Folios: 49, Número del fondo: 5, Inventario: 1, Expediente: 225, Legajo: 11, Isle of Youth, Cuba 95 Calzadilla et al., “Trabajo Investigativo,” p. 2. 186 of their nascent republics.”96 Students also reflected that the participation of various nationalities in Cuba’s war for independence and the 1959 revolution formed a cornerstone in Cuban belief in solidarity as a powerful force for liberation. Cuban research about the Isle of Youth detailed various behavioral, health, and cultural information about the Saharawi students regarding their arrival to Cuba and their integration into the country. This research illustrates the profound care shown towards the students and the investment in creating in the students a revolutionary and internationalist spirit. For example, the report says, “[o]ver time, a pure internationalist spirit has developed in them [the Saharawi students], manifesting in a particular way in the excellent relationships established with students from other countries who are in the territory.”97 The relationship between boys and girls is also noted, saying that both sexes behave as expected, and that co-education is being reinforced. For Saharawi students, it was surprising to be studying in mixed-gender institutions, although promoting positive relations between girls and boys, and promoting support for female emancipation, was a goal of both the Cuban state and the Polisario Front.98 The objectives of the schools were also determined by the beneficiary country. For instance, a key aim of the Isle of Youth was to assist the Polisario Front in promoting anti-racist and anti-tribalist attitudes. Cuban researchers mentioned that there were no manifestations of regionalism among the Saharawi students, nor racism.99 This reveals the bilateral aspects of the program, in which the Polisario Front of the SADR also sought to 96 Calzadilla et al., “Trabajo Investigativo,” p. 3. 97 "Investigación inicial para la elaboración de una monografía sobre las escuelas internacionalistas de la Isla de la Juventud, Archivo Histórico Municipal, Fondo: Donativos y Remisiones, No. Cajuela: 18, Expedientes: 450 A/478, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. 98 Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, “Representing Saharawi Refugees’ ‘Educational Displacement’ to Cuba”; Wilson, Sovereignty in Exile, 191. 99 "Investigación inicial para la elaboración de una monografía sobre las escuelas internacionalistas de la Isla de la Juventud, Archivo Histórico Municipal, Fondo: Donativos y Remisiones, No. Cajuela: 18, Expedientes: 450 A/478, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. 187 reinforce certain characteristics of political consciousness and socialization. The report also mentioned that while nationalism was reduced among the students, internationalism was greatly manifested in the exchange with young people from other countries. Saharawi students were said to be very interested in the history of Cuba and in the life of Cuba’s national hero, José Martí, as well as having a combative and highly patriotic spirit.100 Saharawi organizations also contributed to the development of all these aspects such as the Saharawi Youth Union and the Pioneers of the 20th of May Revolution, who helped contribute to the growth of solidarity and patriotism. This research report in particular reveals the stated goals and outcomes of shaping students’ mentalities through the Isle’s boarding school programs with a comprehensive set of mechanisms, youth groups, and monitoring techniques to determine how students were indeed absorbing the revolutionary mentality.101 To gain further governmental perspectives on the Isle of Youth project, a booklet discusses how in the Isla de la Juventud Special Municipality, “Agreement No. 1143” was passed in 1982 which regulated foreign scholars in Cuba. This agreement guaranteed better care for foreign scholarship holders, which had been arriving on the Isla since 1977, an important step in institutionalising the program. The sending country or organization was requested to also consider that the scholarship recipients meet the following requirements: a) “possess adequate physical conditions; b) express a political-moral attitude in accordance with the revolutionary condition of its people; c) express voluntariness to carry out studies in the Republic of Cuba; d) possess written authorization from parents to study in Cuba; and e) accept the conditions to which they will be subject in Cuba during the period of their 100 "Investigación inicial para la elaboración de una monografía sobre las escuelas internacionalistas de la Isla de la Juventud, Archivo Histórico Municipal, Fondo: Donativos y Remisiones, No. Cajuela: 18, Expedientes: 450 A/478, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba. 101 Ibid. 188 studies.”102 These preconditions helped students to also understand what agreeing countries were looking for in accepting students. Condition “b” in particular reveals that students were meant to have a pre-existing political and moral attitude in accordance with the revolutionary condition of their own country. In working with various revolutionary governments, Cuban leaders of the ESBECs co-created the plans, outcomes, and bilateral agreements with the sending countries. A newspaper from the Isle of Youth from 2001 describes a few Saharawi testimonies of their experiences there.103 The newspaper explains how around 36,000 youth from all over the world have forged the Isle as a true Isle of Youth. The newspaper describes how Cuba’s gesture towards educating students on the Isle in 1977 was in the spirit of solidarity and internationalism. Saharawi experiences on the Isle were varied, although most students reported that their experiences were overall positive.104 In the newspaper, a testimony is featured from Mojtar Lebuchi Embairik, a 26-year-old representative of the newly graduated students who had finished his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Havana in 2000. When Embairik first arrived in Cuba in 1987, he had just turned 12, and 14 years later, he returned to his home country with a university degree. He says, “[t]hat is why I am Cuban and I am a Saharawi; it is like saying that I am a Cuban born abroad. I never felt [like a] foreigner in Cuba and that fact is part of the debt of gratitude that I will always have with this people.”105 Being able to attend the World Festival of Youth as part of the Cuban 102 Ministerio de Educación, Reglamento para el recibimiento y atención de los becarios extranjeros en centros del municipio especial Isla de la Juventud, Documentos normativos para el Sistema Nacional de Educación, 6. 1982. F 378.35, Cub, R. National Library José Martí, Havana, Cuba. 103 The newspaper from September 15th, 2001, is entitled “Love without Borders.” 104 The memories of Cubarawis are predominantly positive. A once popular public Facebook page acts as a living archive of memories of Cubarawis who used the page as a yearbook and way to reconnect. The page does not represent all Saharawi students’ experiences, as many don’t use Facebook, some didn’t finish their studies, others are unaware of the page, and some have passed away. The Isle of Youth was challenging for many students, particularly after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, which caused funding cuts and school closures. 105 Robin Marín Sánchez, “Amor sin fronteras,” Victoria, September 15, 2001, 5. Photos by Evelio Medina Rodríguez. 189 delegation was also extraordinary for him. He reflected that such a gesture could only be done by Cuba, reaffirming the Saharawi conviction that the Cuban Revolution had a deep-rooted principle of doing good for others.106 Another student featured in the newspaper Victoria, Said Mohamed Luali, was 28 and graduated as a Spanish and Literature teacher in the Pedagogical Institute of Pinar del Río. He returned to the camps in the Sahara, having completed his military service. He then worked in the Ministry of Education of his country and had been invited to participate in the Cuban delegation to the World Youth and Students Festival. Luali said: When they told me that I would return to Cuba, I was moved. I felt rewarded because this town gave me a lot of love. I came in 1985 and graduated in 1997. I spent 12 years without seeing my family, but it was worth the sacrifice; I left her womb very young and returned a man both physically and intellectually, healthy, with a college degree and my family appreciated that very much. I remember when I came for the first time to the Island, everything was totally foreign to me, the habits, the customs... then we learned, first the language and then comprehensive training through the study-work link…they cared about me and taught me as if I had been their son.”107 These testimonies provide first-hand accounts of Saharawi memories from studying on the Isle of Youth, and although they reflect a small sample size of people, each illustrates strong positive memories as representative of student experiences. Scholars such as Christine Hatzky, Raquel Ribeiro, Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Catarina Laranjeiro and Sabine Lehr have explored many of the internationalist missions and exchanges involving Cuban and African revolutionaries.108 Their work demonstrates how the 106 Embairik was grateful to be selected as a member of the Cuban multinational delegation that participated in the XV World Festival of Youth and Students. The 15th World Festival of Youth and Students was organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) in Algiers, Algeria, from 8 to 16 August 2001 for nine days, under the slogan “Let’s globalize the struggle for Peace, Solidarity, Development, against Imperialism”. 107 Robin Marín Sánchez, “Amor sin fronteras,” Victoria, September 15, 2001, 5. Photos by Evelio Medina Rodríguez. 108 Emily Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990” (PhD Dissertation Yale University, 2021); Sabine Lehr, “The Children of the Isle of Youth: Impact of a Cuban South-South Education Program on Ghanaian Graduates” (PhD Dissertation University of Victoria, 2008); Hatzky, Cubans in Angola; Denise F. Blum, Cuban Youth and Revolutionary Values: Educating the New Socialist Citizen (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011); Catarina Laranjeiro, “The Cuban Revolution and the Liberation Struggle in Guinea-Bissau: Images, Imaginings, Expectations and Experiences,” The International History Review 42, no. 6 (November 1, 2020): 1319–38. 190 internationalist education system in Cuba embodied and transferred certain revolutionary ideas to thousands of youths from Africa. These youth subsequently shaped governance structures, medical and pedagogical policy approaches, and revolutionary thought in Africa and these exchanges also influence many institutions in Cuba. For example, binational relations such as Cuban solidarity with Angola and Ghana demonstrated that the negotiation process between Cuba and the beneficiary country was based on equal partnership, meaning both sides negotiated gains for themselves and both states promoted their own ideas of equality, brotherhood, and friendship between the two parties.109 The photographic collection of the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina includes photographs of Saharawi students on the Isle of Youth. These images illustrate a vibrant community, in which students engaged in various activities such as dancing, singing, drumming, tea ceremonies, and showing off Saharawi cultural objects.110 In one photograph, a Saharawi boy and girl are making traditional tea, while another captures women running happily down the stairs outside the school, wearing traditional mehlfas, the Saharawi robes worn by women. Another photo shows a boy sitting in a circle making music with women clapping and singing in the background. In another photograph, in what appears to be the same event, a boy and girl dance surrounded by women clapping in a circle. Additional photographs depict students in Cuban uniform studying in a classroom with a female teacher, an aerial view of the school, and students lined up in the courtyard, possibly engaging in morning singing or activities. These photographs vividly illustrate the headquarters of internationalist education in the 1980s and 1990s. These initiatives were crucial in shaping Saharawi political consciousness by fostering a sense of cultural pride, solidarity, and 109 Hatzky, Cubans in Angola, 72; Lehr, “The Children of the Isle of Youth: Impact of a Cuban South-South Education Program on Ghanaian Graduates,” 250. 110 Tomas García, a Cuban photojournalist, took photos in March of 1983, at the “Evangelina Cossio” school: Saharaoui Democratica Republica Arabe, Educacion, Becados en (Cuba), Folder 152.19.02.01, Prensa Latina fototeca, Havana, Cuba. 191 collective identity among students and by deeply embedding revolutionary and anti-imperialist values in their everyday experiences. Testimony From Saharawi and Cuban Mentors Working with International Students in Cuba Mayid, a Saharawi man who now works in the Havana embassy, used to work on the Isle of Youth as an accompanying teacher for the Saharawi students.111 He studied pedagogy at a Cuban university. Mayid has nearly forty years of experience in Cuba, having taught on the Isle of Youth and has since worked as a key staff member in the Saharawi Embassy in Havana. In an interview, Mayid provided insights into two pivotal experiences that significantly shaped his understanding of education and his engagement with the Cuban educational system. Outlining Mayid’s trajectory from the refugee camps in Algeria and his insights into the Isle of Youth school provides a more in-depth understanding of the Cuba-SADR educational cooperation program. Mayid’s work as a teacher on the Isle of Youth in Cuba was grounded in his prior role as a primary teacher in the refugee camps of the SADR. Referring to his time in the camps, he said “we all had to go out and cooperate in founding what would be today the Saharawi Ministry of Education. There are a few of us there who participated in organizing the schools at that time, in organizing the centres to be able to start what the Ministry of Education is, we were also teachers at that time.”112 In collaboration with a few like-minded individuals, Mayid played an important role in organizing schools and educational centres within the refugee camps. This critical phase laid the groundwork for the contemporary Saharawi education system. During this period, cooperation agreements were forged with Cuba, Algeria, and Libya, eventually culminating in the preparation of students who would embark on academic 111 Mayid, interview with author, June 2023, Havana, Cuba. 112 Mayid, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. 192 journeys to these countries. He said, “we organized the students to go to Cuba, to Algeria, and to go to Libya. We also had to involve the community in that, and the family in it.”113 Algeria gave the Saharawis some schools where they prepared the first students before sending them to Cuba or other countries. These Algerian boarding schools were outside of the Saharawi refugee camps and prepared Mayid for his experience teaching on the Isle of Youth, distanced from the SADR. After a few years in Algeria and the initiation of the Algerian program, Mayid and his colleagues returned to their school in the refugee camps to teach. It was from this juncture that they received the call to embark on a new educational endeavour, this time in Cuba. Mayid fondly recalls his chapter on the Isle of Youth as an exceptional experience, underscoring its unique nature. He arrived in Cuba in 1986 and began working with a substantial group of young students. He noted, “[y]ou can’t find another experience like the one we’ve had on the Isla de la Juventud. A huge number of students divided into schools in the countryside. The work was very hard, very, but for the benefit of our young students.”114 Mayid explained how the teachers became like the fathers and the mothers of the students since the mentors assumed multifaceted roles that extended beyond traditional teaching. Their responsibilities encompassed guiding, nurturing, and overseeing a wide array of extracurricular activities. This collaborative approach fostered holistic development and a profound sense of community among the students. In each ESBEC, Mayid explained, there were about seven Saharawi adults, and each one attended to something different in the same school. There was a teacher, in charge of classroom instruction and discipline; an adult in charge of the boarding school in which they had to organize bedtimes; room inspections; one person in charge of cultural activities; and 113 Mayid, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. 114 Mayid, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. 193 one person in charge of the field work that the students did. There were also students appointed to be in charge of each of the same activities, selected because of their good grades and emotional maturity. The first students who came from the school in the refugee camps had to do a preparation in Spanish in 6 months, approximately, but the majority of the students who came later already spoke Spanish.115 During the time that Mayid worked on the Isle, there were over 19 national groups from all over Africa and Latin America. Today in Latin America, Mayid explained, “perhaps they know about the Saharawi people thanks to that moment of exchange between cultures and exchange between students.” He argued, “I think it’s really been fundamental to our cause.”116 During his time on the Isle, Mayid said the Saharawi Ministry of Education along with the Cuban Ministry of Education agreed that they should train the Saharawi educators in Cuba as teachers. There was a group of ten Saharawi adults who worked with the students on the Isle that were sent to study at pedagogical universities in Cuba. Mayid went to the Pedagogical University of Pinar del Río, where he undertook 5 years of pedagogical training. His group graduated as higher education teachers in pedagogy. Five of them studied English and five of them, including Mayid, studied in Spanish language and literature. From there, they were called again to return to the Isle to work with students, which he did again for 3 or 4 years.117 Mayid reflected on the uniqueness of the experience, the only one in the world in which Nicaraguan students and Saharawi students lived nearby in boarding schools with 115 Mayid, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. The program closed in 2011 but it took until 2014 for there to no longer be any Saharawis on the Isle of Youth. Mayid went to Havana in 2001 or 2002 and began working in the Saharawi Embassy. 116 Mayid, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. 117 In Mayid’s current role at the embassy, he still follows up on the incoming university students and interacts with them, accompanying them in their own universities, visiting them, and organizing them in different organizations. Mayid at one point visited 59 educational centres throughout Cuba, from Pinar del Río to Guantánamo. Now, while there are fewer Saharawi students in Cuba, they are still in almost all of the Cuban provinces and the embassy still ensures they are well taken care of. 194 relatively luxurious conditions including roads, electricity, public transportation, organized sports activities, and the essential goods that students needed. He understood: There were good conditions until 1991, it was a luxury until the Special Period began. Everything was there, nothing was missing and everything was free, the student was given shoes, soap, weekly sheets, a truck would come to clean it, take it away, wash it and bring it back. It had everything, refrigerators full of things, a truck comes and releases thousands of loose chickens out there that you had to call a Brigade of boys to go kill. That was wonderful, really nothing was missing.” The students were given work clothes and school clothes, a weekly towel, and overall lived a comfortable, albeit disciplined, life. However, from 1991 onwards, the conditions became much more difficult and there were fewer and fewer schools for international students on the Isle, but the Cuban government said that the Saharawi schools would remain, and Saharawi students stayed there longer than the other students.118 Mayid reflected on the composition of gender, saying that at one point there were more Saharawi girls there, but it was hard to have girls and boys in the same school. They always behaved well, he said, but it was sometimes harder for the girls to be away from home for so long.119 Mayid expressed how during the 50th celebration of the birth of the Polisario Front the Cuban President attended the celebrations, which “represents the interest and the support that they always give us. In all international forums, Cuba has always supported us in all international forums…it feels like an unconditional support, and it’s been a long time, and it doesn’t have any objective of another nature.”120 Mayid, arguably the most experienced of any Saharawi person in 118 Mayid, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. 119 Fiddian-Qasmiyeh provides alternate explanations to this phenomenon, arguing that the notion of girls not being able to withstand the distance from their families ties more to Saharawi perceptions of ideal female behavior and needs. Some Saharawi families also found it much harder to survive without their daughters around to help in the household. Many Saharawi families didn't know the extent to which Cuban gender norms were different than Saharawi ones. Some Saharawi women became pregnant during the program and were sent back to the camps as a result. In these cases, some were sent to the women's prison in the SADR, both to penalize them and protect them from family violence and anger. See Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, “Representing Saharawi Refugees’ ‘Educational Displacement’ to Cuba.” 120 Mayid, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. 195 accompanying international students in Cuba in many different capacities, provided key insights into how these programs worked. Pilar Barbariche Huete, a Cuban woman who has worked in the Saharawi embassy since 1986 provides another angle. Pilar explained how she began as a secretary of the embassy and that from the first moment, the Saharawi students caught her heart, because at that time they were very young children. She said that many Ministers and Ambassadors were students that graduated in Cuba and that she helped to write their theses using typewriters, before the age of computers. She said, “[s]ometimes I don’t even remember that I did that thesis, an ambassador told me the other day, you made me my thesis 33 years ago, that is, it is something very moving.”121 She also mentioned how Cubans are generally also very fond of the Saharawis because, as she argued, the Saharawis seem very similar to the Cubans. Pilar said, “we’ve been here for 22 years together working in the embassy day after day in the same struggle, trying to defend the cause, trying to propagandize it, trying to educate its children.”122 Her testimony provides a special insight into the educational migration program in educating and administering the program for Saharawi youth in Cuba. According to Pilar, these internationalist scholarship programs were not without problems. The main issues were that many students arrived in Cuba without adequate explanation of the long journey they were embarking on. Many did not fully understand what it would mean to go for so long without seeing their families, sometimes for a decade, and some didn’t like the work aspect of the ESBECs or the rigorous disciplined day-to-day life. Some students tried escaping from the schools. One international student was said to have escaped from the Isle to Havana.123 Some students mounted protests, had fights, got pregnant, 121 Pilar Barbarita Hueche, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. 122 Pilar Barbarita Hueche, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. 123 Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990,” 197-200. 196 partied, rejected their own cultures and languages, never returned to their home countries to work, and otherwise failed to meet the objectives of the program.124 Some versions of these types of issues have been mentioned in reports on the programs on the Isle of Youth in Cuba.125 Emily Snyder argues that the day-to-day life of an ESBEC for Nicaraguan students was very hard. Some students were critical about everything from the layout of the ESBEC, the daily routine, and the daily discipline required when having 600 teenagers living under one roof.126 However, many of these issues are also typical problems that might arise among any group of teenagers and don’t necessarily reflect issues with the Isle of Youth educational experiments specifically. Many of the Cuban teachers on the Isle were undertaking their three-year social service which was required at the time after graduating. Jorge Arrue Fonts, a Cuban teacher who taught in an Angolan school on the Isle of Youth recounted to me his experiences as a physical education and gym teacher there. Fonts studied at the José Enrique Varona Higher Pedagogical Institute, which was the first university of pedagogy in Cuba, located in Ciudad Libertad, and was the largest teacher-training institute in the country. He specialised in physical education and sports and graduated in 1981. Fonts explained that at the end of August, after his training at the Pedagogical Institute, he went on to complete his three-year social service on the Isla de la Juventud. Fonts worked for three years in an Angolan school and echoed what Mayid said about the economic situation being very good. Prior to the Special Period, he noted, there were enough materials for all of the subjects, and as a sports and physical education teacher, he had all kinds of materials to work with. Apart from the 124 Snyder, "Entangled Revolutions", 197-200. 125 Lehr, “The Children of the Isle of Youth: Impact of a Cuban South-South Education Program on Ghanaian Graduates”; Hatzky, Cubans in Angola; Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990”; Hickling-Hudson, Corona Gonzalez, and Preston, The Capacity to Share: A Study of Cuba’s International Cooperation in Educational Development. 126 Emily Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990,” PhD Dissertation, 2021. 197 classes, he also attended social sports or extracurricular sports with the Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Fisica y Recreación (National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation, or INDER), the highest sports institution in Cuba. He said many of the foreign students joined sports teams that represented the Isla de la Juventud in national games. Fonts’ testimony provides a fascinating glimpse into the daily routines of students and teachers on the Isle of Youth. He described how some days began with teaching in the morning, followed by a 1:00 p.m. lunch break. At 2:30 p.m., students participated in agricultural labor, working primarily in citrus production, including oranges, tangerines, and grapefruits. The group that worked in the fields in the morning attended classes in the afternoon. At around 5:30 or 6:00 p.m., students had self-study hours for approximately two hours, with a subject teacher available to clarify any doubts. After self-study, they had dinner, followed by recreational activities until 10:30 p.m., when quiet hours began, and students went to sleep. The person on duty for the day oversaw all activities from 8 a.m. until 8 a.m. the next day, monitoring students during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On weekends, buses took students to the beach or various recreational sites, with good transportation and food provided. The school’s organization was facilitated by teachers through biweekly meetings for each grade level to discuss student difficulties, monthly methodological meetings by subject, and monthly meetings in which the heads of departments from all the foreign schools convened. Fonts explained that his training to teach on the Isle of Youth also came from previous instructors at the Enrique José Varona Higher Pedagogical Institute who had already taught on the Isle.127 He also described sports competitions among the different national schools on the island, which brought students together and strengthened their patriotic 127 Jorge Arrue Fonts, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. 198 sentiments for their respective countries.128 Fonts recounted his experience on the Isle as a rather positive experience, remembering how it was the first encounters he had with so many youth from Africa, and that he learned many new things from interacting with his students. These diverse testimonies—from a Saharawi teacher on the Isle of Youth who is now a SADR ambassador, a Cuban secretary and program administrator in the SADR embassy, and a Cuban physical education teacher who taught on the Isle—illuminate the intricacies of daily life on the Isle of Youth. They provide a deeper understanding of the solidarity program in which thousands of Saharawi students studied in Cuba, and dozens of Cuban teachers and mentors were profoundly transformed. Saharawi Students in Cuban Higher Education Centers Saharawi students have attended the Centros de Educación Superior (Cuban Higher Education Centers, or CESs) roughly from the 1980s until today. The program that brought Saharawi students to Cuban CESs was partly distinct from the Isle of Youth programs. International students attending CESs in Cuba were overseen by the Planning Department of the Ministerio de Educación Superior (Ministry of Higher Education, or MES). Student experiences reveal that decades after having studied in Cuba, some still remember their experiences very fondly, and assert that their time in Cuba fundamentally shaped their career trajectories. Interviews with two such students illustrate how time in Cuba provided skills vital to their future work, one as a diplomat in Spain and the other as the co-founder of a literary movement pursuing a doctorate in anthropology in Spain. A booklet published by the Cuban Ministry of Higher Education and the Cuban International Relations Department in 1980 discusses the rules and procedures for the 128 Jorge Arrue Fonts, interview with author, Havana, June 2023. 199 attention and control of foreign scholarship holders in higher education centers in Cuba.129 Cubans overseeing the programming and planning for foreign students at CES were primarily concerned with Cuba’s image upon the students’ returns home. They aimed to influence how foreign students perceived the Cuban revolution and to educate them about Cuba’s unique historical trajectory to contextualize the conditions of scarcity often encountered there, especially iafter 1991. This indicates that Cubans were intent on fostering long-term networks of solidarity and reciprocal solidarity, and in being concerned that foreign students reflected positively on their time in Cuba. For example, one Cuban policy preferably placed foreign scholarship recipients in CES outside of Havana. Similar to the isolated nature of the Isle of Youth, this policy enabled the government greater control over students outside of the urban environment in Havana where more counterrevolutionary activities were visible.130 Another policy that exemplified the concern over foreign student perceptions was made regarding transitory dormitories. Students who planned to go on to study at universities outside of Havana after their time on the Isle had to temporarily stay in housing in Havana. The booklet describing the care and regulations for foreign scholarship holders explained that “transit shelter is the foreign intern’s first impression of our country, it must meet the appropriate conditions of cleanliness and order.”131 This concern over the students first impressions in Cuba likely reveals an interest in students integrating well into Cuban society, ensuring the sustainability and success of these programs, and the optics of Cuba as a host 129 Booklet “Normas y procedimientos para la atencion y control de becarios extranjeros en centros de educacion superior" by Dirección de Relaciones Internacionales of Ministerio de Educacion Superior, Book Collections, National Library José Martí, Havana, Cuba, 378.35, Cub, N, September 1980. This normative document was the result of three years of work with employees from the Ministry of Higher Education and other State Organizations, and the experiences accumulated by socialist countries in the complex task of educating international students. 130 Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990,” 190–91. 131 Booklet “Normas y procedimientos para la atencionatención y control de becarios extranjeros en centros de educacioneducación superior,” 24, Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba. 200 country. Furthermore, to shape a revolutionary political consciousness amongst the students, a positive first impression of the country needed to be made. Students in Cuba were theoretically provided everything that they needed to succeed on a material level. Different ministries were involved in overseeing the students, depending on the specialty that they were allotted to, including the MES, the Ministerio de Educación de la República de Cuba (Ministry of Education, or MINED), INDER, the Ministerio de Cultura (Ministry of Culture), and the Ministerio de Salud Pública de Cuba (Ministry of Public Health, or MINSAP), as well as the Preparatory Language Faculty for students that struggled with Spanish. Foreign scholarship holders were treated differently from national scholarship holders and students since they had the need for consideration of clothes, accommodation, food, recreation, vacations, stipends, and more. Instructional pamphlets provide a window into the ways that Saharawi students might have been treated as higher education scholarship holders in Cuba. The notions of care and regulation are both aspects emphasized by the MES, in providing what students needed, but also imposing control and surveillance over the students to ensure that they could succeed and that they were not acting in ways that would threaten the Cuban government, peoples, or the sustainability of the education program. One policy discusses the late arrival of students and the responsibility of the country or organization that sent the student to manage their late arrival. However, based on the testimony of Ali Salem, who studied in university in Cuba and went on to become a diplomat in Spain, his late arrival was much helped by local Cuban teachers and mentors who were willing to help him catch up. He recounted that, upon his arrival, he was assigned a teacher from the Institute to assist him along with his classmates. This mentorship was initiated as he had joined the program three months later than his peers. Although the academic year had commenced in September, his delayed arrival in December did not impede his progress, and he managed to recover. This illustrates the effect of a rather substantial grassroots support 201 towards Saharawis by regular Cubans sympathetic to the Saharawi people, above and beyond the stated policies of the program. One aspect of Cuban education that many outsiders are curious about is to what extent Cuba imposes ideological training on its students and foreign students. Since most international students do not have Spanish or Portuguese as their mother tongue, they have to enter into a Preparatory Language Faculty, where Spanish-language teachers are trained as important ambassadors of Cuba. They were expected to do everything they could to bond with the students, since “[t]he policy makers saw the language teacher as requiring a strong human and supportive sensibility on the basis of friendship,” to ensure their success in learning Spanish, as well as to “do deep work on the student, helping him or her to understand the concrete realities and circumstances in which our society develops, which may not be easy for him or her.”132 Linked with the teaching of Spanish, this was an effort to make students aware of the history, culture, and traditions of Cuba through friendship and support, and thus a political-ideological understanding of Cuban history was supported in this way through emotional bonding, and extracurricular and recreational activities.133 Teachers were directed to draw upon national press outlets to teach historical and linguistic lessons. Cuban teachers and mentors were thus mobilized as key participants in the formation of a new political consciousness of Saharawi students. Student experiences, including 132 Booklet “Normas y procedimientos para la atencion y control de becarios extranjeros en centros de educacion superior,” 27, Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba. 133 I also spoke with two Saharawi students who were studying in Cuba in 2023, Bah Hasenna Eida, studying pharmacy in Havana, and Yahdih Sidihamad, studying journalism in Havana. They mentioned that it is very rare to find a Saharawi family that does not have a member that has come to Cuba or knows someone who has. One of the students, Bah Hasenna Eida, had arrived in Cuba in 2019 and had been studying previously in Spain. From 2011 to 2017 he had studied high school at the Simón Bolívar School in the refugee camps, which is a very common trajectory for Saharawi students that study in Cuba now. Regarding the difference between Spain and Cuba, the Saharawi student said that it is a difference between one world and another. The University in a Western state compared with universities in a socialist country like Cuba are very different. In Cuba there is more attention given to connect students with teachers and mentors. Whereas, in Spain, he felt like the student life is much more autonomous. He said that what they understand in Cuba by education is more dedicated to being oriented to the people, to the foundation of the people, so it is more bearable. 202 extracurriculars and language training curriculum were carefully curated in order to facilitate an interest in Marxism and to promote ongoing diplomacy with Cuba.134 The language teachers then had to write a one-page report on the characteristics of each scholarship recipient, which balanced aspects of surveillance for the purposes of care and control over the students. The Cuban teachers gained firsthand insight into students’ receptiveness of Cuban revolutionary principles and were to provide sophisticated methods to ensure students had a positive impression of these principles. The Cuban professors working in the Simón Bolívar school in the refugee camps also helped them immensely in integrating to Cuba once they arrived and preparing for the Cuban education system. Cuban students relate that from the schedule up to the subjects, the performance demanded, the way in which it is taught, the relationships between teachers and students, the way of being of the Cuban compañeros, all that had an influence. The students assert that the help of the Cuban brothers and fellow students helped them a lot at the beginning and from the teachers who provide some flexibility for foreigners, especially the first few years with the language issue, and the remoteness from their home. The students explained that in Cuba, there are also student-led activities for international students, often organized through each nation’s embassy. The universities also host events such as international student day in which each nationality presents their culture, with a table shared amongst many nationalities, also called Friends of Friends. The most important Saharawi holidays and celebrations are celebrated in Cuba, too, among the Saharawis and friends, like May 10th, May 20th and February 27th, and more. If a Saharawi student has a problem in Cuba, the embassy and the ambassador can help them, as well as the Youth Union. The Polisario Front as a political movement has different popularly-led organizations, including a 134 Christine Hatzky argues that this type of ideological training lessened in the 1990s, and two interviews with Saharawi students in higher education in Cuba in 2023 indicated support for Hatzky’s point.Hatzky, Cubans in Angola, 60. 203 women’s organization, a workers’ organization, a youth organization, and a student organization, which Saharawi students lead. The League of Saharawi Students also represents students in Cuba. One student explained that while the schools handle all administrative and legal issues, the Student League organizes activities with Cuban student organizations. Coordination involves the Student League presenting plans with support from the embassy and involvement from the Cuban government and people.135 Students were provided with a common space for rest and recreation, through which the UJC and the Federación Estudiantil Universitaria (University Student Federation, FEU) could organise cultural and recreational activities. Ali Salem was part of the Saharawi Youth Organization, called the Saharawi Youth Union in his sector in Havana. He helped organize meetings, exhibitions, conferences, national celebrations, cultural activities, research, and sports. He also reported that Saharawi women often went to Cuba to do a year of training in women’s organization, as well as in youth cooperation programs. During his time with the youth organization, he organized a Football Cup called the Arab Cup, in which all the Arab countries that were in Cuba participated, such as Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Saharawi. He said that he thought there were very important relationships formed between students from different countries because Cuba “always respected this uniqueness of each country and culture and Cubans helped train them so that they could go to their country and be their cadres of the future.”136 This sentiment is often echoed in discussions about the educational program, suggesting it may be part of Cuban propaganda or an aspect of promoting the program. Food habits were also important for the policy makers, and the teaching, administrative, and service staff ensured that inspections were carried out by Faculty 135 Bah Hasenna Eida, interview with author, May 2022, Havana, Cuba. 136 Ali Salem, interview with author, March 2022, Madrid, Spain. 204 management to speak with the students, assess the state of facilities, and take measures by deadlines to improve any issues that students brought up.137 Ali Salem also mentioned Cuba’s respect for culture in how they made food replacements for them, so the Muslim students didn’t have to eat pork, despite there often being a shortage of other meats. Each group of students at each institution that they were found in had representatives that could bring their issues and concerns to the Management and authorities of the CES’s. Student organisations were closely monitored, and beyond the approved national and representative councils of student representatives approved by the CESs, any other political formations or organizations were unlikely to be legally or formally approved. Disciplining foreign scholarship holders was the equivalent of disciplining Cuban higher education students, although the possibility of revoking a foreign scholarship students’ scholarship was possible and ultimately decided by the MES Directorate. Ali Salem, a Polisario Front diplomat in Madrid, described his experiences studying International Relations in Cuba from 1986 to 1991, undertaking his education at the Instituto Superior de Relaciones Internacionales ‘Raúl Roa Garcia’ (Raúl Roa Institute of International Relations, or ISRI) in Havana.138 Reflecting on his period of study in Cuba, Ali Salem retained positive memories of this experience. Salem noted that he arrived in Cuba when he was 22-years-old and went straight to university. He lived with a small group in a house with other Saharawis. Salem described how he had activities together with Cubans, too, such as summer camp programs during the holidays. The older university students also visited the school where the younger ones were studying on the Isle of Youth and the youth in different cities. Ali Salem felt fortunate that upon his return to the camps, he started working in the same area of his career, in international relations, which was an experience that not all 137 Booklet “Normas y procedimientos para la atencionatención y control de becarios extranjeros en centros de educación superior,” 58, Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí, Havana, Cuba. 138 Ali Salem, interview with author, Madrid, Spain, April 2022. 205 Saharawis were able to have. When Ali Salem returned to the Sahara, he began working at the Saharawi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Saharawi poet and anthropologist, Bahia Mahmud Awah, living in Madrid also looked back fondly on his experiences studying at a university in Cuba.139 Awah started studying in Cuba in 1979. He identified himself as part of a Saharawi diaspora in Spain, political exiles who write together to share stories about their experiences in Cuba. Awah and his friends studied in Havana and their writing is compiled by Awah to contribute to a blog he maintains. The group studied a variety of subjects including journalism, engineering, telecommunications, medicine, law, chemistry, and economics. Awah and his colleagues write a lot of poetry about Cuba since they were part of Cuban society for many years. This writing “marks the life of friends, the good people, the teachers, the girlfriends, the relationships with the neighbors. All this appears in poetry, it appears in stories, it appears in essays.”140 His blog and the literary group they are part of is called the Friendship Generation. Awah said that the Saharawis, through the Polisario Front, are a revolution that rose up against Spanish colonialism and this relationship of revolutionary principles is what united them with the peoples of Latin America, and above all Cuba and Mexico. Bah Hasenna Eida explained that as an Arab country that continues to share many things with Cuba, such as a similar historical trajectory and political trajectory of the revolution, the Saharawi revolutionary principles are very important to Saharawi youth. For students arriving in 2019 and who would be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, historical context was of critical importance. Cuba was especially affected by the pandemic since the entire economy is as the students described, “subordinated to tourism and the blockade.”141 The students experienced major shortages of everything from food to gas, and were shocked 139 Bahia Mahmud Awah, interview with author, March 2022, Madrid, Spain. 140 Bahia Mahmud Awah, interview with author, March 2022, Madrid, Spain. 141 Yahdi Sidihamad, interview with author, May 2022, Havana, Cuba. 206 by the reality of the country, probably since what they had heard from Saharawi students that came before them were mostly good things about Cuba. One of the students said that what marked them was knowing that the context of the pandemic was similar in many ways to the Special Period, which is when the Soviet Union fell, and Cuba faced massive shortages. The students also said that they situated themselves on the political block of the left in the world in which countries like Cuba, Algeria, Libya and South Africa favored principles of struggle and revolution. They used these comparisons to try to understand what it would mean to seek a just world both ideologically and politically. This contextualized their experiences in Cuba, amidst major scarcity. Saharawis who studied in Cuba experienced the pandemic in terms of comparison to the Saharawi revolution, the struggles of other decolonizing countries, and Cuba in parallel, as countries in struggle together.142 Cuban Solidarity Through Medical Missions in the SADR Civilian exchanges, such as medical workers assisting in the SADR, are also crucial aspects of Cuban solidarity that reshape the political consciousness of Cuban workers. An important part of educational solidarity work between Cuba and its partners in internationalism involves the training of medical professionals. Within Cuba, encouraging medical workers to volunteer abroad emulates early revolutionary experiences. From the foundational ideology of the revolution, an important story that has shaped Cuban medical policy is that of Che Guevara’s experience. Trained as a physician in Argentina, Guevara learned through his travels and his participation in the revolution in the Sierra Maestra mountains that medical care is scarce in many rural areas and other countries.143 Having medical doctors work in war-torn conflict zones and poor countries, he argued, enhances their revolutionary consciousness by exposing them to global inequities, fostering solidarity and 142 Yahdi Sidahmed and Bah Hassena Eida, May 4th, 2023, Havana, Cuba. 143 Deutschmann, Che Guevara Reader. 207 empathy, and allowing them to apply their anti-imperialist ideals in practical, impactful ways. According to John M. Kirk, “since 1961, over 130,000 Cuban health professionals have worked in 102 countries.”144 Furthermore, Cuba also provided medical training to thousands of students from almost as many countries in the Global South. Cuban medical experts were among the first brigades sent to the SADR as internationalists, known as the “white coat army.”145 Cuban medical internationalism has a long history, beginning in Algeria in 1963. Dr. Eduardo Llanes Llanes, Professor at the University of Medical Sciences of Havana, notes that “[o]n May 23, 1963, a team of 58 Cuban doctors, dentists, nurses, and technicians left for recently independent Algeria at the request of the new government there. In 13 months, they performed 540 major surgeries in six sites throughout the country.”146 Noemí Benítez described how from 1976 to 1999, 439 Cuban health workers provided their services free of charge in a special program to the people of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic.147 Benítez discusses how starting in 1980, the number reduced, but the quality of aid increased and became more effective due to years of experience on the ground.148 Benítez remarked, “We are proud to point out that Cuban collaborators in Africa have outnumbered those of an 144 John M. Kirk, “Cuba’s Medical Internationalism: Development and Rationale,” Bulletin of Latin American Research 28, no. 4 (October 2009): 497–511, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-9856.2009.00314.x; Gorry, C. (2008) ‘Cuban Health Cooperation Turns 45’. MEDICC Review 10(3): 44–47; Randall, Margaret. Exporting revolution: Cuba's global solidarity. Duke University Press, 2017. 145 Salomé Garnier, “An Army of White Coats: Exploring the Implications of Cuban Medical Diplomacy,” December 23, 2020, https://hir.harvard.edu/exploring-the-implications-of-cuban-medical-diplomacy/ 146 C. Gorry, "Cuban Health Cooperation Turns 45," MEDICC Review 10, no. 3 (2008): 44–47; John M. Kirk, “Cuba’s Medical Internationalism: Development and Rationale,” Bulletin of Latin American Research 28, no. 4 (2009). 147 Noemí Benítez was Cuba’s Vice Minister for Foreign Investment and Cooperation, and since 1971 was linked to work with the African continent as an internationalist collaborator, specialist, and director. See: Clara Pulido, “Los sellos de la ayuda de Cuba,” Tricontinental Magazine no. 141 (1999): 21. OSPAAAL, Havana, Cuba. 148 Cuba’s policy of Asistencia Técnica Gratuita (Free Technical Assistance) is considered by Benítez as internacionalismo (internationalism), which began in 1963 in Algeria when a contingent of 58 Cuban doctors, technicians and nurses provided their services in Algeria. 208 international organization as prestigious as the World Health Organization, with which we also developed some joint projects.”149 Dr. Mario Ponce León graduated from medical school in Cuba in 1981 as a first-degree specialist in psychiatry. In his final year, in 1982, he was asked to go on a mission to Western Sahara. Cubans are selected to go on internationalist brigades based on being part of “Collaboration Banks” in their jobs. The Collaboration Bank collects a list of people who are willing to go out on a mission when the need arises. For example, if one works in a polyclinic, in a hospital, or in a college, and one belongs to the Collaboration Bank, it means one is willing to go on an international mission to another country. Thus, if the need for a psychiatrist in Venezuela appears on that list, the Collaboration Bank will be consulted, from which a request will be made. Ponce León described it as such: “I went to fulfil a mission there because I was in the Collaboration Bank, I had already graduated as a specialist, I was freed from all the teaching load, and then there was a need to send a psychiatrist to the Sahara and then when they talked to me, I agreed, and I went.”150 According to Ponce León, he was the first psychiatrist to set foot on the sands of the Sahara, making it quite a difficult task. He arrived to find people in what were called “Sanitary Camps,” where mentally ill people were housed, often chained up, as the risk of them fleeing would lead to certain death in the desert. The patients had never received therapeutic drugs or therapy, and thus Ponce León was the first to administer such treatments. Ponce León worked in the camps from 1982 to 1983 and was personally asked by the President of the SADR to complete a second mission, from 1983 to 1984. He recalls: We held a celebration there and the President of the Republic, Mohamed Abdelaziz, visited us. Well, the president personally asked me to go back on another mission. Quite a difficult situation because a mission had never been repeated by any Cuban. I felt mobilized because I really became very sensitive to these peoples and the 149 Clara Pulido, “Los sellos de la ayuda de Cuba,” Tricontinental Magazine no. 141 (1999): 21. OSPAAAL, Havana, Cuba. 150 Interview with author, Dr. Mario Ponce León, May 2023, Havana, Cuba. 209 difficulties they had, and I accepted. I fulfilled a second mission. I broke the ice a bit as they say here in Cuba, to break the inertia. And after me, there were several Cubans who repeated the mission as well, of other specialties.151 Figure 4.2. Dr. Mario Ponce León’s personal photographic archive/scrapbook. Label reads: “Act for July 26, 1984. Right: Mohamed Abdelaziz (President of the Republic). Left: Dr. Mario León (Office of Cuban Collaboration in the SADR and Cuban Medical Mission). Used with permission. Ponce León’s time was so important to his personal trajectory and memories that he made a scrapbook of his experiences, with photographs of him with the President of the Saharawi Republic (Figure 4.2). Ponce León was an important member of the Office of Cuban Collaboration in the 151 Interview with author, Dr. Mario Ponce León, May 2023, Havana, Cuba. 210 SADR and acted as the head of the Cuban Medical Mission in his second year. He described being invited to visit the wilayas, which are the different camps, to make field visits to people’s tents in other areas of the region. In other words, he was able to transfer a form of community work that was done in Cuba to the SADR. As he described it, it was a matter of not only caring for the sick person in the hospital, but also providing a holistic follow-up, seeing how the patient was doing, how they behaved, and talking with the family. For Ponce León, it was a milestone in community work, because it had not been done before and people began to realize the potential of psychotropic drugs in the treatment of mental illness. As a result, the SADR began to import medicines, especially fundamental basic medicines, such as antipsychotics, antidepressants, and other medications to reduce anxiety crises. Throughout his second mission, Ponce León was the head of the Cuban Medical Brigade, which was comprised of some 60 different specialists. Brigade members at the time flew from Havana to Madrid, Madrid to Algiers, and then Algiers to Tindouf, from which they would drive in jeeps to their destination in the various camps. The Brigade covered the fundamental specialties from general medicine, internal medicine, paediatrics, surgery, and epidemiology. The epidemiologists managed to largely eradicate flies that lay eggs leading to chronic eye conditions with a group of health workers which included Cubans and Saharawis. 211 Figure 4.3. Dr. Mario Ponce León’s personal photographic archive/scrapbook. Top Row on the Right: Dr. Mario León, seen with a group of 37 other Cuban brigade members. Used with permission. Ponce León saved photographs of Cuban brigade members (Figure 4.3) including one image that included around fifteen women and twenty-three men, mostly all smiling with desert dunes in the background. The Saharawis would go every day, and some picked up the doctors and took them to the wilaya for consultations and places where they would do care work. Ponce León described the early cooperations where the first medical Brigades were not in the desert yet but rather were lodged in a house in Tindouf. Ponce León’s generation were all in one shared house in the middle of the desert, surrounded by sand dunes all around. He said, “We were the Cubans with the Cubans. Then, later, the Brigade of teachers arrived. The Teacher Brigade.”152 Since Ponce León was the first Cuban to complete a second mission in the SADR, and as the only one who specialized in mental health, he oversaw the Brigades. He began to perceive that his companions felt depressed and distressed with sleep disorders. For many, it was their first time away from their family, in such conditions in which they couldn’t go out to a park or go to a store. There were regular threats of attacks on the camps from Morocco. Since Dr. Ponce León was head of the medical mission and head of the 152 Interview with author, Dr. Mario Ponce León, May 2023, Havana, Cuba. 212 collaboration office, he felt a great responsibility and stress from taking care of everyone, as the Cubans felt like a family. The brigades had to learn to defend themselves. Since Cuba was invaded and faced constant threats from hostile neighbours such as the US, Cubans already had basic levels of defensive training.153 Ponce León decided that to help with morale the Brigade should create a musical group. The group was called Sahara Libre (Free Sahara) and can be seen in Figure 4.4. He played the guitar, and there was another man who also played the guitar. The people from Cuba’s collaboration in Algeria brought them some musical instruments such as a bongo, a tumbadora, a keyboard, and a few additional instruments. The group sang and played songs such as the “Guantanamera”, which is a very popular Cuban song, and it was put on the local Saharawi radio. Figure 4.4. Dr. Mario Ponce León’s personal photographic archive/scrapbook. Left: Dr. Mario Ponce León with the Sahara Libre musical group. Used with permission. Soon afterwards, other activities were organized, such as volleyball competitions, chess 153 In Cuba, men do compulsory military service, which is 3 years, and there is a voluntary military service for women. For example, Dr. Ponce León worked with Katyusha’s, which are a type of rocket artillery first built and fielded by the Soviet Union in World War II. He also worked with 76 mm cannons, did firing range tests, and made trenches. In addition, every year, there is a day in Cuba, which is generally a weekend, a Sunday, which is called “Defence Sunday” in which everyone participates from their speciality, so doctors practice war medicine, soldiers practice combat preparation, etc. 213 tournaments, parcheesi tournaments, and other fun distractions from the war and harsh desert conditions. Ponce León remembered, “There was a urologist from Matanzas who knew magic, and we decided between him and me, to put on a magic act...We kept ourselves very entertained, very, very, very entertained, honestly, and that made the Brigade stay healthier. Otherwise, it really was very difficult.”154 Ponce León also trained Saharawi and Cuban psychiatric nurses. There was a group of health workers who would come to train as assistants and nurses. Some Saharawi people had previous knowledge in injections and curative solutions. He designed a training course for nurses with knowledge in aspects of psychiatry and he gave them psychiatry classes. Since they had a typewriter back in the mission, he wrote everything down that he observed, and when he came back to Cuba, he co-authored a book about psychiatric nursing and community mental health, which served as text for a long time in mid-level nursing classes in Cuba. This account highlights the effort to build long-term capacity in the camps, as well as fostering advancements in medical practices through training, knowledge sharing, and sustaining the well-being of medical workers. This example partially explains why Cuban doctors are renowned worldwide for their ability to perform in low-resource and high-stress environments.155 154 Interview with author, Dr. Mario Ponce León, May 2023, Havana, Cuba. 155 Huish, Robert. Where no doctor has gone before: Cuba’s place in the global health landscape. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press, 2013; Kirk, John M. "Cuban medical internationalism and its role in Cuban foreign policy." Diplomacy & Statecraft 20, no. 2 (2009): 275-290; Interview with author, Dr. Mario Ponce León, May 2023, Havana, Cuba. 214 Figure 4.5. Dr. Mario Ponce León’s personal photographic archive/scrapbook. Newspaper clipping from Granma Internacional, March 1983. Used with permission. The newspaper clipping saved by Ponce León in Figure 4.5 describes the successful conclusion of the first medical scientific conference in the SADR. Today, Ponce León continues his work as a teacher and psychiatrist and remembers his experience in the SADR with great fondness.156 His medical practice, revolutionary consciousness, and sense of 156 Now, Dr. Ponce León is a professor and a psychiatry consultant. He works at the 10th of October, Faculty of Medical Sciences, giving classes to undergraduate Medicine students, to residents in psychiatry in Havana. He is 215 internationalist solidarity were profoundly shaped by his experience in the SADR, where he documented his time in a scrapbook and became one of the first internationalists to agree to spend two years abroad. Dr. Rigoberto Torres was part of a medical brigade team for a week in June of 1981 as part of a mission involving epidemiologists and a virologist, all aimed at combating poliomyelitis.157 His experience illustrates an example of a small Cuban medical mission that had a large impact in the SADR. An epidemiologist, Torres spent just a week in SADR. This mission was initiated at the request of the SADR, seeking Cuba’s collaboration and support in eradicating poliomyelitis, commonly referred to as polio.158 At the time, the SADR was grappling with a severe polio epidemic. Cuba dispatched a team tasked with both assisting and training approximately 35 Saharawi individuals in the execution of vaccination campaigns. Initially, the team convened in Algiers for meetings with Saharawi representatives and authorities to coordinate their efforts before proceeding to prepare for the training program. While the bulk of the vaccination campaign was carried out by Saharawi personnel, the Cuban team played a crucial role in organizing, supervising, and overseeing its outcomes. Torres held the position of Director of the Provincial Hygiene and Epidemiology Centre in the former Havana province and served as the Provincial Deputy Director of Health when he was called to go to the SADR. He recounted receiving a call from Dr. Héctor Pérez Molina, the Minister of Hygiene and Epidemiology. He was instructed to proceed to an office also running a master’s program in community mental health. He gives classes with national and international students, and he also went abroad to teach courses such as in the Dominican Republic, Peru, and in Venezuela. Dr. Ponce León also told me that he is a Franciscan of the Secular Franciscan order, in which he was a minister of the fraternity, and then a member of the National Council of the Secular Franciscan order and the national treasurer. He was also on the Cuban Psychiatric Society, as a member of the Governing Board as the National Treasurer. 157 Interview with author, Dr. Rigoberto Torres, May 2023, Havana, Cuba. 158 Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a debilitating and life-threatening disease caused by the poliovirus, capable of spreading from person to person, often infecting the spinal cord and leading to paralysis. 216 in which further instructions would be provided. Torres and his colleagues completed visa applications and were informed that they needed to be at José Martí Airport by 4:00 pm that same afternoon. Everything had been meticulously coordinated, even in Madrid, to ensure a seamless process. Upon arrival at the airport, they were presented with their passports. Subsequently, they embarked on a commercial Iberia flight to their destination. All logistical arrangements, including the safekeeping of vaccines, had been organized. Torres remembered the hospitality they received in the refugee camps, where they were treated with great warmth and kindness. This testimony highlights the speedy emergency and disaster response that Cuban internationalists provide, in sending volunteers on medical missions within mere days of being recruited from the Collaboration Bank. Torres had previously undertaken a mission in Ethiopia, where he also assumed leadership. That mission had been comprised of around 350 collaborators, including doctors, nurses, and various other health technicians, all organized into 26 different groups stationed throughout the country. His mission in the Sahara in 1981 came about because of his broader experiences in medical internationalism. Reflecting on his profession as an epidemiologist, Torres acknowledged the unique challenges it presented. Unlike doctors who experience the gratification of saving individual lives and receiving gratitude from their patients, epidemiologists often operate behind the scenes, focusing on prevention and vaccination. While their work may not garner the same immediate expressions of gratitude, Torres recognized its vital significance. He emphasized Cuba’s longstanding commitment to international solidarity, particularly through medical collaborations in Africa, an enduring endeavour that has spanned many years and was something of which he was personally very proud. 217 Conclusion Numerous health and educational personnel have exchanged knowledge and material support to ensure that Saharawi people can meet adequate levels of health and education. This chapter explored the education of Saharawi students on the Isle of Youth, in universities, and insights from two medical experts who went on internationalist missions to the SADR. These initiatives and first-hand testimonies from participants, as well as the curriculum and design of the programs, highlight the intentions behind Cuban internationalism, in shaping a revolutionary political consciousness rooted in shared histories of struggle. This chapter analyses how enduring solidarity can cultivate a shared political consciousness and promote revolutionary values among participants. This analysis builds on Denise Blum’s work on Cuban education and revolutionary values, exploring how these principles are embedded within Cuban programs designed for the SADR. The chapter scrutinises how the curriculum, pedagogy, and lived experiences of participants in these programmes foster a commitment to anti-imperialism, self-determination, and social justice. For example, the analysis of the Isle of Youth programme illustrates how Cuban educators sought to instil these values in Saharawi students, preparing them for future leadership roles in a liberated Western Sahara. The chapter reveals that enduring solidarity is not merely a form of material support; it is a process of political and social transformation that can shape individuals, communities, and nations. By fostering a shared commitment to revolutionary values and contributing to the formation of a unified national identity, Cuban solidarity has played a crucial role in sustaining the Saharawi struggle for self-determination. The educational experiences on the Isle of Youth illustrate Cuba as a nation that sought to foster and preserve the patriotic sentiments of Saharawi youth, promoting their growth into adulthood as responsible and hardworking citizens with revolutionary conciencia. These solidarity acts also promoted the 218 successes of the Cuban revolution, which gained help from foreign students in Cuban agricultural labor. The Isle of Youth was a showcase experiment for its time, in which numerous important leaders were brought to witness firsthand what the Cuban revolution was attempting to achieve. By exploring the day-to-day life of the Isle of Youth and the institutional mechanisms through which Cuban teachers of the Isle and Saharawi students from the SADR were brought to meet and work together for years, this chapter reveals the importance for both governments that educational migration to and in Cuba represented. The enduring impact of this educational cooperation is evident in the Simón Bolívar School, built in 2011, in the Saharawi refugee camps, reflecting a sustained commitment to educational solidarity. The collaborative efforts have not only enhanced the quality of education but have also contributed significantly to healthcare, with Cuban medical solidarity helping to improve the health outcomes of Saharawi’s too. 219 Conclusion: A Story of Solidarity That is Still Being Written The story of Cuba’s support for the Saharawi independence movement continues to unfold, as does the uncertain fate of hundreds of thousands of Saharawi people. The 1991 ceasefire between the Polisario Front and Morocco resulted from the “Settlement Plan,” an agreement between the two parties to hold a referendum. This referendum was intended to allow the people of Western Sahara to exercise their right to self-determination, potentially leading to either full independence or integration with the Kingdom of Morocco. The agreement resulted in a cease-fire that remained in place until 2020 and led to the establishment of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to oversee the truce and organize the referendum. However, the referendum was never held. Meanwhile, Cuba and Morocco re-established diplomatic relations on April 21, 2017, and in 2020, the United States recognized Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara. In November of 2020, the 1991 ceasefire was declared to be over by SADR authorities when Morocco launched a military operation from the Berm into the demilitarized buffer strip of Western Sahara.159 These developments continue to unfold, meanwhile Cuba’s stance of solidarity remains steadfast. In 2022, Spain even declared its support for Morocco’s “autonomy initiative” over the Western Sahara, marking a significant departure from their previous consideration of Morocco as an occupying force in the territory. The tide seems to be turning towards the ongoing protractedness of the occupation, legitimized even further by capitalist Western powers. Cuba’s re-establishment of diplomatic and trade relations with Morocco has not yet altered its position on the SADR or its commitment to historical justice.160 Cuba continues to 159 Abdi Latif Dahir, “Morocco Launches Military Operation in Western Sahara,” The New York Times, November 13, 2020, accessed August 20, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/world/middleeast/morocco-military-operation-western-sahara.html. 160 “Morocco and Cuba Foster Cooperation,” Prensa Latina, August 2, 2024, https://www.plenglish.com/news/2024/08/02/morocco-and-cuba-foster-cooperation/. 220 support the long-awaited referendum for the Saharawi people to achieve self-determination, as mandated by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 from 1960 and Resolution 34/37 from 1979. Although, Cuban support is now largely limited to cultural and diplomatic interventions, as its influence has been constrained by 62 years of severe economic sanctions, as well as the loss of the Soviet Bloc and many revolutionary allies in the Global South. The Polisario-Morocco ceasefire occurred in the same year the Soviet Union dissolved, which plunged Cuba into a period of intense material scarcity that lasted for decades. Providing some respite, in 1998, with the election of Hugo Chávez, Cuba formed an alliance with Venezuela, leading to the exchange of Cuban doctors for Venezuelan oil. This shift transformed Cuban medical internationalism into a vital source of income, allowing Cuba to continue its revolutionary internationalist missions. For example, Cuba was able to reaffirm their revolutionary support for the SADR, inaugurating the “Simón Bolívar” Secondary School in 2011.161 This school was the result of a triangular cooperation between Cuba, Venezuela, and the Saharawi Republic. Until 2011, the refugee camps in Tindouf only had primary schools, whereby high school students had to study in Algeria, Spain, or Cuba. Cuba, recognizing the SADR as a case of unfinished decolonization, continued to educate Saharawi students on the Isle of Youth until they could help establish the Simón Bolívar Secondary School in the refugee camps and the first batch of graduates had the option of going to university in Cuba. The Isle of Youth program for Saharawi students continued until 2014, serving as a stopgap measure until the Simón Bolívar School could launch the first batches of graduates to pursue university studies in Cuba. Although the number of students 161 Juan Santiago Arencibia Rumbau, “Inaugurada la Escuela de Secundaria Básica Simón Bolívar en el Desierto del Sáhara,” Cubainformación, February 9, 2012, accessed August 20, 2024, https://www.cubainformacion.tv/solidaridad/20120209/41598/41598-inaugurada-la-escuela-de-secundaria-basica-simon-bolivar-en-el-desierto-del-sahara-fotos 221 sent to the Isle of Youth was gradually reduced before 2014, Cuba maintained its commitment to the Saharawi cause, despite the material scarcity Cubans faced themselves. As Emily Snyder details, Fidel Castro’s speech on September 28, 1990, describes how Cubans, facing the dissolution of the Soviet Union were going to have to sacrifice and develop an “internal internationalism”.162 In the speech, Castro discussed the heroism of Cuban internationalists who made great sacrifices to help those in other countries and that for Cuba to survive the shortages of the Special Period, all Cubans would become internationalists, to help the Cuban revolution survive. Castro also drew upon the past difficulties and scarcities Cuban independence fighters had faced and how, while they would struggle in the Special Period in the 1990s, they were still better off than if Cuba was again turned into a playground for US capitalism. This framing of internationalism highlights how Cuban leaders frequently invoked internationalism and historical narratives to inspire Cubans to make further sacrifices for the revolution. Cuban internationalism persists today, though in a different form than in the 1980s. Nonetheless, the personal sacrifices and compromises made by Cuban internationalists, citizens whose labor drives Cuban humanitarianism, continue to sustain the revolution, both financially and morally, in the present day. Through a comprehensive examination of the parallel revolutions of Cuba and the Saharawi people, this dissertation examined ideological and material solidarity Cuba has extended to the SADR. The first chapter highlighted the ongoing friendships between Cuba and the SADR, both former Spanish colonies, and their parallel paths in history. It explored the underlying reasons for their revolutionary solidarity, emphasizing shared experiences of colonialism and anti-imperialist struggles. Additionally, the chapter introduced new factors that have further solidified this bond, such as their mutual alliances with Algeria, 162 Snyder, “Entangled Revolutions: Cuba, Nicaragua, and the United States in the Cold War Caribbean, 1979-1990,” 323; “Castro gives speech on 30th CDR anniversary,” Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services, 29 September 1990, Castro Speech Data Base, http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1990/19900929.html. 222 participation in the Non-Aligned Movement, and involvement in Tricontinentalism. These elements collectively contribute to the strong revolutionary friendship between the two nations. The second chapter delved into global solidarity campaigns for the SADR, articulating what makes Cuba’s South-South solidarity unique. In this chapter, global more piecemeal grassroots solidarity campaigns for Western Sahara are contrasted with Cuba’s more institutionalized approach. The argument centered on Cuba’s creation of a “fourth” space within the global socialist-aligned world, distinct from North-South European movements of solidarity towards the SADR. The third chapter examines Cuban solidarity through print media campaigns, revealing the evolution of Cuba’s support from 1975 to 2023. The analysis of media campaigns underscored Cuba’s portrayal of the Saharawi struggle as a thwarted national liberation movement, challenging dominant narratives propagated by the United Nations, Western media, and NGOs. The chapter also emphasized Cuba’s alignment with the Non-Aligned Movement’s ideals of supporting self-determination for recently independent nations. The fourth chapter examined personnel exchanges between Cuba and the SADR, particularly in education and healthcare. Cuban support significantly influenced the development of the SADR, shaping various fields and enhancing healthcare and education in the refugee camps. Cuba’s role in extending support towards African national liberation movements has been increasingly researched since the 1990s. This dissertation continued this thread by exploring Cuban and non-Cuban solidarity campaigns towards the SADR also from a cultural and visual history perspective, emphasizing the agency of Global South countries, organizations, and peoples. Cuba has often been dismissed as a mere branch of the sphere of Soviet influence, and cultural and visual materials of Cuba are ignored as governmental propaganda, foreclosing scholarly inquiry. Woven throughout this project, I tried to interpret Cuban cultural and visual materials as acts of solidarity, propaganda, testimonies of 223 internationalism, conduits of political consciousness, circuits of grassroots and state debates, and imaginaries of a future that Cuba considered was worth building. Socialist propaganda often declares its ideological underpinning, whereas capitalist aesthetic modes of expression obscure their ideologies.163 By taking seriously the visual and textual tropes and cultural functions of Cuban source materials, I examined the varied practices of photography, print media, paintings, and more, to understand parameters of the Cold War era based in South-South solidarity and friendship, rather than suspicion, paranoia, enmity, and betrayals. Cuban internationalism and solidarity are rooted in the history of the wars and revolutions for Cuban independence, in which many internationalists from various countries joined to help liberate Cuba. While internationalist solidarity and friendship are also rooted in the experiences of the Soviet Union’s friendship schools, and the Communist International, the Cuban model was built upon and drew inspiration from their own role models and their unique context. I explored how visuals are manipulated, reformulated, appropriated, subverted, and more, to shore up support for the Cuban revolution and revolutionary internationalism with the SADR. Cuba openly embraced its ideological stance, yet it at times concealed its mistakes in foreign policy by actively urging its citizens to rally behind the idea of making sacrifices for long suffering distant nations such as the SADR. The Cuban state, in its endeavors to validate revolutionary sacrifices made by its people, consistently championed internationalism. This served to demonstrate, both to Cubans themselves, the recipients of their efforts, and the global community, the potent force of internationalist solidarity and the enduring impact of the Cuban revolution. Cuban visual materials underpinning their South-South solidarity represent a world that Cuban actors were trying to bring into being, at the 163 Phu, Duganne, and Noble, Cold War Camera, 8. 224 same time as they were documenting real activities, exaggerating, and concealing other activities. This dissertation explored the friendship and solidarity between Cuba and the SADR. The SADR became a cornerstone of Cuba’s commitment to stateless people and national liberation movements. The extensive and enduring collaboration between Cuba and the SADR, examined in depth across various domains, has played a pivotal role in shaping the revolutionary processes and national narratives of both countries. The dissertation has demonstrated how Cuban engagement with the SADR transcended Soviet interests in Africa, exemplifying Cuba’s independent foreign policy and commitment to principles of self-determination and liberation, and exemplifying Cuba’s interest in Third Worldist socialist expansion. This research underscores the need for further investigation into the subject of Cuban support for African liberation movements, as the modest size of the SADR as a revolutionary movement belies its relatively substantial impact. The collaboration extends beyond diplomatic and political realms, going into health, education, arts, culture, and contributing to the overarching national narrative of the Cuban revolution as a supporter of African liberation. The transnational internationalism forged between Cuba and the SADR remains a fundamental aspect of the Cuban revolution’s “raison d'être,” underscoring the enduring importance of solidarity alliances in shaping the trajectory of nations and South-South cooperation. Future research on or related to this topic could explore the ways that Cuban solidarity is received and interpreted from a Saharawi perspective in the SADR. Furthermore, a greater investigation into the Isle of Youth revolutionary experiment, with more interviews and interactions with critics and marginalized voices of the Cuban and Saharawi revolutions would bolster this topic of study. Further research can also explore other examples of South- 225 South solidarity towards the SADR, such as that from Asian, Latin American, or other African countries. The dissertation builds on the work of scholars like Piero Gleijeses by incorporating civilian exchanges, and cultural and visual history perspective. It expands on Jessica Stites Mor’s work on South-South solidarity and visual politics by examining Cuban print media, photography, and other cultural materials as active agents in shaping international perceptions and mobilising support for the SADR. By focusing on Cuban media campaigns, the dissertation reveals how they have framed the Saharawi struggle as a just fight for self-determination, challenging dominant narratives propagated by the United Nations, Western media, and NGOs. The dissertation explores how these media narratives, alongside educational initiatives and personal testimonies, contribute to co-constructing a cohesive revolutionary Saharawi national identity, through agreements with the Polisario Front. The research also engages with Denise Blum’s work on Cuban education and revolutionary values, examining how these principles are instilled in Saharawi students through programmes like those on the Isle of Youth. The dissertation demonstrates how these initiatives foster a commitment to anti-imperialism, self-determination, and social justice, highlighting the transformative potential of enduring solidarity. This project’s analysis of the Cuban approach to supporting the SADR offers valuable insights into Gayatri Spivak’s and Tendayi Bloom et al.’s critiques of the postcolonial state system and liberal political theory. The study highlights how Cuban solidarity initiatives operate outside the traditional frameworks of rights-based approaches, advocating instead for a discourse of responsibility rooted in a shared history of colonialism and a commitment to anti-imperialism. This perspective contributes to wider discussions on the role of the state in promoting social change and its relationship to social movements, a field explored by scholars like Stephen Buechler. By examining Cuban solidarity with the SADR through 226 multiple theoretical lenses, the dissertation provides a nuanced understanding of the motivations, strategies, and impacts of this unique relationship. The research underscores the importance of moving beyond traditional Cold War paradigms and incorporating civilian, cultural, and visual perspectives to fully grasp the dynamics of South-South solidarity and its potential for promoting social change and political transformation. The dissertation’s findings contribute to a growing body of scholarship that challenges dominant narratives about Cuban foreign policy and highlights the agency of Global South actors in shaping international relations. Cuban solidarity towards African countries is most famously enshrined in Nelson Mandela’s words in 1991 in Cuba, after being released from prison. Mandela proclaimed, We have come here today recognizing our great debt to the Cuban people. What other country has such a history of selfless behavior as Cuba has shown for the people of Africa? How many countries benefit from Cuban health care professionals and educators? How many of these volunteers are now in Africa? What country has ever needed help from Cuba and has not received it? How many countries threatened by imperialism or fighting for their freedom have been able to count on the support of Cuba?164 Cuban solidarity towards African countries hasn’t stopped today. At one point during the Ebola crisis, Cuba supplied the largest contingent of foreign medical personnel by any single nation working alongside African medics.165 Cuba’s work abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic was also widely hailed as remarkable relative to the size and population of Cuba. While the SADR represents one small recipient in the repertoire of African countries that Cuba has supported, it has been significant in remaining on the Cuban agenda today. The lives of Saharawi students who study in Cuba, and Cubans who work in the SADR have and certainly will continue to be transformed by their experiences of solidarity. For 164 Nelson Mandela, “Speech Delivered by Nelson Mandela at the 38th Anniversary of the Attack on the Moncada Barracks,” July 26, 1991, accessed August 20, 2024, http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/db/1991/19910726-1.html. 165 Chaple, Enrique Beldarraín, and Mary Anne Mercer. “The Cuban response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa: lessons in solidarity.” International Journal of Health Services 47, no. 1 (2017): 144. 227 example, Liman Boisha, Saharawi poet of the Friendship Generation who studied in Cuba wrote: Education, healthcare and the defence of our cause in international forums have been the pillars of this aid, although not the only ones…The education we received in Cuba was generally much more creative, effective and motivating than that received by other Saharawi students in other friendly nations…There are many of us Saharawis who have indelible memories of this beautiful country, of its people, its climate, its culture; of the sense of humour of its inhabitants, of its gastronomy and its rich literature, of its idiosyncrasy in general. An idiosyncrasy that has influenced our way of seeing and interpreting the world. I sincerely believe that there are quite a few of us who also feel Cuban. And for that reason, we can say that Cuba is our second homeland.166 Such a testimony reflects the profound impacts that Cuban-SADR solidarity has had, where many Saharawi adults now also feel Cuban, demonstrating the shared political consciousness that internationalist solidarity can produce. Revolutionary friendships create a common identity that fosters a sense of duty, even sacrifice, toward the other. The Cuban-Saharawi friendship is one example of these bonds, built on anti-imperialist ideals, and shaped by shared revolutionary experiences and aspirations. 166 Liman Boisha. 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Thesis/Dissertation
eng
Interdisciplinary Studies
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Graduate
Stites Mor, Jessica
Solidarity between Cuba and the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic : revolutionary friendship from 1975-1999
Text