Some days exist to remind us of what we continually live through. The Green March occurred on November 6, but it was enabled by decades of colonial occupation.
On November 6, 1975, the Green March, openly promoted by the Moroccan monarchy and quietly supported by European governments, particularly the Spanish state, unfolded. This event paved the way for a new phase in the colonial history of the region. The colonial occupation of Western Sahara by Moroccan forces resulted in the division of a people, with communities and friendships torn apart and violated at the most intimate levels of their existence. Languages were prohibited, customs criminalized, initially through extermination and forced displacement into the desert, followed by a local plan for assimilation and unification under a single national identity: in this case, Moroccan.
But this is not a unique case; this is history repeating itself. It is crucial to acknowledge that the infrastructure and military conditions were already established because this territory had been under Spanish colonial dominance for decades.
