Jacobin Radio Long Reads: Western Sahara’s Struggle for Freedom w/ Jacob Mundy (Part 1)
Dec 18, 2025
Jacob Mundy, a peace and conflict studies professor and co-author on Western Sahara, delves into the region's tumultuous history. He discusses Spain's colonial motivations for controlling Western Sahara and the emergence of the Polisario movement, highlighting its guerrilla tactics and ideological shifts. Mundy also examines Morocco's irredentist claims and the impact of the ICJ's advisory opinion, which denied Moroccan sovereignty. The conversation sheds light on how international politics and regional crises shaped the struggle for Sahrawi self-determination.
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ICJ Recognized Sahrawi Claims
- The International Court of Justice found Western Sahara was not 'no man's land' and effectively belonged to the people living there in 1885.
- The ICJ's view foregrounded Sahrawi political organization and set self-determination as the proper outcome.
Spain's Colonial Motives Were Strategic
- Spain treated Western Sahara as a colony to control and later declared it an official province to avoid UN decolonization pressure.
- Economic motives like rich fishing grounds and phosphate drove Spanish and later EU interests.
Polisario's Symbolic 1973 Raid
- Polisario began from small student-led groups and launched a symbolic, unarmed raid in 1973 that captured a Spanish outpost without shots.
- That hit-and-run guerrilla strategy succeeded against a limited Spanish presence before Morocco's 1975 invasion.