The Runner

Western Sahara and Palestine share three essential commonalities: they are both indigenous nations, they both speak Arabic, and they both remain militarily occupied by foreign powers dependent on support from the United States of America. The Sahrawi people have fought European colonizers, as well as neighboring states eager to seize their lands, and many have been exiled to refugee camps or imprisoned by Morocco for demanding the Sahrawi self-determination already acknowledged in international law.

As North African dictators have come under fire from popular dissent recently, U.S. support for brutal Arabic monarchies could collapse. So far, the King of Morocco has proved an exception.

Guernica magazine interviews world class distance runner Salah Ameidan, who displays the Sahrawi flag at the end of his races, and is the subject of an upcoming film documentary. Ameidan, a shoe-in for the next Olympics, will not compete for Morocco. It would be like a Palestinian running for Israel.