{"id":5898,"date":"2025-06-30T16:44:53","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T16:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/?p=5898"},"modified":"2025-06-30T16:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T16:45:00","slug":"adala-uk-supports-jaimitna-a-sahrawi-led-artivism-project-of-resistance-and-remembrance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adalauk.org\/?p=5898","title":{"rendered":"Adala UK Supports Jaimitna: A Sahrawi-Led Artivism Project of Resistance and Remembrance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Adala UK is proud to support\u00a0Jaimitna<\/em>, a groundbreaking multimedia artivism project<\/a> created through the collaboration of FiSahara, the Norwegian Support Committee for Western Sahara, and a collective of Sahrawi women activists, artists, journalists, architects, and filmmakers. Rooted in human rights, memory, and cultural survival,\u00a0Jaimitna<\/em>\u00a0reclaims and reimagines the Sahrawi tent \u2014 or\u00a0jaima<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 as a mobile space of storytelling, resistance, and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the heart of Jaimitna<\/em> is the Sahrawi tent itself: hand-sewn by refugee women in the camps of southwest Algeria, its structure echoes the weather-resistant tents used by displaced Sahrawi families for generations. Once a symbol of mobility and freedom in the desert, the jaima<\/strong> has become a potent emblem of resistance following the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara and the forced displacement of its indigenous people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Tent as a Testimony<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tent\u2019s exterior is made from the canvas typically distributed by humanitarian aid organisations in the refugee camps \u2014 a stark reminder of the international community\u2019s failure to resolve this decades-long conflict. But inside, the tent transforms into a vibrant interior, decorated with 19 colourful melhfas<\/strong> (traditional garments), each belonging to a Sahrawi woman human rights defender from the occupied territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each melhfa is marked with a woman\u2019s name and a QR code, linking to her testimony \u2014 a narrative of life under occupation, police harassment, surveillance, and gendered violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These women include internationally renowned figures such as Aminatou Haidar<\/strong>, Sultana Khaya<\/strong>, and Elghalia Djimi<\/strong>, but also lesser-known voices like Mahfouda Lekfir<\/strong>, whose activism and courage remain largely unrecognised beyond the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gendered Repression in Occupied Western Sahara<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inclusion of these women in Jaimitna<\/em> reflects the broader pattern of gender-specific human rights violations<\/strong>documented by Adala UK over the past decade. In our field investigations and reports, we have documented numerous cases of Sahrawi women being subjected to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n