Khalida Toumi hails Sahrawi counterpart’s 'cultural resistance'

Minister of Culture, Khalida Toumi, paid respect Saturday in Algiers to the leading role played by her Sahrawi counterpart, Khadidja Hamdi, on the “cultural resistance front” of her people, who are fighting for their right to self-determination. Toumi, who welcomed Sahrawi minister at the headquarters of her department, days after the celebration of March 8th, in the presence of former mujaheedat (national liberation war women veterans), artists and Algerian intellectuals, said that “colonialism mainly destroys the people’s culture,” and “resisting by art is sometimes superior to the resistance by weapons.” Recalling that March 8th “is a day to celebrate women’s struggle to gain their rights as workers and human beings,” Toumi said. “Algeria’s struggle for emancipation is not only with bombs and weapons, but also with the pen, ideas and cultural resistance.” Khadidja Hamdi said that Sahrawi women celebrated March 8th in refugee camps and in occupied territories by resisting to the multiple exactions of Moroccan police and occupation forces. She hailed women worldwide, all confessions included, as well as Sahrawi martyrs and activists who, just like Aminatou Haider (independent activist from Sahrawi occupied territories) defy colonial power “everyday.”                  “Sahrawi women are at the lead of popular struggles, and their actions on the cultural front make these struggles visible and clear,” added the Sahrawi minister. The two officials, who were joined by the president of the Algerian National Solidarity committee with the Sahrawi People (CNASPS) Mahrez Lamari, greeted the female leaders of the Algerian Revolution, who are cited as an example for women’s struggle in Western Sahara and across the world.