Green March Day

Yesterday I had the entire day off. Because I essentially work every day, it was the first day I hadn't been in to work since school started. The reason?

Green March Day.

In 1975, an International Court of Justice ruled that the Spanish colony of Western Sahara had some, but only some, ties to the old sultan of Morocco. King Hassan II gathered 350,000 unarmed Moroccans to the Moroccan-Western Sahara border to march into Western Sahara territory. They bore Moroccan flags, banners calling for the "return" of the Moroccan Sahara, and photographs of the king and the Koran.

The territory is still disputed. The Polisario, an independence movement supported by Algeria, is still somewhat active, although there was a cease fire signed in 1991. Relations with Algeria and the Polisario are still quite tense.

Because of the recent history of the holiday, I was expecting some sort of big patriotic displays. Instead, it was a bit like the Bastille Day I spent in France last year: except for a few things on TV, there were no real visible signs of the holiday.

I asked my coworkers about the meaning of the day, and they responded that it was just a day for relaxation...

...which is exactly what I did.