Greta Thunberg Condemns Western Sahara Occupation at Zurich Premiere

Greta Thunberg made a surprise appearance on Tuesday at the Zurich Film Festival, joining the screening of the new documentary "My Home of Wind and Sand," which examines Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara.

Thunberg called the film "powerful" and said it could "create change." She did not soften her assessment of the world's response to the region. "There's this extreme hypocrisy that makes me so, so angry and upset," she said.

"For me, this movie was so much about betrayal. There are so many levels of betrayal. First, there's the occupation and the violence itself that somehow becomes 'normal' or is viewed as normal. It's not easy to get any media attention and clicks, which is another betrayal," she said. She then pointed to "the betrayal of the international solidarity movement."

Western Sahara has been occupied by Morocco since 1975. The territory is often described as the last colonial conflict in Africa. In 2025, the United States reaffirmed its recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the region.

The premiere drew additional attention against the backdrop of a recent controversy involving one of Hollywood's most prominent directors. Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" faced backlash for filming scenes in Western Sahara, with Nolan accused of "contributing to Morocco's repression of the Sahrawi people." The Western Sahara International Film Festival (FiSahara) issued a statement urging him to halt production.

Speaking about the film's protagonist, Sahrawi human rights activist Najla Mohamed-Lamin, Thunberg issued a direct challenge to the audience. "I'm convinced that people like you do not want thanks or applause, but action. It falls on every single one of us in this room, especially us privileged people who have a platform and access to resources, to take that moral obligation to amplify the Western Sahara struggles."

"Otherwise, we are nothing more than hypocrites," she added.

Mohamed-Lamin, whose life and campaign for Western Sahara independence the documentary depicts, became emotional during the discussion. "As I was watching these 10 years of my life, I couldn't stop thinking about all the stories and lives in the last 50 years that nobody has heard of, which are probably far more inspiring than mine: My grandmother, my sister who passed away, my mother, all our neighbors. All the thousands of people we buried in these camps who would have never wished to be buried there," she said.

She continued: "As somebody who's a refugee forgotten in the desert, you're always looking for a little window to share your story. I didn't know it would develop into a documentary. The only thing I know is that I carry the message of my people, and I will share it everywhere I go: In a documentary, in an article, in a train station or on a plane, because I'm the voice. The world has to know the truth."

Patrick Wally directed the film. Lightbox is handling sales.

Thunberg, who visited a Sahrawi refugee camp in 2025, also took part in a special panel discussion at the festival titled "Resistance and Activism for Western Sahara." Her appearance at a major European film festival signals a growing effort by activists to push the decades-long conflict, long absent from mainstream media coverage, onto the international cultural agenda.