Standing in solidarity with all oppressed people of the world.
Raising awareness about people living under occupation.
Biking from Japan to Western Sahara.
1st day done of our our 48.000km long bike ride for Western Sahara. We will bike through 40 countries to raise awareness about the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara. Only 472000km to go!
Today we celebrate our one year anniversary since we started this trip. On May 15th 2022 we set out from Sweden on the biggest adventure of our lives. We're biking 48.000km through 40 countries and now one year in we're in our 16th country Japan.
We have about 1500km of biking through Turkey and most of it will be in winter. We'd love not to stay outdoors so if you know anyone along the way that could host us we'd be grateful ☺️
Our route is; Istanbul, Ankara, Kayseri, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir the small villages in between
Day 40. We are in what people here call the driest place in Germany. Just a couple of days ago there was a huge forest fire that forced the evacuation of a whole city. There is sand everywhere and the citizens we’ve met here tell us that it soon will become like the Sahara.
Day 21 on the 48.000km ride for Western Sahara. We entered Germany today and our route will take us through Kiel, Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden. Our bodies are hurting from sitting on bikes all day but our spirits are high and we'll keep on going!
After a scorching 40km ride, we reached Shunan. Welcomed by local media for an interview, we're now resting, exhausted from the heat. On the 20th, we'll hold a press conference at the G7 meeting in Hiroshima. Our aim: share the story of Western Sahara 🇪🇭
#bike4westernsahara
Day 743
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Leaving Montpellier for our last stretch in France before entering Spain. Today we biked through Montpellier and was screamed at all day by Moroccans on the street that are pro-occupation.
#الصحراءالغربية
.
#bikewander
#travelbybike
#biketour
#worldbybike
اليوم 475
بعد ركوب الدراجة لمدة خمسة أيام متتالية وصلنا إلى فوكوشيما حيث أجرينا العديد من المقابلات الإعلامية. نحن الآن في سينداي، ونقيم مع عائلة يابانية جميلة وجدناها من خلال سيرفاس.
اليوم كان لدينا حدث مع حوالي 25 شخصا،
غدًا لدينا حدث آخر ومقابلة إعلامية أول شيء في الصباح!
Today we started our one week bike ride to Thessaloniki from Tirana. It was hard when still recovering from being sick but we charged on and climbed 1000 m before arriving in Elbasan. Tomorrow morning we shake our legs and we’ll start again ✌🏽🇪🇭 . . .
#bike4westernsahara
Raising awareness through the media is an integral part of this project. Morocco has forbidden journalists to enter Western Sahara and any Saharawi seen with a camera is arrested. That's why we chose to bike around the world because it attracts attention.
#bike4westernsahara
Stolen cameras.
In Western Sahara journalism is forbidden. If you try to film the Moroccan soldiers harassing and beating Sahrawis they'll steal your camera.
What's our response to that?
Collecting cameras from all around the world and putting them in the hands of Sahrawis.
Day 22 took us all the way to Kiel. We have been biking five days straight and are really tired. As usual we got so many questions about what flag we are carrying. Hopefully they will not forget our answer.
During G7, we stood with Japan Uyghur Association, exposing China's Uyghur genocide. Concentration camps, since 2017, 3M+ detained, forced to abandon culture, endure torture, labor, abuse, sterilization. Genocide persists
We must stand with the Uyghur, Saharawi and all oppressed
Children everywhere are a testament to our shared humanity. They remind us of the curiosity ansld open-mindedness we once had. Today, we laughed with kids in Japan but we couldn't help thinking of the Saharawi children in the refugee camps. They deserve to grow up in freedom
🇯🇵🇪🇭🇪🇸🇫🇷👇
Our third lecture in two days. Tomorrow we have a meeting with Amnesty, Japan. Keeping busy.
.
🇪🇭
محاضرتنا الثالثة في يومين. غدا لدينا لقاء مع منظمة العفو ، اليابان. البقاء منشغلا.
The Biden administration has betrayed the people of Western Sahara by refusing to reverse Trump’s recognition of Morocco’s illegal occupation of their land. This is a blatant violation of international law and human rights,
Day 758
.
Today is our last day in France. We're grateful for everything we've manged to do here and are looking forward to Spain. Tomorrow we cross the border and continue our journey for Western Sahara all the way to the Saharawi refugee camps in Algeria.
#bike4westernsahara
We biked over 50km today and arrived in the city of Shizuoka. It was another hot day on the road but it's good practice for us since the final step on this journey will be biking through the Algerian sahara desert through Bechar and Tindouf on the way to
#Westernsahara
We are just starting our trip in Spain and we have many things planned. If you have friends and contacts here then please let us know in a DM, we will try to strengthen and mobilize the movement for Saharawi liberation as much as we can!
.
#bike4westernsahara
🇪🇭🚴♀️
Day 127,
We've been staying at an eco farm for a few days to wait out the heavy rain. Today we continued biking and will reach Tirana tomorrow.
We met so many amazing people at the farm and learned so much from them.
Now they also know about Western Sahara 🇪🇭✌🏿
Day 488 in Japan 🇯🇵🇪🇭🇪🇸🇫🇷: Reflecting on our journey so far, we're astonished by the impact our biking and conversations have had. From trade unions to political parties, we've been able to raise awareness about Western Sahara through press conferences, screenings, and meetings.
Just finished our first busy days in Japan, informing people about
#WesternSahara
. Met with city councilors who were shocked to learn about the remaining colony in Africa. Showed them pictures from our visits and they emailed 100 members to support
#Sahrawi
#Independence
.
Today we met with Global Aktion, an organization that supports different justice movements globally. They have been working with
#WesternSahara
for several years. Currently they are running a campaign to stop Danish banks and companies to invest in stolen resources from WS
Day 755
.
Why do people not know about Western Sahara? It's not an accident.
.
🚫 Censorship in Western Sahara is not just a policy; it's a systematic campaign to silence dissent and control the narrative.
#V
ästsahara
#الصحراءالغربية
#france
We've arrived in Switzerland, our 22nd country and are now in Geneva.
After spending two and a half beautiful months in Italy meeting many incredible people we are now fully focused on all the institutions, NGOs and important people that reside in Geneva.
#Suisse
#الصحراءالغربية
Día 475
Después de pedalear durante cinco días seguidos, llegamos a Fukushima, donde hicimos varias entrevistas para los medios de comunicación. Ahora mismo estamos en Sendai, alojados con una encantadora familia japonesa.
#Solidarity
#WesternSahara
Another day of the
#bike4WesternSahara
campaign in Firenze. We started in the morning with a radio interview in
@novaradio_arci
then biked to a university lecture for 20 engaged students. One of them was from Kazakhstan so we might soon start organizing there as well.
Yesterday we met with the local Saharawi community on Switzerland which was such a treat.
.
According to UNdata there are 612.000 Saharawis in the world today making Western Sahara the biggest colony in the world both in terms of population and in terms of area.
Today we've met with the deputy mayor of Modena and discussed Western Sahara. We are in an area of Italy called Emilia Romagna and there is a regional parliamentarian group for Western Sahara here which makes the whole region stand in solidarity with the Saharawi people
🚲🌍 Escaped from Indonesia after being hunted by secret police for supporting Western Sahara’s freedom.
#Morocco
can’t silence us. The campaign continues.
#bike4westernsahara
#westernsahara
Day 475
After biking for five days straight we reached Fukushima where we did several media interviews. Right now we are in Sendai, staying with a lovely Japanese family we found through Servas
Today we had an event with about 25 people showing a documentary about
#WesternSahara
Day 39 and we're leaving Berlin and heading south through former DDR towards Leipzig, Dresden and then the Czech Republic. Not biking for a week made us forget how tough it can be on the bicycle all day and to keep pushing forwards.
Today we had another university lecture about Western Sahara where around 60 people attended.
.
We also met with three municipalities, Inpruneta, Sesto Florentino and Calenzano that all are twinned with villages in the liberated territory of Western Sahara
#الصحراء_الغربية
Today we visited the municipality of Bologna and met with the deputy mayor of international relations and several councilors together with Amnesty, El Ouali association and Sahrawi human rights activist Mohammed Dihani.
#bikepacking
#italy
#westernsahara
#saharabarat
#bike4westernsahara
brings us to unexpected places. Today we visited both the mayor and the cheese factory of Fabbrico thanks to the local association
@jaimasahrawi
. Tomorrow we're meeting with the municipalilty of Reggio Emilia and on Wednesday we're biking to Parma.
Day 367
We’ve reached Roma!
After campaigning for Western Sahara for nearly two years we’ve reached our 20th capital. Here we will have events, meet politicians, speak to media and grow the movement for Western Sahara.
#westernsahara
#bike4westernsahara
#italy
#roma
Berlin has treated us to many good meetings! We have had dinner with Sahrawi friends who offered us both good conversations and fantastic tea. We have done several interviews with journalists and tomorrow we are lecturing to a school class.
#WesternSahara
#end
#the
#occupation
Looking for people in Albania!
Montenegro is a small country and we're entering Albania in a couple of days. If you know anyone there that could host us it would be very helpful. We'll pass by Shkoder, Lac, Tirana and Elbasan on our way through the country.
Day 739
.
Going from a small farm collective outside Arles today to Nîmes we kept meeting many people who were curious about our flags. Some people think it's the Palestinian flag because it's very similar and because of that we get both zionists and Moroccans shouting at us.
As some of you might have noticed, we've been off socials recently. Unfortunately it's because we've had a very difficult injury on our hands. Since about one and a half years back Sanna has struggled with a very painful injury in her feet.
#bike4westernsahara
🇪🇭🚴🏽♀️
Day 721
.
We've been welcomed in France by the solidarity movement here and the Algerian diaspora organization - Moudaf. Yesterday we participated with them in the 1th of May manifestation in Lyon, also meeting many activists and politicians on the way.
Day 717
.
Today we left Switzerland and entered France 🇫🇷
In Switzerland we had many meetings with various UN mechanisms, treaty bodies and special rapporteurs. We made media appearances and public events and are very happy with the time we spent in Switzerland
Today we are leaving Firenze for Bologna and wow this week has been insanely intense.
.
These two last days we met many more politicians among them the vice mayor of Campi Bisenzio, the mayor of San Caciano
#biketouring
#bikepacking
#italy
#westernsahara
#saharabarat
Day 738
.
Unexpected things happen on the road all the time. Today someone who had seen us from their car called us and helped us meet with the left party in France who were rallying for the EU elections in the small French town of Istres.
#bike4westernsahara
🇪🇭🚴🏽♀️
Our first day of biking in Italy completed! We're on our way to Roma and will arrive there on Friday. Every day we're discussing and thinking about how we can do more to raise awareness and build solidarity for the Saharawi people.
#biketouring
#bikepacking
#westernsahara
#italy
We spent today biking in the rain with the Saharawi flag raised high. 50 years of occupation is enough, the Saharawi people deserve their freedom and human rights just like everyone else
#bike4weaternsahara
#westernsahara
Help us reach out to media globally about the plight of the Sahrawi people. We're looking for people to help us find media contacts. Send us a message!
🇪🇭 🇯🇵 🇮🇩👇
Day 557
.
Today on Benjamin’s 31th birthday we biked 60 km all the way to Indonesias second biggest city, Surabaya, where we shortly after arriving held a lecture about Western Sahara at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences Universitas Airlangga.
Day 660
We've left Pisa and arrived in Firenze. Every day is busy with lectures and meetings. This morning we started with a press conference in Empoli, biked 40km in the rain and then did an event in the evening.
#bike4westernsahara
🚵
Day 55
It rained all night and when we woke up in our tent in the forest everything was wet and moist. We're on our way from Prague to Brno and tonight we were lucky to be able to camp in a nice family's backyard which means showers, refilled water bottles and washed clothes
Day 754
.
It is crazy to think that we have been on the road for over two years and visited 23 countries. When we started this journey we never thought we would have met as many people that we have, from all walks of life.
#cycletouring
#bicycletouring
#worldbycycling
#france
Day 735
.
Western Sahara is the biggest colony in the world both geographically and by population. Out of the 17 remaining non-self governing territories Western Sahara stands out with a land-size the same as the UK and a population of roughly 600.000.
letouring
#bicycletourin
Today we officially launch the
#SolidarityRiding
project: 9 activists cycle from Marseille to Barcelona for 🇪🇭 Western Sahara and 🇵🇸 Palestine.
Donate now to the Sahrawi Red Crescent and the Palestine Children's relief fund:
Day 628 on
#Bike4WesternSahara
.
Today we saw the Alps appearing in the distance as we were biking from Piacenza to Lodi. We're feeling a mixture of excitement and dread for the oncoming climb we have to when we eventually leave Italy for
#Switzerland
.
Day 573
University lecture for the International Relations students at the Amikom university in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Raising awareness one person and one class at a time. It's time the world knows about the 0ccup
@tion
of Western Sahara
#westernsahara
#bike4westernsahara
Day 734
.
On this day two years ago we left our home in Gothenburg and started biking. Some 24.000km, 23 countries and two years later we are biking in southern France and celebrating that we made it this far.
#worldbycycling
#france
We've arrived in Hiroshima for the G7 summit where we'll address Western Sahara, Africa's last colony. The G7 countries, along with the EU, are complicit in Morocco's illegal occupation. Examples include US recognition, France's UN vetoes, and EUs illegal trade agreements
Day 662
Today we met the president of the city council of Firenze inside the famous Palazzo Vecchio.
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This week we're meeting four mayors, conducting two university lectures and doing many public events around Tuscany.
.
#bike4WesternSahara
🚴🏽♀️ 🇪🇭
#Westernsahara
Day 755
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Yesterday two young Saharawi students were sentenced to ten years in jail because they demanded freedom for themselves and their Saharawi sisters & and brothers living under Moroccan occupation.
.
#bike4westernsahara
🇪🇭🚴🏽♀️
Day 742
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We're so happy to have spent some wonderful weeks with our friend from Australia, Elly. She's left us now to continue her journey elsewhere and we'll remember and treasure our memories together from the road fondly.
#bike4westernsahara
🇪🇭🚴🏽♀️
.
#biketouring
#France
Yesterday we held an event together with the mayor of Rosignano Solvay and did two media interviews with local newspapers.
.
Today, on the national day of Western Sahara, our interview with
@SVT
the Swedish national news was released as we arrived in Pisa.
.
🇪🇭🚴🏽♀️
Day 444. Today we've been meeting with three parliamentarians and senators of the Japanese government. Miss Mito Kakizawa, member of the house of representatives, Miss Haruko Miyaguchi, member of the house of councillors and Mr. Michihiro Ishibashi, M.of the house of councillors.
Day 757
.
Tomorrow is the EU-election and it's more important to vote now than ever. The far-right fascist parties are gaining ground in every European country and even if you feel like none of the parties in your country is good …
.
#bike4westernsahara
🇪🇭🚴🏽♀️
#govote
Day 468 on the bike. Our bodies ache after three consecutive days of pedaling. But we keep pushing forward, reminiscent of our early days on this journey from Sweden. Every interview adds to breaking the silence on Western Sahara. Let's work together for it! 🚴♂️
#FreeWesternSahara
Thank you everyone who donated to our emergency fundraiser. We're happy to announce that we've procured a new bike 🚲 and your help has been essential to keep us going for the final part of the journey.
#sweden
#westernsahara
#saharaoccidental
#V
ästsahara
#الصحراء_الغربية
Day 467, scorching 41-degree heat! Despite chain problems and a costly bike shop visit, we're grateful to be back on the road. Hoping cooler weather as we pedal north. Each day brings solidarity, challenges, and conversations on
#WesternSahara
.
#Biking
#Japan
"
Día 468 en bicicleta. Nuestros cuerpos se resienten después de tres días seguidos de pedalear. Pero seguimos adelante, como en los primeros días de esta travesía desde Suecia. Cada entrevista cuenta para romper el silencio sobre el Sáhara Occidental. 🚴♂️🗞️
#S
áharaLibre"
Day 687 on
#Bike4WesternSahara
.
Yesterday we met with Tino Magni from the Italian senate, Riccardo Antonio from the region of Lombardia and Michele Foggetta from the city of Milano. We discussed how we can strengthen the solidarity for Western Sahara in northern
#freesahara
Today we held a small lecture for Japanese students studying Chinese. Benjamin gave the lecture in his broken Japanese, but we believe they mostly understood what we were conveying. As usual, none of them had heard about Western Sahara before.
China claims that Tibet was historically Chinese.
.
Morocco claims that Western Sahara was historically Moroccan (which has been refuted by the ICJ)
.
Today we were in Nîmes and Montpellier. Before Jesus was born the Romans invaded and occupied France.
Day 736
.
There are about 200.000 Saharawi refugees living in the Algeria. They are some of the oldest refugee camps in the world and have been there since 1975 which is the year that Morocco invaded Western Sahara.
.
#bike4westernsahara
🇪🇭🚴🏽♀️
.
.
#france