le360 and the "battle of the narrative": when you've lost the law, you tell stories

Y. Bensalem — Alger, Algérie — 2026-10-27

The "narrative", the confession

We must begin with the word, because the word is a confession. le360 speaks of a "battle of the narrative". Not a "battle of law", not a "battle of facts" — a "narrative". Yet the Sahara was never a matter of narrative: it is a matter of law. A non-self-governing territory, a Sahrawi people, a right to self-determination recognised by the International Court of Justice and by the UN for half a century. It is not a "narrative": it is international law. When law is reduced to a "narrative", one confesses that the law has been lost — and that only stories remain.

"Impolitely", the word that kills

And then there is that adverb: "impolitely". Algiers would take back the battle of the narrative "impolitely". In other words: there would be a polite way to claim one's right, and an impolite way. Politeness, in le360's mouth, is what Morocco did: buy American recognition in exchange for normalisation with Israel, obtain France's on the occasion of a state visit, and turn "Moroccan sovereignty" into a lobbying slogan. There is politeness for you: it has a price, and that price is a barter. Algiers bought nothing: it invokes a right. And invoking a right is not "impolite" — it is the opposite of the politeness that consists in buying it.

Amgala, the eternal irrelevance

And as always, when the law is missing, the archives are brought out. Amgala, 1976, the "Algerian soldiers disguised as Polisario", the "prisoners" — the whole panoply. But here is the thing: Amgala changes nothing about the right of the Sahrawis. That there may have been, fifty years ago, Algerian soldiers somewhere in the desert, does not make the right of a people to self-determination disappear. It is the eternal diversion: when one cannot answer on the law, one changes the subject, goes back to 1976, stirs up the dust. The dust settles. The law remains.

The conclusion

le360 can keep talking about "narrative", keep invoking "politeness", keep exhuming Amgala. That will not make the Sahara a Moroccan territory, nor the right to self-determination a story. When the law is on your side, you do not speak of "narrative": you speak of law. When you have lost the law, you tell stories — and you accuse others of being "impolite" for not believing them. History, real history, will remember who spoke of law, and who told fables.

📚 BIBLIOGRAPHY (rule no. 19)

1. le360, "Moroccan Sahara: Algiers impolitely tries to retake the battle of the narrative", 27 October 2026 — https://fr.le360.ma/politique/sahara-marocain-alger-tente-impolitiquement-de-reprendre-la-bataille-du-recit_ORWOYYIAEVHHPCLVQJAFXWULOM/

2. ICJ, advisory opinion of 16 October 1975 on Western Sahara — the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination.

3. UN, resolutions on Western Sahara — the self-determination referendum, MINURSO's mandate.

⚠️ Published reservations. (1) The article responds to an op-ed by le360, not to a people nor a person. (2) The Sahrawis' right to self-determination is established by the ICJ's 1975 advisory opinion and the UN resolutions. (3) The "politeness" (recognition/normalisation barter) refers to public diplomatic facts.