US Discovers Algeria´s Berbers, as the Movement for Autonomy of Kabylia Opposes Pan-Arab Tyranny
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
February 10, 2010
First, a Report published in the informative portal North of Africa (www.north-of-africa.com) sheds light on the efforts carried out and the struggle undertaken by MAK (Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia) in order to oppose and terminate the Pan-Arab tyranny of Algeria. In this struggle, the Berber Diaspora under the leadership of Ferhat Mehenni plays a determinant role.
Second, an introductory web page of the Oregon State University (Dept of Berber Studies) reveals the rationale for Berber Studies, and makes the Berber Nation known to earlier uninformed US readership. In forthcoming articles, I will further expand on the subject.
MAK´s Victorious Marches in Kabylia
12 January 2010
http://www.north-of-africa.com/article.php3?id_article=609
To begin a new year of struggle for autonomy of Kabylia, the MAK has once again challenged the racist regime of Bouteflika by organizing two successful marches in Vgayet and Tizi-Ouzou. Despite repression and insecurity sustained by the Algerian regime and Islamists in the Kabyle country, these events have attracted more than 10,000 peoples. The MAK, which records the victory, remains without news of some of its activists. It alerted international opinion on the disappearances and urged Kabyle people to be vigilant. Its President, from abroad, is following the developments closely and will certainly make a media intervention if necessary.
Following these demonstrations, a statement on the formalization of the Kabyle language was read on site. Here is the text and its English translation.
Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia –MAK
Call on the people Kabyle for the generalization of the Kabyle language usage
Considering the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of December 10, 1948 including:
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards each other in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2
Everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
In addition, there will be no discrimination on the political, jurisdictional or international status of countries or territory to which a person belongs, whether that country or territory is independent, trusteeship, non-autonomous, or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Considering the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including:
Article 1
Indigenous peoples have the right, collectively or individually, to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized by the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the international law on human rights.
Article 2
Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all others and have the right not to be subjected, while exercising their rights, to any form of discrimination, especially for their origin or aboriginal identity.
Article 3
Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
Considering the Algerian Constitution including:
Article 3a
Tamazight is also national language.
The state implemented its promotion and development in all its linguistic varieties in use on the national territory.
Noting that since 1962 the Arab-Islamic power in Algiers is working tirelessly to pass rogue laws that are contrary to the general history of the country and its ancient customs and mores for the sole purpose of evading the historical, cultural and spiritual reality of the Kabyle people that no invader has managed to absorb.
Aware of the danger of extinction programmed against the Kabyle language through a furious Arabization and rampant Islamization conducted with the assistance of foreign powers,
Affirming the right to speak his mother tongue is an inalienable, unalterable and unchangeable right that no reason, nor law, nor any circumstance may prohibit or limit the use.
Timani tmurt i n yeqvayliyen (Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia) calls upon all the Kabyle people to use daily, without any limitation of its inherent right consolidated by international conventions, to speak first in Kabyle rather than any other language.
It urges the Kabyle people to exercise this right at any place, anytime and in any circumstance to any vis-ŕ-vis, be it private or public.
It particularly recommends to use this right in the courts, police stations, gendarmerie, roadblocks, municipalities, sub-prefectures, prefectures and in other public or private administration.
It invites the municipalities of Kabylia to proceed with the Kabylization of the environment of their territories; traders, retailers, industrialists and heads of schools and Universities, the pediments of their respective establishment.
Kabyle People! The time has come for us to straighten the head and face all challenges. Our dignity does not convert into cash. Be proud of our elders who have transcended all adversities to bequeath us a language, culture, and civilization that we must promote and perpetuate.
Long Live Free and Autonomous Kabylia!
Kabylia, January 12, 2010
Translated from French by Izem
Berber North Africa: The Hidden Mediterranean Culture
5 January 2010
http://www.north-of-africa.com/article.php3?id_article=608
Rationale for Berber Studies
http://oregonstate.edu/nehberber/rationale.html
Who are the Berbers?
Since time immemorial, North Africa has been inhabited by the indigenous people known as Imazighen*. These Berber populations, across northern Africa, have known a series of invasions and occupations that date back thousands of years, including those of the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Vandals, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Spanish, the Turks and the French. Despite ceaseless efforts by each colonizer to erase and eradicate this indigenous culture, the latter not only survived but also constitutes the foundation onto which the other cultural layers were added. In addition, North Africa has also benefited from centuries-long contact with the Andalusian culture in the north and the sub-Saharan civilizations in the south. The Berber culture stretches from Egypt´s Siwa oasis in the east to the Canary Islands in the West, and from the Mediterranean shores in the north to the desert plains of the Sahara. The Berbers, whose total population is estimated at 25 million, are principally concentrated in Morocco and Algeria, with significant communities also living today in Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania (see appended map, page 21). Their language (usually referred to as Tamazight) is composed of a number of varieties, all of which are derived from the Afro-asiatic linguistic family. Berber groups inhabiting coastal North Africa today identify themselves by the terms Kabyles, Riffis or Chenwas. Others, living further inland are known as Chawis, Siwis, Chleuhs, Mozabites and Tuaregs (in the Sahara Desert). Many Berbers today are Muslim (essentially Sunnis belonging to the Maliki madhhab). Prior to conversion to Islam in the 8th century the Berbers had polytheistic and animistic religious practices.
World-renowned Berber authors from antiquity to our modern times, namely Saint Augustine, Tertullian, Apuleius, Arnobius, Franto, Saint Cyprian, Lactantius, Ibn Khaldun, Ibn Battuta, Jean Amrouche, Kateb Yacine, Mouloud Mammeri, among others, have contributed immensely to world culture, but they are often inaccurately labeled in anthologies and history books as Roman, Arab, or French, depending on the period and the language they have used. In addition, until very recently, the Berber language (with its many dialects across North Africa) was not recognized as a national or official language in any of the countries where it was spoken and was not even allowed to be taught in schools. However, in both Morocco and Algeria the cultural status and historical importance of Berbers is now gradually being recognized by the governments of those countries.
Why are Berber studies important?
Despite the recent emergence of Berber studies in North Africa and Europe as an important field of research and scholarship, academic focus on the Berber world is virtually absent in North America. No teaching or research programs devoted to Berber studies exist in any North American university today. For a number of years the University of California at Los Angeles offered a small-scale Berber studies program which was dependent on a single faculty member. However, since the retirement of Professor Tom Poncheon at UCLA, the only comprehensive teaching program in the United States devoted to the Berber world has vanished. Today, university courses focusing on Berber culture are few and far between, usually operating with marginal validation under the umbrella of either Middle Eastern Studies or Africana Studies departments. Given this dire situation, Oregon State University is committed to improving the presence of Berber studies in US institutions of higher education.
The paucity of teaching and research emphasis in the field of Berber Studies in the United States has, in part, contributed to current misunderstandings about the cultural personality of the entire North African region. Often confused with the Middle East and sometimes not well defined geographically, North Africa largely remains ignored and misunderstood, even among academics. Often categorized as the occidental fringe of the Arab world (the Maghreb), North Africa is rarely perceived from the vista of its Berber foundation. This foundation has profound genetic and biological roots: 60% of Moroccans are of Berber origin, as are 20% of Algerians. Many of North Africa´s Berbers do not primarily identify with Muslim civilization, nor are they necessarily drawn in any indigenous or even utilitarian way to Islam and Arabic, any more than they were to Catholicism and French. Often steering a course that avoided the dangerous waters of nationalism, and always accepting the cloak of multiple identities, Berber culture has been an ever prudent chameleon. In many ways it is because of this tenacity and modesty that it has simultaneously survived the torments of history and that it has not, heretofore, found its way into the university curriculum and into the mainstream of Western scholarship. In very practical terms, this means that an entire stratum of the Arab world (and specifically of the North African or Maghrebi world), remains on the educational sidelines. There is a need, therefore, to expand opportunities for teachers and researchers to gain a comprehension of the complexities of Berber North Africa. Berber culture is a well-worn, but necessary, key to both the understanding of the ancient Mediterranean basin and to the interpretation of the current dynamics of the Muslim sphere. It seems, particularly at this point in time, important to identify the cultural specificity of the Berber communities in Africa, and to disclose the potential importance of these communities in the dialog between Western and Mediterranean worlds.
For these reasons, it would be timely to give full consideration to the history and culture of Berber civilization, to trace its path from the earliest archeological evidence to its modern living form in the 21st century. A cultural exploration of Berber North Africa should include not only an understanding of its historical itinerary but also its contemporary nature revealed through cultural expressions such as literature, the plastic arts, crafts and music.
An NEH Summer Institute would constitute a first-time occasion for college and university teachers in the United States to be given the opportunity to consider the multiple dimensions of Berber North Africa. We propose to hold a four-week Institute at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, that will convene 24 college and university teachers from a range of disciplines seeking to situate Berber studies in their undergraduate or graduate coursework. The Institute will draw on the expertise of some of the leading scholars in the area of Berber studies.
The foremost practical goal of this project is to expose scholars and college faculty to the hidden face of this Berber world. This exposure should be particularly germane to those scholars conducting research in the field in North Africa and to teachers seeking to integrate Berber culture into their curriculum. For this reason, it is anticipated that prospective applicants will have ethnology-related backgrounds in the following academic fields: art history, Islamic studies, anthropology, human geography, Mediterranean cultural history, French and Francophone studies, linguistics, religious studies, music, and film studies.
Note
Imazighen
The original name of the Berber people, meaning free men. Some activists prefer this name, as the word "Berber" is pejorative. It was derived from the term « barbari » that the Romans gave to the people they conquered.
Note
Picture: Snapshots from the struggle of Berber Diaspora
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