The entire media world echoed the Arab Spring of 2011, which was followed by many sad seasons. Some know of its Maghreb origin and its relative effective impact-less the closer to Arabia and its area of influence- and some few know that its first buds appeared the previous autumn in Western Sahara, months before the winter hatching in Tunisia and Algeria... but today we will go further back in time, before digital globalization, to bring to mind the green tinged with red and black in the Amazigh spring of 1980.
April 20 is a date of commemoration for the Imazighen, both in North Africa and in the diaspora. The events subsequent to the banning of Mouloud Mammeri's conference on ancient poetry in Algerian Kabylia contributed to the acceleration of the emergence and subsequent affirmation of the Amazigh Movement in Morocco. The insurrection resonated in the neighboring country with a deep echo, discreet and devoid of structure though, which spread spontaneously among young students under the watchful eye of power.
The day after, during a press conference at the Royal Palace of Casablanca, a French journalist asked Hassan II about possible protest demonstrations, to which the monarch responded that this type of event was unthinkable in Morocco due to the harmonious coexistence of Moroccans and their “immunity” against this type of reaction since May 16, 1930 (in reference to the misnamed “Berber Dahir” that deserves a future post). To top it off, the king appealed to the "Yemeni origin" of the Imazighen, proven "thanks to the books of contemporary history." Hassan II's notorious amazighophobia does not need to be proven since they were his nightmare before and after the two attempted coups in the years 71 and 72.
The construction of the country after independence in 1956 was based on ideological duality and accelerated Arabization reinforced by partisan and institutional alliances. In the 70s, an entire policy was launched to Arabize the country and eradicate the Amazigh identity for the “unity of the Kingdom".
Despite the prohibitions and harsh repression in the 80s “last years of lead” with the imprisonment and “disappearance” of activists, the dense network of cultural roots survives under the protection of the associative structure and spreads nationwide and, in August 1991, the Amazigh community present their linguistic and cultural demands in the Charter of Agadir. Consciousness of identity permeates all strata of society to the Amazigh-speaking elites of the Kingdom, who follow the movement with discreet interest in a climate of suspicion and permanent alert. Conferences and colloquiums on militancy are organized in the associations, the magazine 'Tafsut' published by the MCB (Mouvement Culturel Berbère) is photocopied and circulated clandestinely.
Young Moroccans in the 90s read the authors of Kabylia and listen avidly to Lounes Maktoub, Aït Menguellet, Idir... their cassette recordings reach rural villages and their posters paper the walls, the radio waves of Channel II broadcasting in the mother language reache the southeast of Morocco, leaving a marked influence in that region. On university campuses, Amazigh literature is disseminated through exhibitions and cultural events, young artists cover their idols in improvised concerts. The militant students adapt the name of the university of Errachidia to call it "Mouloud Mammeri".
From the sit-in in front of the Moroccan embassy in Algiers in 1994, to demand the release of political detainees from Tilelli Association in Goulmima, 'there is no democrazy without tamazight', we jump to the Black Spring of 2001 when 127 young people were murdered and more than 3,000 injured by the Algerian security forces and other solidarity sit-in in front of the embassy in Rabat was violently aborted by the Moroccan police.
We summarize some milestones from the beginning of the century: the signing of the manifesto of the group of activists led by Mohammed Chafik in March 2000; Mohammed VI's recognition of the Amazigh identity in his Ajdir speech in 2001 and his commitment to preserving it with the creation of the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM), whose official mission is to “advise” when in reality it is born from an old-style strategy of control and neutralization. Finally, in 2003, the introduction of the teaching of Tamazight in schools and the controversial choice of the Tifinagh alphabet for it's writing.
The tricolor banner (sea, mountain, desert) was omnipresent in the struggle for demands, challenging any attempt to silence the voices that aspire to their freedom, symbolized by the letter Yaz, waving with the February 20 Movement during the Arab Spring, in the protest demonstrations in the Rif in 2016 and in the stadiums of Qatar'22 with the euphoria of reaching the semifinals.
Under the cold historical chronology a trace of hidden but not forgotten pain underlies. The intellectual, cultural and political awakening that flourished in the 80s in Kabylia inspired and fed the debate on a possible Maghrebi common project, resonating strongly throughout Tamazgha.
Comments