Berber TV To Be Launched In Morocco In 2009

Moroccan communications Minister and Moroccan government spokesman Khalid Naciri has announced that the Berber-language television channel will begin broadcasting in 2009.

Naciri stressed that the Berbers are an element of the Moroccan identity, and that the television channel will embody the social pluralism that has characterized Morocco throughout the ages.

Moroccan Treasury Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said that the new channel shows the fundamental change undergone by Moroccan society, and its openness to the Berber language.

Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, December 14, 2008

Jihadist Death Threats Against Kabyle Singer For Insulting Islam

A post on a web forum connected to Al-Qaeda urged Algerian jihadists to murder the Kabyle (Algerian Berber) singer Oulahlou.

The call was a response to an article in the Algerian daily El-Shorouq El-Yawmi, which reported that the singer's recent album "Love and Liberty" contained songs insulting to Islam.

According to the article, one of the songs said that the Islamic hijab should only be put on sheep, and another used terms associated with divinity to describe a romantic relationship.

The Arab liberal website Aafaq reports that due to the threats Oulahlou was forced to leave Algeria.

Sources: El-Shorouq El-Yawmi, Algeria, June 18, 2008; www.ek-ls.org, www.aafaq.org, June 19, 2008

Moroccan Berber Party Condemns Government Ban On Berber Names

The Moroccan Amazigh (Berber) Democratic Party is protesting against the Moroccan government's ban on giving children Berber names such as Massinissa and Yugurtha.

The ban calls such names "foreign to Moroccan society."

Also, 16 Berber associations are planning to demonstrate on June 16 in Rabat against the holdup in the launch of the government Amazigh-language television channel – which is contrary to the 2006 resolution to requiring 30% of air time to be allocated to Amazigh-language programming.

Source: Aafaq.org, June 14, 2008

Kabylia Autonomy Group To March In Commemoration Of Berber Spring

The Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK) announced it will hold a march in the city of Bejaia to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the Berber Spring.

The announcement stated: "This historic date marks Kabylia's split with the Algerian dictatorship, and represents its acknowledgment of its Berber identity… The [Berber Spring] events brought to world attention the ancestral values of Kabylia that represent freedom, democracy, human rights, and secularism."

Source: El-Watan, Algeria, April 15, 2008

Conference On Berber Identity And Democracy Held In Morocco

A conference was held last week in Morocco on the Amazigh (Berber) identity and the future of democracy in the region.

Among those attending were advisor to King Mohammed VI, Morocco's House of Representatives chairman, and the head of the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture in Morocco.

From Algeria were present representatives from the liberal Berber party Rally For Culture and Democracy (RCD), and Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK) president Ferhat Mehenni.

The conference was hosted by the Moroccan Mouvement Populaire party.

Sources: El-Shorouq El-Yawmi, Algeria, March 25, 2008; Aujourd'hui le Maroc, Morocco, March 26, 2008

Berber Cultural Movement: Third Bouteflika Term – Megalomania

In a communiqué, the Berber Cultural Movement in Algeria attacked the proposed constitutional amendment permitting Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term.

The communiqué condemned "the Algerian government that mobilizes all of its vassals in order to impose a third term for Bouteflika on Algeria – [and he is a president] whose megalomania knows no boundaries."

It also reiterated its standing demand that the Tamazight language be recognized as an official language of Algeria.

Source: El-Watan, Algeria, February 28, 2008

Ten Berber Activists Sentenced to Jail in Morocco

A court in the city of Ouzarzate in South Morocco has sentenced 10 Berber activists to between one and six years' imprisonment, on charges of illegal assembly, burning the national flag, obstructing traffic and assaulting a civil servant.

Supporters of the detainees claim that the 10 had participated in a peaceful demonstration in the town of Boulman n Dades calling for recognition of the Berber language in Morocco.

A petition for their release has been posted on the internet.

Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, February 23, 2008; www.amazighworld.org, December 21, 2008.

Spread Of Christianity In Kabylia – Now On Public Agenda

On February 5, Algeria's Channel 3 aired a program on the spread of Christianity in the Kabylia region.

Kabylia is a Berber region east of the capital Algiers.

According to the program, which included interviews with converts to Christianity, some 20 Protestant churches were recently established in the region.

In response, Algerian Religious Affairs Minisgter Bouabdellah Ghlamallah stated that if no preventive measures were taken, there would soon be a Christian minority that would clash with society and demand its rights.

Source: El-Nahar, El-Shorouq El-Yawmi, Algeria, February 5, 2008

Second Berber-Jewish Friendship Association In Morocco

Amazigh (Berber) activists in the Rif region in northern Morocco are planning to announce the formation of a new Amazigh-Jewish friendship association next week, on February 14.

Opponents to the idea say it is a move for normalization with Israel.

Responding to critics, Amazigh Democratic Party president Ahmed Adghrini said that Morocco already has many contacts with Israel, but that some think that such contacts should be a government monopoly, adding, "We have broken through this blockade."

The association will be the second of its king; last year, a simlar body was formed in the Souss region in the south of the country.

Source: www.alarabiya.net, February 5, 2008

Hunger Strike By Teachers Of Berber Language In Algeria In Fourth Day

Teachers of the Tamazight (Berber) language in Algiers are in the fourth day of a hunger strike to demand tenure.

Linguist Abdennour Abdesselam has accused the Algerian regime of trying to speed up the disappearance of the Tamazight language, and has threatened to appeal to UNESCO.

The hunger strikers have the support of teachers' unions, the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LADDH), and members of the political system and the civil society

Several strikers have been taken to hospital for medical treatment.

Source: La Depeche de Kabylie, Algeria, October 30 and 31, 2007

Moroccan Berber Groups Call To Boycott Elections

The Preparatory Committee of the Movement for Wide Autonomy in the Rif (northern Morocco) has called for a boycott of the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country.

In a communiqué, the committee said that the elections are being held under a constitution that does not recognize Morocco's Amazigh (Berber) identity and language or the Rifians' right to broad regional autonomy.

In addition, on September 3 the Amazigh Cultural Movement held a protest in Khenifra, with the participation of ACM activists from southeastern Morocco, during which it too called to boycott the elections.

An unrelated anti-elections protest planned for the same day by the Marxist Al-Nahj Al-Dimoqrati movement was prevented by the authorities.

Source: Al-Sabah, Morocco, September 3, 2007

Founding Conference Of Movement For The Autonomy of Kabylia

The founding conference of the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK) opened on August 14 in the Bejaia province, with about 100 delegates.

The conference will ratify a formal structure for the organization, which was established in 2001 with the aim of achieving extensive autonomy for Kabylia, a Berber-majority region east of the capital of Algiers.

Movement founder and head Ferhat Mehenni stated that Kabylia is suffering from the regime’s attempts at Arabizing it, and from attacks by Islamists. He added that the movement would struggle for its path in a democratic fashion, but would refrain from participating in elections in the country.

Source: El-Khaber, Le Depeche de Kabylie, Algeria, August 15, 2007

Berber Leader Lounes Protests To Sarkozy Over Failure To Mention Berbers

Belkacem Lounes, chairman of the World Amazigh Congress, the umbrella organization of the Berber movement, has sent a letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy to protest against Sarkozy's statements during his recent visit to Algeria.

According to Lunes, Sarkozy spoke of Algeria's Arab and Islamic identity without mentioning the 10 million Algerian Berbers or their language – thus, according to Lunes, supporting the regime's policy of marginalization of the Berbers.

Source: La Depeche de Kabylie, Algeria, July 22, 2007

In Algeria, Two New Institutes For Berber Language

The Algerian government will establish an Academy and a Supreme Council for the Berber language (Tamazight), as agreed in 2005 negotiations with the Archs Citizens' Movement.

Archs leader Belaid Abrika welcomed the decision, as did other leaders from the Berber movement. However, some expressed concern that the new institutes could be subject to political manipulation by the regime.

The status of Tamazight was a central issue in 2001 clashes between activists in the Kabylia region and the regime, which left more than 100 civilians dead.

The Archs movement is a grassroots organization that emerged in the course of that conflict.

Source: Liberte, Algeria, June 20, 2007; El-Khabar, Algeria, June 21, 2007

Algerian Berber Group Condemns Statements by Libyan Leader Qaddafi

The Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia, an Algerian Berber group headed by Ferhat Mehenni, has condemned Mu'ammar Qaddafi's March 1 speech, in which the Libyan leader denied the existence of a non-Arab Berber people and accused Berber activists of being agents of colonialism (see "In Overture to Iran, Qaddafi Declares North Africa Shi'ite and Calls for Establishment of New Fatimid State." ) Following is the text of the MAK's statement:

"Qaddafi is [either] ignorant or delirious. This dictator, who has assassinated thousands in his own country and around the world, is a case either for the International Court of Justice or for psychiatric confinement. The most disturbing thing is that he has at his disposal the means to prolong his political madness, which he does not hesitate to put into action, especially in its woeful and grievous aspects.

"The MAK learned with indignation and revulsion of the speech of the misguided 'Guide' [lost] under the sun of the Libyan desert, and condemns with all its force his political rantings. The MAK calls on international institutions to refer his case [to the appropriate authorities] – he who, ever since he took power in a coup d'etat in September 1969, has not ceased destabilizing countries and menacing peace around the entire planet."

Source: Kabyle.com, France, April 8, 2007

Moroccan Berbers Call for Independent Berber State, Say Arab League is "Racist"

In an interview with the liberal Berber website "Tamazgha," Mustapha Berhouchi, president of the TADA umbrella group of Moroccan Berber organizations, said that the Berbers need a state of their own: "In a world where a fanatical Islam is looking to acquire nuclear capabilities, and faced with Europe's hypocritical attitude, the Imazighen (i.e. Berbers), if they want to continue to exist as a people, have no choice but to acquire a state."

In a separate statement, the CNCCOT, a Moroccan organization demanding official status for the Berber language in Morocco, called for a new secular and democratic constitution, guarantees of freedom of expression, and an end to Morocco's membership in the Arab League: "The Moroccan authorities' membership in illusory, phantom organizations like the Arab League is nothing but a waste of time and money… We demand that Morocco withdraw from the Arab League and from all the racist organizations of which it is a member."

Sources: www.tamazgha.fr, March 3, 2007; www.kabyle.com, March 3, 2007.

Issue of Popular Weekly Banned in Algeria – Because of Article on 2001 Berber Revolt, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1963 - June 17, 2008

Berber Leader Belkacem Lounes: ‘There Is No Worse Colonialism Than That of the Pan-Arabist Clan that Wants to Dominate Our People', Special Dispatch Series - No. 1569 - May 3, 2007

Debate About New Berber-Jewish Friendship Association in Morocco on Iranian Al-Alam TV, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1695 - August 24, 2007

Algerian Berber Dissidents Promote Programs for Secularism and Democracy in Algeria, Special Dispatch Series - No. 1308 - October 6, 2006

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