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movement in Morocco. Amazigh Multimedia (www. amazighmultimedia.de) has just re-leased its second production made of two tales: "Uccen, aqjun" (The Jackal and the dog) fourteen minutes long and a five minutes long un-animated story called “Imcac” (A family of cats). These tales are traditional Amazigh tales. They are loaded with meaning and wisdom. And now they are avail-able on tape for everyone to enjoy and

learn from. The person behind this production is the dedicated Cherif Oucherif. His first animation was “ U c c e n d Iz imer” (The Jackal and the Lamb). The tapes are available at

Editions Berbères, Paris.

MON NOM EST C O M B A T ( M y name is Struggle) is the title of a book that gathers the Re-bel’s songs. For those who like Lounes Matoub’s song lyrics or simply have an in-

terest in Amazigh poetry, here is a book that put most of his work in one handy publication. The book is pub-lished by “La Decouverte (Paris) and contains French translations of the lyrics.

his colleagues and the violent reaction of the authorities caused by his having over-stepped the mark. Mohammed Akunad was born in 1950 in Ihahan, on the Atlantic coast, north of the town of Agadir. He is, at present, a teacher in Agadir. An activist in the asso-ciation movement and the host of a radio program on the town’s regional network (Tawessa Tamazight, Amazigh Culture), he also writes in Amazigh. He has already translated three Russian folk tales into Tamazight (Vasilisa tafalkayt, Tiddukla, Gar tagwmat), and Tawargit d imik is his first novel. D’OÙ VIENT LE VENT? (Where does the wind come from?) by Hamadi, Les 3 Orangers - De Vecchi, 2003 , 32 pages. ISBN 2-7328-9132-0. The book can be ordered directly from Les 3 Orangers, 13, av. de Saint-Mandé 75012 Paris. As the lasting drought threatens the sur-vival of the people, the elders decide to send the bravest men to seek out Mother Rain. The courageous Latif accepts this important mission which will take him far beyond the Crystal Mountains, to the land of White Camphor. Tearing himself away from the Fair Mounia, to whom he gave his heart, he sets out on a long jour-ney, filled with perilous encounters, his only weapon a few word of wisdom im-parted by one of the elders... This Amazigh tale is included in the col-lection of stories "Our Children, Tales from far away", an inter-cultural project for youth of the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. The aim of this project is to challenge us to investigate and acknowledge the diversity within the European minority cultures. Hamadi, a storyteller of Berber origin, is a writer, actor, singer and director. Die Berberbewegung in Marokko. Zur Geschichte der Konstruktion einer ethnischen identität (1912-1997) by KRATOCHWIL Gabriele – Berlin, Gerd Winkerhane, Klaus Schwarz Verlag GmbH, 2002, 489 pages. Based on the author’s 2002 thesis, this publication is the most exhaustive work on the subject of Amazigh identity con-struction and the history of the Amazigh

Uccen Aqjun

The Amazigh Voice Vo lume 12, Issue 2

Portions of the news column were taken from:

monde.berbere.com

and

tamazgha.fr

Thanks / Tanemmirt!

national and official language, a status held only by the Arabic language. After decades of Arabization, in 1994, King Hassan II promised to introduce Tamazight in the school system under the pressure of the Mo-roccan Amazigh movement and the ever growing fear to see the Moroccan Amazigh movement tread in the steps of the Amazigh movement of Algeria. In 2001 was created the IRCAM (see our main article in this is-sue). A pilot program for the teaching of Tamazight is launched in 317 schools, which will be extended to all schools by 2013. According to the Ministry of Education. One thousand teachers are being trained to launch this first stage.

Amazighness and Development Issues is the title of an international conference held in Agadir, Morocco, July 25-27th, 2003. It was organized by the Université d’Eté d’A-gadir (The Summer University of Agadir).

L'ALGÉRIE AU TEMPS DES ROYAU-MES NUMIDES (Algeria during the time of the Numidian kingdoms), edited by Geneviève Sennequier and Cécile Colonna, and sponsored by Unesco and the French-Algerian cooperation. This book covers the history and culture of pre-Islamic North Africa. It is a history that was influenced by Carthage and Rome, and for a long time forgotten much like the Etruscan’s. It was brought up to date through French coloni-zation and today is rejuvenated through the e f f o r t s o f t h e K a b y l movement. TAWARGIT D IMIK, by Mohammed Akunad, , Tîzrigin Bouregreg, Rabat, 2002, 158p. ISBN 9954-8154-4-9. Tawargit d imik (A Dream and More) tells the story of a well-read man who is employed by the Amazigh-speaking inhabitants of a Moroccan village. As he is anxious to carry out the religious functions of a village sage in a satisfactory manner, Ssi Brahim Tacen-yart decides to preach in the language spo-ken by the local population. He has conse-quently to deal with both the reluctance of

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Books

Ta$ect Tamazi$t The Amazigh Voice

In March 2002, Algeria made Tamazight a national language falling short of the Amazigh demands for an official status. This year, an Institute for Amazigh Culture that will intro-duce Tamazight in the school system was es-tablished in Morocco. In preparation, the In-stitute voted for Tifinagh as the official script for Tamazight. This decision has been signed into law by the king of Morocco (See our arti-cles Which script for Tamazight, whose choice is it? and Pr. Chaker speaks out on the Tifinagh script issue). From a historical point of view this is very significant. Certainly, these are important con-cessions by the North African governments. However, the Amazigh people are not satis-fied, because not only did these governments not meet their demands, but they maintained and enforced the policies of suppression of the Amazigh entity. The repression has reached its highest level during the 2001 Kabylia events, when the security forces killed more than one hundred people and injured several thousands. Members of the civil movement of Kabylia continue to be thrown in jail, though Belaid Abrika and many others have been released in order to ease the ten-sion and help the upcoming elections. In Morocco, the demands of the Amazigh movement continue to be ignored and the work of the Amazigh associations obstructed. Their members are targets for intimidation and harassment. This is the case of Ali Har-cheras, member of the Tilelli association of Goulmima, who has been tortured by civilian clothed police officers. Coincidentally, the very Tifinagh script that recently has been made the official script has been dealt a blow by the same government that pushed for its selection in lieu of the Latin script. This oc-

curred in the Riffian city of Nador where road signs in Tifinagh, French and Arabic have been removed by security forces under orders from the Ministry of the Interior (see our article Tamazight and The Makhzen: One Step Forward, Ten Steps Back-ward). In both countries, the government controlled legal system, with its baathist laws as well as the security forces are used to crack down on the Amazigh people. The small political concessions are de-signed to subdue the Amazigh movement and keep the Amazigh society’s most vital elements under control (see our article The Current State of Tamazight in Morocco). It is the strategy of the carrot and the stick, no more no less! The Amazigh peo-ple have to recognize this and act accordingly. They cannot wait indefinitely for small concessions to add up to what they see as their ultimate goal, nor should they leave it up to such failed govern-ments to take care of what is dearest to them. The Amazigh people should take matters in their own hands because no one can do better what they are supposed to do for themselves.

Marrakech, May 1st, 2003, Amazigh demonstrators carrying the Amazigh flag and the portraits of King Massinissa and slain Kabyl singer Lounes Matoub.

Editorial: The Carrot and the Stick

A magazine published by the Amazigh Cultural Association in America 442 Route 206, #163, Bedminster, NJ 07921—Phone/Fax (781) 322-0965

Summer/Fall 2003

Volume 12, Issue 2

Which Script for Tamazight, Whose Choice is it ?

2

Professor Chaker Speaks out on the Tifinagh Script Issue

9

The Current State of Tamazight in Morocco

11

Kud Nettidir, Kud Netti/ir 14

Inside this issue:

• The Moroccan govern-ment establishes Tifi-nagh as the official script for Tamazight

• Tamazight teaching in 317 Moroccan schools starts this year.

• Algeria creates a Na-tional Center of Tamazight Linguistics, Teaching and Peda-gogy.

• The Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK) holds its first convention in Icherai-wen.

www.tamazgha.org Tas$unt n Tiddukla Tadelsant Tamazi$t deg Marikan

negotiations with non man-dated delegates. When that didn’t work, dozens of dele-gates were systematically ar-rested under bogus charges. The Aarach were thus forced to change their focus from fighting for the platform to fighting for the liberation of their fellow delegates. In May of 2003, Ahmed Ouya-hia, the new prime minister, called for a dialogue with the Aarach. On July 20th, on a visit to Setif, president Boute-flika reiterated that call in or-der to implement the El-Kseur platform “in every aspect that does not interfere with the unity and integrity of Algeria.” At the end of June the Aarach rejected Ouyahia’s offer. The reference to unity and integrity of Algeria is undoubt-edly related to item number 11 of the platform in which the Aarach demand that the Gen-darmerie (Algeria’s para-military police) security forces in the region be placed under the power of the locally elected officials. The Tizi-Ouzou coordination stated that it will seriously consider the offer but that it finds it ambiguous because the El-Kseur platform does not inter-fere in any way with national unity and integrity. The Bgayet and Tubirett coordinations, seemed more favorable to dia-logue but were equally skepti-cal in reference to the national unity and integrity aspect. Fu-ture meetings among these coordinations will determine the final position of the Aarach.

The Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia (MAK)

The Aarach delegates are open to dialogue with the government. Two years have passed since Kabylia’s rebel-lion against injustice and ex-clusion but most of the Amazigh demands are not met. Among these demands are the prosecution of those responsible for the deaths or injury of innocent demonstra-tors, making Tamazight a national and official language, and the replacement of the para-military security forces by a police force that is con-trolled by the locally elected officials. Spring 2001 has been named the Black Spring for the more than one hun-dred youths killed by the Al-gerian security forces during the year long demonstrations. The Aarach is the reaction of the people of Kabylia to stop the bloodshed and bring change in the way Algeria is governed. The Aarach are democratically elected repre-sentatives of the 2000 Kabyl villages. Their actions pro-duced a document referred to as the El-Kseur platform, for the name of the Kabyl town where it was produced. La-beled “non negotiable” the platform was considered by the Aarach a set of minimal demands that the government should accept and publicly commit to their implementa-tion. Their many attempts in 2001 and 2002 to publicly present it to the government met an unprecedented and violent repression. The Aarach responded with more demonstrations and strikes. In 2002 and 2003, the govern-ment attempted to break the Aarach by setting up mock-up

held its first convention on Aug. 18th 2003 in Icharaiwen (Kabylia). For more informa-tion visit the MAK’s website at www.makabylie.com.

Algeria The Algerian government has just announced the decision to create a national linguistic cen-ter for pedagogy and teaching of Tamazight. The timing of the government’s pressure for a dialogue with the Aarach and its recent announcement which happened just before the upcoming presidential elections did not go unnoticed in the Algerian press. According to published infor-mation this center will tackle issues related to the teaching of Tamazight such as script, lexicon of the various idioms, grammar, didactic curricula, and pedagogical means. This national center is intended to become the focus of all activi-ties related to the integrated development of the teaching of Tamazight in the frame-work of a progressive and ex-clusively scientific approach to learning, promotion and diffu-sion of this national language.

Morocco The teaching of Tamazight in Moroccan schools has started this year; It is being introduced in primary schools. This is seen by many as a step in the right direction but in-sufficient for the rehabilitation of Tamazight. The Moroccan Amazigh movement’s demand is to establish Tamazight as

(Continued on page 16)

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The Amazigh Voice (ISSN 1526-5730) is a quarterly publica-tion of the Amazigh Cultural As-sociation in America Inc. (ACAA).

All Rights Reserved ©2003

ACAA is an international non-profit, cultural, and scientific or-ganization dedicated to the protec-tion and promotion of the Amazigh (Berber) culture in the USA and abroad.

Editors

Lak Amara Nabil Boudraa

Rachid Dahmani Akli Gana Hsen Larbi

Louiza Sellami

Design & Production

Hsen Larbi

Distribution

Arezki Boudif The Amazigh Voice welcomes arti-cles, columns, reviews, editorial correspondence, and poems in Tamazight or English. Contri-butions should be sent to: [email protected] or Amazigh Voice PO Box 265 Malden, MA 02148 Phone/Fax: (781) 322-0965 Opinions expressed in The Amazigh Voice are not necessarily those of ACAA representatives and do not reflect those of ACAA. Material may be reprinted only with permission.

The Amazigh Voice

The Aarach

Tamazight

Kabyl Autonomy

Which Script for Tamazight, Whose Choice is it?

Introduction

King Mohammed VI of Morocco has recently signed a law that makes the Tifinagh script the official writing system for Tamazight. This script will be used in future teaching programs that will be developed by IRCAM (French acronym for Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture) in collaboration with the Ministry of education. This royal decision was based on a recommenda-tion by IRCAM that was reached by a majority vote at its January 30-31 session held in Rabat. Many regard this decision as a historical one. This is supported by the fact that a few decades ago, Tamazight and Amazigh cul-ture in general virtually did not exist in Moroccan public life: Tamazight was not taught in schools and is still absent from the Moroccan school system. It was not possible for anyone to use Tamazight publicly, not even in court to defend oneself. There was not any public Amazigh expression of any kind except maybe when it came to tourism, where the indigenous aspects of Morocco are exploited. There were no newspapers, no television or radio in Tamazight. Tamazight was confined to the homes of those who still speak it. Being Amazigh in Morocco is, to a large extent, still considered inferior. It is regarded as uncivilized, backward and above all a threat to Arabic, the sacred language of the Qur’an, the vehicle of the Islamic culture as well as the basis of the Nation’s unity, which is defined and imposed as Arab. In this context, any favorable concession to the Amazigh commu-nity from the Moroccan authorities would be regarded as histori-cal. The Amazigh people and their needs have not been of any concern to the Moroccan government or anyone else but the Amazigh themselves who are today fighting to keep what is very valuable and dear to them: their identity and language. The IRCAM’s recommendation will have an impact on the teaching of the Amazigh language in Morocco as well as its fu-ture in all of North Africa. The importance of this impact will be measured by the extent of the areas covered by this law, and the level of its enforcement in the field. At this moment, it is not clear whether this decision will only apply to education and offi-cial documents or everything that is written in Tamazight. For example, it is not known if this decision would make it unlawful for anyone to use other characters in the transcription of Amazigh texts. The Kabyls, the largest Amazigh population in Algeria, who use exclusively the Latin characters to write in Tamazight, now won-der what the future of Tamazight will be, as the larger Moroccan Amazigh population is set on a different path. In Morocco, where the Latin script is favored over other scripts by the Amazigh movement and the Amazigh associations, this decision

caused many to express their opposition to it. Elsewhere, among the diaspora, many associations and noted scholars expressed their concern and opposition. This decision is stirring a debate throughout the Amazigh communities and many questions re-main unanswered. This article reports on this important decision by the Moroccan authorities and gives the background informa-tion to help the reader understand the issues surrounding the choice of a writing system for Tamazight.

IRCAM

IRCAM, an institute established exclusively to promote the Amazigh culture and language was created by royal decree in October 2001. One of IRCAM’s goals is to introduce the Amazigh language in Moroccan school curricula. IRCAM’s board includes many known experts in the Amazigh field, artists and Amazigh activists.

As a parallel to the Algerian HCA (High Commission for Amazighity) and a response to the Amazigh demands, the creation of IRCAM does not even begin to fill the gap be-tween the Amazigh demands and what the government is ready to offer. One of the Mo-roccan Amazighs’ key demands is a full recognition of their

identity and culture, which would involve the inclusion of Tamazight as a national and official language in the Moroccan constitution. In her article titled “Royal Amazigh Institute: Worries for Imazignen” [1], M. Demnati1 states that the creation of the insti-tute is the result of the Amazigh movement’s daily struggle. However, she notes that if the teaching of Tamazight remains as established in the current education charter, in other words, to serve Arabic2, “it is our duty to fight this institute, which is noth-ing but an instrument in the hands of those who want to suffo-cate our language and culture.” As mentioned above, the King appoints all IRCAM’s members. Therefore, IRCAM is not an Amazigh institution because it is not under Amazigh control in any form or fashion. Although the creation of IRCAM does in fact prove some recog-nition of the Amazigh dimension, it is seen by many as just a small government concession. Furthermore, many Amazigh ac-tivists are in fact skeptical about it, fearing that IRCAM is just

The king appoints all IRCAM’s members, therefore IRCAM is not an Amazigh institution because it is not under their control in any form or fashion.


BY HSEN LARBI

another way for the government to defer the real recognition, maybe even a way to regulate the Amazigh issue as well as neu-tralize the Amazigh movement. A certain dose of skepticism is expected, given the history of the North African governments position on this issue. As noted earlier, the government of Mo-rocco has been traditionally opposed to any promotion of the Amazigh dimension. Worse, it has carried out a policy of annihi-lation in favor of an Arab definition of Morocco’s identity. It is therefore hard for anyone to believe that such policy has changed overnight. This cannot be viewed as a departure from past practices because the discriminating policies towards Tamazight are still in place. Case in point: following the declara-tion of Tifinagh as the official script for Tamazight in Morocco, the local authorities of the Riffian city of Nador installed road signs written in both Arabic and Tifinagh. These were quickly removed in the middle of the night by the security forces. There-fore, one can only say that the creation of IRCAM could be a step in the right direction, but the Amazigh people’s fight for their rights is certainly not over. One would have to wait and see what powers the institute actually has, and what its concrete ac-tions in the field are. Most importantly, one has to observe how the Moroccan Tamazight policies will evolve.

Reactions to the Tifinagh Script Dahir3

Tada, a federation of close to twenty Moroccan Amazigh asso-ciations, stated its opposition to IRCAM’s decision in a press release following its February 15, 2003 meeting. It indicated that without the necessary political will to create an adapted Tifinagh system, the Latin script remains the most adequate means of transcription for Tamazight. It also referred to IRCAM as a Makhzenian4 institution created with the sole goal of neutralizing the Amazigh movement. Tamazgha, a prominent Amazigh association established in Paris, denounced the decision of the Monarchy and referred to it as a “strategy whose aims are to waste time and slow down the Amazigh movement through the use and manipulation of certain association leaders and intellectuals,” i.e., the IRCAM’s board members. Tamazgha considers that Tifinagh cannot compete with the Latin script for the moment, therefore the decision’s aim is to ensure the failure of Tifinagh use as well as blame those Amazighs on the board of IRCAM for it. It views IRCAM and HCA as tools used by the governments to gain control over the Amazigh issue.

Prior to IRCAM’s December 2002 session, Dr A.H. Oussa-den, a known Amazigh activist, published a letter in which he recognized that the decision that was going to be made by IRCAM’s board members was a tough one, and one which dealt with a sensitive subject. He argued that the Latin script is universal and has many ad-

vantages and warned against selecting the Aramean (Arabic) Ara-bic script, which would give satisfaction to those who would like

Without the necessary political will to create an adapted Tifinagh system,

the Latin script remains the most adequate

means of transcription of Tamazight.


to make it a sacred language. He further added that if one had to choose on the basis of authenticity, the Tifinagh script would be the only possible choice. Dated February 20th 2003, a press release by the CMA (French acronym for World Amazigh Congress) hailed Mohammed VI’s decision to adopt the Tifinagh script and referred to it as a deci-sion that would restore one of the foundations of the Amazigh identity. It expressed the hope that IRCAM has made this rec-ommendation free from any outside pressure. It recalled, how-ever, that the Amazigh movement in its vast majority was in fa-vor of the Latin script. It added that the CMA itself has recom-mended the use of the Latin script at its 3rd congress in Roubaix (August 2002). It regrets the decision made by IRCAM to ignore the popular demand and goes on to question the real goals of IRCAM. It noted that the choice of the Latin script has already been made by the Amazighs of Algeria, and the choice made by the Monarchy will only hurt the Amazigh language standardiza-tion and impede the unity of the Amazigh movement. Within the Amazigh movement, it is clear that the decision by the Moroccan authorities is not a welcome one. Following a meeting held in Meknes in 2002 by several Amazigh associations to discuss the script issue, a press release was issued in which the use of the Latin script was recommended for the teaching of Tamazight while the Tifinagh script should be developed. Among the associations involved were Tamaynut and AMREC. This line of thinking follows closely the recommendations of CRB5. The position of the majority of the Amazighs may thus be sum-marized as: adoption of the Latin script in conjunction with the development of Tifinagh. However, there are a few voices that claim that young Amazighs prefer Tifinagh. Furthermore, an important aspect of this issue that is not expressed in the many press releases mentioned here is the long standing opposition to the Arabic script. The competition between the Latin and Tifi-nagh-based scripts is in a certain measure a standardization issue, since the Amazigh movement still recommends the development of Tifinagh. However, it is clear that the attempts to impose Ara-bic characters and their rejection by the Amazighs are politically motivated. Salem Chaker noted many years ago in his “Manuel de Linguistique Berbere” [2] that the issue of script is an ideo-logical issue. In the rest of this article we will look at the competition between the three different scripts, as well as the technical, standardiza-tion, and political reasons behind the different choices and thus try to understand IRCAM’s decision.

A Standardization Issue

When we consider the level of development of the different scripts used to write Tamazight, we cannot help but realize the lopsided situation in favor of the Latin script. The important work that has been done on the Latin script has not been done on the other two major scripts. The Arabic script at the moment appears as an abandoned choice. Only a handful of Amazigh activists still use it in Morocco. The Tifinagh script is the only

consider “most appropriate” indicates that the Amazigh scien-tists at this colloquium are aware that the ultimate choice had to be made by the users and producers, namely the Amazigh peo-ple! Since the Ghardaia colloquium and probably prior to that, most of the standardization effort focused on the Latin script, and CRB must be credited for its leadership role in this matter. CRB’s researchers and students come from all over North Africa and France with a Kabyl dominance. It comes as no surprise then that in Algeria, the Latin script may be considered the de-facto standard. In fact even the Algerian government appointed HCA has recommended the use of the Latin-based script. The tradition mentioned earlier has given the Latin system a sig-nificant lead over the other systems. Amazigh scholars them-selves have been and are being trained with this system. Finally, the majority of Amazighs of North Africa is using this system.

A Political Issue

As explained earlier, the choice of a script is largely political and ideological. The Amazighs have at their disposal three different scripts. The Latin script is relatively well developed and has the backing of the Amazigh elite (intellectuals, activists, students, etc.) but the pro-Arab governments and Islamic movements are opposed to it. Tifinagh seems to be preferred by the young gen-eration, but the establishment also opposes it. According to Demnati [1], the Moroccan pro-Arab establish-ment is fiercely opposed to the use of Latin characters and con-siders that Tifinagh is a Twareg script, therefore only Arabic characters may be used to transcribe Tamazight. A seminar on Tamazight was organized in Nador (Rif region) in August 2001, at the end of which it was decided that Tamazight should be written with Arabic characters. This seminar was sponsored by the BMCE (French acronym for Moroccan Bank for Exterior Commerce).

In Algeria, it is fairly well estab-lished that the political estab-lishment, with the exception of the Amazigh-based parties (The Socialist Forces Front (FFS) and The Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD)) is opposed to the use of the Latin script,

but is in favor of using the Arabic characters. They are also op-posed to Tifinagh, considering it an archaic alphabet. These posi-tions are explicitly expressed by many political leaders in Algeria, including former president Chadli Bendjedid and leaders of the Islamic parties (MSP and NAHDA). Recently at a colloquium titled “Tamazight and the challenges of modernity”[6] organized by the HCA, three presentations were given on the subject of the writing system. In one of these, according to the magazine IZURAN [6], the author Abderrezak Dourari of the University of Algiers, defended the use of Arabic characters by emphasizing the historical relations between the Amazigh and the Arab peo-ple as well as the proximity of the two languages6.

alphabet that has a chance to compete against the Latin script. There are three main character sets based on Tifinagh: 1) Tifi-nagh proper that is used by the various Twareg groups. This script includes at least a dozen varieties according to Aghali-Zakara [3]. 2) The neo-Tifinagh script that was established by the Académie Berbère. 3) Salem Chaker’s proposition of a Tifinagh/Libyan based script. Tifinagh proper is not suited for the Tamazight idioms of the North, which is why the neo-Tifinagh came into existence. In fact in order to unify the Tamashaq lan-guages (Tamazight spoken by the Twaregs), the Bamako interna-tional conference (1966 and 1984) established a Latin-based script while the Twaregs continue to use Tifinagh. The neo-Tifinagh is not considered a good script because first of all it is based exclusively on the Ahaggar variety. Secondly, it does not have the linguistic backing, and thirdly, it contains too many in-vented characters. Certain modifications have been made to it to render it usable by all Tamazight idioms of the North, and young people seem to be attracted to its “authenticity” and originality. Paradoxically, it is the lack of authenticity that makes most aca-demics shy away from it. The Tifinagh/Libyan script proposed by Chaker [4] is an attempt to make up for the pitfalls of the Académie Berbère’s neo-Tifinagh script. Chaker’s proposition has many advantages. It is entirely authentic since it uses only Tifinagh or Libyan characters and takes into account the advances made on the Latin-based script. However, it still needs some improvement [4] because it makes use of a lot of dot-based characters, which can lead to confusion. In general, this is one of the disadvantages of any Ti-finagh-based script. Thus, both the Tifinagh and the Arabic scripts will need work before they become usable. In the event any one of these scripts becomes official, it may take advantage of the benefits derived from the work that has been done on the Latin script. That is not enough, however, to get them to the standardization level of the Latin-based script. The Latin script has always been the choice of Amazigh linguists and researchers. It is considered the standard writing system for Tamazight and this is based on a tradition of Tamazight writing that goes back to the early work of pioneers such as Basset, Am-mar Saïd Boulifa, the Pères Blancs of Kabylia, and of course the most revered Amazigh pioneer, writer and anthropologist Mou-loud Mammeri. This tradition of using Latin characters consti-tutes the single and most important advantage that this system has over the other systems. In 1991, at an international collo-quium on Tamazight held in Ghardaia (Algeria) [5], a linguistics commission was formed as part of the colloquium. This com-mission stated in its final report that the Latin based script is “the most appropriate to use for Tamazight because it is practi-cal and scientifically adequate.” “This choice would ensure a rapid development of Tamazight.” The members of the commis-sion, who stated this unanimously, added, “this option does not exclude other solutions based on Arabic or Tifinagh characters, as these are just as legitimate.” The socio-linguistics and passage to written expression commissions at the same colloquium con-cluded their work with a number of recommendations that in-cluded encouraging “all written expression using any kind of script.” This openness to scripts other than the one that they

“the choice of a script is largely political and

ideological.”


Tamazight has its own alphabet”, 18% picked “yes because they are universal characters.”

While the Latin based script seems to be the most accepted one for the moment, the Amazigh youth favors Tifinagh, according to Sini’s article. This is also confirmed by the results of the Revue Tifinagh’s survey: - Fifty-four percent thought Tifinagh was a viable script, pro-

vided that it is modernized. - To the question on whether Tamazight should be written in

Tifinagh, 41% of the respondents picked the answer “yes, because Tifinagh is a symbol of our identity,” while 22% picked “yes, because it’s an alphabet like any other,” and 7% picked “no, for personal reasons.”

If we consider that this survey is representative of the entire Amazigh population of Morocco, then the choice of Tifinagh, and the opposition to Arabic characters are clear. Although, the Revue Tifinagh’s survey dates back to 1996, it has shown a certain tolerance towards the Latin script. This tolerance, as evidenced by the reaction to the Dahir, increased to the point where the Amazigh elite of Morocco practically demands the Latin script. From the foregoing discussion and information gathered, it may be concluded that the Amazigh people largely prefer the Latin script, although there is some indication that the younger genera-tion has an inclination towards Tifinagh, but they are certainly opposed to the Arabic script. The reasons for the Latin script preference and rejection of the Arabic one are definitely political and in a “marginal way” technical as stated by Chaker [2]. The rejection of Arabic is mainly a reaction to the North African governments’ policy to make North Africa Arab and annihilate Tamazight. The passive, or sometimes supportive attitude of the Arabic-speaking population towards this policy removes any doubt that the Amazigh people have about the government’s long-term goal. The absence of the slightest political tolerance for Tamazight convinces the Amazigh people that accepting Arabic does not simply imply friendly coexistence between the two cultures (Arab and Amazigh). On the contrary this rein-forces the idea that this is only a mean of achieving Arabization and Amazigh annihilation more quickly. More importantly, since the issue is about identity, it is only logical to choose a distinct script in order to have a distinct identity in countries that con-sider themselves Arab in their majority and where significant efforts are made to erase any Amazigh characteristics. Despite the fact that a script is only a graphical means of communication, by using a different script the Amazigh people express their de-sire and right to be different. This is also the reason why many Amazighs are in favor of Tifinagh, which is part of the Amazigh identity; therefore it is only natural to choose it. Sini claimed that the choice of the Latin script and rejection of Arabic one is political in the sense that the Amazigh people would like a script that symbolizes modernity and universality. It is true that choosing the Latin script means openness to western cultures and probably a desire to associate with the most modern countries and therefore their cultures. But on one hand, there is nothing wrong with opening up to the most modern societies


This is confirmed in an article by Cherif Sini7 [7] in which he discusses the results of a survey he conducted on this issue. Sini explains that “the partisans of an Arabic writing system for Tamazight justify their choice with an alleged genetic link be-tween Arabic and Tamazight” for the following reason: accord-ing to linguists both languages belong to the large family of ha-mito-semitic languages. Based on this, “the Arabic characters would then suit Tamazight perfectly.” Furthermore, “Algerians have to learn Arabic anyway, and this reinforces national unity.” One of the reasons often cited for using Arabic characters is that it is the language of the Holy Qur’an and Islam is the religion of most Algerians. But the survey’s8 conclusions reject the use of the Arabic charac-ters. These are listed below: – All the persons surveyed systematically reject Arabic charac-

ters. – The study showed that most people are in favor of the Latin

script. – There is a strong desire for Tifinagh among young people. Sini’s analysis of the results shows that the desire to impose Ara-bic characters by the Algerian political leaders and its rejection by the Amazigh people both have political and ideological mo-tives. Sini finds that the unanimous and strong rejection of Ara-bic characters is not well substantiated by the respondents. The justification given for their choice is usually a technical one. When confronted with arguments that show that the technical difficulties are similar for all scripts, the respondents resort to clichés. Sini explains this position by the equally strong rejection of Tamazight by the Algerian establishment, particularly its pol-icy of Arabization. Sini concludes that the people surveyed favor the Latin script and see it as the symbol of modernity, openness and universality. However, this position is not an entirely rational one because, he explains, some people think that choosing the Latin script will make it possible to quickly learn Tamazight anywhere, and that Tamazight will become a language of the computers and the internet. Sini adds that the popularity of the Latin script is rein-forced by the fact that it has already gone through a standardiza-tion process and its use is fairly well established. This analysis is confirmed at least in part by the results of a sur-vey conducted by the Revue Tifinagh [8]. Fifty readers of Tifinagh responded to a survey to gather information on various aspects of identity and language in Morocco. They were all Amazigh from Morocco and most of them were highly educated, were from an Amazigh area and spoke at least Tamazight at home. The questions asked had multiple-choice answers: - To the question whether Tamazight should be written in

Arabic characters, 54% of the respondents answered no because it has its own characters, and none were in favor of Arabic characters because they are the characters of the lan-guage of the Qur’an.

- To the question whether Tamazight should be written in Latin characters, 38% picked the answer “no because


(Khénifra), AMGHAR (Khénifra) , ANARUZ (Demnat), ANEZWUM (Azrou), ASAFAR (Mellab, Goulmima), ASEKKA (Azilal), ASSIREM (Rissani), AZEMZ (Boumal-n-Dades), IGHBOULA (Mrirt), TALTEFRAWT (Goulmima), TAZELGHA (Tinejdad), TIFSA (Aïn Louh), TILELLI (Goulmima)

Following their meeting held on Saturday, February 15, 2003 in Tinejdad, and after the study of the various points on the agenda, the Amazigh associations, members of the TADA Con-federacy, announce to the national and international public that:

• They reiterate the claims of the Amazigh cultural move-ment, which include first and foremost the constitutionali-zation of Tamazight as an official language, the only guar-antee of a true recognition of the Amazighness of Mo-rocco.

• They consider the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture a Makhzenian apparatus created with the only aim of neutral-izing the Amazigh cultural movement.

• They consider that, in the absence of a serious political will to modernize Tifinagh, one of the symbols of our identity, the Latin alphabet remains the most adequate means for the writing of Tamazight.

• They denounce the malevolent schemes conducted against Imazighen by some individuals who betrayed Timmuzgha in order to collaborate with the Makhzen.

• They denounce the political exploitation of Tamazight by the State apparatus and the political parties.

• They denounce the prohibition imposed on Imazighen to give Amazigh names to their children,

• They denounce all prohibitions on Amazigh associations activities, in particular those of Azmez association (Boumal-n-Dadès), which was recently prevented from having a 2953 Amazigh new year celebration.

• They call on all the Amazigh associations and activists to be more vigilant in order to preserve the independence of the Amazigh cultural movement vis-à-vis the Makhzen and the political parties.

For the TADA Confederacy, signed Said JAAFAR, President Tinejdad, February 15, 2003

Member Associations:

ABRID (Fès), ADDOUR IMAZIGHEN (Sefrou), AKABAR (Aghbalou-n-Iserdane) , AMDAZ (El Hajeb), AMENZU

Which Script for Tamazight, Whose Choice is it? (Continued from page 6)

and on the other if the Amazigh people and their culture were respected as they deserve to be in their own ancestral lands, the friendly coexistence between the two cultures as mentioned above can only thrive, regardless of the selected script. But per-haps this is not enough for the North African “ideologists,” be-cause it isn’t friendship and respect for the Amazighs that is sought but rather their domination and at the same time keeping out western influence. IRCAM members decided on a script on their own. They have not consulted anyone outside IRCAM. There was no public de-bate on the issue prior to the decision and if there was an inter-nal debate, it was not made public. Amazighs outside Morocco, who will be affected by their decision were not consulted. Tech-nically speaking, not a single study was done to backup their de-cision. Not even a survey like the one conducted by the Revue Tifinagh. This clearly explains the Amazigh associations’ doubts and skepticism reported in this article. The reactions point to the possibility that the Amazigh members of IRCAM’s board may have come under a lot of pressure to choose the Arabic script or at least not to choose the Latin one. This is confirmed by Meryam Demnati’s interview to Revue Telquel [10[. Demnati, who supports the Latin script, admits the choice of Tifinagh was a compromise between selecting the Latin script and facing a total gridlock. She reported that in the second round, the Latin script conceded five votes to Tifinagh. This implies that there may have been a vote in which the Latin script clearly had the majority. She added that this was a concerted and well-thought out decision among the members. Clearly put, whoever was pull-ing the strings inside IRCAM has exerted enough pressure to defeat the Latin script and leave only Tifinagh and Arabic as op-tions. Faced with the possibility of endless obstructions and pos-sibly the risk to end up with a non-functioning IRCAM, five Latin votes were given up to Tifinagh to allow it to win over Latin and Arabic. IRCAM’s decision, although reached through coercion, is none-theless legally valid because no one contested the vote. One may object to the fact that IRCAM is an educational institution. As such it cannot be an elected body. Its members are appointed based on their scientific qualifications and the nature of their work in IRCAM is indeed scientific. First of all the scientific qualifications of at least some of the members is definitely ques-tionable. Second, the issue is political and ideological, and cer-tainly, their decision was not based on any scientific work. IR-


The Tada Confederacy of Amazigh Associations in Morocco—Press Releases

TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH BY HSEN LARBI

Oriental Languages and Civilizations), based in Paris. 6. The Arabic language is a Semitic language (like Hebrew)

while Tamazight belongs to the larger family of language called Hamito-Semitic, which is made of Afro-Asiatic lan-guages. Linguistics claim there is certain resemblance or distant links between the Semitic and the Hamito-Semitic languages.

7. Professor of French at the University of Tizi-Ouzou 8. It is unfortunate that detailed information on those sur-

veyed and the actual results were not published along with the article in question. The reader is forced to rely on the author’s interpretation of the results.

9. What is meant by democratic body is a body that is elected by the people IRCAM is supposed to serve. Obvi-ously, IRCAM is established for the promotion of Tamazight, therefore its members should be elected by the Amazigh people. It is possible to have appointed members that would represent the different ministries, but they would either have a non-voting status or represent a small fraction of the voting body. A 2/3 majority should be made of representatives of the Amazigh regions.

References 1. Demnati, Meriam, “Royal Amazigh Institute: Worries for

Imazighen,” The Amazigh Voice, Vol. 10, Nos. 3 and 4, Win-ter/Spring 2002.

2. Chaker, Salem, Manuel de Linguistique Berbère I, Editions Bouchène, Alger, 1990.

3. Aghali-Zakara, Mohamed, “Graphies Berbères et dilemma de diffusion, Intéraction des alphabets latin, ajami et tifi-nagh,” Actes de la Table Ronde Internationale “Phonologie et notation usuelle dans le domaine berbère”, Inalco, avril 1993, Eudes et Documents Berbères No. 11, La Boite à Docu-ments/Edisud, 1994, pp. 107-121.

4. Chaker, Salem, “Pour une notation à base Tifinagh,” Actes de la Table Ronde Internationale “Phonologie et notation usuelle dans le domaine berbère”, Inalco, avril 1993, Eudes et Documents Berbères No. 11, La Boite à Documents/Edisud, 1994, pp. 31-42.

5. Actes du Colloque International “Unité et Diversité de Tamazight”, Ghardaïa, 20-21 Avril 1991, Tome I, Agraw Adelsan Amazigh, Fedération Nationale des Associations Amazighes.

6. Tamazight face aux défis de la modernité, Colloque Interna-tional sur Tamazight, Boumerdès 15-17 Juillet 2002, IZURAN No. 32 August 2002.

7. Sini, Cherif, “Les raisons d’un choix,” IZURAN No. 33, September 2002.

8. Revue Tifinagh, Spring 1996. 9. Sini, Cherif, “Il y a une forte demande pour l’usage des

caractères Tifinagh,” Interview with IZURAN, IZURAN No. 32, August 2002.

10. Entretien avec Meriam Demnati: chercheur et membre du conseil d'administration à l'Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe, Interview realisée par Driss Sikes, Revue Telquel du 08 au 14 Fevrier 2003. Also published in Kabyle.com.

CAM made a political decision and the least it could have done in its present status of a non-democratic body9, was to consult the people and obtain the largest possible consensus. Prior to looking for consensus, the issue should have been publicized and largely debated. This could have been done whether IRCAM is an elected body or not. All possible solutions should have been considered before resorting to a vote. Instead, IRCAM jumped on this issue and voted on it almost as soon as it was created. Worse, its vote was manipulated and coerced. The real issue is one of freedom. Choice implies freedom! The Amazigh should be free to choose their script and no one should impose a language or a script on them. This should be the politi-cal and most meaningful justification the Amazigh people should offer when asked. The fact is, in the case of IRCAM, a political decision was made on their behalf without any representation. Worse, this right to choose was taken away by the very people who were supposed to defend them: the Amazigh activists inside IRCAM. When they revised their votes to allow Tifinagh to win over Latin and Arabic, they did not consider for one second that they have possibly become a tool in the hands of their foes. More importantly, they rushed on the issue and thus prevented their own people from familiarizing themselves with the issue and making up their mind and ultimately expressing themselves democratically. Finally, they did not realize that the Amazigh people have never mandated them to decide in their name.

What is the solution? Part of it lies in one of Sini’s conclusions: “the re-valorization and promotion of Tamazight to a national language are the result of the people’s cultural movement, so the choice of a script should be theirs.” It is also implied in the recommendation of the linguistics commission at the Ghardaia colloquium in 1991. Today, the Latin script is dominant, and it should to be used to develop Tamazight. If the desire for Tifinagh becomes strong among a larger segment of the Amazigh population, then it would naturally gain more acceptance and dominate over the other scripts. With time and use, the Amazigh people will either stay with the Latin script or switch to Tifinagh. It does not mat-ter when that happens because whenever it does, it will be the right time because people chose it. And that is the right way to do it. Notes 1. Currently a member of the board of IRCAM 2. The current Moroccan education charter establishes a

teaching of Tamazight as a means to integrate the Amazigh community within the “larger” Arab community. Tamazight would be taught much like Spanish is taught to Hispanic immigrants in the US in order to help them tran-sition to English.

3. Law (Arabic). 4. From Makhzen, which refers to state organization under

the successive monarchs. Makhzen implies “controlled by the king.”

5. French acronym for Berber Research Center. Created by Salem Chaker, it is part of INALCO (National Institute for


past 20 years, the Tifinagh script is the historical writing system of Tamazight, but it has not been in effective use for centuries (certainly more than one millennium) in all of North Africa. Thus, it can only play an identity or emblematic role and cannot be used as a basis for a functional writing system that can easily be disseminated. Furthermore, no serious work has been done to bring it up to date and adapt it to the current needs, on the basis of a phonological study. The version currently in use, which is prevalent in certain Amazigh activist circles, is purely and simply aberrant since it is actually a phonetic notation of Kabyl based on Tifinagh characters. This was developed in 1970 in the Berber Academy circles by amateurs full of goodwill, but nonetheless without any linguistic training. The result is that the alphabet which is currently presented to us as the Amazigh al-phabet is not an authentic one. It was strongly altered in order to transcribe the phonetic characteristics of Kabyl. It cannot thus be an Amazigh-wide alphabet. K.I.: As the director of the Berber Research Center and as someone who has organized many meetings on the subject of standardization of the Amazigh transcription, don't you think that this decision undermines the advances made with the Latin writing system? S. C: The result of nearly 50 years of research on Tamazight is a phonological system derived from the Latin characters which has shown significant progress in the Kabyl area. As far as Kabyl is concerned and more generally as far as Algerian Tamazight is concerned, the transition to the Latin based system is sufficiently advanced so that one may not fear either an ob-struction or regression. There are many publications, a press, literature, associations’ newsletters and magazines which have gradually used the Latin based system. Started 40 to 50 years ago, it has seen some improvements and simplifications based on our recommendations during the past 20 years. In Morocco, however, where Tamazight writing is less extensive and unsta-ble, and where competition between the Arabic and Latin based scripts exists, the decision to favor the Tifinagh script could have serious negative consequences. It may slow down or block the process of dissemination of the Amazigh written expression. The outcome will depend a lot on the users and in particular on the ability of the Moroccan Amazigh associations’ movement to persevere in the direction it has formerly taken.

Kra Isallen: In an official statement King Mohamed VI an-nounced the decision of IRCAM (French acronym for Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture) to adopt the Neo-Tifinagh alpha-bet as the only writing system for Tamazight in Morocco. As an Amazigh linguist, what is your reaction to this decision?

Salem Chaker: I consider that it is at the same time a hasty and badly founded decision, and certainly a dangerous one for the future and development of Tamazight in Morocco. It also shows very clearly the confusion among those who are in charge of the Amazigh language in the North African countries. While no serious

scientific debate on the question of the alphabet to use ever took place in Morocco or Algeria, the political leaders decided on an option that is totally disconnected from the current prac-tice, both in Morocco and in the rest of the Amazigh world. Currently, as you know, the most functional Amazigh writing system is Latin character based. In Morocco, it is seconded by the Arabic character based alphabet. K.I.: Isn't this a pernicious move aiming at the domestication of Tamazight by imposing a graphical tool while the language to be transcribed is not even recognized constitutionally? S. C: Indeed, it’s the carriage before the horse! The question of the legal status and, subsequently, the cultural and educational objectives of the teaching of Tamazight were neither clarified nor discussed. And graphic choices are imposed! The goal can only be an attempt by the dominant spheres and their auxiliaries to take over the Amazigh field by driving this transitional period of Amazigh writing and teaching into a sure dead end. K.I.: Do you think that in its current state, and taking into ac-count the means available for research, that the choice of Tifi-nagh is the solution to the transcription of Tamazight? S. C: As you know, for all noted Amazigh experts who have dealt with this question, there is no doubt as to what the answer is. For my part, and I have explained my position during the

Professor Chaker Speaks Out on the Tifinagh Script Issue


“I consider that it is at the same time a hasty and badly founded decision, and certainly a dangerous one for the future and development of Tamazight in Morocco.”

BY SAID CHEMAKH & MASIN FERKAL TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH BY HSEN LARBI

Professor of Tamazight (Berber) and director of the Berber research center (CRB) in Inalco (Paris), Salem Chaker remains one of the architects of the standardization of Tamazight. He has organized several meetings of Amazigh language experts and other cultural figures (writers, artists...) from all over the world to discuss the standardization of the Tamazight writing system. When the Moroccan monarchy recently (see feature article) decided to impose the Tifinagh script as the only transcrip-tion for Tamazight in Morocco, we thought it would be important to get his opinion, as an expert, on the subject.

Amazigh producers in Morocco, and the associations will con-tinue their work, with determination and tenacity, following the same path they have already taken.

K.I.: The two speeches in which King Mohamed VI referred to the Amazigh language took place right after Kabylia’s “Black Spring.” Does this signal fear of seeing the Moroccan Amazigh raise the same questions as those raised by the Kabyls, and put pressure on the monarchy to attempt integration? S.C: I believe that this parameter is always present and can be used to answer this question, and this can be said about Mo-rocco since 1980. It is clear that in this country, the monarchy, like all the established political forces, lives in fear of an evolu-tion “Algerian style” as far as the Amazigh issue is concerned. In other words, they are afraid the Amazigh would become so-cially autonomous. This is made explicit in the political dis-course of those close to the palace: “In this country, things do not happen the way they do in Kabylia because we do not typi-cally address these issues through radical departures from past practice. The monarchy integrates and takes into account all of its subjects…” It is clear that the Moroccan authorities skillfully “anticipate” and take advantage of the fact that the Amazigh issue in Morocco does not have the same acuity and social an-choring as in Algeria. The goal is to try to defuse possible ten-sions by taking some preventive measures that would allow the government to control and take advantage of the situation. The creation of the IRCAM, as well as the adoption of the Tifinagh script are part of a strategy which aims at reducing the Amazigh social and political factor to nothing or close to nothing.

K.I.: Aren't the approaches taken by Algeria and Morocco similar as far as their handling of the Amazigh issue? S. C: Yes, obviously, even if the chronology and, especially, the balance of power are not the same in the two countries. In Algeria, the Amazigh socio-political struggle is a reality that

is solidly anchored, which is not the case in Morocco. But the authorities of the two countries often use the same ways and means of neutralization. These include disqualification of the social actors, manipulation, administrative obstruction, direct involvement of the political authority in the management of all aspects, and especially, the absolute refusal to recognize the Amazigh linguistic and cultural rights. The two countries have engaged in perpetual juggling acts and shams in order to avoid posing clearly and answering the question of the legal status of the Amazigh language. These two countries, in fact, simply re-fuse to admit the social-linguistic reality, i.e., Tamazight is the language of the Amazigh and the legal consequences this im-plies. In other words, the Amazigh people have the right to their language and culture and Tamazight must be recognized and granted a legal status identical to that of Arabic. K.I.: What are your recommendations to the Amazigh move-ment as to what alphabet to use? S. C: Contrary to appearances, even in a country as centralized as France, in terms of language and script, it has always been the users and producers (writers, journalists, publishers, editors...) who have determined the graphical and orthographical standard, not the government or administrations. Thus, I hope that the

The Moroccan government has recently decided to reacti-vate an old colonial law, based on a 1916 decree, to take over the Amazigh ancestral lands of Amelen, Tafrawt and Tahla. The authorities claim that they will develop these lands and make them de facto national parks. The real owners, namely the local population, were never consulted on this project and was taken by surprise by this decision, reminiscent of French colonialism procedures in dealing with people’s lands. Listed as article 4712 in the Official Journal published by the Moroccan government, the new law was denounced by the Casablanca Chapter of the Amazigh association Ta-maynut as anti-constitutional, in contradiction with inter-national documents that Morocco has ratified, and a major blow to the right to individual property. In its press release, the Tamaynut Casablanca section strongly criticizes the government claim that it will de-velop the newly designated national parks, and says that the government’s actions will lead to instability in the re-gion. Tamaynut called upon the government to protect the rights of the Amazigh people to their ancestral lands, and for the elimination of all colonial laws. Finally, it called on all local associations to protest the government’s actions and pledged its continued fight for the rights of the Amazigh people.

The Amazighs of Morocco Stripped off their Land


“It has always been the users and producers who have determined the graphical and orthographical standard, not the government or the administrations.”

"No human group can survive if it does not first have the will to exist for itself and by itself.” Salem Chaker in a message delivered to the participants to the conference organized by the MAK (Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia) held August 18th 2003.

T he best way to approach this sub-ject, it seems to me, is to relate the events in their chronology and, eventually, draw some provisional

conclusions from this placement in a chrono-logical perspective. For that I will consider three events: the publication of the Amazigh Manifesto by Mohamed Chafik, the creation of the Institut Royal pour la Culture Amazighe (IRCAM2), and the Monarchy’s choice of Tifinagh as the official script for Tamazight.

The Amazigh Manifesto

I will not go over the content of this Manifesto; I had done it when it first came out. What is important to point out is that this Manifesto appeared to many observers and actors of the Amazigh cultural movement as the foundation for the Amazigh identity claims. This vision of things was supported by the second argument discussed below. However, there are two other arguments that escaped their attention:

1. Mohamed Chafik is a nationalist who lived through the war for independence. He is totally impregnated with nationalism, including in the language that he uses to-day. This is an established fact. Perhaps the day will come when researchers will be interested in studying this language from the lexicon and rhetoric standpoints in order to better understand this period of Morocco’s history. It is, therefore, not surprising that he entitled this text “Amazigh Manifesto,” for the birth of the na-tional movement is also a text whose title is “Manifesto for Independence.” This similitude in the names of the two events is not fortuitous; It is determined by a politi-cal culture, even if Chafik’s objective has not been ac-cepted by many nationalists. In any case, it was not part of the nationalist claims. On the contrary! In addition, the structure and the content of the two manifestos are comparable in the sense that they are both drawn from historical and sociological considerations. Of course, one may believe this is the only possible form. Certainly not for us who know, today, that any new content im-plies a special form of speech, except when it is diluted in an old one. In any case, the orthodox nationalists have perceived the Manifesto as a manifesto for auton-

omy of the Amazighs. Even the companions of the au-thor of the Manifesto were surprised by the tone and the content of the text.

A third similitude that deserves to be mentioned is the call for signatures of this Manifesto. We know that this is ex-actly the same operation that was used for the Manifesto for independence. As far as public opinion is concerned, personally I signed this Manifesto because it contained just claims, though I had some reservations about the analysis that preceded these claims. What I retained from the formal analysis of this text was that the claims made were rooted in the culture and the language of national-ism. Now, the Amazigh claim rejects the dogma of the orthodox nationalism founded exclusively on the Arabo-Islamic ideology. It, at least, includes the long time con-cealed, indeed fought, Amazighness by the tenors of the Arabo-Islamic nationalism. I am not certain this does jus-tice to the Amazigh struggle. But, after all, one can see in the Manifesto an important breach in the nationalist dis-course from within.

2. The most important characteristic of the Manifesto is the fact that its content makes no reference to the different events that have punctuated the history of the Amazigh cultural movement since the sixties. This omission or oc-cultation did not go unnoticed by certain actors of this movement. I will quote a very important text, which, in my opinion, is the founding text: the Agadir Charter. This is a text that contains a number of minimal claims that the big associations of the Amazigh cultural movement of that time agreed upon, and which served as a common platform of action for these associations. One will note, therefore, the difference in the name. The fact that the Agadir Charter was a text commonly negotiated by legal institutions, and not an individual text, is something com-pletely new in the history of the Amazigh movement. This is, therefore, an important event, to which probably the promoters did not give its just value.

In fact, the Agadir Charter marked the birth of a movement that risked becoming a mass movement, as someone has said re-cently. Additionally, it has spawned the creation of a multitude of associations in small towns and the countryside while, so far, the claim had been exclusively a big-city claim, of concern only

The Current State of Tamazight in Morocco BY ABDELLAH BOUNFOUR

1 TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH BY LOUISA SELLAMI

Organized by the association Tamazgha on June 28, 2003 in Paris, the talk by Abdellah Bounfour on the Amazigh issue in Morocco helped raise public awareness in regards to the political position of the Moroccan monarchy towards Tamazight. Reproduced below is a transcript of the talk, as well as a summary of the discussion that ensued.


to the Amazigh elite. From this standpoint, one can consider the Amazigh Manifesto a catalyst of this mass orientation to-wards a more restricted framework: that of a cultural claim, which was the first inspiration of the Amazigh movement at its beginnings. This has been the case for AMREC since its foun-dation.

The Creation of the IRCAM

Here again, I will not dwell on the content of the Dahir (law) instituting the IRCAM. However, I will summarize two points, which, I think, are interesting to meditate on. These are the public ceremony of the creation of IRCAM and the basic structures of the latter, particularly the board of directors.

1. I had noted that this ceremony was exceptional in its choice of venue and progression of events, as well as in the number and the quality of the guests. The place is the town of the maternal family of the king. To my knowledge, no Dahir has ever had a proclamation place of this kind. The natural place to proclaim a law, in Morocco, is the parliament and the official newspaper. To proclaim a law in the open air is un-usual in the history of this country. This meant that the event deserved this unusual and exceptional proclamation. It does, indeed, for it put a symbolic and legal end to the identity mo-nism inherited from the triumphant nationalism. And it was necessary to manage it in this manner so that it would not be perceived as a “deviation” or a disavowal of this nationalism, but rather a simple omission, a necessary complement, it seems, promised by Hassan II since independence. A deliv-ered promise therefore!

2. The number and the quality of the guests of this cere-mony are very significant. In fact, all the state institutions were represented, including political parties, labor unions, the civil society, including Amazigh associations that did or did not support the Amazigh Manifesto. Therefore one must conclude that the Amazigh issue went from being a concern of one group of the population to symbolically become the matter of the state and that of all Moroccans.

3. The board of directors posed a more delicate problem. The discussion focused on who will sit on the board. In a nutshell, two positions confronted each other. Being of an academic nature, the first one proposed that only Amazigh language and culture experts would be members, given that the basic mission of the IRCAM is to introduce the language in the educational system and to promote the Amazigh cul-ture in the media and society at large. The second, the activ-ists’ position, demanded that the associative movement be represented. The first one forgets that the IRCAM, given its judicial statute, cannot be only academic, for if its nature were such, there would not be any reason for it to be tied to the monarchy; it would have sufficed to tie it to the university. The too-close proximity to the center of political decisions imposes that it be not exclusively scientific. The second for-gets that the IRCAM is not a framework for activism. How could it be when the institution itself is linked to the central power? The two positions are therefore conflicting. Neverthe-less, the current board of directors is composed of scientists

and activists. Some will see this as a contradiction. The IR-CAM is not only a place for scientific research but also a place where the Amazigh issue can be managed.

The Tifinagh Script

Here I will summarize the analysis I published in a monthly Moroccan journal. Note that the choice of Tifinagh is the first public decision made by the institute. The process that led to this decision is twofold: internal and external to the IRCAM.

1. The Institute’s Center for Linguistic Development ─the only one to have recruited university language ex-perts─ was in charge of preparing a scientific analysis of the three competing alphabets to be used as the basis for the choice of the official script. The Center did its work follow-ing an explicit methodology described in its documents. Thus, the problem is not to discuss the relevance of this methodology but to determine how it weighed on the deci-sion, for the latter does not depend only on the scientific aspect. There is certainly the political aspect to consider; that is when the external process comes into play.

2. Before the board meeting, a number of associations met in Meknès claiming the Latin script as their choice. The press gave a big coverage to this position and, thus, put pres-sure upon the IRCAM’s board of directors. Later, associa-tions of Islamic tendencies met and demanded that the Ara-bic script be selected. But to my knowledge, no association claimed the Tifinagh script. It is therefore clear that Arabic-Latin antagonism became a political issue, one that would weigh heavily on the choice to make to the point that the scientific opinion was completely ignored. The Tifinagh script was selected in order to “referee” this antagonism. And it was argued that this alphabet was not only adequate but it was also the original Amazigh alphabet. This, for a language expert, is very far from reality. Recall that the Tifi-nagh script, known to experts in Amazigh linguistics as the neo-Tifinagh, is not the same thing as the Libyan script, the original Amazigh alphabet, which is still hard to decipher. Neo-Tifinagh is a slight variation of the alphabet dissemi-nated by the former Paris-based Amazigh academy, and which was specifically developed to transcribe the Kabyl id-iom. This historic reminder is necessary, for the layperson truly believes that the neo-Tifinagh is the actual old Amazigh alphabet.

O ne will retain, therefore, that the hybrid con-stituency of the board of directors, in this par-ticular case, was not in favor of the scientific and historic truth of the language. I will con-clude with these two important points:

1. Having examined the events from 1967 to this day, I have no doubt that the Amazigh movement succeeded in carrying out many important actions. These include visibility of Amazigh associations, publishing in Tamazight and about Tamazight, Amazigh artistic production, which is in net ex-plosion, the fact that Tamazight is becoming the means of


BY NABIL BOUDRAA

Tamazight and The Makhzen: One Step Forward, Ten Steps Backward

Historically, governments have historically made meaningless and contradictory decisions, which purposely complicated the lives of the people they were supposed to serve. How can one then respect a government that does not even respect its own decisions? Such is the case this year in Morocco. About a year ago, the Moroccan monarchy officially declared its commitment for the creation of a royal institute for the Amazigh culture (IRCAM). In fact, King Mohammed VI even approved the decision of this institute to opt for Tifinagh as the official script of Tamazight in Morocco. Based on these decisions, the officials of the city of Nador, in the Rif region, decided last April to progressively include an Amazigh version on all road signs in the urban sections of the municipality. In the morning of April 29th, 2003, the inhabitants of Nador thought they were dreaming when they discovered the Tifi-nagh characters in the streets of their city. For the mayor of the city, Tarek Yahia, this step is important for the development of Tifinagh, which should be part of the daily life of everyone and not just the elite and the Amazigh newspapers. He declared that this decision to put Tifinagh on road signs was legal and that he even obtained the consent of the municipal council. However, the joy of the Nador residents did not last long, since on the same day the Ministry of the Interior ordered local authorities to seize all documents written in Tifinagh and erase this legitimate alphabet from all road signs. To make matters worse, the police went to remote villages and erased all the “Z” symbols written in Tifinagh on walls by school children. To sum up, the Moroccan monarchy conducted a real war to the Tifinagh alphabet shortly after imposing it as the official script for the Amazigh language. This treacherous act confirms once again that this Arabo-Islamic government, like its coun-terparts in other countries of North Africa, has no intention of providing the necessary means to the development of the Amazigh language. On the contrary, it uses all of its power to keep this language in the confines of the palace in order to pre-vent the people from having access to it. It would then be too naïve to think that governments in North Africa would seri-ously recognize Tamazight and help bring it to light. After all, history has taught us that they have been doing just the oppo-site. That is why it is important for all Imazighen to be alert and to work harder in order to prevent any malicious threat to the survival and development of their ancestral language.

communication of city-dwellers, and the return to their roots of Amazighs who were ashamed of their language and origin to the point of self-hate, a condition well described by Tuni-sian writer Albert Memmi in Le complex du colonisé (The Complex of the Colonized) and by Algerian philosopher Frantz Fanon in his writings.

2. Nevertheless, there still remains a lot to do. Though Amazighness has taught pluralism to Moroccans, not all of them have accepted it as a tangible part of the Moroccan iden-tity and a factor to reckon with from now on. Since they, at least a non-negligible fringe, claim universal democratic values, credit should be given to the Amazigh cultural movement for not yielding on this linguistic and cultural plurality of the coun-try, plurality already underlined in the Agadir Charter. There-fore, it is necessary to add another task that is more difficult and more complex: the claim of a resolutely modern Amazigh-ness. But that is another issue.

Summary of the Discussion

T he main questions revolved around the Tifinagh alphabet, comparison with the Algerian position, and the relationships between the Amazigh move-ment and the Islamic movement. On the Tifinagh

subject, the lecturer referred the audience to an article he pub-lished on the subject and gave a copy to the representative of the association Tamazgha who will get permission from its magazine to distribute it and, eventually, to post it on-line. On the comparison with the Algerian position, he specially insisted on this false idea that the Amazigh movement is antagonist to Islamism. He reminded the audience that the history of North Africa teaches us that the Amazighs have widely contributed to the islamicization and Arabicization of the region. Islamism, as a political movement, is indeed a concern to the Amazigh movement. But it has also mobilized all those who claim to be modern. The problem is to define the content of this moder-nity.

According to the lecturer, the Kabyl specificity resides in a his-toric process that is different from the Moroccan case. Despite all that has been said on this subject, Kabylia, as all Algeria, lived a colonization that tried to destroy the structures and cul-ture of Kabyl society. An important fact to mention is the es-tablishment of the republican school as early as the 19th cen-tury in this region. The length of colonization and massive ac-culturation of Kabyls is different from the situation of Moroc-can Amazighs. The lecturer ended the talk by recalling that nationalism incarnated by the states is a tangible fact. One can pretend to think of the Amazigh world as a whole, but the be-haviors are more revealing. He recalled the manner in which the members of the World Amazigh Congress were desig-nated. It was done by nationality, he said, and that is more than revealing, for these are the realities.

________________________ 1- Abdellah Bounfour is a professor of Amazigh literature at the INALCO (National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations). He is one of the founders of the AMREC, the first Amazigh association created in Morocco in 1967. 2- French acronym for royal institute for the Amazigh culture.



Kud Nettidir Netti/ir SPUR OUMAR DERWIC

Unna yesnipisen tigiwin n kraygat ass$ ipiy ad ilkem yikez nnes ayenna per tessada tsertit n tmurt nnep Merruk g usayes n yidles d uselmed# Ur da d-ittap$ taggara-ya$ pas aparas n usoerreb iddukklen d usfe\nes n ddaw icu,i,# Ar ttusgalen iberdan ya,en lumen(especially) win n tmazipt# Asnipes-a a t-id-nessikez s kra n tmatarin zund%

1)Ur da d-izerri g tilifizyu tapelnawt pas ud-mawen n ssinima taorabt ak d tef\ansist$ ilin dip wud-mawen n ssinima tamarikanit meqqar ttwaselgen g tu-tlayt s tef\ansist$ ur nettettu udmawen imiksikiyen itt-waselgen g tutlayt s taorabt# Idd inepmisen$ waxxa llan s tmazipt$ gan amm kra n ufpul ise,van imannayen d tmannayin$ ar kerrzen degsen asselku n yiman s us-beddi n "inepmasen" n tmazipt imkinna ttebdaden g tmepra# Ayenna d-izerrin s taorabt tamerrukit i..ef tam-na. n usken/il (publicity) d kra n tceqqufin n umezgun d kra n tezlatin immuzdern# Tamazipt nettat ur pures ansa#

2) G tesga n umezgun$ tettwasker yuwet trab-but tapelnawt n umezgun s taorabt# Ar tesskan tiwuri-win nnes i ymannayen n snat nep kra. temdinin time-qranin# Yih$ iperman ixataren i deg llan kigan n imez-dap izemren ad awsen tarabbut-a ad teddu per dat g tudert nnes# Maca$ is iga apelnaw umezgun iqqnen per kra n temdinin@

I tutlayt nna s tturarent$ map ad ur yili wmezgun s tutlayt tamazipt nna pur kigan n imsiwlen ak d g temdinin nna per tetteddu trabbut n umezgun pef nsawel@

Yap-d$ taggara-ya$ wanfa n twuri n trabbut n umezgun$ acku tekkaw tapul tezri adpar i mennawet n trubba d-ilulan$ am/ent abrid nna yasent-tegzi tmezwa-rut meqqar sriwent (to enlarge) igliten n tikkitin nnsent$ ar n-ttaw,ent timdinin yaggugen# Maca$ sulent digsent snat tegrinin (lack, lacunas) igan tirzi per temdinin tixata-rin $ d wuful n tmizar time//yanin d tnammasin$ tili dip tutlayt tamazipt ittugran s tesga ilan amur nnes acku tga d tutlayt iddren#

3) Innulfa-d g tazwara n iseg˚g˚asen 90 yiwen umussu n usudes n terra,ufin (day care)# Iga-yasent ti-segri weplif n tsustanin timettiyin nna yefkan afus i wu//unen (centers) n tsednan mar ad d-ssufupen "tiselmadin" n terra,uft nep tim,ufin n warraw ime//yanen inmalan akeccum per uperbaz#

Aya n tsertit tla timentilin$ a d-nebder segsent%

-Uguz n uswir n uselmed s umata# -Tifi n twuri i terbatin iffpen tapuri# -Asfa, n tutlayin tanyutin (mother tongues) seg

i/uran nep seg tem/i ad ffpent abrid i tutlayin tunvi-bin lumen taorabt n tedbelt#

Seg izpanen (critiques) nezmer ad nefk i tsertit-a%

-Mapef tettwasfa, tutlayt tanyut iyerban t-terbatin me//iynin acku nessen is d-nnemyaren asemra-ra n tutlayt-a ku/ nep ugar n iseggasen pur imarawen nnsen@ is ur igi wya aswe,,er axatar g tudert n ime//yanen@ ur issefk ad ittemwat uselmed d uselmed n tgemmi nna ygan ane/par (authentic), da$ da d-tesrus tutlayt tamazipt iman nnes d umezruy nnes d tudert nnes pef wudem n tsertit tutlayant (Linguistic policy) n tmura g tettidir# Asefrep n tikli n tutlayin tiperfanin ur da d-yakka pas asefrep n tneflit$ acku yerwas ukus n yiwet tpawsa yellan d usrus n yiwet ya,en g wansa nnes$ aya da yseffe, tine//upra (authenticity) iger-d g ulazim nnes tab/anit i tmettiyin ya,nin#

Day$ ur asen-d-yagur i winna ranin asefrep n uselmed d usegmi s umata pas ad ssirden allapen rnun-asen tarda$ maca uress is snapsen iman nnsen is asen-rkan inelliten$ ran zwar tarda; maca mayd iran ad asen-ten-issired@

Irban d terbatin mi ran ad rwin ipfawen ard ttun idles d tutlayt n imarawen nnsen d idaddaten nnsen$ issefk-asen ad sigglen kra n tussna izemren ad asen-tsem,err inelliten seg mayd d-lulan$ mar ad ur asen-cc,en ftun-asen per abrid lli wer asen-rin a t-kkin#

Ngum n usxusem (protection) n iperban n iper-man d ibeddi mgal n usniri (to turn into a desert), izwar-d usxusem n yiman n imezdap n iperman d tpermin s tufki n wallalen n tussna d udrim iwakken ad taggug tmettant i tutlayin tiperfanin ittwa..ef yidles d umezruy n yiwdan ad iss afen abrid n tneflit (development) n tussniwin$ seg degsent tussna n yiman lli yakkan taz-mert i tussniwin ya,nin# Iqqen-nn dip ibeddi mgal n usniri n inelliten$ asniri yettraran afgan (Man as in Man’s rights, Human) d amya nep kra n tpawsa yalwun i wes-fusu (manipulation) n wiye, igan zund netta# Anamek n wawal iga-t usfa, nep unexxel n tutlayt tamazipt igan tawengimt nnep (our memory) d tsegwri n tmed-durt nnep$ mek r/ant snat tersal ddep ur d-ipama we-



Kud Nettidir Netti/ir (Irennu pef usebter wis-14)

mya degnep$ ayennap as iga wmennup d usdus n imi-

Atta wul-iw yettoeggi, Di ttnavif n yi, Tesmektam-as-d ayen ioeddan Xas bpip a wen-d-inip Te/ram nek /rip Yiwen n ujenwi i p-yezlan Mi tent-qqnep ttwalip S kra n wayen ==ip Ttargup ula d ice\fan Ttwehhimep deg yiman-iw Ma di loqel-iw i llip Nep lehlak deg-i yezdel Tizzya-w ak mi tent-ttwalip Ur yezdip deg-sent usemmi, Wwtent ak˚ tudert s rrkel Ma d nek gummap ad zwip I wayen ak˚ wwip Ma brip-as ad iyi-rwel Wis amek i tt-turam ay itran Di tegnaw tezroam Ayen aozizen twalam-t D kenwi i dap-isduklen D wid i p-yezwaren I/ran d acu teswa tenq˚eltt Siwlet-asen$ xas mmuten S yiman nnsen a p-d-mmuqlen A s-d-ggen llehd i tayett Tagara ad a d-inip D tidett zrip Ilha win issaramen Ttsebbirep deg yiman-iw Xas ccetwa tettoe..il D tafsut i d-yettabaoen Ssaramep ur ittip˚zif yi, Tilelli a s-nidir Ad as-fsun ize==igen#

Asefru

SPUR FARIDA E

asnipes observation$ Amyag% snipes kraygat yal ta (each) lumen a.as a.as (especially) afpul clown tarabbut tarbaot (band, group) nna i (amqim amassap) sirew

sihrew# Isem tirut ° tehri# Amyag riw ° ihriw#

mennawet (several, many; feminine). Mennaw (several, many, masculine)

tinnes tinnis$ tin ines (his /hers ) axatar ameqqran (ixataren$ imeqqranen) anfa ixf (tip, the end or limit of something) inelliten allapen (asuf = anelli) imiriyen imiri ° zz’erb (barrier, fence) imki akka iz,ar izmer uress wissen ahat as i per - Amedya "acku tim,elt as ittawi

webrid nnes" ° "acku tim,elt i per itta-wi webrid nnes"

Ap

il ila (isoa to possess). Inumak wiya, : ban (to seem), rcel (zwej, to marry), e..ef (to grab), (cbu, to ressemble) to reign, to play, to happen (event), to buy, etc. Amedya "Yap-d tagga-ra-ya wanfa n twuri"

riyen (barriers) asent-ittlen tawuri ylan avum axatar# Unna yre//an idles t-tutlayt n Imazipen tap-t

tamupt (ill) ittapen yan yugin iman nnes yiri ad idwel d waye, nep ira akw tamettant# D kra yellan imki wer iz,ar ad ittwa,far$ acku tim,elt as ittawi webrid nnes# Maca wenna yre//an tawengimt n yiwen zund netta _mek issen ayenna yesskar_ hat iman nnes d twengimt nnes ayd da ysemtat ur yukiy$ meqqar da d-iqqar g iwennan nnes is da yrezzu aseggem d usnefli n tmurt mi yettipil is tga tinnes$ isettu i yepf nnes is da yezzenza ayedda wer igin winnes$ anaw-a aymi neqqar axendallas nep imeggi n tukker,a tameqwrant# Iga axendallas acku da ysenyuddu tikerkas d usefrep n tit ger yiwdan$ ig amaker acku da yettaker tilawt n ayetmas nna yeggar per tama ar d-isbedda id wawuf (scarecrow) ar issen issag˚ad yiwen iran ad d-issip tit ittwakren#

Tizi n Imnayen$ Aram 04 Ma\$ 2949

TAMAWALT

movement in Morocco. Amazigh Multimedia (www. amazighmultimedia.de) has just re-leased its second production made of two tales: "Uccen, aqjun" (The Jackal and the dog) fourteen minutes long and a five minutes long un-animated story called “Imcac” (A family of cats). These tales are traditional Amazigh tales. They are loaded with meaning and wisdom. And now they are avail-able on tape for everyone to enjoy and

learn from. The person behind this production is the dedicated Cherif Oucherif. His first animation was “ U c c e n d Iz imer” (The Jackal and the Lamb). The tapes are available at

Editions Berbères, Paris.

MON NOM EST C OM B A T ( M y name is Struggle) is the title of a book that gathers the Re-bel’s songs. For those who like Lounes Matoub’s song lyrics or simply have an in-

terest in Amazigh poetry, here is a book that put most of his work in one handy publication. The book is pub-lished by “La Decouverte (Paris) and contains French translations of the lyrics.

leagues and the violent reaction of the authorities caused by his having over-stepped the mark. Mohammed Akunad was born in 1950 in Ihahan, on the Atlantic coast, north of the town of Agadir. He is, at present, a teacher in Agadir. An activist in the asso-ciation movement and the host of a radio program on the town’s regional network (Tawessa Tamazight, Amazigh Culture), he also writes in Amazigh. He has already translated three Russian folk tales into Tamazight (Vasilisa tafalkayt, Tiddukla, Gar tagwmat), and Tawargit d imik is his first novel. D’OÙ VIENT LE VENT? (Where does the wind come from?) by Hamadi, Les 3 Orangers - De Vecchi, 2003 , 32 pages. ISBN 2-7328-9132-0. The book can be ordered directly from Les 3 Orangers, 13, av. de Saint-Mandé 75012 Paris. As the lasting drought threatens the sur-vival of the people, the elders decide to send the bravest men to seek out Mother Rain. The courageous Latif accepts this important mission which will take him far beyond the Crystal Mountains, to the land of White Camphor. Tearing himself away from the Fair Mounia, to whom he gave his heart, he sets out on a long jour-ney, filled with perilous encounters, his only weapon a few word of wisdom im-parted by one of the elders... This Amazigh tale is included in the col-lection of stories "Our Children, Tales from far away", an inter-cultural project for youth of the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. The aim of this project is to challenge us to investigate and acknowledge the diversity within the European minority cultures. Hamadi, a storyteller of Berber origin, is a writer, actor, singer and director. Die Berberbewegung in Marokko. Zur Geschichte der Konstruktion einer ethnischen identität (1912-1997) by KRATOCHWIL Gabriele – Berlin, Gerd Winkerhane, Klaus Schwarz Verlag GmbH, 2002, 489 pages. Based on the author’s 2002 thesis, this publication is the most exhaustive work on the subject of Amazigh identity con-struction and the history of the Amazigh

Uccen Aqjun


Portions of the news column were taken from:

monde.berbere.com

and

tamazgha.fr

Thanks / Tanemmirt!

national and official language, a status held only by the Arabic language. After decades of Arabization, in 1994, King Hassan II promised to introduce Tamazight in the school system under the pressure of the Mo-roccan Amazigh movement and the ever growing fear to see the Moroccan Amazigh movement tread in the steps of the Amazigh movement of Algeria. In 2001 was created the IRCAM (see our main article in this is-sue). A pilot program for the teaching of Tamazight is launched in 317 schools, which will be extended to all schools by 2013. According to the Ministry of Education. One thousand teachers are being trained to launch this first stage.

Amazighness and Development Issues is the title of an international conference held in Agadir, Morocco, July 25-27th, 2003. It was organized by the Université d’Eté d’A-gadir (The Summer University of Agadir).

L'ALGÉRIE AU TEMPS DES ROYAU-MES NUMIDES (Algeria during the time of the Numidian kingdoms), edited by Geneviève Sennequier and Cécile Colonna, and sponsored by Unesco and the French-Algerian cooperation. This book covers the history and culture of pre-Islamic North Africa. It is a history that was influenced by Carthage and Rome, and for a long time forgotten much like the Etruscan’s. It was brought up to date through French coloni-zation and today is rejuvenated through the e f f o r t s o f t h e K a b y l movement. TAWARGIT D IMIK, by Mohammed Akunad, , Tîzrigin Bouregreg, Rabat, 2002, 158p. ISBN 9954-8154-4-9. Tawargit d imik (A Dream and More) tells the story of a well-read man who is employed by the Amazigh-speaking inhabitants of a Mo-roccan village. As he is anxious to carry out the religious functions of a village sage in a satisfactory manner, Ssi Brahim Tacenyart decides to preach in the language spoken by the local population. He has consequently to deal with both the reluctance of his col-

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