African Unification Front
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BIRTH OF AN AFRICAN DISSIDENT MOVEMENT
THE AMAZIGH RESISTENCE OF NORTH AFRICA
The Berbers are found in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Egypt. Berbers make up some 40 percent of the Moroccan population, and some 25 and 35 percent of the populations of Algeria and Tunisia, respectively. The vast majority of North Africans have ancestry even though they are not self-identified as Berber. Berber languages are concentrated in the mountainous areas which have best resisted Arabization, except in the case of the deep Sahara. The whole of North Africa spoke Berber languages at one time, while in the Middle Ages they occupied much of Spain and Sicily as well.
Between the 11th and 13th centuries, two great Berber dynasties - the Almoravids and the Almohads - controlled large parts of Spain, as well as north-west Africa. Berbers prefer the term "Amazigh," instead of "Berber" because "Berber" derives from "Barbara," the Greek term for barbarian, later adopted by Romans and Arabs. the word Berber is also associated with the people from the land of Ber, the son of biblical figure Ham.
Berbers have lived in North Africa since at least 3000 B.C.E. Berbers number over 15 million people. Many Berber confederacies in North Africa resisted Arab rule; the revolt led by the Berber queen Kahina in the 7th century is just one of the best known. Berbers confederacies entered semiautonomous alliances with Roman, Vandal and Islamic rulers, maintaining a decentralized tradition of rule. The mass migrations through the region of Arabs (particularly the Banu Hilal), which began in the 9th century, led to the gradual conversion of most Berbers to Islam. Many Berbers also began to speak Arabic.
Although Berber groups' experiences with Islam have varied widely, it may be said that Berber tradition remade Islam in North Africa as Islam remade the Berbers. North African Islamic dynasties, including the Almoravids, the Almohads, and the Marinids, were Berber dynasties, and some incorporated elements of Berber confederate leadership, such as succession based on female kinship. The Umayad armies in Africa were mostly Berbers and troops from elsewhere in Africa.
In the 19th century, many Berber confederacies resisted the French in North Africa, but tensions between them played into the hands of the French. One of the more formidable Berber opponents to French colonial rule was Abd el-Karim, who in the early 20th century founded the Rif Republic, a Berber state on the northeast edge of Morocco.
French rule had a profound impact on Berber self-identity, as well as on the conception of the Berbers by the outside world. The tensions that developed between groups who identified as Berber and those who identified more closely with Islam continue to be felt today.
Following independence, Berbers in North Africa became increasingly integrated into Arabic-speaking, mixed-ancestry national populations. Some of the nomadic Berber groups living in the Sahara and the Sahel, such as the Tuareg, have maintained relatively distinct identities. Most Berbers identify as Islamic, but some continue to honor pre-Islamic religious traditions, such as the traditional celebration of "the King of the Devils." Political protests, such as a 1994 strike in Algeria for official recognition of the Berber Tamazight language, show that in some locations, the distinctive Berber identity remains vital.
Like many other African languages Berber dialects are often mutually incomprehensible, although remarkably similar and belong to the African family of languages. Little is known of ancient Libyan Berber (Numidian), despite the presence of inscriptions dating back to the Roman era. The modern Berbaer writing system called tifinagh is based on an ancient Libyan script. Guanchos, the now-extinct language of the Canary Islands, was a Berber language. North Africa's Berber cultures and dialects include the Kabyle, Shluh, Tuareg, Mozabite, Ait Hadida, Rif, Shawia, Haratine, and Beraber.
The three main dialects used in Morocco are Tachelhit, Tamazight and Tarifit, collectively called "shilha" in Arabic. Tachelhit (also known as "soussi" or "cleuh") is spoken in south-west Morocco, in an area between Ifni in the south, Agadir in the north and Marrakech and the Draa/Sous valleys in the east. Tamazight is spoken in the Middle Atlas, between Taza, Khemisset, Azilal and Errachidia. Tarifit (or Rifia) is spoken in the Rif area of northern Morocco. Berber is a spoken language, though there are attempts to gain acceptance for a written form.
Historical texts show that St. Augustine was a Berber, as were the 7th century princess/warrior Kahina, Goliath, Emperor Septimius Severus, the explorer Ibn Battutah, and Tarik Ibn Ziyad, who led Muslim forces across the Mediterranean and eventually gave his name to Gibraltar (from "Jabal Tarek" -- the Rock of Tarek). The ancient Numidians, who were first allies of Carthage and then clients of the Roman Empire, were Berbers. Another Berber community, the Tuareg, known as "the People of the Veil," have been romanticized in Western films and novels as a hard, warrior people, ever since they smashed a French expedition in 1881.
In the 1500s Berber sailors used to attack American ships off the Coast of Morocco. The Berber states of Algiers, Tunisia, Rabat and Tetouan served as bases for Moorish fighters who attacked European vessels in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Oceans. After the American Revolution, Berbers began targeting American ships, leading to a war between the USA and the Tripolitania and Algerian ports in the early 19th century.
But despite this long, vast history, Berbers today face extinction of a different kind: assimilation into an increasingly Arabized North Africa. "Direct cultural repression was a phenomenon that started as early as the mid-1960s, when the transmissions of the one Berber radio station became limited to four hours a day, and it became illegal to give children Berber names," write Brett and Fentress. "Systematic repression of festivals, of musical groups, and the abolition of...Berber [language courses] at the University of Algiers were all aimed at establishing the linguistic and cultural unity of the country, and preventing the growth of Berberism into a political force."
Upon gaining independence in 1962, the Algerian government adopted Arabic as the national language. Despite this, in many regions French and Berber continued to dominate, however, with Arabic as a third language. Facing fears of secession, the government of Algeria for years suppressed the expression of Berber language and culture. In the early 1990s, however, Algerian television began airing news in Berber dialects. In 1995,in an effort to gain the support of Berber parties, then-president Liamine Zeroual set up an agency to introduce the teaching of Berber.
Such progress, slowly won, was not to last. When a law came into effect in Algeria making Arabic the only language in public life in July 1998, riots erupted in Kabyle, a center of Berber identity. Crowds carrying banners stating "We are not Arabs" chanted anti-government slogans in Berber and French. Anger had been simmering in this area since the murder of popular Berber singer Lounes Matoub in May.
Matoub, a champion of secularism and critic of the state's Arabization policy and Islamic fundamentalism, had extolled Berber culture and referred to Arabic as an "uninteresting" language, one "unsuitable for knowledge and science." After Matoub's death, the Armed Berber Movement (ABM) emerged, and then threatened to kill anyone who tried to implement Arabization laws.
In Morocco where Berbers constitute a 60 percent majority - protests are emerging against the government's Arabization policy. In 1996 the government passed laws outlawing Berber names, such as Messina and Jurgurtha, and coercing citizens to give their newborns Arabic names.
Berber activists and intellectuals are calling the Arabization policy "a new Arab conquest." Berber activist Hassan Ouzaat told the BBC, "[Pan-Arabism] generated a movement of culturally genocidal proportions. It is actually trying to subdue local identity in order to augment the numbers of so-called Arabs... Little did they realize that the pan-Arabism based in the Middle East would expand in such a fury to North Africa and result in this pan-Arab hysteria, trying to obliterate anything that is native to North Africa and especially its language."
In response, a movement of Berber consciousness and pride emerged in Algeria and Morocco in the early 1990s. The Berber Cultural Movement states as its basic principle "Berber exists, and is entitled to participate fully in the life of the nation," and celebrates the Berbers' 4000 years of history, warning of "la braise berbere" - "the smoldering of Berber consciousness against the time when it would burst into flame."
Organizations have also been formed to explore pan-Berber identity among indigenous cultures throughout North Africa, including the Amazigh World Congress (CWA), which was founded in France in 1995 and demans recognition of Berber identity and languages from North African governments. In the Canary Islands in August 1998, the CWA and other groups participated in the first-ever international conference to celebrate the cultures of the Berber peoples, an occasion described by CWA chairman Mebrouk Febral as "a great day in Berber history."
In Mid-January, Berbers around the world celebrate Yennayer. The Yennayer celebration in New York, sometimes held in a chapel off Times Square, includes lectures, screenings of Berber films and live Berber music. In Morocco during the Yennayer children are given walnuts, dried fruits etc. Yennayer is a reaction to the dangers of assimilation, to a system which denies the specificity of Berber culture.
Berber associations throughout North Africa emphasize their African identity. The philosophy of 'Negritude,' which emerged in the 1930s, speaks of Africa's contribution to world civilization and acknowledges the legacy of Berbers. Leopold Senghor paid tribute to St. Augustine, who was a Berber. Shakespeare's Othello -- referred to as 'The Moor' -- was Berber. Moors are Arabic-speaking Berbers. And the Tuareg -- the 'Blue Men' of the desert -- are definitely African."
There is a tendency in Morocco to regard the Berbers as backward, partly because their culture is strongest in the less-developed rural areas. Many of the children in these regions drop out of school because they are taught in what, to them, is a foreign language - Arabic. The language barrier often remains a problem throughout adult life, especially when dealing with officialdom.
Berber is not officially recognised in Morocco, though French (the old colonial language) is. There was some pressure in 1996, when the constitution was being revised, to have Berber recognised. There are a few Berber programmes on television - mainly as a token gesture.
END
AFRICANS WILL LIBERATE THE CANARIES
The Canary Islands belong to the African Union. They are currently occupied illegally by Spain. The canaries consist of the islands of Fuerteventura, Gomera, Gran Canaria, Hierro, La Palma, Lanzarote, and Tenerife.
The leader of the African Amazigh resistance is Antonio Cubillo, General Secretary of MPAIAC.
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I can see you are interested in the meaning of the berber letter "Z" that appears in the symbols of our party, the National Congress of the Canaries. Well, being the canary population of berber origin it's logical the use of that symbol by the CNC since it's creation in 1985. This berber letter is the central character of the word "amzigh", though in berber only the consonants M Z G are written, word that means "free man". Imazighen are the free men (it's the plural of amazigh), and this is the way all berber peoples refer to themselves.
You can also fing in the internet the flag of the independentists of the Canaries, a vertical tricolor of white, celeste blue and yellow with seven green stars in circle in the central bar. It was created in Algiers at 22 October 1964 as the flag of the MPAIC and in time it became the national flag of the Canaries, adopted by nearly all the nationalist parties. White means the water of the mountains that brings life to the land, yellow is canary yellow like the singing birds and like the wealth of our colonized fatherland and the celeste blue is the sky where are located the seven green stars that represent the seven islands with the colour green standing for hope, for we all hope to live some day free in this archipelago.
Antonio Cubillo, President of the CNC and General Secretary of the MPAIAC
Jaume Ollé, 25 April 1998
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I confirm the drawing of the Canarian independentist flag, as I saw it at a Amazigh meeting a week ago.
The seven green stars are in a circle, with a point toward the exterior. There is a star pointing to the bottom of the flag, so in the topmost part of the circle there are two stars pointing to NNW and NNE.
Jean-François Blanc, 27 April 1998
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