Morocco is a country in which four principal languages – Moroccan Arabic, Amazigh, Literary Arabic and French – share the linguistic arena, but their socio-cultural status is worlds apart. That status is rooted in history insofar as historical facts (which feed into socio-cultural facts) have led to a situation in which Literary Arabic is more associated with men and Amazigh is more associated with women. For example, Literary Arabic has real and symbolic power in the religious, legal, political, administrative and media spheres, because of its status as the official language, the liturgical language and as the language of institutions, written knowledge and so-called ‘public’ affairs, in which men are better represented and have more voices and choices than women.

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Conversely, until very recently Amazigh was typically an oral language, a maternal language and consequently one that was inevitably associated with women, especially rural women, in view of the high rate of illiteracy among women and of mass emigration of men to the towns.Throughout Morocco’s modern history, the fate of Amazigh has been closely linked with the fate of women and it is no coincidence that Amazigh and women were pushed into the background during the years following independence, nor that the current sensitivity towards cultural and linguistic rights is matched by a new sensitivity towards women’s rights.

In these circumstances, the inclusion of Amazigh in Morocco’s educational fabric and an improvement in the status of women in the country can only be of benefit to Morocco’s democratization and overall development. This view is justified both because history confers an undeniable legitimacy on Amazigh in Morocco, and because Islam as a cultural identity is not based on ethnic identity, regardless of whether that is expressed in racial or linguistic terms, or both.The Muslim community does not discriminate among ethnic groups (which explains the use of Arabic by very different ethnic groups throughout the world). This position is further strengthened by the fact that multilingualism is a fundamental element in Moroccan culture, which was born first and foremost of the country’s complex history and its geographical position at the junction of two continents.

The learning and use of Amazigh is closely associated with women; the oral literature (which is mainly disseminated in Moroccan Arabic or in Amazigh) is deeply feminine.

Morocco’s history was and still is built by men and women, and that process is conveyed in both written and oral languages. Oral literature is a national heritage which conveys in its very nature the uniqueness of Moroccan culture. It is time to preserve and to promote this literature, which, while often anonymous, nonetheless constitutes a collective memory reaching beyond the bounds of formal knowledge.

This oral tradition draws on the realms of the wondrous in which women escape from their traditional roles, proving that women have a knowledge which is not always the prerogative of men. In folk tales, for instance, patriarchal laws are often overturned.

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Amazigh owes its survival first and foremost to women. In fact, its survival is an exception to the usual development of languages.We have here a language that is several millennia old, but which has never been the official language of a centralized state that might have determined its linguistic standards and conferred on it the validation of legal status; a language which has managed to co-exist with far more powerful languages, for example, Punic and Latin in the past, and Arabic, French, Spanish and English today. The standardization of Amazigh and its teaching go hand in hand today with the promotion of women – here once again we find the correlation between language and women.

Indeed, the promotion of Amazigh is a duty for all Moroccans towards a language which has, throughout its history, done much to unite the country in political and religious terms. At the same time, education and teaching also happen to be primary factors in the emancipation of women and their promotion in all areas. As well as playing a role in aiding both individual and collective awareness, education is an effective development tool, especially in the age of globalization.

The active participation of women in public affairs may enable the languages to be used equitably. Such participation could even change usage and attitudes towards the languages: it could demystify and reduce the gap between men and women as well as between the languages in use.

It cannot be said often enough that the promotion of ideas about the impact of education and language-teaching on the status of women is a historical duty, especially in a developing country. The purpose of this debate is to find a way to allow the ‘gender’ dimension to be taken into consideration in the sphere of education in order to reach the juridical and administrative levels.

In a nascent democracy such as Morocco, only a language policy that takes account of women’s socio-economic needs can be viable. It is true that the history of Moroccan languages may be told in different ways with different supporting arguments, but despite the heterogeneous nature of research fields and programs aimed at promoting women, language rights of Moroccan men and women are fundamental to all human rights. Moroccan women’s language rights rely on education as a tool for intellectual emancipation.Without it, women will remain on the edge of changing language policies and on the edge of the so-called ‘dominant’ languages in Morocco.

Moroccan women have preserved an entire heritage of oral literature, often anonymous since it belongs to the group, not the individual, as Chafik wrote in his work on Amazigh poetry. literature includes music, songs and dances, as well as stories, proverbs and riddles. The ancestral lifestyle of both men and women may be uncovered in this literature.

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The oral tradition is a feature of Moroccan culture: Amazigh songs, for instance, employ both the major classical techniques of monodic song and polyphony and allow us to appreciate a music which, although it has evolved a great deal since its origins, retains an authentic vigour. After surviving a long period of neglect, it was rediscovered in the 1990s, and today young people are reclaiming this heritage.

The soul of Amazigh is indisputably expressed through song and music, the two components of an oral literature which has for centuries been passed down from generation to generation by Amazigh women in the mountains of Morocco as well as across North Africa.

Through oral literature women have always inspired the greatest respect in their communities. History tells us that Amazigh women shared in decisions concerning family,inheritance rights and education. The work of men and women was clearly differentiated, but was always recognized as being of equal value. In ancient history, Amazigh women occupied an important place and sometimes were at the head of kingdoms.

Amazigh language has indeed survived to our day despite the fact that Amazigh has never been the official language of a centralized state, has not been sustained by a holy book, and has had to with stand far more politically powerful languages such as Phoenician, Punic, Latin and Arabic. Today, we owe the fact that Amazigh has survived and is officially recognized, to the commitment of women to cultural issues at stake in our societies.

UNESCO LIBRARY 2007

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Amazigh World News’ editorial views.

Although, for many families, Mother’s Day is a time of celebration, appreciation, and joy. But for some others, it’s one of the most difficult days of the year. This is especially true for women facing infertility or those who have recently experienced the loss of a mother, daughter, or other loved one.

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On this occasion, the Amazigh World News team would like to take this opportunity to wish a happy mothers day to all mothers out there including our mothers in ‘Tamazgha’ North Africa, to whom we owe so much.

We also want to assure that we will continue to defend Amazigh women’s rights, work to promote their daily life and role in society, as well as create a suitable platform that helps them to actively participate in civil society, political leadership and economic development.

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Claude Lefebure wrote that it was at the teacher’s college that “as if he came out of hypnosis, he suddenly felt “Amazigh.” According to Brahim Aqdim, the president of the Mohamed Kaïreddine Association, he was treated as a “dirty Arab” in the French school and as a “dirty Shluh” in the Moroccan Arabized school. Perhaps that explains his early and very passionate search for an identity.

After passing his baccalaureate as an independent candidate, he attended the Faculty of Letters and the Ecole Normale Supérieure (The Higher Teachers College) and in 1968 he graduated with a License in history and geography. He then taught for two years (1968-70) in a high school in Ra- bat before attending the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris.

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While in Paris he also attended Lionel Galand’s course on Tamazight at Langues’O. Back from Paris he started teaching at the Faculty of Letters and became an active member of the AMREC, an association devoted to the promotion of Amazigh culture.

Ali Sadki Azayku was an avid reader of history. He was interested in the true history of Tamazgha, not the one taught in Moroccan schools and which only starts at the advent of Islam. As he started to understand the true history of his land and his people, he also started to write. His writings were a key element in the identity awareness of the Moroccan Amazigh. He wrote in the newspapers and in the Amazigh magazine ran by Ouzzin Aherdane, the son of Mahdjoubi Aherdane, leader of the Peoples’ Party. It was one of his articles in this magazine titled “For a true approach to our national culture” that cost him 12 months in prison and made the Moroccan authorities close the magazine for good.

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Offered to retract his writings, Ali refused and became the first Amazigh activist to be thrown in prison. His stay in the Moroccan prison of Laalou helped Amazigh activists strengthen their resolve but most importantly, it had a great impact on the poet that he was. His poetry expressed the sorrow and hardship of life (his and that of his own people) and at the same time an immeasurable passion to live and fight. out of prison, with the help of his friends he regained his former job and continued to write about Amazigh culture .

In 1988, he published Timitar, a collection of 33 poems, followed by Izmullen in 1995 that he wrote entirely in prison. the reknown Ammouri Mbark and other Amazigh singers sang many to the board of IRCAM, where he was expected to continue his fight for the Amazigh identity.
Ali Sadki Azayku died on september 10th, 2004, and the Amazigh people and their cause lost in him one of the most respectable figures. he was 62, and he left two children, Tilila and Ziri.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]nternational Women’s Day is an annual celebration of the respect, honor and appreciation towards women across the world. In recent years, the annual event has gained decent recognition, giving a chance to celebrate achievements in the women’s movement and to inspire further progress through both local and international action.

On this occasion, the Amazigh World News team would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all women across the globe including the Amazigh women of Tamazgha/North Africa, to whom we owe so much.

We also want to assure that we will continue to defend Amazigh women’s rights, try to help them in their daily struggle for a better life, work to promote their role in society, and create a suitable platform that helps them to actively participate in civil society, political leadership and economic development.[ads1]

In 1947, he was assigned in Taourirt Moussa and became a school principal in 1952. Feraoun was one of the most prolific francophone writers of his generation. His works all describe Kabyle peasant life. Le Fils du pauvre (1950; “The Poor Man’s Son”) is a semiautobiographical story of a Berber-Amazigh youth struggling against poverty and hardship to achieve an education and self-advancement.

The portrayal of the simple life in the mountains is filled with nobility, human compassion, and a love of family and native soil. La Terre et le sang (1953; “Earth and Blood”) deals with an émigré whose life in France is burdened by the sequestration of his proud countrymen and with the importance of nif (“honour”), the basis of all traditional morality and the source of the sense of self-worth, dignity, pride, and community. Les Chemins qui montent (1957; “The Upward Roads”) carries forward in more bitter tones the themes of the resignation, resistance, and endurance of the fellah (peasant) faced with the realities of colonial society; it also deals with the strictures placed on the youth and the narrowness of choices available to them.

Feraoun’s devotion to Kabyle culture is also evident in a collection of portraits and sketches, in a translation of 19th-century Kabyle poetry, and in his journal. Through his works he achieved his goal of discovering the voice of “an indomitable people of flesh and blood.”

On 15 March 1962, Feraoun as well as five of his colleagues were assassinated by a commando of the Organisation armée secrète (OAS), an extremist organization of the French settlers in Algeria.

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Mano led the Tuareg Rebellion in Ténéré region, northern Niger during the 1990s, He was born in Tiden valley in the Aïr Mountains in 1949 and died in a suspicious plane crash in the Adrar Chirouet region in Niger, on the 15th of December 1995, while he was in his way to meet government officials to discuss peace talks.

Mano Dayak was the group leader who led Tamoust Liberation Front (FLT) – also a member of the CRA (Coordination de la résistance armée),  and the one who opposed the peace accord with the government of Niger that was signed by another Touareg Coalition (ORA) .

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Mano’s forces continued to pound government positions from their base in the Tenere Desert, East of Agadez. and wrote a book on the Tuareg grievances  against the government of Niger.

The Amazigh poet and activist, Malika Mezzane, was sentenced today to spend two months in prison after she published a video on social media through which she threatened to decapitate and kill Arabs who refused to recognize the independence referendum conducted by Iraqi Kurds last month.

New York, Thursday, 4th May 2017 |  The Support Committee of Rif Movement in U.S.A  which was recently formed  in response to the recent tragic events Rif region are deeply concerned about recent actions taken by the Moroccan government in Al Hoceima and the entire Rif region against peaceful protestors.  It is for this purpose that we affirm the following:

• We affirm our longstanding support for the mission of the committee of people’s movement in Rif
• We stand behind our Rif people’s right to democracy, to demonstrate peacefully and to freedom. The regime has to listen to the protesters, take them seriously and end brutal repression.
• We renew the call for a full-scale  investigation into Mouhcine Fikri’s death and justice for all martyrs of the Amazigh cause, We demand, therefore, the punishment of all responsible for the killings of innocent citizens who receive minor to no punishment.
• We urge the Moroccan state to respond quickly and immediately to the legitimate demands of the committee of people’s movement in Rif. In the short term we urge the Moroccan Government to lift the heavy militarisation in the province of Al Hoceima, Nador and surrounding areas[ads2]
  At the same time, we would like to express our strong condemnation to the Moroccan government for:

• The use of military siege and other force as a strategy to bully, intimidate and tackle the protesters from freely moving across across the Rif region.
• We condemn the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators, and we urge Moroccan government to live up to it’s international obligation, including those regarding human rights.
• We condemn the Moroccan government for using ‘Thugs’ against Rifain peaceful protesters and we denounce their passive response toward the the burning of Amazigh flag which is a reckless act that undermines the respect of people’s feeling and encourage to more severely actions.

In addressing the current situation, in order to provide the necessary and adequate protection for the peaceful protesters, and with the approval of the movement’s leaders In Morocoo , we affirm that will we issue an open Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the US Congress as well as other international human rights advocacy organizations.

The Support Committee of Rif Movement in United States of America

New York

May, 4th, 2017