Dozens of people are expected to protest at “la place de la bourse” on September 24 in support of all Amazigh political prisoners including Kamira Nait Sid, women and Amazigh rights defender, arrested on 25 August 2021 for eight charges including “undermining national unity and state security” and “belonging to a terrorist organization” on September 1. She could be facing ten years to life imprisonment and/or the death penalty.

At least 300 activists are currently in detention in Algeria since 1 March 2019 in connection with the peaceful movement, according to the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees (CNLD), a local watchdog group.

Almost half of the detainees are members of the Movement for the self determination of Kabylie (MAK), a movement seeking the Self-Determination of Kabylia that the Algerian government considers a terrorist organization.

These prosecutions are the latest in the Algerian authorities’ ongoing repression of rights defenders and targeting of journalists and prominent figures in MAK. However, this is the first time that terrorism-related charges are being used. Other charges include also “offending public bodies” and “defamation”, under articles 146 and 298 of the Penal Cod

Several villages and neighborhoods were surrounded by wild fires, while Berbere TV announced that more than 65 people have died from burns and smoke inhalation. In some places, the Kabyle people have found themselves fighting the fires on their own, spraying water through hoses and buckets. The fires also led to mass deaths of livestock in rural areas while locals struggled to lead their herds to safety.

Wildfires are common in Kabyle’s Mediterranean and nearby regions during the arid summer months, although some forest fires have been blamed on arson including this current wildfire where there has been rumors about the central ruling regime starting the wildfires.

“Only criminal hands can be behind the simultaneous outbreak of about 50 fires across several towns,” said Assaid. k who had fled with his family from the village of Azagza. Other witnesses have also noticed some unusual activities of two military Helicopters flying over the Kabyle region only few hours before the wildfires broke out.

The Amazigh-speaking region of Kabyle is the most politicized region in Algeria, with a heightened awareness of its distinct identity. The region has a history of agitation against the central government dating back to the 1960s, soon after Algeria became independent from France. In the 1980s, young Kabyles led a movement for official recognition of the Berber language and culture which drew a repressive regime reaction lasting for many years.

Below is a chronology of important events dates of Tafsut Imazighen, Amazigh Spring, as they unfolded; 

• • March 1-2, 1980:
    Mouloud Mammeri is interviewed by Liberation on his last book published by Maspero: “Les poèmes kabyles anciens (Old Kabyle Poems).”

• • March 10, 1980:
    The local authorities canceled a conference on old Amazigh poetry by Mouloud Mammeri at the University of Tizi-Ouzou.

• • March 11, 1980:
    Out of Tizi-Ouzou University’s 1700 students, 1500 of them demonstrated for more than two hours in front of the wilaya (regional) offices, the offices of the unique party (FLN). They shouted slogans, such as: “stop the cultural repression,” “Amazigh culture is Algerian culture,” “Tamazigh is our language,” “Enough injustice.” They denounced all attempts of political recuperation of their movement. The University is on strike.

• • March 12, 1980:
    Tizi-Ouzou’s high school students go on strike in support of the university students.

• • March 13, 1980:
    FFS slogans scribbled on walls appear in Kabylia and the Algiers region. The slogans were in support of the students’ actions: “Democracy, freedom of expression, people’s languages = national languages.” The students’ movement spreads. In Larbaa Nat Yiraten, signs written in Arabic were taken down. The demonstrators blocked the police chief in his car. He was forced to shout the slogan: “a nerrez wala a neknu” (“I’d rather break than kneel,” a verse in the poem by popular Amazigh poet, Si Muhend U Mhend.). The demonstrators invaded the military post. The soldiers sympathize with the demonstrators. The major arrives. The demonstrators ask him for buses so they can inform people in the more remote villages. He apoligizes for not having any available.
    A public inauguration by President Chadli scheduled for March 15 in Tizi-Ouzou was canceled. The regional administrator (wali),* Sidi Said calls in the heads of schools in the entire region for a meeting. During the meeting, the head of the Islamic Institute honors Kharroubi, the previous administrator of Kabylia, by referring to him in these terms: “as Kabyle as he was, he was a patriot.” He added: “as far as I am concerned, we should fire on the crowd.”*** (Wali is the Algerian Arabic for the administrator of a region. He was appointed by the unique party. At the time, there were 48 administrative regions or wilayas.)
    **(Kharraoubi is known to be against Tamazight and a supporter of arabization. He is considered by many responsible for the failure of the educatoinal system in Algeria.)
• • March 15, 1980:
    A “Committee for the defense of cultural rights in Algeria” (CDDCA) is formed in Paris. It is housed in the offices of the review Esprit: 19 rue Jacob, Paris, 75006.
  • March 16, 1980:
    200 students demonstrate on Larbi Ben Mhidi Street in Algiers, for the Amazigh culture and for the “Amazigh language, a national language.” They are violently dispersed near the Grande Poste. About 40 people were arrested. Five of the arrested were detained while the others were released.
  • March 18, 1980:
    The local governor visits the town of Azazga. The population expressed its distress in a violent fashion. The governor leaves in a hurry. School kids and high school students flood the streets and assail the Gendarmerie building. The FLN offices are sacked. In Ain El Hammam (formerly Michelet) workers demonstrate in the streets in support of the students’ movement. High school students demonstrate in Draa El Mizan. There were 70 arrests. In another locality, 120 high school students were arrested during another demonstration. Additional troops were brought into the region’s military posts.
  • March 20, 1980:
    The Algerian press speaks of the Tizi-Ouzou demonstrations for the first time. This was done in very obscure terms in an article titled, “les donneurs de leçons” (the lesson givers) by K.B. (Kamel Belkacem), which appeared in the El Moudjahid newspaper.
  • March 20-26, 1980:
    The Algerian authorities receive numerous petitions protesting the repression.
  • March 30, 1980:
    Aït-Menguellet gives a concert at Porte de Pantin in Paris. The Committee for the Defense of Cultural Rights in Algeria calls for a silent gathering in front of the Algerian embassy in France.
  • April 6, 1980:
    General meeting of the students in Hasnaoua*** (Tizi-Ouzou). The students decided to occupy the copy center. They also called for a demonstration on April 7th in Algiers.***(Hasnaoua is the name of the neighborhood where University of Tizi-Ouzou’s main campus is located.)
  • April 7, 1980:
    Algiers, May 1st Plaza, 10:00 a.m.: 500 demonstrators (students and professors) gather mid-morning to claim the right to exist for the Amazigh culture. The banners carried slogans, such as: “For the people’s cultures,” “freedom of speech,” “Isn’t Tamazight an Algerian language?,” “cultural democracy.” The police intervene as soon as the gathered demonstrators started marching. The demonstrators march while chanting, “mindjibalina” (from our mountains came the cry for freedom). They are brutally repressed by the police. Nearly 200 of them are shoved in vans with the help of clubs. Many demonstrators were injured. Five people went into a coma. One demonstrator died from injuries inflicted by the police. The students of the University of Algiers voted to strike. The University of Tizi-Ouzou is on strike and is being occupied by the students.
    11:30 a.m.: Meeting of the students at the Faculté Centrale of the downtown campus to decide on a march in front of the central police station to protest the repression.
    3:00 p.m.: 1000 people gathered peacefully in front of the Algerian embassy in France. The gathering was initiated by the CDDCA. A motion prepared by CDDCA was sent with a delegation to the Ambassador. The latter refused to receive the delegation and called the protesters “not Algerian.” An open letter to President Chadli was initiated and signatures were collected.
    Evening: General meeting of the students. A general unlimited strike is decided. The students decide to occupy the university as well.
• • April 8, 1980:
    Demonstration in Algiers. More than 1000 students demonstrate while chanting, “Enough repression,” “police assassins,” “free the prisoners,” “Algerian people’s culture.” They also chant patriotic songs. They are forcefully pushed back inside the university where the demonstration continues for nearly two hours. The majority of the persons arrested by the police were released.
    In Kabylia, many thousands of peasants from Ain El Hammam and Larbaa Nat Yiraten marched on Tizi-Ouzou. The army established roadblocks and forced them back. The persons arrested the day before were released. The students of the higher education institutes of Boumerdes go on strike. The students of the Faculté Centrale of the University of Algiers issued a motion of support to the students of Tizi-Ouzou. A coordination office was established for Algiers.
  • April 9, 1980:
    The movement spreads in Kabylia. Many demonstrations in favor of the right to existence of the Amazigh culture take place in Ouadhias, Aït-Yanni, Djemaa-Saaridj, Dellys, Bordj, Menaïel, Sidi-Aïch, etc. In Sidi-Aïch, a concert by the singer Ferhat (Imazighen Imoula) was forbidden. The police summoned the singer.
  • April 10, 1980:
    The FLN party in Tizi-Ouzou organize a demonstration against the movement.
  • April 9-15, 1980:
    Village Watch and student support committees are set up in every village of Kabylia.
  • April 11, 1980:
    Mouloud Mammeri responds to El Moudjahid’s article: “Les donneurs de leçons.” Mammeri’s response was rejected by the newspaper, but was published by the French newspaper, Le Matin. Duplicated, it was distributed by the students to people in Algeria and France.
  • April 13, 1980:
    The minister of higher education received a delegation of professors from Tizi-Ouzou. The students of Tizi-Ouzou’s Amirouche High School go on strike and occupy the school. The hospital workers of Tizi-Ouzou sent a motion of support to the students of the University who are still on strike. They also sent a letter to President Chadli asking for an end to the repression. A flier attributed to the FFS party called for a general strike on April 16.
  • April 15, 1980:
  • The CDDCA calls for a peaceful march on April 26, in front of the Algerian embassy in Paris, and another one on May 1st from the “Filles du Calvaire” to the Bastille.
  • April 16, 1980:
    A general strike was declared and followed in Kabylia. The singer Ferhat from the Amazigh Imoula band was abducted in Dar El Beida at 2:30 p.m. The ministry of Higher Education gives the students of Tizi-Ouzou an ultimatum to go back to classes on April 19. In the evening, a joint meeting for coordination between the workers of Sonelec, Sonelgaz, the Hospital, Sonitex, Casoral, the students, the professors and the high school students was organized. They set up a people’s coordination committee. The employees occupy the Tizi-Ouzou Hospital.
  • April 18, 1980:
    A gathering was held in front of the Algerian embassy in Ottawa. A symbolic march was also held in front of the Canadian parliament.
  • April 20, 1980:
    1:00 a.m.: The Mizrana action was triggered. The forces of repression invaded all the occupied areas (hospital, university, manufacturing plants). The students, caught in their sleep, were clubbed in their beds. Dogs were thrown after the fleeing students. Many students jumped many floors in their underwear.
    Many professors were arrested in their homes. All the employees of the hospital, including nurses and doctors were arrested and replaced by army doctors. According to rumors there were as many as 32 dead and many hundreds injured. A spontaneous general strike was triggered by the population of the city of Tizi-Ouzou. No street names remained; neither did any sign that was written in Arabic.
    Kabylia was cut off from the rest of the world. Access was forbidden to anyone, in particular to the press.
  • April 21, 1980:
    Sentencing of the 21 of El Kseur. Barricades are set up in the upper side and at the bus station in Tizi-Ouzou. The forces of repression patrol Tizi-Ouzou with the bayonet on their rifles’ muzzle. The main department store in Tizi-Ouzou was sacked (could it be a provocation?). The Folk Art Center was ravaged. The same hapened to the bus station and to the second home of education Minister Kharroubi. The population of the surrounding villages marches on Tizi-Ouzou to protest against repression and the deaths.
  • April 22, 1980:
    A three-day-long general strike was observed. More barricades are seen in the upper side of the city. Demonstrators go around the city with banners asking for an end to the repression and the release of the prisoners. Other banners simply state “Imazighen.” The riot police charges the demonstrators from behind. Fighting breaks out all over town. The villagers come back to town and set up barricades. The offices of APS (Algeria Press Service), SAA (Algerian Insurance Company), the FLN party, the Balloua Hotel, the Mondial Movie Theather are sacked. A strike is started at the Mustapha Hospital in Algiers, in support of the movement.
  • April 23, 1980:
    A fourth day of the general strike was observed. Massive arrests are conducted everywhere. Demonstrators originating from Tigzirt go head to head with the forces of r
  • April 24, 1980:
    epression at the city’s entrance. Violent confrontations take place in Drâa Ben Khedda.
    Peace returns progressively. In the afternoon, grocery shops begin to open. Violent confrontations take place between the demonstrators (from Ouadhias, Larbaa and Ain El Hammam) and the forces of repression. The city’s main department store reopens with its shelves fully restocked.
  • April 25, 1980:
    The forces of repression set up a tight net covering the entire city. The Algerian Radio and Television Company films the damaged areas. 5:00 p.m., the Algerian ambassador is received at the Quai d’Orsay. 5:050 p.m., the police commissioner informs the CDDCA of the interdiction of the demonstration scheduled for the next day.
• • April 26, 1980:
    Despite the interdiction of the demonstration in Paris by the police commissioner under the pretext of “disturbing the public order,” the CDDCA reiterates its call for a demonstration through the media. Nearly 500 people come to demonstrate. 400 among them were arrested and taken to Vincennes where they were searched, photographed, and recorded. The Amicale des Algeriens (Association of Algerian Friendship in France, a government-controlled organization) sent 200 provocateurs to the demonstration. They were brought to Paris by bus and received a daily honorarium.
  • April 29, 1980:
    The prefect of Paris prohibits the silent demonstration planned by the CDDCA for May 1st in fear of “disturbing the public order.”
  • May 10, 1980:
    Concert by Lounes Matoub at the Olympia in Paris. A minute of silence was observed in support of the people’s movement in Algeria.
  • May 12, 1980:
    The University of Algiers is on strike.
  • May 16, 1980:
    El Moudjahid publishes a list of 24 prisoners. Their trial in the State Security Court of Medea was announced.
  • May 18, 1980:
    A general strike in Tizi-Ouzou was massively followed by the population, except for the main department store.
  • May 19, 1980:
    A demonstration against the repression takes place in Algiers.
  • May 24, 1980:
    Government agents assaulted a general student meeting at the Central University of Algiers.
  • May 25, 1980:
    The CDDCA publishes its letter to Chadli with 3522 signatures.
  • June 3, 1980:
    The International Committee for the Support of the Victims of Repression in Algeria publishes a petition. Prepared by the CDDCA it included 140 signatures of eminent personalities from the academic and art world.
  • June 21, 1980:
    2:00 p.m.: Meeting held at the Bourse du Travail in Paris in support of the prisoners in Algeria. Organized by the CDDCA and the International Committee for the Support of the Victims of Repression in Algeria. The meeting’s motto was – End to the repression, – Immediate unconditional release of all prisoners, – People’s languages (Tamazight and Algerian Arabic) are national languages. Many organizations and personalities were invited to the meeting, French and Algerian. Those who paticipated and subscribed to the principles cited were: CDDCA, ASEAP, UNEF, LCR, FEN, FO, OCI, FFS, International Human Rights League, CITA, Harbi, Idir, Lounes Matoub. Djamal Allam and Djurdjura rejected the invitation by CDDCA. Ferhat and Aït-Menguellet could not leave Algeria.
  • June 25, 1980:
    A day of support to the prisoners was organized in Tizi-Ouzou. 8:00 p.m.: APS announces the temporary release the next day of the 24 prisoners of Berrouaghia.

• June 26, 1980:
  A delegation from Tizi-Ouzou went to get the prisoners who were welcomed by a festive Tizi-Ouzou.Hsen Larbi for The Amazigh Voice

A project he began in the 1970s, Shaykh Si Hajj Mohand Tayeb has finished the first publication of a translated Quran in proper Kabyle using Arabic script.

Si Hajj Mohand Tayeb, a retired teacher who worked in Lakhdaria, Bouira, then in Tizi Ouzou, is particularly known for his mastery of Islamic studies. Si Hajj Mohand has distinguished himself by this translation of the Holy Quran. His book was published in Saudi Arabia where he was awarded a prize for his efforts in theology. In addition, a symposium was organized recently by the Religious Affairs of Tizi Ouzou under the wali of Tizi Ouzou, in the presence of all the imams of the wilaya. His book will be distributed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowment.

Speaking at a scientific conference organized by the National Association of Local and Sustainable Development, the Minister of Religious Affairs and Endowment Mohamed Isa says that this exegesis is “the first of its kind in Algeria and the Maghreb.”

“This publication reflects the deep understanding of the Holy Quran and Islam, lays the groundwork for the Amazigh language and methodology and opens the doors for research and enrichment in the future,” pointed out the Minister.

Abdelghani Ouicher, president of the National Association of Local and Sustainable Development, paid tribute to Mohamed Isa for his efforts while stating that he has not ceased to encourage the work of translating the Quran into an Amazigh language. 

This exegesis in Kabyle released in the conference room of the Riadh hotel in Sidi Fredj (Algiers) could trigger a domino effect with other Amazigh languages.

Si Hajj Mohand Tayeb said that the Quran was difficult to translate because of its highly distinctive quality, adding that his work was limited to the exegesis of the Quran.

The representative of the National Association revealed that, in the coming months, 100,000 copies (which will cost 10 million DA) will be printed and distributed in Kabylia for free. A free application on the internet will also be created following the author’s request.

The event was attended by parliamentarians, representatives of the Moroccan and Saudi embassies in Algiers, some official institutions, scholars and imams.

Marseille, October 15

On Saturday, October 20, at 3pm, a group of human rights activist, community leaders, and journalists are set to rally in front of the city hall of Marseille in Southern France to demand the immediate release of Kabyle and Rif political prisoners who are currently detained in both Moroccan and Algerian prisons.

On April 21, hundreds of north Americans Kabyle protesters marched peacefully through the streets of Montreal, the largest city in Canada’s Québec province, toward the Algeria Consulate, to mark the 38th anniversary of the Amazigh Spring, and to condemn Algeria’s flagrant violation of human rights in Kabyle region, mass detention of Kabyle activists and to urge the public opinion at the national and international levels to positively  support the Memorandum for the independence of Kabylia, submitted to the UN back on October 2017.

Hundreds of Kabyle people and supporters are marching in Paris on April 15, 2018 to demand the independence of Kabylia from Algeria and the establishment of a Kabyle state in Northern Algeria. The President of  Kabyle Provisional Government in Exile (Anavad), Mas Ferhat Mehenni, is calling the Kabyle diaspora in France and from all over Europe to attend the Paris march, explaining that these marches, are very important to support the Memorandum for the independence of Kabylia, submitted to the UN on October 2017.

Algiers| A special Cabinet meeting was held this morning Wednesday 27 December in Algiers where the Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika declared that the Amazigh new year holiday on January 13, 2018, as an official paid holiday for all federal employees in Algeria.

According to the Algerian news, “the federal government will make every effort to generalize the teaching and use of the Amazigh language in accordance with the essence of the Constitution, and the President of the Republic instructed the Government to expedite the preparation of the organic draft law for the establishment of the Algerian Academy of Amazigh language.”

According to the same source, President Bouteflika cited that” this decision along with other decisions taken previously is made for the benefit of our national identity along with the Arab and islamic, to reinforce the unity and the stability of the nation.

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Paris: Two new books by Ferhat Mehenni, President of the Provisional Government of Kabylia aka “ANAVAD AQVAYLI”, on the the right of the Kabyle people to self-determination, were published in November 2017.  “Kabylie: Memorandum for independence”, Fauves Editions on Novembre 3 2017. While the second one titled ” “Memorandum for the right of the Kabyle people to self-determination” by  l’Harmattan edition on November 28 2017.
On the other hand, several events and conferences are being planned in Paris, Montreal and other cities by the Kabyle community in diaspora with the presence of Ferhat Mehenni to celebrate his big releases.[ads1]