Playing against fellow finalist Croatia in the group stage then overcoming Belgium, Spain, and now Portugal on their road to the semifinals, The Atlas Lions have been one of the game’s storylines

The only goal in the game was scored by Youssed En-Nesyri right before halftime while Morocco continued to defend its goal with a solid wall of players ready to curb the Portuguese attacks.

The Amazigh flag of the Amazigh people who represent most of Morocco being waived in Qatar.

Morocco will face the winner of England-France on Wednesday and has now become Africa’s first World Cup semifinals.

The Atlas Lions have already defeated European giants Belgium, Spain, and Portugal at this World Cup, as well as holding Croatia to a goalless tie in their first game.

After Spain missed three penalty attempts and went down 3-0 in the shootout, Paris Saint-Germain defender Hakimi scored with a Panenka penalty. Morocco also set the record by reaching their first quarterfinal, being the only African country to do so. 

For the first time and after defeating the 2010 world champion, Morocco will play in a World Cup quarterfinal. If Morocco defeats Portugal, the Atlas Lions would become the first African nation to reach the semifinals. 

Spain tried to score its way to a win over Morocco. It made and executed a significant number of passes. All of those passes, however, did not result in any goals. Spain was unable to score even after a 30-minute extra-time. Morocco, on the other hand, advanced to its first-ever World Cup quarterfinal eliminating Spain after its players missed all three of their penalties. The North African Amazigh team now has the opportunity to advance even further in this World Cup. They will not be overshadowed by their opponents in the following round, and they might yet go to the semifinal.

The North African team had only surrendered one goal in the tournament, and their defensive strategy proved key in defeating Luis Enrique’s team. Although Spain had a monopoly over ball ownership, Morocco didn’t look troubled by Spain’s seeming domination of the game. The teams’  failure to score throughout regular and extra time ensured the game proceeded to penalties where Morocco excelled.

Morocco and Spain’s long standing historical, geographical and political conflicts heightened the mood, but it was the Moroccan supporters’ spectacular display of color and noise that enabled their team to make the game so difficult for Spain. 

With yesterday’s win, Morocco has become now the fourth African nation to advance to the quarter final in the history of the FIFA World Cup, after Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana.

For decades, Morocco and Algeria’s relationship has been marked by hostility, and over the past few years, the level of verbal attacks has escalated to the point that there were actually concern these actions could escalate the conflict into military confrontation between the two powers. Morocco and Algeria’s land border has already been closed since 1994. Algerian airspace was closed to Moroccan flights, and Algeria refused to extend the contract for the gas pipeline, which transported gas to Spain through Morocco. 

What is the reason behind the animosity between the two neighboring countries? What are the implication of this conflict? And how can this Cold War come to an end?

Morocco and Algeria have a lot in common. While both countries share almost the same language, culture, and religion, we can longer pretend that the conflict is just between the two regimes, it is time to admit that this tension is influencing how people from both countries think about each-other. The new generations are being influenced by the propaganda and fake news from social media from both parties. While we can’t say that propaganda is  propagated by both governments but pro-government media on both sides routinely denigrate and mock other country’s major problems and focus on each other’s domestic failures and internal affairs. And while there are groups professing and promoting brotherly sentiments between both people it is obvious that this is changing as people from both sides accuse each other of stirring conflict. 

In 2019, the four nations of North Africa recently put aside their disagreements and joined forces in an effort to have the traditional Amazigh couscous recognized as a UNESCO world heritage dish.

How Does Algeria See The Conflict?

• Decades ago, the Moroccan King Hassan II made territorial claims in Algeria. In 1963, he launched a military invasion on the nation. As a result, hundreds of Algeria’s ill-equipped men were killed. Even though the war was short this conflict has had a lasting impact on Algeria’s military and political institutions.

• From Algeria’s perspective, The Moroccans are suspected of aiding organizations that Algeria just labeled as terrorists. These include the Islamist Rachad and the Amazigh separatist Movement for Kabylie’s Self-Determination (MAK) 

• For a long time Morocco claims what is referred to as Western Sahara as an integral part of its territory and In 1975 Morocco organized what it calls a Green March which resulted in its taking control over Western Shara. Something that resulted in another era of tensions and obviously reminded Algeria of Morocco invasion over a decade ago. The fear of Moroccan expansion became a significant element in Algeria’s decision to accept the independence of Western Sahara because Algiers believed it would help curb Moroccan irredentism, even though Morocco would drop its claims to areas in Algeria in 1972.

• Algeria and Algerians accuse and criticize Morocco’s established relations with Israel so the United States can support Morocco in its claim over “Western Sahara”. It is important to note that Algeria is hostile to Israel and does not have any diplomatic ties with the country. 

How Does Morocco See The Conflict?

• Morocco claims that “Western Sahara” has always been a part of Morocco and accuses Algeria of interfering in its internal affairs. Morocco also suspects that Algeria wants a window to the Atlantic Ocean and uses “Western Sahara” as an excuse to achieve its personal goals. 

• Algeria seeks to destabilize Morocco since it support the Polisario Front financially and militarily. The Polisario Front is an armed group that battled Morocco for sovereignty of Western Sahara from 1975 until 1991. 
• Morocco also blames Algeria for the conflict in the region since Algeria was the one that closed its borders, cut diplomatic ties with Morocco, closed its airspace and decided not to renew the gas pipeline agreement that transported gas to Spain through Morocco. 

• The United States’ recognition of Morocco’s soveinegty over Western Sahara has reignited the conflict between Morocco and Algeria. All these moves have angered Algeria, both because of its support for the Sahrawis and its hostility to Israel.
• Morocco accuses Algeria and Spain for aiding the leader of Polisario, someone Morocco consider a war criminal. 
• Algeria’s rulers continue to argue  that they support the right to self-determination while it continue to ignore the Kbayli region’s attempt to self determination.

The Problem In Simple Terms:

While the issue of Western Sahara may appear to be reason for the conflict, the true basis of the conflict is the competition for regional leadership in North Africa and an unsolved colonial-era land issue caused by both France and Spain. 

The Big Picture And Potential Risks:

Morocco and the United States enjoy strong economic and diplomatic relations in addition to Morocco being an old US ally. Morocco also has established relations with Israel. It is also worth noting that the relations between Morocco and Iran are non existent. Algeria on the other hand is Pro Russia, anti Israel and has cordial relations with Iran.

Why does Algeria’s friendly relations with Russia and Iran matter? It matters because the two countries (Russia and Iran) constitute a threat to both Israel and the United States which is something that is not good specifically for Algeria and North Africa in general as it possible for all four super powers ( The US, Russia, Israel and Iran) to race to to build military bases in North Africa. The equation then becomes; Russia, Iran and Algeria, Vs US, Israel, and Morocco. What some Moroccans fear is North Africa becoming another battle ground for all these military powers. 

How Does This Affect The Amazigh People From Both Sides?

Algerian and Moroccan people are so similar that it is impossible to tell them apart. However, political, and ideological differences between these “brotherly” countries have taken a toll on their relations. Recently, there have been a number of disputes on social media regarding Couscous, Architecture, and other issues regarding historical events. In response to Algeria’s soccer team new training outfit, which was introduced by the manufacturer Adidas last week, the Moroccan government has accused Algeria of “cultural appropriation.” 

The Moroccan government and Moroccans themselves argue that the geometric design imprinted in the Algerian outfit which is typical in Moroccan “Zellige” mosaics, represented cultural appropriation and accused Adidas of cultural theft.

Moroccans and Algerians are also fighting over Couscous and people from both sides claim that it is purely theirs. Disputes of over architectural sites and wether they their design and pattern is Moroccan or Algerian are trending on social media as well. 

Solution:

Whether a specific architecture is Moroccan or Algerian , whether Morocco has more rights to claim couscous, It seems that the only reason individuals from both sides argue about these issues is because they are Arabized. Couscous is neither Moroccan nor Algerian. We can also say it is both Moroccan and Algerian because Couscous is An ethnic Amazigh food. Since these aspects are Ethnically Amazigh, it is obvious that they would be found in most North African countries. Maybe when both countries go back to their roots and embrace their Amazigh identity, they won’t be fighting about whether something is Moroccan or Algerian because they will then know that it belongs to the Amazigh people.  The solution may be simplistic but one thing is undeniable, The troubled relationship Between Morocco and Algeria has prevented the region’s integration, which might have significant advantages for both parties.

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]mazigh people (Berbers according to Romans) are the aboriginals of North Africa from The Siwa Oasis in Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean including Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, and Niger. Despite all the different attempts from different invaders to exterminate Amazigh identity from North Africa, the natives still preserve their own culture and language, with all its dialects to the present time. Arabization is a new form of oppression they still resist. Oppressing people differs from country to another. Tamazight, which includes all the dialects of the Amazigh language, was also repressed and even banned from use in institutions and in public spaces. In the past seven years, the Moroccan constitution was the first to acknowledge the Amazigh language in North Africa. Yet, it is still not really in use in official documents, on signs and so forth, the situation is even worse in other countries.

As for Amazigh music, diverse Amazigh musicians can be found performing worldwide. Bombino band and Tinariwen from Mali, who belong to Tuaregs, the nomadic Amazigh in the Desert are few well-known examples. Their music is a mixture of African rhythms and sounds influenced by rock-and-roll and blues. However, when it comes to North Africa mainly Morocco, we find that Izenzaren band contributed a lot to this music by embracing universal rhythms and topics.

Izenzaren was able to be one of the leading bands of Amazigh music thanks to its revolutionary rhythms in which the moans and the groans of the wretched are voiced out. Its power is of three dimensions: the first is voicing out the suffering of the marginalized people, the second is the authentic rhythms, and the third is the spirit of the period (early 1970s) which was influenced by the Beatles. Izenzaren has a sense of adventure toward the unknown due to identity crisis which was an outcome of egocentric dominance of the State vis-à-vis the natives of Morocco and their identity. A wound that gave birth to a challenge which the traditional Amazigh poets articulated its layers, express its content, and passed it to young musicians who beautifully transformed it to touching rhythms using different instruments.

As new experience, Izenzaren came to link the youth with their Amazigh roots but without imprisoning one’s self in the past. It also came to put Amazigh identity to question. The latter was and still is at the center of its experience. Izenzaren strongly asserted the existence of Amazigh identity. By so doing, Izenzaren incorporated many different instruments such as banjo, violin, drum, guenbri or hajhouj, and qarqaba.

Amazigh music addresses all elements of life and human experience. Its major constituents are the romantic, the social, and the political. Because Izenzaren is a committed, intellectual and philosophical tongue, it was very normal that the band was elected to be the voice of the wretched in the world in general and in Morocco in particular. It called for the purification of the self and social justice.

One should note that Izenzaren members are students of the traditional school of Amazigh poets and musicians whose talents were shaped by Amazigh oral culture in North Africa. On the other hand, Izenzaren was able to transcend the traditional school and create a whole new phenomenon called “taznzart”, a transition that put them on the top of the modern Amazigh music.

Abdelhadi Igout, the head of the band, has embraced many musical instruments including banjo and violin since childhood. Instruments that he made with his own hands using simple tools, he kept telling these instruments his secrets by the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and in his neighborhood. This led him to meet many talented people who shared the same sufferings and hopes and who later formed the band which was an exception in North Africa in general and in Morocco in particular.

This experience was a clear answer to a new generation of youth in early 70s, who migrated from rural areas of morocco to big cities, and whose language was Tamazight. That youth could no longer find their prey in the traditional school because they neither shared the same symbolic code with the traditional musicians nor did they share the same vision toward the world, and probably the same was happening in Algeria at that particular time especially in Kabyle region, the area that gave birth to the international Amazigh singer named Idir.

Izenzaren is ground-breaking phenomenon that played a great role in promoting Amazigh culture and Moroccan music by embracing world rhythms and by implementing many musical instruments. The echoes of Izenzaren, the Beatles of Morocco, reached Europe and pushed them to participate in many international festivals in which they proved their outstanding talents. This explains the fact that Amazigh artists don’t lack the talent to give to the world. What they really lack is financial support as well as the institutional encouragement. Izenzaren fertilized Amazigh music and its music will surely be tattooed in the Moroccan memory for ever and ever.

Starting with some 124 rifles, which were considered for his time outdated, he initiated a military campaign against the Spanish army that ended with the liberation of the Rif-region. But more than the liberation of a part of the homeland, the victory over a European colonial power in the first part of the 20th century provided a framework of hope for other colonized people all over the world. If Japans victory over Russia in 1905 was the first victory of a non-white power over a white power in the modern world, then Abdelkrim’s victory over Spain was the first major victory of an indigenous people over a European colonizer.

Abdelkrim El khattabi was born in 1882 in Ajdir, a small village in the north of Morocco. A promising student in the oldest university of the world, Qarawin in Fes, he managed to get a job as a journalist for the Spanish newspaper Telegrama del Rif before being appointed by the Spanish as the chief judge of Melilla in 1914. In 1917 he was imprisoned for more than a year because of his alleged anti-colonial activities. It is true that he was influenced by the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist ideas spread by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad ‘Abduh and Rashed Reda. But it was not until 1920 that Abdelkrims name would be engraved in the history of the Maghreb. It was then that he started a guerrilla war against the Spanish, whose encroachments in uncolonized parts of the Rif greatly disturbed him.

He issued a warning to General Silvestre, the commanding officer of the Spanish, and warned him that if he crossed the Ameqran River, Abdelkrim would consider this a declaration of war. General Silvestre is said to have laughed, and comically responded with for the Berbers of the Rif famous saying: ‘tomorrow I will drink tea in Abdelkrims house’. The self-confidence of the general stood in high contrast with the reality that would soon ensue on the battle field. A skirmish at Dhar Oubaran on the first of June 1921 ended in a victory for Iriffien Amazigh, and roughly 600 Spanish soldiers were killed, and the others forced to flee.

It was the prelude to the greater battle of Annoual, which took place 20 days after the skirmish at Dhar Oubaran. Abdelkrim who had managed to unify most of the tribes in a usually divided Rif was still outnumbered, and despite their inferior equipment they attacked the Spanish at Annoual and routed their army, driving the Spanish star General Silvestre as far to commit suicide. That 21 of June, 3000 Berbers defeated a modern European army killing 15.000 and imprisoning 700. A military miracle indeed.

Annoual was and remains a symbol. It was more than a military defeat for the Spanish, or a victory for the Berbers. In a world filled with racist ideologies, the Spanish were not only defeated by an adversary that was inferiorly equipped, but more importantly by one who was racially inferior. It was the victory of a colored people over a white nation, the revenge of the East on the West. This humiliation shook the political world and it caused a coup d’etat in 1923 in Spain by General Miguel Primo de Rivera’s, who instated a military dictatorship which eventually led to the collapse of a centuries old monarchy in 1931.

The Rif in Morocco was independent, and Abdelkrim founded the Rif Republic and proclaimed that his goal was the liberation of all the Maghreb. He started liberating areas from the French in a series of successful attacks. Alas, in the modern world a lot of ills can be attributed to the unnamed Plot, that had as a goal to destroy any progressive liberation project in the Third World. The French, who were occupying the other part of Morocco saw in Abdelkrims Rif Republic a dangerous precedent and sent a huge army numbering an astounding 250.000 soldiers, led by the celebrated Marshal Pétain, who showed his merits in WWI.

Resulting to the colonial practice of wreaking havoc by using mustard gas and other chemical weapons against the local population which resulted in the horrible death of thousands of inhabitants of the Rif the combined French-Spanish forces managed to quell the ambition of a people for self-determination. The couple of thousands of guerrilla warriors were no match for the enormous assembled army and Abdelkrim, seeing the futility of engaging in warfare, immediately surrendered. The French exiled him to the island of Réunion where he lingered until 1947, when he gained asylum in Egypt. He immediately set up a Committee for the Liberation of the big Maghreb.

When Morocco gained its independence in 1956 the Moroccan sultan Muhammad V, who proclaimed himself king, invited Abdelkrim El khattabi back to his homeland. He refused, because according to him Morocco was still under occupation. The colonization only changed faces. He would support the uprisings in 1957 against the absolute monarchy. In 1962 he would oppose the new constitution that was pushed trough by the new Moroccan king Hassan II, who assumed dictatorial powers. In the same year, Algeria gained its independence after a bloody struggle that lasted 8 years with million of Algerians killed. It was a happy moment for Abdelkrim.

On this day, a year later, Abdelkrim died. He left behind an impressive legacy and proved the colonized world a model for steadfastness and liberation. Both Ho Chi Min, the leader of Vietcong and Mao referred to him as our predecessor. The Committee of Union and Progress in Turkey which was led by Atatürk held Abdelkrim in high esteem. The Shi’ite scholars of Najaf issued a fatwa supporting Abdelkrims struggle. Many more would honor him in the years to come.

Nowadays, Abdelkrim is the symbol for the Amazigh movement, some of which falsely see him as the father of a Berber nation. Abdelkrim was more than just an amazigh, he was a universal warrior against injustice and colonial subjugation, and no matter how hard the Moroccan system tries to erase him out of history, he will always remain vivid.

New York – Moroccan court Monday confirmed the heavy sentences against more than 54 protesters and activists from Rif ‘Hirak’ movement in Morocco’s neglected Rif region on charges including attacking police forces and in some cases burning vehicles and a police building.

Human Rights Watch organization said Friday’s verdict were very shocking and court should have weighed evidence that the police tortured the defendants when it reviewed their conviction and excluded any evidence evidence of torture and forced confessions. 

“Morocco’s doubling down on vengeance against activists will come back to bite, as popular outrage to government abuses spreads across the region.” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Collectively, the Rif Hirak detainees will face sentences of more than 300 years, including 20 years for four detainees such as Nasser Zefzafi and Nabil Ahmjik. 15 years for three, 10 for seven, and so forth.

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Ibtissam Azzaoui addressed the legislative institution considered to not necessarily enforce the 2011 Constitution. She says, “Until today, the Amazigh radio broadcasts the Parliament’s sessions of oral questions in Arabic.” The deputies’ questions being exclusively in Arabic are justified by the “absence of translators, which is absurd.”

Azzaoui sought to address “the phenomenon of refusal of the registration of Amazigh first names in the registers of civil status.”

“Normally, Amazigh first names can be registered in civil status registers, and Moroccan legislation does not go against that, but there is still a lot of work to be done by the Minister of Justice.” She says certain civil status officers choose individually not to do it.

“The problem is that some registrars sometimes do not understand the meaning of a given name and therefore they refuse it, and these are redundant cases that the Ministry concerned must absolutely face.”

A dictionary of Amazigh first names is available from the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture.

Here is Ibtissam Azzaoui’s written question translated in full:

“To the Minister of the Interior,

Under the supervision of the Speaker of the House of Representatives,

Subject: A written question on the refusal of the registration of Amazigh first names in the registers of civil status

Your Excellency the Minister,

We have received several complaints about the refusal of the registration of Amazigh first names in the registers of civil status. In this regard, we ask you about the causes of this refusal and the measures taken to guarantee the completion of a national list of Amazigh names.

Please accept the expression of my deepest respect.”

End of letter.

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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.

A mass rally roams the streets of Figuig in eastern Morocco to Protests against the regional planning project and local living conditions. The project plan includes a “military zone” and “blockage” of the normal urban and agricultural development of the oasis.

Washington, D.C. August 28, 2018

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a confirmation hearing for the ambassador nominee to Morocco Mr. David T. Fischer. the Chairman and CEO of The Suburban Collection dealerships in Michigan and California.

Mr. Fisher answered a range of questions from the committee related to Morocco including a question by Senator Tim Kaine if he would stand for “justice, democracy, equality, and free speech,” recalling the recent actions taken by the Moroccan authorities against the peaceful protests in the northern Rif region, specifically the heavy sentences given to “non-violent” Hirak Rif activists.

In response to the question, Mr. Fischer assured the committee that he would work to serve the interests of citizens, promote democracy and encourage the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Sen. Tim Kaine then called on Fischer to further discuss the political issues raised in the confirmation hearings with the Moroccan government.