Berbers: North Africa’s ‘free people’ struggle for rights
ALGIERS: Thousands rioted in Algeria’s northern Kabylie region 20 years ago this week, in what became known as the “Black Spring” -- a symbolic chapter in the long fight for Berber rights.
The indigenous group is also in the vanguard of the Hirak anti-government protests that have rocked the country since 2019.
The Berbers are descendants of pre-Arab North Africans, whose historic homelands stretched from the Canary Isles and Morocco to the deserts of western Egypt.
They refer to themselves as the Amazigh, meaning “free people”, and have long fought for recognition for their ancient culture and language in modern states across the region.
Here is an overview of the Berbers’ varying fortunes in the Maghreb and Libya.
Algeria’s ‘Black Spring’
The Berbers comprise about 10 million people in Algeria, making up roughly a quarter of the country’s population of 40 million.
They largely oppose a government dominated by Arabic speakers.
The majority live in Kabylie, a restive, mountainous region to the east of the capital Algiers.
On April 18, 2001, a teenager held at a gendarmerie post near Tizi Ouzou, the capital of Kabylie, was hit by a hail of bullets. He died two days later.
Massinissa Guermah’s death sparked the “Black Spring” riots, as Kabylie was preparing to celebrate the 21st anniversary of its fight for recognition of its Berber identity.
An estimated 126 people died in the two months of unrest, many of them youths shot in clashes with riot police.
Thousands of others were wounded in the crackdown.
An Algerian military court in 2002 jailed a gendarme blamed for killing Guermah.
The same year, Berber was finally recognised as a national -- but not an official -- language, allowing it to be taught as a second language in some Berber areas.
Its recognition as an official language only came with constitutional reforms in 2016.
Berber New Year was celebrated as an official feast day for the first time on January 12, 2018.
However, the Berbers were one of the main targets of the crackdown on anti-government protests that started in 2019 when then-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika said he wanted to stand for a fi h term.
The protest movement has a strong base in Kabylie and dozens were jailed for flying the Amazigh flag, which the army banned from the weekly rallies.
Morocco, biggest Berber home
Morocco is home to the world’s largest Berber community.
According to a 2014 census, more than a quarter (26.7 percent) of Morocco’s population of 35 million use one of the country’s three main Berber dialects.
Their language was only given official status alongside Arabic in a new constitution in 2011.
Their Tifinagh alphabet now appears on many public buildings next to Arabic and French.
Since 2010, the Tamazight TV channel has been dedicated to promoting Berber culture.
Even so, lawmakers caused a major stir by speaking Berber in parliamentary sessions, and authorities still sporadically refuse to register Berber names.
The Amazigh flag was a key symbol at protests in the marginalised Rif region in the north of the country in 2016, where the Berbers are the majority.
Libya and Tunisia
In Libya, the Berbers were persecuted under dictator Moamer Kadhafi, who even denied their existence.
However, they make up around 10 percent of the population, living mainly in the mountains west of Tripoli or in the vast southern desert regions.
They want greater political representation and their language to be given official status alongside Arabic.
Their demands have become more vocal since Kadhafi’s ousting and death in 2011, and the Berber flag can now be seen on many administrative buildings.
In Tunisia, official statistics based on ethnicity are prohibited.
While their traditional heartland is in the south, an exodus from the countryside means Berbers today are mainly found in the capital Tunis.
They complain of exclusion and marginalisation in a state that recognises only Arabic in its constitution.