Forty-five years after the outbreak of the Berber Spring of 1980 and the savage and inhumane repression that followed, as well as the popular mobilization, public opinion still does not know who ordered the banning of the cultural conference that Mouloud Mammeri was to give on March 10, 1980 at the University of Tizi-Ouzou (Kabylia) on the theme of Ancient Kabyle Poems, the subject of his last work published at the time.
The same scenario occurred again on April 20, 2025, with the cancellation of a conference scheduled at Boston University to celebrate the Berber Spring.
This conference was to be hosted by Noufel Bouzeboudja (English professor and presenter of several Amazigh theater productions), Sabih Yaici (mathematics professor and also working to promote the Amazigh language in Canada), and Rachid At Ali Ouqaci (a host on the TQ5 television channel). The organizers (Amazigh Association) of this conference canceled it under absurd circumstances, claiming that “several people had contacted them to threaten to boycott the event.” Once again, who benefits from this cancellation?
The Berber/Amazigh Spring constitutes a major historical milestone for the Amazigh peoples of North Africa, the Sahel and the Canary Islands, which constitute the territory of Tamazgha and which represents an irreversible historical turning point, reflecting the aspiration of the Amazigh people to affirm and reclaim their identity, as well as the recognition of their often threatened, even endangered, languages.
The Amazigh, or “Berbers,” are the indigenous people of North Africa, with their own language, culture, and history. “Amazigh” is the name the Berbers give themselves, meaning “free man.” The word Berber comes from the Latin “barbarus,” used by the Romans to refer to people who did not speak their language. The Arabs took it and transformed it into “barbarian,” before the French translated it as “Berber.”
The Amazigh were the first people to settle in North Africa. Over the centuries, they have endured countless invasions: Phoenicians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, Ottomans, and French, all of whom have successfully established themselves on North African soil since the 10th century BC.
Originally, the Amazigh occupied a vast territory stretching from Egypt to the Canary Islands and from the shores of the Mediterranean to those of the Niger River. The Amazigh language has existed since ancient times. They possess an original writing system, Tifinagh, used and preserved to this day.
Religiously, the Amazigh have successively practiced animism, paganism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, whatever religion they adopt, it is always adapted to the values of the indigenous populations.
Today, despite hard-won gains, the Amazigh peoples remain victims of discrimination and their most fundamental human rights are violated: the right to life and security, political, cultural and linguistic rights, socio-economic rights, as well as the right to an environment protected from ecological hazards.
The populations of North Africa and the Sahel are facing conflicts that threaten peace throughout the region. Armed conflicts in the Sahel, threatening tensions between Algeria and Morocco, persistent instability in Libya, state authoritarianism, and the vested interests of major powers are all factors contributing to the current troubled and worrying situation in this region.
North African regimes have always relied on a policy of Arabization, as it consolidates the legitimacy of their power, rooted in Islam. Religion has thus been used to contain the potential advance of secular and democratic movements. They have favored extremist Islamist movements and allowed them to increase their political influence to the point of threatening the very existence of the Amazigh people, particularly in Kabylia.
It is a Salafist movement advocating the literal application of the precepts of the Quran and the Sunnah. Its goal is to eradicate the Kabyle identity, based on belonging to a single Muslim nation, the Ummah Islamiya, cemented by the Arabic language, within which Kabyle identity and culture have no place.
This Kabyle identity affirms its belonging to the Amazigh community while jealously cultivating its historical, linguistic, and cultural specificity. With a social organization more than two thousand years old and particular values such as community solidarity, secularism, democracy, and modernity, Kabylia has developed a very strong personality and a sense of belonging that distinguishes it from other Amazighs. The Kabyles are more than a people in themselves; they are a nation.
In order to defend the rights of the Amazigh against intimidation and violence, it is necessary to implement the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, which can be applied to the self-determination of Amazigh regions within federal systems, guaranteeing the Amazigh people the right to share power, wealth and values, while respecting the national unity and territorial integrity of their respective states.
