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Berber Situation in Morocco
By
Achraf Boujir
For
Professor D. ... Samad
English Composition 1301 (section 06) May 05, 2003
Berber culture and Berber peoples have inhabited North Africa for more than four thousands years. ... Around 20 million of people speak the Berber language and their culture is rich in Folklore, handicraft and poetry. ... Even though “Imazighen” of Morocco are treated as a minority, they still battle before the independence up to nowadays to keep from loosing their culture, identity and strive to have Berber language as an official language alongside Arabic.
Berber culture and Berber peoples in Morocco have gone through many different stages and suffered from various kinds of discriminations (personal, cultural, social, ethnical, economic) and were drooped from their original culture because of the politics applied by the Moroccan government. Before independence, Morocco was divided into many different tribes, of which, the main ones were located in Berber areas. ... After that, in 1923, there was an announcement of an independent Berber country called the Democratic Republic of the Rif in North of Morocco (see Appendix B), which was governed by the Prince Abdelkarim El Khattabi for 5 years. ... The announcing an independent Berber country and fighting the king after independence have stereotyped the image of “Imazighen” in Morocco, especially in the era of Hassan II. ... Amakhmakh, a Berber Professor at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, the aspect of Arabization applied in Morocco was not well planned and structured; he also claims that those who impose Arabization on Moroccan people send their children abroad to study in other languages instead of Arabic. ... However, most Berber demonstrators in Morocco claim that Arabization has also lead to discrimination of Berber culture and marginalizing of their peoples from many important aspects in their lives such as education, employment and mass media, rather than removing French from government and schools. According to the Ministry of Statistics, Morocco has around 56 % of illiterate people, most of whom live in Berber areas (January, 2001). Today, Berber peoples blame, primarily, the government and the Institute for Arabization for this high percentage of illiteracy because they claim that Arabic does not facilitate and impede their education. As pointed out by Ahmed Lachgar Agwilal, a Moroccan-born San Franciscan who is a representative of the Amazigh (Berber) Commission for Development and Human Rights in America “If you want to be Moroccan, you have to speak this language which is Tamazight” (Prengaman, 2001). They also said that all the courses in schools are not taught in Berber, even in principal Berber areas, so their children drop out of schools when they meet teachers and professors who speak only Arabic. ... Imazighen or Berber peoples are also prohibited from job opportunities provided by the government if they speak only Berber. ...
The third feature is that Berber peoples and Berber language including the three dialects (Tarifite, Tachelehite, and Tamazight) are virtually excluded from the mass media in Morocco and do not have an independent channel that Broadcasts programs in Berber language. The associated government channel television 2M broadcasts all its programs in Arabic and French while Tamazight is completely discriminated, but the other channel RTM broadcasts primarily in Arabic with a quarter hour dedicated to the three Berber dialects (Almasude, 1999). ...
After a number of years, Berber culture and Berber peoples have become valued, appreciated and respected. ... He also authorized a change in Moroccan school curriculum, which would enable Berber languages (Tarifite, Tachelehite, and Tamazight) to be taught in schools alongside Arabic.
Approximate Word count = 2864
Approximate Pages = 11.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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