Language Research

ARABISATION

Algeria absorbed an extremely heavy colonial impact. The French controlled education, government, business, and most intellectual life for 132 years. Through a policy of cultural imperialism they attempted to suppress Algerian cultural identity and to remold the society along French lines. The effects of this policy, which continued to reverberate throughout Algeria after 1962, have perhaps been most evident in the legacy of a dual language system.

Beginning in the late 1960s, the government of President Houari Boumediene decided upon complete Arabization as a national goal and began the first steps to promote Arabic in the bureaucracy and in the schools. Arabization was introduced slowly in schools, starting with the primary schools in the social science and humanities subjects. Only in the 1980s did Arabic begin to be introduced as the language of instruction in some grades and some subjects at the secondary level.

By the mid-1980s, Arabization had begun to produce some measurable results. In the primary schools, instruction was in literary Arabic. French was taught as a second language, beginning in the third year. At the secondary level, Arabization was conducted on a grade-by-grade basis. French remained the main language of instruction in the universities, despite the demands of Arabists. The “Berber Cultural Movement” was created as an opposition to the Arabization of the education system and the government bureaucracy.

Antagonistic sentiments between Berbers and the Algerian government became explosive in the “Tamazight Spring” of 1980. Riots were set off when a renowned Berber writer, Mouloud Mammeri, was barred by local Algerian authorities from giving a lecture on ancient Kabyle poetry at the University of Tizi Ouzou. The censoring of Mammeri provoked a strong reaction by the Berbers of the Kabyles, who accused the government of repressing Berber culture. Following the cancellation of Mammeri's lecture, Berber students demonstrated in Algiers and throughout Kabylia, calling for freedom of expression and for recognition of the Berber language and culture. The protesters were violently dispersed by the police and a number of students were arrested. In Tizi Ouzou, students voted in favor of a strike and occupied the University. Berbers demanded recognition of Amazigh as a national language, respect for Berber culture, and greater attention to the economic development of Kabylie and other Berber homelands.

In a both ill timed and ill advised move the military backed government of President Liamine Zeroual made language, an important national identity tool, yet another cause of conflict. On July 5, 1998 the “Algerian Arabic Language Generalization Law” came into force, making Arabic the only language allowed in public life and banning any official use of French and the Berber language. Fury exploded in the Berber-speaking mountain region of Kabylia. As the law came into force, Kabylia was already showing signs of unrest following the killing of an immensely popular Berber singer, Lounes Matoub, on June 25. His wife and two sisters-in-law were wounded in the attack. Although most Algerians, Berbers and Arabs alike, believe that the singer, an outspoken secularist, was killed by GIS militants (an armed Islamic group), Berber anger swiftly turned against the state and its Arabisation policy. Protesters sacked government-owned shops and tore down Arabic signs. As tens of thousands of Kabyles poured into a mountain village for his burial, the divisions in Algerian society were never more obvious.

There is clear evidence of violation of linguistic human rights. Government policy in North Africa aims at the extinction of Berber as a language. While government policy in Western Europe does not provide speakers of Berber with any support. There is, therefore, a clear need for raising awareness in the political, scholarly, educational and media worlds, and for substantial policy measures to be introduced in Western Europe to remedy these violations.

The World Amazigh Congress, based in France, is an international non-governmental organization whose goal is to defend the fundamental rights of the Amazigh (Berber) nation. Alongside the Amazigh Cultural Movement it is determined to continue its fight until the Amazigh recover their identity as well as their linguistic and cultural rights.

Another non-governmental organization is the World Algeria Action Coalition (WAAC), which was incorporated on September 29, 1998. Its mission is to raise the international community' awareness of the economic, social, and political issues in Algeria and to enhance the appreciation of the country's rich culture and history. WAAC strives to present a balanced educational forum on the one hand, while offering a touch of home to Algerians abroad, on the other. It is a politically neutral organization, not offering support to any specific political party or ideology, other than the desire for peace, security, and dignity for all Algerians.

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Updated (August 2001)

In April 2001, the tragic events aroused again in the region of Kabylia. The riots sparked by the police's aggressive response to pro-Berber demonstrations, demanding acknowledgement of the Amazigh language and culture, and later also by the death of a student in the police custody. General peaceful strike, which has been called by “Cultural Berber Movement”, has started on April 20, 2001 as a result of build-up years of frustration, betrayal and also as a response to the President Bouteflika's refusal to recognize officially the Amazigh language. The people living in this region were not only frustrated from the high unemployment rate, the shortage of housing, the deteriorating social conditions, which affect Algerians throughout the country, but also by the issue of identity and recognition of the Tamazight language.

The violations spread through the other cities and places in northeast of Algeria caused that hundreds of people have been killed and thousands wounded.

On May 2, 2001 the President issued a public appeal to end the violence and to promote dialogue and consensus building. An independent National Commission of Enquiry was set up to provide investigations on the events. According to the preliminary report of the commission the Berber demonstrators were not the original aggressors but “those responsible” remain to be identified.

The demands in the Kabylia region (as dismissal of the gendarmes and the replacement with the local police, the end to the corruption, fair distribution of hydrocarbon profits and Tamazight as an official language) have not been met and they require an overhaul of the entire system.

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Updated (October 2001)

At the beginning of October, Algerian President Bouteflika announced that Tamazight would be a national language of Algeria. According to his statement, the President decided the “constitutionalization of Tamazight as national language at the time of the next amendment to the Constitution.” The announcement arrived about a month after creation of the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylia.

“While some perceive this announcement as a step forward, nationalizing the language constitutionally does not necessitate any de facto changes. The people of Kabylia and the Amazigh movement have been demanding Tamazight to be national and official language. Without official status, there is no guarantee that Tamazight will be allowed to be more than the neglected and oppressed stepsibling of the officially imposed Arabic language. However, nothing has been said of allocating funds for Tamazight, of accrediting classes in the language, of demanding that courts provide translators for non-Arabic-speaking Tamazighophones (this particularly affects women, who have a high illiteracy rate in Algeria). Nationalizing the language does not ensure that Tamazight will be allowed to move from the realm of “traditional” to that of modern, progressive, and utilitarian. It should be noted that while the government radio channel 2 broadcasts in Kabyle Tamazight, modern terms are in formal Arabic and thus Tamazight is being restrained from using its modern lexicon.” (http://www.waac.org/)

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