Tunisia. Youth in search of origins. By Said Sadi
Tunisia is no exception. Even in the relatively tolerant Republic of Bourguiba, the Amazigh question was concealed and even contained ( See article by Monia Ben Hamadi ). However, with a nuance. The "supreme fighter", a veteran of the mysteries of the fourth French republic, did not want to homogenize society out of admiration for the exalted pan-Arabism that had fascinated Ben Bella and other North African leaders. As a good Jacobin, he wanted to build a centralized, unambiguous and therefore “modern” state. Like many leaders of his time, particularisms were understood and treated as stigmata of archaic societies and which, as such, had to be swept away as was the beylicate.
An unthought question
This approach was not due to any sectarianism or lack of culture. The man knew his humanities. Former Prime Minister Hédi Baccouche confessed to me that the founding father of the Tunisian state had left the platform when Ben Bella thundered in Tunis in 1962: " We are Arabs, we are Arabs, we are ", saying in front of his relatives: “ My yarefch tarikh bladou(he does not know the history of his country. I censure the apostrophe which preceded this judgment). The same Hedi Baccouche told me that before independence, Tamazight-speaking Destourian militants were assigned to transmission tasks when it was necessary to prevent sensitive information from reaching too many indiscreet ears. But beyond these anecdotes and unlike what happened in Algeria and Morocco, we do not know of a time when, in the Tunisian national movement, debates about the place of Amazighity would have arisen. in the future state.
For the Tunisian elites, however alert and vigilant when it comes to defending the rights of other minorities, the Amazigh question was for a long time an abstraction. We find, for example, no traces of this file during the discussions which preceded the creation of the Tunisian League of Human Rights, the first of its kind in North Africa, whereas it was the Amazigh Cultural Movement which was at the origin of the Algerian League. The subject was not broached, not because a political current would have opposed it, but because at the time – in 1977 – the demand had not been expressed.
The deceased Abdelouahab Medheb had provided the most relevant explanation of the state of mind that characterized this file: " it's an unthought question ", he had answered me a few years before his disappearance when I asked him to enlighten me on the perception that the intellectuals of his country had of Amazighity. And indeed, it is only for a few years that the Amazigh problem has been invited into the public debate; for the moment without having rubbed off on the political class.
unexpected emergence
And as in any authoritarian regime, it is civil society that seizes on issues left fallow by state structures and meanstream media. When the Kabyle singer Idir disappeared, artists from Djerba and the South posted videos in which they reproduced his most famous compositions. Although in a less massive way than in the other countries of North Africa, the Amazigh emblem is brandished in Tunis during certain demonstrations. But the most remarkable thing about this awakening, which is admittedly still limited, is that it is due to young Arabic speakers, that is to say people who are rarely speakers of the Amazigh language. There is an awareness in the idea that Amazighity is not reducible to the practice of the language, even if this would be an important factor in the restoration of Tamazgha. Here again, the Tunisian case differs from the Algerian and Moroccan experiences where the reappropriation of the Amazigh fact was initiated by actors with an established reputation: Jean Amrouche, Mouloud Mammeri, Kateb Yacine in Algeria, Aherdane, Mohamed Chafik and others for this who is from Morocco. The enthusiasm found on private television sets for the Amazigh domain most often comes from people who have only known public school, which has ignored a history, a language and a culture hidden or even stigmatized by the institutions. The words of this generation are refreshingly audacious: " Kateb Yacine in Algeria, Aherdane, Mohamed Chafik and others for Morocco. The enthusiasm found on private television sets for the Amazigh domain most often comes from people who have only known public school, which has ignored a history, a language and a culture hidden or even stigmatized by the institutions. The words of this generation are refreshingly audacious: " Kateb Yacine in Algeria, Aherdane, Mohamed Chafik and others for Morocco. The enthusiasm found on private television sets for the Amazigh domain most often comes from people who have only known public school, which has ignored a history, a language and a culture hidden or even stigmatized by the institutions. The words of this generation are refreshingly audacious: " We are taught at school that Okba Ibnou Nafaa came to bring the good word to us. This is proven to be wrong. We must have the courage to say that he is a conqueror, a colonizer ”, protests a young person on one of the productions of the Tunisna TV channel. Other programs are devoted to the popularization of pre-Islamic history. “ Tarik who set out to conquer the Iberian Peninsula is an Amazigh general. It is the historiography of the powers of Baghdad that made him an Arab ruler“, explains a man of a respectable age in a program launched in prime time; a sign that the subject is of interest to an increasingly large public, at least in certain social categories. The video of a young woman proudly displaying the first Amazigh language diploma issued in Tunisia played on a loop for several weeks. It is true that it was relayed in Algeria, in Morocco and in the diaspora.
For now, the Tunisian authorities, too busy with power issues, do not seem to attach great importance to a quest for identity that is gradually infusing young people. However, we do not see how Tunisia would long remain refractory to a historical, societal and cultural groundswell that has burst into the political and institutional spheres in Libya, Morocco, Algeria and the Sahel.
The construction of democratic North Africa requires the rehabilitation of its history, its first language and its culture; referents who, uniquely in the history of humanity, have survived seven major invasions. Peoples without states have accomplished a miraculous rescue. Coming from who knows where, the burst of Tunisian youth reminds us that Jugurta's message is stronger than all headwinds.
The success of this dossier is further proof that, as my friend Ahmed Asid points out in his video, the Amazigh awakening “ has reached a point of no return ” . It remains to ensure that this popular support finds an echo in the institutions. Then, and only then, can we say that we live in a democratic society.
Source : websites