The International Amazigh Assembly protests in Lakjaa against the exclusion and discrimination against the Amazigh people in the slogan “World Cup 2030”
The head of the World Amazigh Association, Rachid Rakha, sent a letter to the head of the committee charged with nominating Morocco to organize the 2030 World Cup and the president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Faouzi Lakjaa, protesting the continued discrimination against the Amazigh language and identity in the 2030 World Cup logo.
The group expressed its “sadness and deep disappointment over the complete exclusion of the Amazigh language and its Tifinagh letters from the logo of the tripartite bid with Spain and Portugal, which is proposed for organizing the 2030 FIFA World Cup.”
Below is the full text of the letter:
To His Excellency Mr. Fawzi Lakjaa
Chairman of the committee charged with nominating Morocco to organize the 2030 World Cup
Minister Delegate in charge of Budget
President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation
Subject: Protest against the continued discrimination against the Amazigh language and identity in the 2030 World Cup logo
Mr. Minister/President
We regret to express to you our deep sadness and disappointment over the complete exclusion of the Amazigh language and its letters Tifinagh from the logo of the triple bid with Spain and Portugal, proposed for organizing the 2030 FIFA World Cup, during the press conference held last Saturday, October 28, in Rabat, accompanied by Pedro Rochas, President The Spanish Football Federation and Fernando Gomez, President of the Portuguese Football Federation, which some media outlets revealed in recent days.
I remind you that there were about fifty national Amazigh organizations and associations from Europe and America that wrote to you regarding this unacceptable neglect of the country’s second official language - which is your mother tongue - through our correspondence last year, and we assured you that: “It is your responsibility to implement the official character of Amazigh within Your institution, given your reputation for strictness and respect for the law, in addition to the pioneering role played by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation under your presidency to introduce our country to various international sporting circles” (1).
As a reminder, the United Nations, through its Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, has in the past few days recommended to the Moroccan government, to which you belong, to take the necessary measures to ensure that the Amazigh fully enjoy their rights under equal conditions and without discrimination, and in particular recommends By intensifying its efforts to implement the constitutional provisions and Regulatory Law No. 26-16 related to activating the official nature of the Amazigh language (2).
Mr. Minister/Minister
We would like to draw your attention, for the second time, to the fact that the Amazigh identity is considered a common asset among the countries of the Western Mediterranean between the three countries, which succeeded in this tripartite nomination of Morocco with Spain and Portugal to organize the 2030/2980 World Cup. I remind you of the content of my previous correspondence on July 13, 2023/2973. : » Allow me, His Excellency the Minister/President, to draw your attention so that the mistakes committed by those who bore this responsibility before you are not repeated, and in particular, General Hosni Benslimane, Idriss Benhima and Saad Kettani regarding the 2010 World Cup, who reduced the history of Morocco to twelve centuries, through exclusion and marginalization. Thousands of years of pre-Islamic history and hundreds of thousands of years of prehistoric times.
We have previously denounced this blatant falsification and amputation of our common memory to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Residing Abroad [3], on the first of last February, immediately after the Moroccan ambassador in Madrid made the ancient history of Morocco, on the official page of the embassy, begin with the arrival The “Arab” conquerors of North Africa, as Ambassador Youssef Al-Omrani used to do [4].
I would like to remind you that His Majesty the King emphasized that: “Morocco is targeted because it is an ancient country extending back more than twelve centuries, in addition to its long Berber history...”, in His Majesty’s speech on the occasion of the anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People on August 20, 2021/2971, as decided in May 3, 2023: Considering the Amazigh New Year an official paid holiday, while giving his high directives to the Prime Minister to take the necessary measures to implement this laudable decision. His Majesty stressed “the Amazigh language as a major component of the authentic Moroccan identity, rich in its many tributaries, and a common asset for all Moroccans without exception".
Thus, the history of Morocco goes far beyond the last twelve centuries during which ruling dynasties succeeded each other, and extends beyond four centuries of the Roman-Phoenician presence and the Amazigh kingdoms, until prehistoric times, all the way to the Homo sapiens of “Jebel Irhoud”, who currently constitutes the ancestor of humanity. All of them, as the site was considered the cradle of the oldest remains of the Homo sapiens species discovered to date, and its history is estimated at about 315,000 years [5].
His Excellency the Minister/President,
Since the candidacy for the 2030/2980 World Cup is shared with Spain and Portugal, it will be very useful and important to remember history, and in particular the idea that the ancient Berbers were the origin of the creation of the Mediterranean civilization, including the civilization of the “Iberians” even before the arrival of the Phoenicians and the emergence of the empire. romanian; This is confirmed by genetic anthropology studies by the distinguished Spanish immunologist Professor Antonio Arnez Villena of the Complutense University of Madrid [6], who confirms that “Iberians” and “Amazighs” have the same North-African origins. In the same context, the famous academic Mohamed Shafik wrote that “as a result of all these historical fluctuations, the Amazigh elites were exposed to various cultural influences, and they contributed greatly to the formation of the great civilizations of the Mediterranean”[7]. Moreover, the Amazighs of Morocco, known as the “Moros” among our Iberian neighbors, have great historical merit in building a great common civilization, over the course of eight centuries, which is the Islamic civilization of Andalusia in the Middle Ages, since the conquest of Gibraltar by the Berber Tariq bin Ziyad in 711. , until the expulsion of the last Moriscos from the “Albujaras” mountains in the province of Granada in 1609 (see my lecture in vernacular [8] or in Spanish [9]). In this regard, it would be very wise for those responsible for the tourism sectors on both shores of the Western Mediterranean to resume and develop the ambitious project of the “Andalusian Heritage” Foundation regarding tourist routes for the Andalusian heritage that was defended by lawyer Jerónimo Pez starting in 1995.
His Excellency the Minister/President,
In accordance with the Constitution and applicable laws, and especially since you are part of the government of Amghar Aziz Akhannouch, who does not hesitate to constantly remind us of the necessity of promoting the use of the Amazigh language in public administration, you are required to take the Amazigh language and its Tifinagh letters into consideration by ensuring that they are included, as much as possible, in All campaigns, means of communication and transportation, as well as in your press conferences during meetings about the candidacy file mentioned above.
Please accept, Your Excellency, Minister/President, with the utmost appreciation and respect.
Signed by: Rachid Rakha,
President of the World Amazigh Assembly
Notes:
(1)- https://amadalamazigh.press.ma/fr/50-ong-et-associations-amazighes-renouvellent-a-fouzi-lekjaa-leur-demande-de-la-mise-en-oeuvre-du- caractere-officiel-de-lamazighe-dans-les-activites-de-la-frmf/
(2)- https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CERD%2FC%2FMAR%2FCO%2F19-21&Lang=en
(3)- https://amadalamazigh.press.ma/fr/les-amazighs-protestent-contre-la-falsification-des-diplomates-marocains-de-lhistoire-du-royaume-du-maroc/
(4)- https://amadalamazigh.press.ma/fr/raha-repond-a-lambassadeur-amrani-le-maroc-shonore-par-un-passe-depassant-largement-les-12-siecles-et- remontant-jusquau-berceau-de-lhumanite/
(5)- https://amadalamazigh.press.ma/pdf/Origines.pdf
(6)- Dr. Antonio Arnaiz Villena & Jorge Alonso García: Egipcios, Bereberes, Guanches y Vascos”, Editorial Complutense de Madrid, 2000.
(7)- Mohamed Chafik: “The profits, the contribution to the collaboration of Mediterranean cultures”, Le Monde Amazighe, November 67 , December 2005:
https://amadalamazigh.press.ma/fr/les-berberes-et-leur-contribution-a-lelaboration-des-cultures-mediterraneennes/
(8)- https://www.facebook.com/Amadalpresse/videos/625523785907859
(9)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OqHETkESNc