Five main stages during which sovereign decisions were crystallized to institutionalize our official Amazigh language and culture
In a quick glance at a quarter of a century, with its achievements and challenges, we can see the prominent features of the choices of a voluntary path to establish human rights, in a society that is proud of the diversity of its culture and the richness of its tributaries of identity, that owns its past and arms itself with it and its diversity to anticipate its future.
Owning our Amazigh culture and language and being proud of them and their status was not far or isolated from this path, but rather was one of its most prominent stations... even if the Amazigh language and culture, at the beginning of the third millennium, were not new arrivals or far from national public discourse... because the use of this language in all regions of Morocco is very old, as is the celebration of its culture nationally and regionally.
What distinguishes this new path, which has continued for more than two decades, is that the Amazigh language has acquired a prominent institutional character in the state and society, through five main, successive stages and stations, each building on the other.
The first of these milestones is to make Amazigh the core of political decision-making, a priority of the process, as the royal speech in Ajdir on October 17, 2001 is considered an important turning point in the process of institutionalizing Amazigh, language and culture, as a fundamental component of Moroccan identity. Many subsequent initiatives have been based on this milestone to strengthen the status of Amazigh in Moroccan society, in addition to creating an institution concerned with developing these aspects, namely the Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture.
The second stage in this path was manifested in the development of the dynamics of academic, historical and social research, which revealed cultural and social considerations, and enabled us to move from Amazigh as a national language to Amazigh as a language of thought, teaching, circulation and composition, written in Tifinagh letters, to become a language included in our national education system in 2003… a widely spoken language, written and taught in its own letters, all it lacked was constitutional recognition to strengthen its position…
Thus it was, in the third major milestone that concerned our Amazigh language and culture, which was the constitutional approval milestone in 2011, which made Amazigh an official language of the state and society, alongside the Arabic language, as an integral part of the multi-faceted national identity and cultural diversity.
This station has dedicated the common ground between the various components of society, in a country that aspires to make pride in belonging and coexistence between its various national cultures a national currency that does not expire with time or place... This station in particular, after a comprehensive popular referendum, has confirmed Morocco’s firm commitment to strengthening its cultural pluralism, developing its Amazigh language, and using it in various aspects of public life.
After these three main stations, came a fourth stage, no less important or significant, which is the legislative activation stage, by issuing a law that defines the stages of activating the official character of the Amazigh language and the methods of integrating it into public life and priority areas, in order to enhance its use in education, health, justice, culture and media.
There is no doubt that the use of the Amazigh language in priority areas of daily use will inevitably accelerate the pace of official and actual activation and ensure that Moroccans actually enjoy their full linguistic and cultural rights.
In 2023, this process culminated in a fifth major milestone, represented by the issuance of a decision celebrating all the institutional dimensions of a component of the richness, multiplicity and diversity of our culture. Last year was the year of announcing a step that added a special character to the process of activating the official status of the Amazigh language, which would not have been completed without it, especially since it is linked in its essence and meaning to celebrating the customs and culture of Moroccan society and institutionalizing recognition of them.
Amina Bouayach, President of the National Human Rights Council
This was the importance of His Majesty the King’s declaration in May 2023 of the Amazigh New Year, Yennayer, as a national holiday and a paid public holiday… So that we may celebrate, after 8 months and a little more on January 14, 2024, in an official and societal manner, reinforcing the popular and collective celebration that was an established rule, of the Amazigh New Year, and thus January 14 becomes a date with a special meaning and connotations in our journey to institutionalize our official Amazigh language and culture.
However, this does not mean that we have raised all the bets... All the stakeholders concerned are fully aware of the existing challenges, especially since there is, at the actual level, a different pace or pace between sectors in the forms of planning for the activation of the Amazigh language, in addition to the biggest challenge, which, from my point of view, is to ensure the actual implementation of policies and initiatives related to the generalization of the use of the Amazigh language in various fields. There is no substitute today for the priority and necessity of providing the human and financial resources necessary to ensure the teaching of the Amazigh language in a way that enhances the skills that will allow the use of our official language in all aspects of public life, like our official Arabic language.
The start of the third millennium in Morocco was marked by the announcement of the ceiling of ambitions and goals of a path that has started and will not stop, to establish a path in which we believe; and most certainly, it will continue!
Source: websites