Rakha: Amazigh is the solution to overcome Morocco's low ranks in development
The head of the International Amazigh Gathering, Moroccan Rachid Rakha, confirmed in an interview with "Voices of the Maghreb" that the Amazigh language "remains of essential importance and is the solution to overcoming the problem of school wastage and Morocco's low ranks in development."
Rakha pointed out that "there are ideological positions that urge giving importance to the Arabic language and excluding the Amazigh language," not ruling out that Morocco "can serve as a model for the countries of the world and the Maghreb if it truly adopts the Amazigh language in teaching."
The same spokesman revealed that the Amazigh World Assembly has created a political project that seeks to "build a union of North African countries like the European Union," explaining that it aims to "create every country for its federal system based on not excluding or marginalizing any element of citizens or parties, with open borders. between citizens and commercial transactions.
Interview text:
11 years after the constitution of Amazigh in Morocco and more than 20 years after the creation of the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture, what is your assessment of the outcome of the adoption of this language today?
Upon the advent of King Mohammed VI, the identity and the Amazigh language were recognized after the creation of the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture in 2001, and in a short time the constitutional recognition of Tamazight as an official language of the state was signed in 2011. The regulatory framework related to determining the stages of activating the official character of Amazigh and the modalities of its integration in the field of education and in the priority areas of public life.
Despite the issuance of this law and its publication in the Official Gazette in 2019, unfortunately, Tamazight is still activated in all academic departments and departments, and even with the advent of the new government, there are still some obstacles, especially at the level of the basic ministry in which Tamazight is supposed to be activated more than other ministries, We were surprised that the Ministry of National Education, Primary Education and Sports excluded the Amazigh language in primary education, in addition to not generalizing it in primary education.
In general, we say that we have achieved some demands, but the struggle must continue from civil society to pressure the government towards a broader activation of the official character of Amazigh.
According to this assessment, is there a delay or regression in activating the official character of Tamazight?
No, there is no retreat, but unfortunately there are ideologies that reject a fundamental thing that we always defend in the Amazigh world assembly, which is the great importance of the mother language in school. The school yearly, so the school was unable to make them continue their education and academic achievement, and this is mainly due to the existence of ideological positions urging giving importance to the Arabic language and excluding the Amazigh language.
I assure that Morocco can set an example for the countries of the world and the Maghreb if it truly adopts the Amazigh language in teaching, because the vast majority in North Africa are Berbers with various dialects, and the young will be able to learn Tamazight, Arabic and other foreign languages.
Is talking about the reality of the Amazigh language in Morocco a matter of a minority, or is it related to an issue of identity and a mother language?
The origins of all Moroccans go back to the Berber language, and there is an issue that many do not know that the fifth chapter of the Moroccan constitution prefers the Berber language over the Arabic language, because it states that Arabic is an official language that must be protected, developed and used, while Tamazight is an official language as a common asset for all Moroccans without exception. .
Morocco can set an example for the countries of the world and the Maghreb if it truly adopts the Amazigh language in teaching
Therefore, this chapter imposes Tamazight identity and affiliation on everyone, as it singled out an organizational law to activate it on all administrations, while the Arabic language has no law, and therefore it is legally and constitutionally protected more than all other languages in Morocco.
In this context, what are the main obstacles facing the activation of the official character of Tamazight in educational institutions and administrations?
Obstacles are always linked to the lack of Amazigh language teachers and the need for more financial capabilities to provide them, but the strange thing is that the current government has allocated a budget specifically for this Amazigh file, but we see that more than 6 months have passed without spending anything from it, and we really noticed that the Ministry of Justice worked to employ 60 An interpreter in the Tamazight language in the courts, and the parliament's employment of six translators for the Tamazight language, so that the Moroccan people will be able for the first time to understand what their representatives are saying.
These are very important steps, but the big problem is that we in the global Amazigh assembly in particular, or the Amazigh movement in general, did not see a real will in the matter from the Minister of National Education, Primary Education and Sports, who headed the Special Committee for the Development Model, and we recently sent him a letter signed by more than 20 Amazigh organizations Inside and outside Morocco, we tell him in it that the success of the educational system and the development model project depends on the integration of the Amazigh language in them, otherwise the result will be failure.
Here it must be noted that the fate of 300,000 students who drop out of school annually tend to deviate, and some of them are exploited in religious extremism. Terrorists in Europe are of Berber origin, knowing that it is illogical for the Berbers to engage in terrorist operations at a time when we see that their values and culture are against violence and hatred, and this imbalance, according to a German study, is due to the fact that the children of the Moroccan community, most of whom are of Berber origin, are not contacted because Sending teachers to teach them Arabic instead of their mother tongue, which is Tamazight, which leaves them with communication and integration problems in European schools.
The same thing is happening in Morocco in primary and primary schools when we force children to learn Arabic instead of their original Berber language.
Parallel to that, what is the importance of activating the official character of Tamazight?
It must be admitted that Morocco has been making efforts for decades in the so-called human development, but by returning to its international classification, we find that it occupies places between 120 and 130 in order, and this is related to the field of health and education in which Morocco failed by not giving importance to the Amazigh language.
I stress here, for example, that without the Amazigh TV channel and the use of the Amazigh language in awareness programs related to Covid 19, Morocco would have known a wide spread and a health crisis that is still more exacerbated.
The overwhelming majority in North Africa are Berbers with various dialects
For this reason, Tamazight remains of essential importance and is the solution to overcoming the problem of school wastage and the low ranks of Morocco in development.
You are currently chairing the International Amazigh Gathering, what is your project?
We, as Amazighs, and especially in the Amazigh global assembly, have created an ambitious political project that seeks to build the union of North African countries like the European Union, a project based on the International Human Rights Document that respects individual rights and the rights of religions for each individual, and is also based on the Charter of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to which we have contributed. It was issued by the United Nations, and this project aims to create a federal system for each country on the basis of not excluding or marginalizing any element of citizens or entities, while opening borders between citizens and commercial transactions, and this would solve the biggest problems that threaten North African countries.
Source: Maghreb Voices
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