Amazigh Congress Slams Moroccan PM for ’Exploiting Identity’, Neglecting Rights

The Moroccan government maintains a "dangerous racism against the Amazigh community" in the kingdom, the World Amazigh Congress (CMA) said in a recent statement. The CMA says it has found that apart from promises without an agenda, no significant measures have been taken to recognize and respect the rights of the Amazighs. Stating that Aziz Akhannouch and his party, the National Rally of Independents (RNI), owe their victory in the September 8 elections mainly to the support of the Amazigh community, the organization notes, however, that the government he leads did not declare in January the recognition of the Amazigh New Year, Idh Yennayer, as a paid public holiday, nor worked for the effectiveness of Amazigh translations in real time during the parliamentary session.

The CMA also criticizes the absence of Tamazight in Moroccan administrative documents such as passports and identity cards, despite the recognition of Tamazight as an official language in Morocco a decade ago and the fact that administrative formalities, the media and school programs in Morocco are still largely dominated by the French language since the colonial era. Yet the Imazighen represent more than 26.7% of the population. "In other words, the government endorses the violation of Moroccan laws and maintains a serious state racism against Tamazight," the CMA said.

"The weak policy of implementing Tamazight as an official language reveals that we are facing a major ’collective maneuver’, in which all political parties have participated to varying degrees, to absorb the anger of the Moroccan street in February 2011," said The New Arab Abdellah Badou, a Moroccan Amazigh activist.