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Moroccan Lawmaker Pushes for Amazigh New Year as National Holiday
Thursday 19 December 2019, by
Omar Balafrej, a deputy of the Federation of the Democratic Left, is carrying a claim of his Amazigh activists that has remained unsatisfied. He proposes that January 13, which marks the Amazigh New Year, be declared a public holiday in Morocco.
The opposition deputy formulated his request in a written question addressed to the Head of Government, reports Assabah. For the parliamentarian, it is time that January 13 be declared a public holiday. This is all the more so since Amazigh is an official language recognized by the 2011 constitution and Organic Law 26.16 defining the process of implementing the official status of Amazigh, he argued.
In addition to Amazigh activists, many political actors have long advocated for January 13 to be declared a public holiday, like the 1st of Muharram and the 1st of January. The same goes for the World Amazigh Assembly, which also demands that Morocco make the Amazigh New Year an official national holiday, in accordance with the constitutional principles relating to the Amazigh language.