First Independent Mena Newspaper
King Mohammed VI of Morocco decided to declare the first day of the Amazigh year as a national paid holiday in line with the constitution which gives an official character to the language alongside Arabic, the Royal Household said in a statement on Wednesday. Morocco gave the language an official character in 2011 and the […]
In a sign of a frail social peace, Algeria is on the brink of a new language war as Amazigh population in the Kabylie announced the boycott of the Arabic language at school and in the administration in response to the rejection of their language in other provinces. Many students in Algerian regions rejected learning […]
The Amazigh population (Berbers) in Algeria’s restive Kabylie region are looking to establish their own security forces to protect themselves against the violence and excess of the Algerian law enforcement agents. The call for setting up a local force was made by head of the movement for the self-determination of Kabylie, Ferhat Mhenni, who lives […]
Algeria has been repeatedly lambasted in reports by international rights watchdogs for its systematic discrimination against minorities, whether religious, linguistic or ethnic. Intolerance towards minorities is espoused at the state level as evidenced by the growing religious intolerance and persecution targeting the Ahmadi community, among other communities. Religious minorities Recently, HRW raised the alarm concerning […]
Human Rights Watch, EuroMed Rights, Amnesty International, and Front Line Defenders have condemned in the strongest terms Algeria’s discrimination against the Amazigh (Berber) minority and called for dropping all charges against Kamaleddine Fekhar, a leading human rights activist and his 40 co-defendants. The international rights NGOs recalled, in a statement published on Human Rights Watch […]
Thousands took to the streets of Tizi Ouzzou in response to the call by the Movement for the Independence of Kabylie (MAK), on the occasion of the commemoration of the Amazigh Spring. Thousands of protesters carried banners and the blue, yellow and red flags of the independent Kabylie state while chanting slogans demanding the self-determination […]
The newly formed Moroccan government has unveiled its 2017-2021 plan as a continuation of the “reforms” launched by the previous government notably in terms of boosting advanced regionalization, promoting employment and social cohesion and consolidating Morocco’s international influence as well as safeguarding the country’s democratic choice. In his first address as head of government before […]
Amazigh militant and human rights activist Kamal Eddine Fekhar was rushed from prison to a hospital in the city of Mina near the restive Algerian Amazigh-speaking city of Ghardaia after staging a hunger strike, local reporters said. Kamal Eddine Fekhar started the hunger strike on January 3, 2017 in protest for his arbitrary detention on […]
Year after year, the movement for the self-determination of the Kabylie region (known by its French acronym MAK) gains ground among the population of the restive towns and cities east of the capital Algiers. On January 12, hundreds responded to the MAK call by taking to the streets of the mountainous cities, such as Tizi […]
The long awaited-for organic draft law on the implementation of the official character of Amazigh provides for a set of measures to be adopted gradually, among which the use of the language in bank notes, postal stamps and other official documents delivered by the state. The draft law was recently submitted to the PJD-led cabinet […]