A Berber Spring: the Breakthrough of Amazigh Minorities in the Uprisings’ Aftermath

Abstract

Since the start of the “Arab Spring” in late 2010, much has been written about the uprisings that swept through North Africa. However, the role of Amazigh¹ militants in the demonstrations and their early support for popular contestation movements were barely acknowledged, despite the distinctive flags and banners used throughout the region.² These symbols sought both to assert their separate identity and to challenge the narrative of the Arab Spring as a uniform phenomenon caused by similar circumstances in different states. In several countries, beyond the socioeconomial difficulties, the protests have revealed “cultural claims”³ from populations refusing assimilation to Arab culture. The Amazigh cultural movement has become increasingly influential and organized in the last decade, particularly with the development of the Internet, which has enabled it to become a truly transnational movement incorporating Amazigh minorities as well as the diaspora. This movement is difficult to define: it is composed of a multitude of cultural and (increasingly) political associations spread in various states and aiming at different goals. While some seek to promote the use of Amazigh languages and associated traditions, others have political ambitions and claim that Amazigh minorities are deprived of their basic constitutional rights.⁴ The former tend to keep strong links with the rural communities constituting the majority of Amazigh dialects speakers;⁵ the latter, on the contrary, are generally urban and educated, with ties to the international diaspora.