AZDINE, morocco — One of Said Lakenizaa’s two remaining cows fell sick and died last year as he led it down the steep dirt track from his village in the Atlas mountains to the rest of the world.
It was the second time he had lost a cow because the lack of paved roads hampered access to health care, for animals and humans. But now, after enduring their lot for years, the 40 Berber families in Azdine have started protesting for better services. They demonstrated in front of local government offices four times in the past year.
The Arab Spring has galvanized the Berbers, North Africa’s original inhabitants, to push for their own political and cultural rights, with some success — they have secured official recognition for their language in Morocco.
But the new political openness also has brought to power their implacable enemies, the Islamists, possibly setting the stage for a new conflict in an already volatile region.
Lakenizaa said they are just struggling to improve their lot and are neglected by an Arab-dominated government.
“We are demonstrating because we are tired of their lies. The government said it was going to build a road, but it is still not here,” he said, sitting inside his stone hut, which lacks electricity and running water. “As soon as the people in the government realize you are a Berber peasant, they don’t care about you.”
Berber dreams go beyond the basics.
They long for northwestern Africa to be a unique region with its own Berber heritage and culture — not just a lesser-populated extension of the Arab heartland of Egypt, Syria and the Persian Gulf. And they say it would be a good deal more liberal and tolerant than the rest of the Arab Middle East.
“We are a society apart, we are different — different by language, different by culture,” said Rachid Tijani, an activist from the town of Khenifra, near Lakenizaa’s village.
In Berber societies, he said, there is no rigid segregation of the sexes as in traditional Arab tribes, and there is more of a separation between religion and state. While most Berbers are Muslim, they pride themselves on secular traditions at odds with some of the Islamist movements gaining ground in the region.
As the Arab Spring swept through the Middle East last year, Berbers in every country in North Africa took advantage of the new climate of freedom to push forward their long-simmering demands.
Yet the same Arab Spring has also brought to power Islamist parties that traditionally have seen the Amazigh, as the Berbers call themselves, as a threat.
“Overall, increased democratization … provides greater space for the Amazigh to promote their cause, but it also does so for the Islamists, who generally view the Amazigh movement with disdain, or worse,” said Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, a leading expert on the Berbers. “As the Islamists have the momentum on their side, it appears that the Amazigh movement has its work cut out for it.”
Who are the berbers?
The Berbers are North Africa’s original inhabitants. There are no official figures for the number of Berbers in North Africa, but estimates for those who speak one of the many Berber languages are about 25 million to 30 million, mainly concentrated in Morocco and Algeria. In Morocco, they make up 50 percent of the population. They are “a society apart,” according to an activist. Most Berbers are Muslim but pride themselves on their secular traditions.
