AMAZIGH (BERBER) CONFERENCE DEMANDS

UNCLAS RABAT 000908

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/MAG, DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR MO
SUBJECT: AMAZIGH (BERBER) CONFERENCE DEMANDS

REF: A. RABAT 00321


B. RABAT 00676


1. This cable is sensitive but unclassified. Please treat
accordingly.


2. (U) Le Reporter (April 20),a weekly French-language
magazine format journal, reported the results of the April 7
and 8 Amazigh (Berber) conference held in Meknes. (Note:
Meknes is located east of Rabat in the Meknes-Tafilalt
region, and, it is a traditional Amazigh and Jewish city, as
well as a former imperial city, reftel A). Seventy
associations met to discuss the position of the Amazigh in
modern Morocco. Le Reporter discussed the history of various
Amazigh associations, including the Royal Institute for
Amazigh Culture (RIAC),and the development of Amazigh
political parties (reftel B).


3. (U) Conference participants produced eleven demands for
the GOM. These demands are:

--The abrogation of the constitutional article that
identifies Islam as the state religion. The article supports
exclusion. Moreover, on the one hand, not everyone is
looking for a protector of their faith and on the other hand
not everyone is necessarily Muslim.

--The Amazigh language and the principle of secularism in the
constitution must be made official so that the state is open
to the outside world and reconciled with its history.

--Amending the decree relating to the generalization,
unification and "arabization." (Note: "Decree" refers to a
royal edict. End Note.) It is a coercive decree that
penalizes Moroccans who are educated and taught in another
language. (Comment: This statement means that Amazigh are
at a disadvantage because they are educated in Arabic. End
Comment.)

--The Amazigh language must be an official language in order
to ensure its continuance. Making Amazigh official allows
its native speakers to benefit from material and symbolic
advantages.

--The (official) language status forces the state to do its
best to develop, promote and spread Amazigh language and
culture. The Amazigh activists have the right to struggle to
force the state to work to that end, resorting to the courts
if necessary.

--The teaching of the Amazigh language must be proposed to
all Moroccans and must benefit from any right granted to the
Arab language. Any other status for the Amazigh language is
demeaning.

--Public institutions and institutes, administratively and
financially autonomous and mandated to manage public affairs
in the Amazigh areas must be created. There must be a
standard Amazigh language.

--The associations movement must be fostered. (Note:
"Associations" are nongovernmental organizations, reftel B)
They form an ideal "breeding ground" for the emergence of a
nation's elite. The development of a nation is measured
through the importance of its associations.

--The development of audiovisual media for each geographical
area (radio, TV, newspapers) must be promoted. These are
effective instruments and mechanisms for socialization and
expanding the country's languages and cultures.

--Rethink the educational system. The Moroccan educational
system has been led astray from its formative mission,
serving an ideology. Only a surgical procedure can alleviate
the prejudices caused by a more than poor educational system.
A simple reform cannot be the appropriate answer, thus the
Amazigh movement recommends a complete rethinking of the
education system with the perspective of modernizing it and
adapting it to the employment market.

--The teaching of foreign languages. The current
mono-lingualism is synonymous with illiteracy in a changing
and diversifying world. Multi-lingualism must be, of course,
mandatory, if we want to take part in globalization. To that
end, the teaching of foreign languages must be offered to all
citizens.


4. (SBU) Comment: Central to the eleven demands is the
establishment and recognition of the Amazigh language.
Language appears to be the essential identity marker for the
associations represented at the conference. The elimination
of Islam as the state religion and demanding the cessation of
the "arabization" of the Amazigh population are forthright
political changes, which require constitutional changes, as
does the demand for autonomous regions. The fact that
seventy associations agreed on these focused demands
demonstrates that there is a "grassroots" effort by at least
part of the Moroccan population to steer the country's reform
efforts. It remains to be seen, however, whether or not the
demands will lead to constitutional change (reftel B). End
Comment.
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Riley