American Chronicle - 05/01/10
Libya, as Part of the Berber Nation, Must Withdraw from the Arab League.
Report Submitted to UNESCO
Sunday 7 February 2010
The Berbers of Libya
Report Submitted to the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
United Nations Economic and Social Council - International Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD)
64th Session of the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Geneva, from 23 February to 12 March 2004.
Contents
Preamble
Part I: Background
A. General
B. North Africa an Amazigh land.
C. Undeniable Linguistic and Cultural Presence.
Part II:
Main Violations of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
1. Official and constitutional exclusion of the Amazigh reality.
2. Programmed Arabicization and assimilation.
3. Official exclusion in the fields of culture and education.
4. An authoritarian and repressive anti-Berber policy.
5. Prohibitions.
6. Contradictions in Libya´s official report.
7. Libya: A state of all forms of discrimination.
Part III: Our Proposals to eliminate official discrimination.
Preamble
Before listing the main forms of discrimination suffered by Libya´s Berber-speaking communities and our proposals to eliminate them, it is important to recall a number of historic facts on North Africa. This would allow the reader who is unfamiliar with the cultural issues which seriously divide North Africa to understand the extent of suppression of the Amazigh culture and language in Libya, and in North Africa in general (Part I).As is the case with their brethren in Algeria and Morocco, Libya´s Berber-speaking population suffers all kinds of discrimination which does not only threaten their language and culture but also their survival.
We shall attempt to pinpoint the main forms of discrimination for which the Libyan state is responsible and which violate the principles of the International Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (part II).
Finally, we will present our proposals and suggestions on how to eliminate this discrimination.
Part I
Background
A. GeneralAs is the case with the rest of North Africa, Libya has engaged on a very serious cultural and identity denial based on discrimination which forms the basis for the actions of the nation state. The Libyan state sees itself as Arab and Muslim and spares no effort to Arabicize the Berber-speaking population.
By constitutionally imposing on the nation state the Arab-Muslim character, the government policies blatantly violate the principles of the International Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination.
This is an extremely serious infringement on the cultural rights of the Amazigh people. Such rights are recognized by all international laws and charters, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, which Libya chooses to ignore.
This policy, which can be described as "language imperialism", naturally deprives society of genuine democratization which is necessary to fight and overcome underdevelopment. An important "social energy" is thus being wasted through opposing the ancestral values and identity of the Amazigh people instead of using them as a foundation to establish an open, pluralistic and democratic society.
The Arabicization is therefore at the heart of a state policy which denies Berbers the most basic human rights.
B. North Africa an Amazigh land.All the historians of North Africa have attested that this corner of the world had been populated by the Berbers since time immemorial. In his Histoire des Berberes book, the celebrated 14th century Arab historian and sociologist Abd-al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun wrote about the so-called the Maghreb, which the Berbers call Tamazgha or the land of the Amazigh, that: "Since time immemorial, this human race - Berbers - has populated the plains, the mountains, the plateaux, the countryside and the towns of the Maghreb." (Ibn Khaldun, Histoire des Berberes, Paris, Geuthner, 1999, p. 167).
Regarding the Amazigh language, Tamazight, Ibn Khaldun wrote: "Their language is a foreign idiom which is different from all others. This is the very reason why they were called Berbers." (Ibid., page 168).
Finally, regarding North Africa´s religious life, Ibn Khaldun wrote: "Among them there were [tribes] which practised Judaism. There were Christians and pagans who worshipped the sun, the moon and other idols. As they were ruled by kings and other leaders, they waged several famous wars against Muslims." (Ibid., p.177).
For Gabriel Camps, "Thousands of years have passed and despite trials and tribulations of a history which is particularly characterized by conquests, invasions and assimilation attempts, the Berbers have survived in the immense territory which stretches from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean. Currently, Berber-speaking populations continue to live in a dozen African countries, from the Mediterranean to southern Niger and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Nile River. (Gabriel Camps: Les Berberes, Memoire et Identite, edition Errance, Paris, 1987, p. 5).
For now, any reader wishing to know about the views of celebrated experts on Berber issues, can read L´Encyclopedie Berbere, published in France in cooperation with UNESCO´s International Council of Philosophy and Human Science.
C. Undeniable linguistic and cultural presenceOne of the contemporary studies on Libya is the book by Jacques Lanfry: Ghadames; Etude Linguistique et Ethnographic, published in 1968 by Editions du Fichier de Documentation Berbere (Fort National, Algeria). The book was published following the author´s field research in the Ghadames Oasis between 1944 and 1946. While Mu´ammar al-Qadhafi´s regime was something unthinkable at the time, it was possible to conduct linguistic research in the Berber-speaking regions.
The study is a testimony about the particularity of the language spoken in this region of Libya, a dialect belonging to the family of the Berber language spoken all over North Africa. It also serves as a testimony about the presence of a culture which conveys the ancestral values of the Berber civilization. It contains nearly 400 pages on the study of the Ghadames Berber, in addition to a collection of poems, adages, puzzles and songs.
As is shown in the bibliography attached to this report, a number of studies have been conducted on the Berber language in Libya. This indicates the importance of this language in this region of North Africa.
The numerous Berber-speaking regions of Libya (Nefusa, Zwara, Sukna, Awjila, Ghadames, Awbrai, Ghat, Jalu, ...) still maintain their Berber characteristics. Berber is their mother tongue and Berber culture is part of their daily lives.
For this reason, the Berber language in Libya cannot be ignored. It is alive and is the language of hundreds of thousands of people.
When we surf Internet web sites, we come to realize the importance of the Berber language in Libya. Even web sites of travelers who have been across Libya give an account of this culture and of this language which is different from Arabic, which is officially presented as the only language of Libya.
The CERD members themselves, acknowledge the presence of Berber-speakers in Libya. In their conclusions (CERD/C304/Add.52) following the examination of Libya´s 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th reports, they underlined the presence of Berbers and Tuareg that the Libyan state refuse to admit.
