The Berber Spring (in

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

: Tafsut Imaziɣen or simply Tafsut for "Spring") was a period of political protest and civil activism in 1980, claiming recognition of the

identity and language in Algeria, with events mainly taking place in Kabylia and

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

Background

Arabization measures

Since its independence in 1962, Algeria has had a single-party system, ruled by the FLN. After 132 years of

French colonization The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...

, one of the goals of the Arab nationalist party FLN was to implement

Arabization Arabization or Arabisation ( ar, تعريب, ') describes both the process of growing Arab influence on non-Arab populations, causing a language shift by the latter's gradual adoption of the Arabic language and incorporation of Arab culture, aft ...

measures with the goal of making Arabic the national language in administration, schools and public services in general. Like most ex-colonies, the independence of Algeria stressed the need for a linguistic and cultural "recovery", as a symbol of the nation's "recovery". Under French colonization, the Arabic language was disregarded; in 1938, the French government even issued a law that declared Arabic a foreign language in Algeria. In reaction to the French policies, the nation-building project envisioned by the Algerian nationalist and pro-independence party, the FLN, made it so that Algeria would be a monolingual Arab and

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

country, with little consideration for the pluralism of cultures, identities and languages in Algeria. For example, the 1976 National Charter did not take into account any Berber claims for recognition. This rejection of the Berber identity, language and culture is to be put in a context where approximately 10 to 12 million Algerians are Berbers. Kabylia is the region with the highest concentration of Berbers. Located in northern Algeria, it has approximately 7 million inhabitants.

Berber cultural organizations

During the 1960s and the 1970s, several Berber cultural organizations emerged in Paris, for they could not be established in Algeria. At that time, there were many exchanges between Algeria and France, and despite being based in Paris, these organizations also targeted Kabylia's inhabitants. The Berber, and more specifically the Kabyle, identity was already a political cause. For example, Mouloud Mammeri had created the ''Académie Berbère d’Echanges et de Recherches Culturelles'' (ABERC) with other intellectuals, that emphasized the similarities between the minorities in Algeria.

The events

The Berber Spring is traditionally dated as beginning on 10 March 1980, with the banning of a conference due to be held by the Kabyle intellectual Mouloud Mammeri at Hasnaoua University in Tizi-Ouzou. This event sparked demonstrations and strikes at schools, universities and businesses that would rock the Kabyle region for more than two months. This period is known as the "Berber spring" or Tafsut Imaziɣen. This event was the first great popular movement to challenge the authorities, the FLN and the single-party system since Algeria's independence. A critical point was the coordinated arrest of hundreds of Berber activists, students and doctors on 20 April, sparking a

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...

. *10 March: Mouloud Mammeri's conference about ancient Kabyle poetry is cancelled in Hasnaoua University in Tizi-Ouzou. *11 March: demonstrations in Kabylia at Tizi Ouzou, Bejaia and

. *7 April: violent suppression of a demonstration in Algiers shocked and the beginning of the strike in Tizi-Ouzou and Bejaia *10 April: general strike in Kabylia. Bejaia, Tizi Ouzou. *17 April: forced eviction of the strikers from the Tizi-Ouzou hospital and the SONELEC factory. * 19 and 20 April: Mizrana operation: authorities enter the Kabylia Tizi ouzou university. *20 April: general spontaneous strike in Tizi-Ouzou & Bejaia. According to Jane Goodman, the Berber Spring could not have happened if not for the conjunction of four dynamics: the Arabization program that “criminalized” the Berber identity; a small network of Berber scholars in Paris in the 1970s; the student governance in Algerian universities that allowed for the organization of the demonstrations; and the “human rights discourse” in the media, fueled by the violent repression. While the Berber Spring was in the end violently suppressed by the Algerian authorities, it created a lasting legacy for Kabylie and the Berbers across North Africa. Many of today's prominent Kabyle politicians and activists made their name during the Berber Spring events, and organizations such as the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) and the Berber Cultural Movement (Mouvement Culturel Berbère – MCB) were later created by activists of the Spring. The Spring was also an important event for Algeria's nascent human rights community, including outside Berber circles.

Aftermath

Since the dismantling of the one-party FLN system in 1989—followed by abortive

democratization Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a ful ...

and civil war—a few of the demands of the Berber Spring have been met by the state. In 2016, the Berber language was made an official language of Algeria, alongside Arabic. Other points of contention remain. Since January 2011 massive Berber activism re-emerged in North Africa in the wake of the Tunisian revolution and the overthrow of the Tunisian president Ben Ali, in what Berbers sometimes call the Berber-Arab Spring. This time, Berber activists were much more active and vocal on the streets of Morocco and Libya compared to Algeria. In Libya, Berber rebels helped topple

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

, as the offensive that captured Tripoli and greatly helped end the civil war there originated from the Berber Nafusa Mountains.

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