INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF
SERVICE
PRESENTATION BY IDRISS
JAZAIRY
AMBASSADOR OF ALGERIA TO THE
U.S.
I am pleased to have the opportunity of
addressing you on the theme of the Berbers whose history and culture are basic
components of Algerian identity.
These groups of people also
referred to as Amazighs or “free men” use different dialects with
identical roots and indeed different alphabets. At one time, they spread from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Nile river and from the Mediterranean Sea to areas
South of the Sahara. Their dialects are still prevalent in 10 countries of
Africa today including 45% of Morocco’s population and about 25% of Algeria’s.
The
Greek historian Herodotus said 5 centuries B.C. that Berbers descended from the
inhabitants of Troy who had sought refuge in North Africa after their city was
conquered by the Greeks.
A few
centuries later the Roman historian Sallustus claimed they originated in
Persia.
Later
still the Byzantine historian Procopus saw the Berbers as being Cananeans who
were expelled from Palestine by the tribes of Israel after the defeat of
Goliath by David.
Similar
was the interpretation of Ibn Khaldun the famous XIVth century Arab historian who
surmised however that the Berber Sanhadja and the Kutama tribes might have
originated in Yemen.
The
French occupants of Algeria tried to put emphasis rather disingenuously on the
Celtic or possibly Basque origin of the Berbers.
Perhaps
one should ask oneself why the Berbers should have to come from some other land
rather than have originated in this region of Northern Africa where traces of
their civilization are found in the form of Capsian art (from contemporary
Gafsa) from the 8th to the 5th millennium B.C. This
population blended, as it seems, with Cananeans who first arrived to North
African shores in 3200 B.C.
So
none of the ancestors of the Berbers are newcomers to this land!
The
area of North Africa has been at a strategic crossroad between Europe, the Arab
East and Africa. It was therefore coveted for its location and abundant
agricultural resources by the main forces which successively gained the upper
hand in the Mediterranean Basin.
The Berbers did not have
independent access to the instruments of might, wielded in effect by forces
lying to the East or North of the Mediterranean. Making the most of a tricky
situation, they tried to manage to their advantage the East-West and
North-South tensions generated by the expansionist policies of their partners.
For a
full 6 centuries, domination of North Africa came from the East with the
Phoenicians, starting with their conquest of Carthage in 814 B.C. During this
time, the policy of the Carthaginians was to make the Berber elites become the backbone
of their own military forces. This is why the Berbers supported the
Carthaginians in an East-West alliance as they expanded northward towards
Sicily in 264 B.C.
But
then the Berber rank-and-file whose social organization was traditionally egalitarian
came to resent these Berber elites cut off from their roots. So after 6
centuries of Carthaginian domination came to an end, Massinissa, the Founder of
the Numidian State built on this resentment. He opposed to the East-West
alliance of his rival Syphax with the Phoenicians, a North-South alliance with
the Romans in the second century B.C. Helping to defeat Carthage, Massinissa
was able to unify the country and constitute the first Numidian State. In
making a nation out of a diversity of contending tribes this great leader was
indeed the precursor of the Emir Abd El-Kader who founded contemporary Algeria.
Massinissa heralded thereby an era of national independence over the next two
centuries.
Under
the pressure of the Romans, after the death of Massinissa, his successors
progressively became vassals to Rome except for his nephew Jugurtha (118-105
B.C.) who fought courageously to preserve Numidia’s independence. In spite of
the revolt of Tacfarinas against Juba II who was himself completely romanized,
this inexorable trend led to the final takeover of Numidia by Rome in 43 A.D.,
the country being recast as Roman provinces for the best part of the following
6 centuries.
Managing
domination from the North, the Berbers were quick to adopt the Christian faith
when it was the religion of the oppressed against Pagan Rome. But when under
the Emperor Constantine, Christianity was mainstreamed, the rural Berbers undermined Roman control by supporting the
dissenting views of the Donatists as a way of challenging the Christian
Establishment in Rome.
This
was also a way for them to express their resentment to their romanized elitist
compatriots who, not unlike their forbears in Carthage, became the adjuncts of
the Roman Imperium. Amongst the latter were nevertheless such brilliant natives
of contemporary Algeria as St Augustin
who, in the 4th century A.D. had such a deep influence on
Christiandom that it is still felt to this day.
Again, as under the
Carthaginian domination and for the same reasons, the Donatists claiming a
fundamentalist interpretation of their Christian faith and calling for the
veiling of all girls of more than 13 years of age, carried out a scorched-earth
policy. They are reminiscent of contemporary fundamentalists invoking this time
a distorted interpretation of Islam to undermine the prevailing social systems.
The uprising of Berber leaders like Firmus and his brother Gildon and the
ruthless repression which befell them, accelerated the end of the Roman grip on
North Africa.
During these 6 centuries of
North-South linkage, the Romans gave citizenship rights to people from North
Africa, and indeed the city of Caesarea, today called Cherchell, in Algeria was
the birthplace of a Berber Emperor of Rome, Macrinus in the 3rd
century A.D. Latin was spoken together with Berber or Tamazight and Punic
languages. But Berber was rarely the official language under any regime with
the possible exception of the Numidian State.
It
was thus the Berbers who provided the first translations of the New Testament
from Greek into Latin and an incontrovertible interpretation of Christian
dogmas.
The
Roman occupation was followed by two other shorter spans of Northern domination
which the Berbers were successful in destabilizing without however disposing of
the critical force necessary to reimpose their own sovereignty.
First
came the Vandals from the Iberian Peninsula. Their ruthlessness and the
confiscation of all arable land they resorted to to bleed the country white,
triggered popular uprisings throughout the territory. But again just as was the
case after the disintegration of the Roman domination, this popular resistance
did not lead to the restoration of the sovereignty of Berbers over their land.
It only paved the way for the deployment of Byzantine domination for another
century. Resolute opposition from fierce Berber fighters such as Byzacene and
Iabdas likewise brought this domination to an end.
During
the nine centuries which followed, Islam was introduced and consolidated by the
Arabs in a new and longer lasting East-West linkage. The Berbers played their
hand successfully by transforming what could have been a devastating
Machrek-Maghreb conflict into constructive tension enabling them to make their
own agenda prevail.
It
took three successive expeditions in 642, 644 and 669 and the famous Okba Ibn
Nafa’ for the Arabs to gain a firm foothold in North Africa. As Sidi Okba
behaved arrogantly towards the local population, he was temporarily replaced by
a more conciliatory leader Abu Al Muhadjir. This expresses Arab concern with
Berber acceptance and endorsement.
However,
being reassigned to the region Okba Ibn Nafa’ did not draw a lesson from his
former experience. He further mistreated local leaders including Kussayla who
sought revenge and killed him. This happened before the key city of Carthage
was taken by the Arabs. At that time, a successor of Sidi Okba, Hassan Ibn
Nu’man was confronted by the heroic resistance of a woman leader, Dihiya, that
the Arab historians refer to with awe as El Kahina/The Amazigh
Soothsayer.
The
Arabs under General Al Hasan then took a leaf out of the Carthagians’ book by
giving the leadership of their armies to the sons of El Kahina. This was
an empowering move for the Berbers and a very effective confidence-building
measure.
Thus
it was that another famous Berber Tarek Ibnou Ziyad took up with enthusiasm a
few years later, in 711, the assignment given to him by Al Hasan’s replacement
Musa Ibn Nusayr, to introduce Islam to what was to become Andalusia.
The Berbers
massively adopted Islam whose rejection of theocracy, advocacy of shura/concertation,
egalitarianism and opposition to ethnic discrimination corresponded to their
own traditions. In a strange repetition of history under Roman domination
however, they expressed opposition to the Islam of the Establishment by joining
the Kharidjite schism and first refusing to recognize the Abbaside Caliph in
Baghdad.
When
Kharidjism was mainstreamed under the Rostomides, they espoused the cause of
another minority sect, Chiism until then unknown to our region. The Kutama
tribe in particular spearheaded the expansion of the Chiite Fatimid dynasty
which chased out the Kharidjites and spread to Cairo making it their capital.
But when Chiism was thus mainstreamed, the Ziris, who were the founders
of Algiers and the North African heirs to the
Fatimide Caliph of Cairo, switched allegiance from the Fatimid Caliph of Cairo
to the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad, going back to Sunnism.
This
fanned the ire of the Caliph of Cairo who sent to North Africa the unruly Beni
Hillel invaders in 1051 to punish the Sunni population. The hordes visited
total and utter devastation on the Berbers of which a poignant description is
given by Ibn Khaldoun.
Soon
after the Berbers nevertheless regained control of the situation and expanded
their influence to Andalusia under two dynasties which lasted a full century.
First were the Almoravide Berber Empire of Ibn Tachfine introducing a more
rigorous interpretation of Sunni Islam. The Almoravides were later unseated by
the rebellious Almohades who established a truly revolutionary State calling
for an even stricter application of the Islamic code. The Almohade’s attitude
is strikingly evocative of contemporary rigorist Islamist sects.
Under
the leadership of Ibn Toumert and of his disciple Abd El Mou’men, the Almohades
succeeded in repelling the Beni Hillal, not a mean achievement by any standard
as well as in repelling Christian attacks on Andalusia.
They
were succeeded by three other Berber dynasties: First, the Merinides in the
West of our region who restored the Sunnite malekite rite after it had been
bruised by the Almohades. Second, the Banou Abd Wadids who governed the Centre
and to the East. Third, the Hafside in the East right up to the XVth or XVIth
century.
So one can venture to assert
that out of nine centuries of nominal Arab rule, the Berbers were able to
manoeuver to ensure damage limitation of the Arab conquest for the first three
centuries. They indeed came soon to realize that this conquest was more about
sharing faith and extending trade than about imposing long-term domination
contrary to conquerors coming from the North of the Mediterranean.
Then
during the 6 remaining centuries they were as it were “in the driver’s seat”,
running their own affairs and advancing knowledge. The city of Bejaia for
instance became a center of excellence where the great scientist Fibonacci from
Pisa came to learn the principles of arithmetics which he then propagated to
Europe in his Liber Abaci thus helping to provide the material base for
the Renaissance.
Unfortunately,
in North Africa as earlier in Andalusia, it was internal fighting between
Moslem leaders which weakened them and brought about the Spanish/Portuguese
attacks and occupations of territory.
Against
this Northern threat, Berber leaders already weakened. Not disposing of muskets
or cannons they resorted to a new East-West alliance of which the lynchpin was
Kheireddine Barbarossa. His intervention opened the floodgates for the Turks
who spread their hegemony to the whole of North Africa except for Morocco.
The
rest of historical developments in contemporary Algeria whose present map was
more or less determined by the Turks is well known, as much has been said about
the harsher North South conflict resulting from the attack and occupation of
Algeria by France which lasted 132 years. The French colonizer was known for
practicing a divide-and-rule policy between Arabic-speaking
and Berber-speaking Algerians. This policy
ultimately failed as both these linguistic groups were equally involved in the
liberation wars that ensued until Independence was achieved in 1962.
This
presentation shows that, despite all odds, Berbers have been adept at devising
policies to capture all opportunities to turning their material weakness into
strategic strength or resilience.
But
what then of the Arabs one could ask?
Well,
there has been no large-scale transmigration of Arabs from the Middle East to
North Africa. Okba Ibn Nafa’ arrived with 7000 troops, another Arab General
later with 40 000. But when the caliphs in the Middle East had another
emergency such as dealing with local uprisings e.g. of the kharidjites, they
would quickly call back their troops. As for the Hilalian hordes, I indicated how
they were booted out by the Almohades.
The
numbers of these troops in any event pale in comparison with the size of Berber
population which spread as I already said from the Atlantic to the Nile and
southward.
The
Romans also entered our region with more than a hundred thousand troops, the
Vandals with 80 000 men, let alone the Turkish janissaries.
So
statistically, Algerians, while they have a rich genetic heritage, are still
predominantly Berbers in their genes while sharing the same Islamic faith and
much of the Arab culture.
Some of them express
themselves in colloquial Arabic when they have long lived on the coast or on
the trading routes and in the Arabic
language used by the media if they are literate in this language. They are referred
to as Arabs and probably constitute 75% of the population.
The
remaining 25% speak one of the Berber dialects. They tend to live in more
remote regions in the South like the inhabitants of Ouargla or the Tuareg
nomads, or the inhabitants of Mzab or those on the Southern borders with
Morocco. And they are found in rugged
mountainous areas such as the Djurdjura populated by Kabyles since the XVIth
century . Others still like the Berber-speaking Chaouias to the East who where
long isolated by poverty, have increasingly picked up Arabic as their condition
improved and they integrated the national economy. Recent rural-urban
migrations prevent an accurate mapping of what are in any event linguistic
groups and not ethnic groups of Berber and non-Berber speaking Algerians.
In an
effort to promote post-independence nation-building, governments of Algeria
have, in a first phase, put heavy emphasis on restoring the Arabic language. As
there was a risk of losing sight of a Berber heritage shared by most Algerians.
President Bouteflika in this second phase helped restore Tamazight as a
national language by advocating its recognition in a new Constitution. This may
call for some standardization and agreement on a workable alphabet, whether the
Tifinagh used by the Tuaregs or not.
The
President’s initiative is an important step towards the recovery of our
composite identity after the recognition by the Constitution of 1986 of
Amazigh-ness as one of the three components of Algerian identity together with
our Islamic and Arab heritage. The setting up of a Higher Council on
Amazigh-ness at the Presidency of the Republic was another step in the right
direction. We are committed to sparing no effort to recover fully the Amazigh
cultural heritage which like all other local cultures is in danger of being
swept away by modernization and globalization. At the same time we view the
Internet as an excellent opportunity to promote these cultures.
It is somewhat a pity that
the issue of Amazigh-ness has been restricted to its political connotations
which, in a way, downgrades it. It is in need of a broader epistemological
approach that has to do with communication, the art of being oneself, the
promotion of awareness. It has to do with the awareness diversity within
oneself and with acceptance and tolerance of diversity in others. It has to do
with this unique flexibility of languages and concepts that enable us as
Algerians to skip so easily from one system of signs and parameters to another.
This diversity is our strength not our weakness.
Commitment
to diversity is part of commitment to democracy. In the same way that we can’t
advocate long-overdue democratization of international relations between States
without upholding democratization in internal social relations, so also support
of diversity is indivisible. Fostered by tolerance, it is another name for
freedom.