Myrtus

Why no Dutch Obama?

Radio Netherlands says not just yet, but the potential is definitely there.

The person with the most potential to be "da man" is currently Moroccan-born Ahmed Aboutaleb.

Mr. Aboutaleb was recently voted Mayor of Rotterdam by Rotterdam's City Council, making him the first ever Mayor in the Netherlands who is not a Dutch native.

Why no Dutch Obama? - Radio Netherlands Worldwide

The United States has a black president, but the Netherlands has never had a black prime minister. And plenty of other countries have had women heads of government - so why not the Netherlands?

The explanation is simple, says Radio Netherlands Worldwide's political editor Hans Andringa. It's simply a matter of time. "New Dutch" people have only been in the Netherlands for a matter of decades, and they have been active in politics for an even shorter time.

"Before you get to the top in a political party, so you're as widely recognised and acknowledged as you need to be to become a party leader, it takes a long time."

It has taken years for the number of MPs with ethnic minority backgrounds to build up to the present level, yet the figure is still no higher than eight percent of the total.

Tensions
There are even fewer people from ethnic minorities in leading political positions. One exception is the Moroccan-born Achmed Aboutaleb. Currently the deputy social affairs minister, he has just been appointed mayor of Rotterdam. This has a particular resonance, because in recent years the city has been associated with tensions between white Dutch people and ethnic minorities, and was the home ground of the murdered rightwing populist politician Pim Fortuyn. Political commentators have pointed out that if Rotterdam had an elected mayor, it seems unlikely that Mr Aboutaleb would have made it to the post.

AD.nl - Binnenland - Heftig onthaal voor Aboutaleb

Other interesting news on Radio Netherlands:

The untold story of the 1950s Berber uprising in northern Morocco.....

Search for my father - Radio Netherlands Worldwide

Fifty years ago, the people of Morocco's Rif mountains rebelled against the central government. The uprising was brutally put down by the Moroccan army and many of the Rif mountains' native Berbers left for Europe. The world's media didn't pay much attention to the 1958 rebellion, but it left its mark on many people's lives, including that of Mohamed Amezian, son of the rebel leader.

Obama City.....

Obama City, Japan - Radio Netherlands Worldwide

Barack Obama's victory is also being greeted with enthusiasm in Japan - especially in the city of Obama. The residents of the city, which is in the south near Kyoto, support the Democratic candidate mainly because of the shared name, but they have political reasons too.

Afterthought....

Last Sunday I got a phone call from my nephew Chakib who lives in Amsterdam along with the rest of my family.  He told me to hold on a minute because he had a surprise for me. 

So I waited for a few seconds and oh what great surprise!

My childhood best friend Saida, whom I hadn't seen or talked to for close to two decades, got on the phone and....

Hiiiiiiii Nashia!!!!!!

Saida?  OMG I can't believe it!

Saida and I share so many memories, getting in trouble together and having such a great time growing up together. Eventually we went our seperate ways when we were about 19 years old and only seeing each other in passing occasionally.

Imagine my surprise when the first thing she said to me was:

Hey, Ahmed Aboutaleb is now Mayor of Rotterdam hahaaa!

I said: Yes, I read about that in the news.  Isn't it awesome?

She said: Remember when you had a fight with him?

Hmm me a fight with Aboutaleb?  What are you talking about?

Saida: Hahaa well, maybe not a fight, more like an argument.

I said: I used to run into him here and there, we knew some of the same people and I do remember having a few exchanges with him, but an argument? 

If I did, I don't remember.

Saida goes: Well, maybe not an argument, but more like a discussion about politics and I remember clearly when you said you thought he was an arrogant prick and very stubborn...hahaaaa!

Oh WOW really?  I swear I don't remember that, but let me tell you something.  I've been following his political career in the news for many years now and I'm so proud of him for all that he has accomplished in such a short period of time, despite all the apposition he had to face not just in Dutch society but within the Moroccan community as well. 

Saida then quickly changed the subject.

A Berber uprising or Arabist conspiracy in Morocco?

I personally can't confirm the veracity of this report, and because I know there are all kinds of political factions at work trying to undermine the transformation of Moroccan democracy, I am reluctant to jump to any conclusion on this issue for now.

So What's going on in Morocco?  How come no one else is talking about this?

The Amazigh Cultural Movement of Morocco Under Attack

11 October 2007

Violence recently erupted between so-called Arabist and Amazigh students at several universities in Morocco namely Taza, Meknes, Agadir, Marakesh and Tizi-n-Imnayen. This has led to many serious injuries and one death among the students. The Moroccan police intervened and arrested Amazigh students mainly. There are now about 50 of them in jail under various charges, most of them labeled “armed attack against another student” and “robbery”.

The violence coincided in many universities such as Taza (Arif) with the commemoration of Tafsut Imazighen (the Amazigh spring1). According to eyewitnesses in Taza, large numbers of individuals outside of the university entered the campus, took part in removing announcements by the Amazigh student organization and attacked violently the Amazigh students. According to the same eyewitnesses, the security forces provided cover for the fleeing attackers instead of arresting them. (continue reading here)

Morocco: Berber/Israeli Friendship Association

This is great!  I would love to see an Arab/Israeli Friendship Association as well if there isn't one already.

MOROCCO: BERBER ACTIVISTS PLAN FIRST ISRAELI FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION

A group of Berber activists is planning to create next month North Africa's first friendship association with Israel, pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi reports. The activists plan to hold the official inauguration on 20 July in the city of Taroudaut, 60 kilometres inland from the western coastal resort of Agadir, the paper said.

Jewish Berbers living in Israel and Moroccan Berbers will be involved in the new association, which aims to allow Jewish Berbers to keep in touch with Berber and Moroccan culture and the Amazigh language, the association's founding committee said in a statement.

h/tip Stefania at Free Thoughts

"Dog Farts"

Yep, "dog farts" that's what we call mushrooms in Berber.  Sometimes we call them "champiniones" too just to be polite.

heheh no need to say hshooma, I'm telling you the truth. But you can blame BO for bringing it up.

Now if you really want to talk about hshouma, let's talk about it here: Nunzilla

Tifinagh

An international colloquium on Tifinagh, the earliest alphabet used to transcribe the Amazigh language, took place on Thursday (March 22nd) in Algiers. Organized by the High Commission for Amazigh (HCA), the conference was attended by distinguished social science experts from Niger, Morocco, Tunisia and France. Those in attendance deliberated the alphabet's use and how best to preserve it as a part of the Berber people's cultural heritage.

  Fascinating ...

Berber - Amazigh

My friend Anna brings up an excellent subject here: Anna's Clue Tank: Whom Gods Destroy, They First Make Mad

Anna says:

Sidenote for Najia, while looking up barbarian stumbled across where Berber probably came from. The Arabic barbar which was derived from the Greek word. (:

Anna, in all my attempts trying to trace Berber roots over the years, I've come to find many contradicting accounts on Berber heritage, but one thing I found most researchers agree on is that Berbers, or Imazighen (<~freemen, as we call ourselves) are considered indigenous inhabitants of Northern Africa and some parts of Southern Europe, but the best account I've ever come across, one that I personally can relate to (but then again I feel can relate to a lot of things), is this one by Jawad: In DHD: The Amazigh: Returning from the Ashes of Neglect I 

"Although some know them as ‘Berbers’, the native people of North Africa would rather be called by the name once chosen by their ancestors, a name that has come to symbolize their spirit and define their struggle. Amazigh (sing.) or Imazighen (plur.) in the native language of North Africa means 'freemen' and it is in defense of their freedom that the Amazigh people have fought countless invasions and campaigns of repression by some of history’s most powerful armies (i.e., Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Turkish, European).

Their cause and struggle continues to be ignored by many around the world. In fact many who are familiar with the word ‘Berber’ associate it with some kind of carpet when it refers to an entire civilization. So, let us cover some basics about who the Amazigh people are. They are people of no particular race who are considered to be the native people of North Africa. Their presence in that part of the world dates back to some 5,000 years B.C. Their biggest and strongest asset is their language and their common value system. Although they were largely forgotten by modern history, the Amazigh people are now awakening to the sounds of democracy and freedom in one of the most troubled regions of the world.

The task of introducing the Amazigh people to the world is not an easy one and would certainly require an exhaustive essay that covers a healthy dose of historical and cultural information. Nonetheless, although somewhat simplistic, my approach is to describe the Amazigh people within the societal context of the intended audience. Here I try to introduce the Amazigh people to the American reader. As such, I find it useful to engage in a what-if exercise that implants the Amazigh people in America and defines their likely political affiliation given their present values and practices. This is an easy way for American readers to relate to the information thus presented about a civilization that is foreign to them.

The Amazigh people would likely vote for the GOP if they were in America. They are largely pro-business and pro-free trade. Indeed, throughout their history, the Amazigh people have always been known for their entrepreneurial savvy and their penchant for commerce. In Morocco, they are often envied for their business sense and their successful know-how of wealth creation despite limited opportunities and discrimination. At the center of their value system are trust and honor. Trust is always on deposit and honor is an inviolable virtue. Any breach of trust can condemn a relationship to eternal oblivion and any breach of honor can give rise to fierce resistance.

In business, they are enterpreneurial in that they seek to mitigate risks all while increasing the likelihood of success, but they still rely on trust as a gold standard. It is not at all unusual for an Amazigh shopkeeper, for instance, to trust a fellow citizen with the differed payment of purchases without any binding legal instruments. Simply put, to the Imazighen, deferred payment is preferable to deferred business. However, far from being naïve, Amazigh entrepreneurs engage in such conduct only when they perceive a state of shared values and personal integrity. It is, hence, no surprise that they are more inclined, at least initially, to trust their brethren rather than outsiders.

The Amazigh people would likely vote for the GOP if they were in America. They are conservative in that they are people of deep faith and wield a strong code of ethics. The Amazigh people of Morocco are mainly followers of a mystical form of Islam. The shrines of their local saints are revered and frequently visited. They heed calls for moral revival with great enthusiasm. On God, Gays, and Family, the Amazigh people would give Karl Rove a standing ovation. They do not, however, wear their faith on their sleeves and do not proselytize. This is again due to their belief in personal responsibility. They largely believe religion to be a personal relationship between God and his creation. Once I asked a respected Amazigh religious leader what he thought about jihadists. In a direct reference to UBL, he calmly replied: “Since when has the length of one’s beard reflect the depth of one’s faith”."

Continue reading Jawad's accounts on Berbers part one and part two....

As the war between ideologies is raging all over the globe, it's becoming more evident now that the entire human civilization is consumed with a critical identity crisis.  people are constantly trying to redefine themselves especially when it comes to national identity, along with religion.  I think humans tend to attach too much value to one's identity, because personally I believe that one's identity is an intimate personal matter, just like religion.  I define mine as whatever I FEEL a strong kingship to...an emotional connection that I proudly wear on my sleeves at times, and all I have to do is look through my closet to prove it to myself.

And this one's in the laundry basket~~~~~~~~~>

So how do YOU define you identity?  Come on, let it out of the closet.

Modernity and Recognition for Morocco's Berbers

This should open the door for Myrtus to tell us a story about her own youthful years amongst the Imazighen in Morocco. :)

Signs of modernity are creeping into remote corners of the High Atlas, where life has changed little in 2 000 years for the Imazighen or Amazighs - "Free Men" in Tamazight - as Romans, Vandals, Arabs and French occupied and fought over the plains below.

In Rabhah's village of Olgagh, power lines and satellite dishes are appearing, bringing electric light and images of modern wealth and comfort into sparse mud-and-straw houses.

Sons of shepherds, who were packed off to boarding school to learn Arabic and French, have stayed the course and obtained university educations and ambitions for jobs in town.

...

But pride in this self-reliance is mixed with resentment at what are seen as unfulfilled promises by the Rabat government for better roads, health services and education.

Local campaigners say the government has neglected Morocco's mountainous, predominantly Berber regions under a deliberate policy to sideline Amazigh identity.

They say that, for the Arabic-speaking middle class that led Morocco to independence in 1956 under the banner of Arab nationalism, attempts to assert Berber culture raise bitter memories of the colonial era when France tried to divide Morocco between areas governed by Berber customs and the rest, subject to Islamic sharia law.

At independence, they say, the dominant Istiqlal party opted for a centralised system of government in which attempts to promote regional languages and cultures were seen as a threat.

Hostility

Suspicion of the mountain tribes grew with an unsuccessful rebellion in the northern Rif soon after independence and widespread hostility to the monarchy in the southern Souss region.

Morocco has more citizens with Berber origins than any other country and nearly 40% of the population speaks one of three Amazigh languages, but many Berbers accuse their compatriots of discrimination.

In March 2000, the "Berber Manifesto" was published, complaining of repression and demanding development for Berber areas. It called for state recognition of their language, support for cultural institutions and revisions to school books so they fully reflected the role Berbers played in Moroccan history.

The government under the reform-minded King Mohammed has yielded to many of their demands. Teaching in Berber has been extended to 1 200 schools and plans have been announced for a Berber television channel.

But the battle for Berber identity waged in city universities means little in the farming communities of the High Atlas, where few people have heard of the Amazigh movement.

Isolation has guaranteed their singularity and remains perhaps the best hope for preserving their way of life.

Read more here ...

What about Derja?

One of my favorite English language Algerian bloggers, Lameen Souag has mentioned something that I have believed to be most pressing for some time. This is the issue of Derja, the Algerian vernacular Arabic dialect. Derja is often dismissed by many Algerians and their leaders as "baby talk" or simply bad Arabic. I have heard from some (my cousin Saleem) that the dialect is the "Bastard child of French rape" and that it should not be encouraged because it undermines Arabic. Derja is a mixture of Arabic, French, various Berber dialects, and in some areas Landino, Spanish, Italian or Maltese. It is as varied as is Algeria’s history and as rich as its landscape. Yet it is not taught in Algerian schools whilst Arabic and French are. The beginnings of Thamazight language education are taking root in places like Batna and Kabylia. Yet the language that is common to so many Algerians, and is usually the first language learned verbally, is denied its proper role in education, literature and more broadly life.

The issue discussed by Lameen at his linguistics blog "Jabal al-Lughat" is that of creating a body of Derja literature. This, Lameen argues (along with Moroccan blogger Laila Lalami), would allow Algerian youths to learn to read and write at an earlier age. As Lalami puts it (you may know her as Moorish Girl)

I'm fully in favor of using Darija, because of the huge impact it would have on the creation of a reading culture. Imagine: All children's books right now are in Modern Standard Arabic, which is a language no one learns until first grade (i.e. age 6 or 7), by which time reading habits are already in place for many kids.

Derja literature would help Algerian kids to appreciate reading at an earlier age because it would not so foreign. Foreign because Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is not usually mutually intelligible with many North African dialects and as Lalami notes, is not formally learned, for the most part, until students enter school. Since MSA is the language of instruction only when students get into school, it functions not as a "natural" language, but really in a way similar to any other foreign language. If MSA were the language that Algerians spoke at home, it would be somewhat different, but the fact that MSA is not a "real" language (it was constructed out of conferences in Cairo, Beirut, and Damascus in order to save the Arabic language from becoming a dead tongue) complicates matters to the fullest. Derja literature would simplify matters, because as different as Derja is from MSA, they are still closely related and the introduction of children’s books in Derja, written in the Arabic script, would aid youths in learning Arabic in school.

But I would not stop there. I would favor the institutionalization of Derja as a valid language, an "Algerian" language as it were. I have nothing against Arabic, but I think that Derja would do several things to enhance the Algerian experience. For instance, I think that many Algerians suffer from an identity crisis as it were when it comes to linguistic and national matters. Many Algerians sadly deny their own national culture for that of some abstract "Arab nation," with whom they are not able to communicate with without a great degree of effort. Things that make Algeria what it is, its eclectic dialect, its semi-pagan mountain rituals, its wonderful dishes, are all too often looked upon with disdain by some Algerians, especially those with more "Arabist" leanings. Algerian Arabs have a proud history, but all too often they are not raised to be proud of it. Still other Algerians are over xenophilic, obsessed with all that is anything but themselves. Some are fascinated, as many Arabs are, with Andalusia, with Iberia. In the US, many Algerian expatriates, quite sadly, pass themselves off as being "Spanish" or "Latin" in their origins. These Algerians have counter parts back home who immerse themselves in the culture of Iberia while rejecting or forgetting their own. Some Algerians, often Imazighen or wealthy, find themselves admiring France more than their own country. Looking across the Mediterranean and wishing that they were not surrounded by sickly Arabs, but "civilized" Frenchmen and Europeans, trying to wish away the "curse" of Islam and all that came with it. There is a lack of confidence among Algerians. Is not the Algerian culture worth admiration and propagation? Why must Algerians conform to a linguistic tradition that is not theirs? Perhaps this model of thought fits Egypt or Syria, but Algeria is not those. Arabic has its place in Algerian history, culture, and religion but today Derja is far more widespread than is Arabic. Derja should be taught alongside Arabic in a mandatory fashion for at least a few years of schooling.

Lameen also mentions the issue of foreign language education in Algeria, which is sadly dominated by French. His sentiments regarding this topic are nearly identical to my own. French is not a bad language, but it has a retarding effect on the prospects that Algerian students have in the world. I believe that English is probably the most useful foreign language that one can learn today. French deems one to, as Lameen puts it, the "ghetto of Fracophony". Many people even in the French speaking world know English, as do those in most of Europe, many parts of the Middle East, Africa, East Asia and even Latin America. As Lameen states, students should

From 3rd grade on, have a choice between French and English(and maybe even Spanish) as the second language, and raise a generation of educated North Africans that do not all share a single foreign language; only thus can the domination of French in North Africa, with all its attendant sociological divisions and economic problems, be ended.

I think the statistic is that of secondary school students in Algeria, upwards from 98% of students take French as their foreign language. Only something like 9,000 students take English. French used to be the first language of diplomacy, now it is at best the second. Algeria should get on the forefront by encouraging students to take English.