Africans not allowed to be Arab?

tamghrabit:

Is it really that hard to accept that (North) Africans can be Arab too? Or that Africans are human beings who have a right to choose their own identity, even if that identity doesn’t please others?

I ask myself these questions when reading and talking to some Imazighen who in their Amazigh activism seem to be driven more by hate towards Arabs or anything that is Arab, than that they are motivated by pride and self-respect.

By ridiculing Africans who call themselfs Arab because they speak Arabic, or treating Arabs as if they invaded Africa yesterday, the Amazigh cause is unfortanately often associated with nothing more than an ideology that wants to control people’s identity, while I think it should be recognised as a worthy struggle for our right to speak our Amazigh languages and to preserve our cultural heritage.

In order to be an Amazigh who fights for the rights of Imazighen, I see no reason to treat every Arab (in Africa) as an enemy and to deny others what you want for yourself: the right to be free in defining who you are.

Every time I meet a Moroccan (Amazigh or Arab) who rejects the Amazigh movement based on his or her understanding of this movement as ‘an instrument to divide people’, it makes me wonder if the Amazigh activists I mentioned earlier realise how they are missing out on opportunities to win support for their cause.

I’ve been willing to write about this for a long time. I’ll leave you with this short note, and I hope to share more about how I think on this matter after Ramadan.

This. Its also a shame because Imazighen are right to embrace their history and call for recognition and rights, but sometimes educational tactics involved turn people away who would otherwise be interested in learning more.