4Adam Adam
The official status of Tamazight; concerns and allegations of some of the non-speakers on.fb.me/rgSmFb #Libya #justice #humanrights RT!
The official status of Tamazight; concerns and allegations of some of the non-speakers
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by مركز زوارة الإعلامي | Zuwara Media Center on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 4:10pm
As Libya celebrates its newly earned freedom, Libyans commenced creating the building blocks of the free nation they aspire, a country with a functional, Sustainable, genuine democracy. As the pivot of any democracy is its constitution, such document requires meticulous attention to the used terminology, concepts, values, etc... One of the main aspects in this new constitution is the status of Tamazight;
It’s time to eradicate the culture of the dictator after 42 years of absolute intolerance and cherish the diversity he tried to kill. Imazighen experienced first hand the injustice of an attempted cultural genocide, therefore many of them know that the only guarantee for their existence in the long run is to have their linguistic, religious, and cultural rights inscribed in the new constitution.
For Tamazight non-speakers the issue is looked at from deferent angles, depending on the political affiliation of the individual, his/her cultural background and ideological convections, their frequently asked questions and statements expressed regarding this issue can be summoned into two categories, one as legitimate concerns, though these conners are often based on misconceptions drawn from a culture vigorously planted by the previous regime, while the other category can be easily labeled as baseless allegations as they are completely detached from reality.
Here’s a Q&A of some of what has been brought up in the last few months;
“If Tamazight became an official language, am I going to be obliged to learn it in order to carry on my everyday business?”
- Definitely not. In multilingual nations (which represents a considerable number of UN member states) individuals do not need/are not expected to learn every single official langue their country recognizes.
“The percentage of Imazighen in Libya is too small for Tamazight to be an official language!”
This is a statement expressed countless times by certain individuals, despite its many levels of misconceptions (deliberate or out of ignorance) that can be clearly seen.
- The term “Imazighen” is used in such statements in an ambiguous manner... While by definition; “Imazighen” refers to an ethnic group, the use of the term is falsely shifted to refer to a linguistic group which does not entirely constitute the members of the aforementioned ethnicity.
- There are NO credible data available when it comes to calculating the number of Imazighen, whether that term is referring to an ethnic or to a linguistic group. Hence, all citied (or made up) percentages concerning Imazighen are mere speculations at best.
- In a nation respecting the rights of its citizens, the percentage of individuals speaking a certain language among the total population is not an obstacle preventing that language from reaching an official status. For instance, Switzerland got four official languages, namely; German, French, Italian and Romansh, where Romansh is spoken by approximately 0.08% of the total swiss population.
- The official status of Tamazight is one of the basic rights of Imazighen, it is not/should not be subject to any type of referendums and does not require any form of populous legitimacy.
“The official status of Tamazight is a pretext to dividing Libya!”
This is one of the most ignorant most prejudice of all statements related to this topic;
- Not a single self-respecting Libyan with basic awareness of the 60+ years history of the modern state of Libya, can claim that Imazighen ever demanded such a thing; as they proven in several decisive occasions that their only pledge of allegiance is to a unified Libya. For instance; Zwara, during both the Italian era and the British administration period used to enjoy a semi autonomy status, in other words, Zwara chosen to be part of the newly created state of Libya back in early 50’s, the same applies on the current situation, where all Amazigh cities are formidable supporters for a unified Libya.
- Imazighen in Libya regardless to their percentage among the total population, are an indigenous population to this land, as explicitly states Article 3 of the “United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”; “Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.”, Imazighen don’t need to resort to conspiracies or under-the-table kind of deals to determine their national affiliation, they have the right to decide to which county they belong and they do that in broad daylight, their choice was/is/ and always is a unified LIbya.
Yet some individuals are still trying to use Gaddafi’s obnoxious ideology to express their unexplainable disrespect to the martyrs of Imazighen and Arabs alike whom where fighting for a free new Libya where all Libyans enjoy fully their rights.
I personally believe that we (Libyans) must take firm stand facing such social climbers, as Imazighen to ensure that our rights are protected, and as Arabs to show our fellow Imazighen that these individuals are NOT speaking on our behalf and they only represent themselves.
