Libya's TNC Pledges New Regional Model of Democracy, But Excludes Berber's Official Status:

X

A Berber would naturally be surprised to hear that the NTC's "Constitutional Declaration" openly excludes the official status of Berber Language - the persecuted native language of Libya. The NTC had announced on the 3rd of August 2011 a 37-point interim "Constitutional Declaration" to provide a framework for the transition to an elected government, and to call for a constitutional assembly within eight months, with the aim of appointing a new interim government and writing a new constitution. The appointed interim government will then supervise an election to elect a new government within 20 months. 

So, what does  this new "Constitutional Declaration" say?

Here is an actual copy of Article 01:

Translation:

"Libya is an independent and democratic country, in it people are the source of power, its capital is Tripoli, its religion is Islam,  Islamic Sharia is its primary source of legislation, and the country pledges the freedom to practice religious ceremonies for non-Muslims, and its official language is The Arabic Language, and the country Libya guarantees the cultural rights for all the components of the Libyan society and their languages are considered national languages."

Reading carefully through these words one senses the article was drafted, or rather crafted, to please the minorities of Libya rather than give them their full "Constitutional" rights and acknowledge them equally as one of the official peoples of Libya. It says they can practice their cultural rights, but what about recognising them first as having their own "Identity" which both Gaddafi and Algeria attempted in vain to Arabise? Why Arabic is the only official language of Libya, while Berber is downgraded to a national status? Why both languages cannot be equal and equally recognised in the New Democratic Libya. Many Libyans answered these questions by saying the Declaration is only a temporary one and that the final constitution will hopefully be different. New Libya should be 100% democratic, and the tens of thousands of Libyans who died for the change did not die in vain. All Libyans should put their differences aside and work together for free and democratic Libya.

We already saw in an earlier manifesto issued by the NTC that the NTC's draft constitution will be subjected to a referendum and it will be passed if it gains a majority, which may be anything above two thirds. In addition to the fact that the Berbers will certainly not be able to reach this majority, Fathi Salem Abu Zakhar, an organiser of the Amazigh conference in Tripoli, says "Language rights are not a matter that is subject to a vote . . . We want the government, and the coming government, to grasp that the language is part of the Libyan equation." Reuters (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/09/26/uk-libya-berber-language).

There is nothing new in the above Article 01,  as it is almost identical to the one earlier proposed by Gaddafi in his (also so-called) "democratic constitution", especially so that little illusive phrase about "power in the hands of people".  According to the Guardian, the constitutional declaration seems to have been influenced by planning advice from the UN, the US and the UK.