Peace
The constitutional recognition of Imazighen is a "Red Line", Berbers say!
No constitutional legitimacy without Tamazight, protesters say.
The failure of the first temporary government announced by the former interim prime minister Mahmoud Jibril, which contained names previously associated with the Gaddafi regime, had triggered the first ever protest against the NTC when demonstrators from Mesratha took to the streets and declared they will never be ruled again by anyone who served Gaddafi - not even with "one word". The long overdue second cabinet line-up, announced on the 22nd of November 2011 by el-Keib, has created even more protests than ever before. Protesters took to the streets in Benghazi, Jado and Zuwarah, holding up banners saying: "down to the new government", "No to a government of outsiders" and other similar slogans that express anger more than anything. One Berberist noted that: "Our people want . . . to know why we are being isolated. Our people fear that there will be repetition of what happened during Gaddafi's rule".
A few days later, on Sunday the 27th of November 2011, hundreds of Berbers peacefully stormed the prime minister's office in the capital Tripoli and called for greater representation and constitutional recognition of their Berber identity. Chanting "no difference between Amazigh and Arab", and "we are the indigenous people of Libya; give us our rights and we want them now", while waving yellow, blue and green Amazigh flags, pushed their way past the security at the gates, before they were stopped by the entrance to the PM's office. They asked to speak to the prime minister, who appeared an hour later, wearing a cap in the colours of the Berber flag -- an insulting gesture some would say. [How many hats has he got?] He tried to defuse the angry crowds with irrelevant rhetoric, while avoiding to address their specific issue of recognition. The angry protesters shouted back: "go home!", "go home", while hailing empty cans, forcing the prime minister to flee back to his office "within minutes" -- presumably the first thing he did was to throw the "hat" against the corner of the room!
When the protesters attempted to follow him, they were stopped by his "ministerial guards"; leading to an argument but no violence. The Berbers played a crucial part in the war for freedom from oppression and persecution, and without the checkpoints at Wazin and Ras Ejdir the western part of Libya would have remained 100% under Gaddafi' control. The Berbers were also among the first to enter Tripoli and Bab Alaziziya, and their militias now control several districts of the capital. In response, the local council of Zuwarah, Libya's first elected council, has suspended relations with the NTC and withdrawn its representative from the National Council.
There is no doubt that diligent dialogue is always required to negotiate solutions and therefore suspending all relations perhaps is a matter for the Berbers to vote for! Zuwarah's councils have no right to make such euphoric decisions without consultation with the people of Zuwarah. Like Nato had said after the job was "completed with precision", Libyans now need to resolve their own problems on their own. Some members of the NTC, on the other hand, accused the Berber protesters of being manipulated by foreign sources, just like Gaddafi and others had said before them. It was reported that Fathi Turbil, the current Youth Minister and the human rights lawyer whose arrest back in February sparked the first protests for justice, has again sparked a heated debate among the Berbers and the Arabs of Libya when he made "racist" anti-Amazigh remarks and threatened members of the NTC who were calling for Tamazight to be listed in the draft constitution!! A lawyer taking up the role of prosecution to deny the defendant both: justice & freedom, because he was self-appointed in the name of "revolution". For the sake of free speech and "lack of definitions", one only needs to look up the definition of r-evolution to know the outlawed truth! (See http://ossanlibya.org/?p=21292 ; http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/11/amazigh-arab-libya-wail-public ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3qv62V_-N8 )
A few days later, on Sunday the 27th of November 2011, hundreds of Berbers peacefully stormed the prime minister's office in the capital Tripoli and called for greater representation and constitutional recognition of their Berber identity. Chanting "no difference between Amazigh and Arab", and "we are the indigenous people of Libya; give us our rights and we want them now", while waving yellow, blue and green Amazigh flags, pushed their way past the security at the gates, before they were stopped by the entrance to the PM's office. They asked to speak to the prime minister, who appeared an hour later, wearing a cap in the colours of the Berber flag -- an insulting gesture some would say. [How many hats has he got?] He tried to defuse the angry crowds with irrelevant rhetoric, while avoiding to address their specific issue of recognition. The angry protesters shouted back: "go home!", "go home", while hailing empty cans, forcing the prime minister to flee back to his office "within minutes" -- presumably the first thing he did was to throw the "hat" against the corner of the room!
When the protesters attempted to follow him, they were stopped by his "ministerial guards"; leading to an argument but no violence. The Berbers played a crucial part in the war for freedom from oppression and persecution, and without the checkpoints at Wazin and Ras Ejdir the western part of Libya would have remained 100% under Gaddafi' control. The Berbers were also among the first to enter Tripoli and Bab Alaziziya, and their militias now control several districts of the capital. In response, the local council of Zuwarah, Libya's first elected council, has suspended relations with the NTC and withdrawn its representative from the National Council.
There is no doubt that diligent dialogue is always required to negotiate solutions and therefore suspending all relations perhaps is a matter for the Berbers to vote for! Zuwarah's councils have no right to make such euphoric decisions without consultation with the people of Zuwarah. Like Nato had said after the job was "completed with precision", Libyans now need to resolve their own problems on their own. Some members of the NTC, on the other hand, accused the Berber protesters of being manipulated by foreign sources, just like Gaddafi and others had said before them. It was reported that Fathi Turbil, the current Youth Minister and the human rights lawyer whose arrest back in February sparked the first protests for justice, has again sparked a heated debate among the Berbers and the Arabs of Libya when he made "racist" anti-Amazigh remarks and threatened members of the NTC who were calling for Tamazight to be listed in the draft constitution!! A lawyer taking up the role of prosecution to deny the defendant both: justice & freedom, because he was self-appointed in the name of "revolution". For the sake of free speech and "lack of definitions", one only needs to look up the definition of r-evolution to know the outlawed truth! (See http://ossanlibya.org/?p=21292 ; http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/11/amazigh-arab-libya-wail-public ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3qv62V_-N8 )
First of all, Libyans must realise this is a "transitional government" and not a permanent one, and should recognise that ministerial jobs cannot be awarded or gifted for those who took part in the fight against the ousted regime -- even though most of the fighting was done by foreign forces from the air. Indeed one should worry if government posts are assigned on such merits.
This means that Libyans need to stand united and give the transitional government a helping hand. All Libyans need to know that nearly all Berbers cherish the unity of Libya as they always did before. This Berber protest representing most of Tripolitania is also taking place in Arab areas like Benghazi -- the spark that ignited the uprising.
But equally important the transitional council needs to listen and take into consideration the issues troubling the population they ought to represent; and therefore it is important that all major communities in Libya are included in the transitional, temporary government so that each representative from these areas can competently represent and put forward the issues relating to their community. Why is this required? Because the temporary government needs to secure the country and restore peace to the hundreds of heavily-armed communities from across Libya before they can do anything else. In order to disarm angry, turbulent revolutionaries and peaceful protesters and bring the country under just control, one needs to convince these people that there is really a r-evolution going on, and not just a sack of promises, and that all Libyans are now 100% equal before the law.
All Libyans need to feel they are free and fully recognised on equal terms in every sense in this "free Libya"; otherwise they have no reason to stop protesting as they did before in February. Freedom then was not a matter of voting, it was a matter of martyrdom and a conflict that ended the lives of at least 30,000 Libyans.
It is always okay for the ruling party to criticise the persecuted part, but it is never right for the persecuted to speak out the "truth" against oppression and marginalisation. Libyans need to "wake up", before they can "rise up", accept the integrity of the Berber society and respect other people in the same way they seek the same respect for themselves.
This means that Libyans need to stand united and give the transitional government a helping hand. All Libyans need to know that nearly all Berbers cherish the unity of Libya as they always did before. This Berber protest representing most of Tripolitania is also taking place in Arab areas like Benghazi -- the spark that ignited the uprising.
But equally important the transitional council needs to listen and take into consideration the issues troubling the population they ought to represent; and therefore it is important that all major communities in Libya are included in the transitional, temporary government so that each representative from these areas can competently represent and put forward the issues relating to their community. Why is this required? Because the temporary government needs to secure the country and restore peace to the hundreds of heavily-armed communities from across Libya before they can do anything else. In order to disarm angry, turbulent revolutionaries and peaceful protesters and bring the country under just control, one needs to convince these people that there is really a r-evolution going on, and not just a sack of promises, and that all Libyans are now 100% equal before the law.
All Libyans need to feel they are free and fully recognised on equal terms in every sense in this "free Libya"; otherwise they have no reason to stop protesting as they did before in February. Freedom then was not a matter of voting, it was a matter of martyrdom and a conflict that ended the lives of at least 30,000 Libyans.
It is always okay for the ruling party to criticise the persecuted part, but it is never right for the persecuted to speak out the "truth" against oppression and marginalisation. Libyans need to "wake up", before they can "rise up", accept the integrity of the Berber society and respect other people in the same way they seek the same respect for themselves.
Secondly, one needs to know that the Berbers were wrongly criticised for protesting about not getting any ministerial jobs, which is not true, since that was not the only thing the Berbers were protesting for (see video below). Maybe some media outlets like playing with destinies and editing selected stories to manipulate responses according to preconceived objectives, as their critics say, but the truth of the matter is the Berber protesters' main demand was (and still is) the constitutional recognition of their identity (not language) by the temporary "constitutional declaration" (of August 3, 2011), which the self-appointed rebels wrote by themselves without any authorisation or approval from the Libyan people. The Berbers also say the NTC and the new government have "deliberately excluded them".
When the controversial constitutional declaration was announced a few months ago, the Berbers protested and complained (at all levels), but apart from Reuters and few others no one took any notice of their legitimate struggle for freedom and an end to persistent persecution. The Arabs of Libya need to understand (peacefully and with an open heart) that the Berbers' case is different to theirs, because the Berbers were stigmatised and marginalised by all the previous governments of Libya, ending with their identity being outlawed and them being attacked as "sons of Satan" and "agents of colonialism". So far, all the recent manifestos, constitutional declaration, resolutions, press releases, and interim governments are flawed, as they all had miserably failed to recognise Tamazight Identity as part of indigenous Libya -- something they need to do now, rather than later, even though most Libyans agree that it is not up to them to do so.
When the controversial constitutional declaration was announced a few months ago, the Berbers protested and complained (at all levels), but apart from Reuters and few others no one took any notice of their legitimate struggle for freedom and an end to persistent persecution. The Arabs of Libya need to understand (peacefully and with an open heart) that the Berbers' case is different to theirs, because the Berbers were stigmatised and marginalised by all the previous governments of Libya, ending with their identity being outlawed and them being attacked as "sons of Satan" and "agents of colonialism". So far, all the recent manifestos, constitutional declaration, resolutions, press releases, and interim governments are flawed, as they all had miserably failed to recognise Tamazight Identity as part of indigenous Libya -- something they need to do now, rather than later, even though most Libyans agree that it is not up to them to do so.
Thirdly, some critics replied to these questions and issues by saying all these demands can be supplied later once the new constitution is voted for by the people and once the new government is elected. But the constitutional declaration was already written and announced by the NTC way back on the 3rd of August 2011, and therefore this does not make any sense. Others, like Mr. Turbil, said if it is language rights the Berbers want then they will have all the cultural freedom they want without having to officially recognise them in the constitution -- a clear attempt to divert from the true demand: "Identity Recognition As The Indigenous People of Libya".
No one has forced the NTC to write and publish this on the 3rd of August, and in fact it would have been much better for the security of Libya if it was not written in the first place, until, as they say now, a proper constitution is endorsed by the elected government of next year.
The NTC mentioned Arabic and even other laws regarding culture and faith in its temporary constitutional declaration but failed to mention Berber. The NTC should have recognised the Berbers' identity on the so-called "Liberation Day", but they did not. If this temporary constitution is "nothing" and "transitional" and the Berbers should wait for the final copy, then why bother writing it in the first place? By mentioning only one language (Arabic) and not the other (Berber), one is led to worry about "hidden agendas". Why bother writing such a (temporary) constitution just to divide the community and create friction, tension and further protests at this critical stage? If they had kept both identities out (Arabic and Berber), then the Berbers would have had nothing to complain about. Many Libyans even asked the daring but simple question: who gave them the legitimacy to write a constitution without consultation with and feedback from the Libyan people they claim to represent?
We will probably never know the answers to these legitimate questions, but according to the Guardian (London, UK) the constitutional declaration seems to have been influenced by planning advice from the UN, the US and the UK (
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/22/libya-government-post-gaddafi).
No one has forced the NTC to write and publish this on the 3rd of August, and in fact it would have been much better for the security of Libya if it was not written in the first place, until, as they say now, a proper constitution is endorsed by the elected government of next year.
The NTC mentioned Arabic and even other laws regarding culture and faith in its temporary constitutional declaration but failed to mention Berber. The NTC should have recognised the Berbers' identity on the so-called "Liberation Day", but they did not. If this temporary constitution is "nothing" and "transitional" and the Berbers should wait for the final copy, then why bother writing it in the first place? By mentioning only one language (Arabic) and not the other (Berber), one is led to worry about "hidden agendas". Why bother writing such a (temporary) constitution just to divide the community and create friction, tension and further protests at this critical stage? If they had kept both identities out (Arabic and Berber), then the Berbers would have had nothing to complain about. Many Libyans even asked the daring but simple question: who gave them the legitimacy to write a constitution without consultation with and feedback from the Libyan people they claim to represent?
We will probably never know the answers to these legitimate questions, but according to the Guardian (London, UK) the constitutional declaration seems to have been influenced by planning advice from the UN, the US and the UK (
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/22/libya-government-post-gaddafi).
4: a very important point said by another Berber politician (above video) was that the Berbers backed the NTC at the start of the uprising because the NTC claimed it will represent all sections of Libya for justice and not just for Benghazi -- not that Benghazi is happy now! And he added that the Berbers make up nearly a fifth of the country and therefore they must be equally represented in the temporary government simply because the new government will draft the constitution (via the self-appointed 'constitution committee'); and therefore the need for the Berbers to be included in this "drafting committee" to make sure their rights, not demands, are represented. Quite a valid point, one should agree. Article (30) of the NTC Constitutional Declaration says people will be allowed to vote only "yes" or "no" about the "draft constitution", and that if only two thirds say yes then the constitution will be approved. The Berbers were outraged, because they said the matter of identity is not a matter of "voting", and that being a minority they will never achieve any victory via this confused system of democracy.
The Berbers fear if they surrender now and accept the current marginalisation then nothing will happen. They also fear that if they accept this imposed "yes" or "no" system and agree to voting, it would mount to no more than signing their own "marginalisation decree". Some Berber activists have already called for boycotting the forthcoming elections unless the constitution was amended to include them before the voting begins; but they are advised to rethink their strategy because that might be just one of the reactions they were lured to enact! Human rights are not a matter of vote. Full stop. They are grounds for "revolution, the NTC and many others had proclaimed!
27 November 2011 Protest
The first demand listed by the first speaker in the video calls for the constitutional recognition of Berber language & identity. One speaker said the Berbers never demanded any ministerial job before because they were promised the appointment of the new government will not be based on personal relations and city assignments, but on merit and competence. But once the new government was announced they were let down, they said. Many of these ministers, they say, including the Prime Minister himself, were educated and lived in the West and hence detached to a certain degree from the Libyan society, its workings and its needs. Debatable point, but it is healthy to ask such questions when basic human rights are denied in the name of revolution and at a cost of 30,000 Libyan slaughtered. Many Libyans, both Berbers and Arabs, from Zuwarah, Nafousa, Mesrata, Sebha, Benghazi and many other Libyan cities and villages still ask the same question: what for?
When the NTC was gathering momentum early on, it promised to hold elections within six months; but then this was later changed to 18 months. Wartime rebel prime minister Mahmoud Jibril warned Libyans and their partners regarding the "dangerous power vacuum" which "foreign powers might exploit" to their advantage, and called for full elections within six months, instead of waiting until mid 2013. But he was also reported to have singled out the Tuareg Berbers as Gaddafi supporters, which is not true, because most Tuareg Libyans are against the previous regime and sincerely support the fight for freedom and justice; and because his government was rejected by Libyans because it contained so many ministers previously loyal to the ousted regime. His remarks regarding Gaddafi setting up a Berber Tuareg country in the south of Libya were seen by most Berbers as "inflammatory" comments designed to create "friction". The Berbers generally feel that there are those Libyans who are playing the "Amazigh Card" against the "Arab Card". NTC's Ali Tarhouni also warned that 90% of Libyans are still politically voiceless and unrepresented (Reuters.com/)
Hopefully, establishing contact with all Libyans and representing their needs equally will lead to positive dialogue and cooperative approach to guide Libya out of its darkest period in history. Otherwise back to square one.
The first demand listed by the first speaker in the video calls for the constitutional recognition of Berber language & identity. One speaker said the Berbers never demanded any ministerial job before because they were promised the appointment of the new government will not be based on personal relations and city assignments, but on merit and competence. But once the new government was announced they were let down, they said. Many of these ministers, they say, including the Prime Minister himself, were educated and lived in the West and hence detached to a certain degree from the Libyan society, its workings and its needs. Debatable point, but it is healthy to ask such questions when basic human rights are denied in the name of revolution and at a cost of 30,000 Libyan slaughtered. Many Libyans, both Berbers and Arabs, from Zuwarah, Nafousa, Mesrata, Sebha, Benghazi and many other Libyan cities and villages still ask the same question: what for?
When the NTC was gathering momentum early on, it promised to hold elections within six months; but then this was later changed to 18 months. Wartime rebel prime minister Mahmoud Jibril warned Libyans and their partners regarding the "dangerous power vacuum" which "foreign powers might exploit" to their advantage, and called for full elections within six months, instead of waiting until mid 2013. But he was also reported to have singled out the Tuareg Berbers as Gaddafi supporters, which is not true, because most Tuareg Libyans are against the previous regime and sincerely support the fight for freedom and justice; and because his government was rejected by Libyans because it contained so many ministers previously loyal to the ousted regime. His remarks regarding Gaddafi setting up a Berber Tuareg country in the south of Libya were seen by most Berbers as "inflammatory" comments designed to create "friction". The Berbers generally feel that there are those Libyans who are playing the "Amazigh Card" against the "Arab Card". NTC's Ali Tarhouni also warned that 90% of Libyans are still politically voiceless and unrepresented (Reuters.com/)
Hopefully, establishing contact with all Libyans and representing their needs equally will lead to positive dialogue and cooperative approach to guide Libya out of its darkest period in history. Otherwise back to square one.
Resources:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/27/us-libya-amazigh-protests-idUSTRE7AQ0J420111127
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/27/us-libya-amazigh-protests-idUSTRE7AQ0AN20111127
ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/22/libya-government-post-gaddafi
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/24/us-libya-idUSTRE7AN1W420111124
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/11/amazigh-arab-libya-wail-public
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/27/us-libya-amazigh-protests-idUSTRE7AQ0J420111127
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/27/us-libya-amazigh-protests-idUSTRE7AQ0AN20111127
ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/22/libya-government-post-gaddafi
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/24/us-libya-idUSTRE7AN1W420111124
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/11/amazigh-arab-libya-wail-public
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