Kabyle tribal structure.
The arch is a tribal structure founded on real or sometimes imagined family relationships that emerged in the Kabylic region of North Africa during the fifteenth century, when the dynastic system that had provided considerable central government control disintegrated. Free of external authority, different tribes needed to provide themselves with tools for dealing with conflict, land allocation, and other critical problems. In this context they developed relationships, and alliances merged within larger structures known as arch (plural, arouch). Under the Ottomans this sociopolitical form of organization was maintained largely intact for four centuries, but it faded away progressively during the colonial period as more and more power was assumed by the state.
In spring 2001 two events in the Kabylia, the killing by police of a high school student on 18 April and subsequent student demonstrations commemorating the 1980 Berber Spring, led to widespread demonstrations and violent repression by securty forces that resulted in the deaths of more than fifty-one and injury to some 1,500. The period and its events came to be known as Black Spring. One local response was the creation of a populist movement known as the Coordination des Archs, which resurrected the traditional institution as a vehicle for expressing the social, cultural, and political demands of the Kabyles within an Algerian system dominated by Arabs. A laterally structured organization that reached decisions by consensus, it represented Kabyles from a broad range of communities and classes in seven wilayas (provinces) - Tizi Ouzou, Boujaia, Bouira, Setif, Bordj, Bou Arreridj, Boumerdes, and Algiers. In its platform, elaborated in the meeting of Illoula Oumalou on 17 May 2001, this essentially pacifistic organization affirmed its autonomy from state institutions and political parties. Its tactics included boycotts of national events and holidays, sit-ins, demonstrations, and celebrations of local culture. Because of its inclusive and populist approach, the Coordination encountered a considerable amount of internal dissidence and was criticized by Berber political parties. It did, however, achieve significant success as an inter-locuter with the Algerian government.
Bibliography
Brett, Michael, and Fentress, Elizabeth. The Berbers. Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell, 1997.
— AZZEDINE G. MANSOUR
