Berber Spring

An uprising, from March to June 1980, for linguistic and cultural rights in Berber-speaking Kabylia in northeastern Algeria.

Between March and June 1980, the northeastern Algerian provinces of Kabylia became the site of a violent social and political drama that would become known as the Berber Spring (Printemps Berbère in French, or Tafsut n Imazighen in Berber/Tamazight) and set the stage for the modern transnational Berber/Amazigh cultural movement. Kabylia has a history of resistance to state authority and since independence has been the center for advocacy of Berber cultural and linguistic rights in an officially Arab-speaking state.

On 10 March 1980 local authorities banned a lecture on ancient Berber poetry, which was to be given at the University of Tizi-Ouzou by the writer and ethnologist Mouloud Mammeri. In response, students went on strike, demonstrating across the country for an end to "cultural repression," and on 7 April they occupied the university. When on 20 April the military stormed the university, arresting and injuring hundreds of demonstrators, a series of violent confrontations between Kabyle youth and police broke out, which together with a four-day general strike shut down the region for nearly a week. Although calm was subsequently restored, antigovernment protests continued until the last of the arrested students was released on 26 June.

The Berber Spring made Berberism a political force in postcolonial Algeria and more broadly in North Africa. Commemorations of the events have become the indispensable activity of Berber cultural associations worldwide and have been moments for the elaboration of political programs and, in the case of the April 2001 Black Spring, for new confrontations with state authorities.

Bibliography

Roberts, Hugh. "Towards an Understanding of the Kabyle Question in Contemporary Algeria." The Maghreb Review 5, nos. 5 - 6 (1980): 115 - 124.

— PAUL SILVERSTEIN

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The Berber Spring (in Amazigh: Tafsut Imazighen or simply Tafsut for "Spring") was a period of political protest and civil activism claiming recognition of the Berber identity in Algeria with events mainly taking place in Kabylie. The background was several decades of harsh Arabization measures instituted by the Arab nationalist FLN dictatorship government, which refused to acknowledge Berber culture and banned the Berber language.

The Berber Spring is traditionally dated as beginning on March 10, 1980 with the banning of a conference due to be held by the Kabyle intellectual Mouloud Mammeri at Hasnaoua University in Tizi-Ouzou. A critical point was the coordinated arrest of hundreds of Berber activists, students and doctors on April 20, sparking a general strike.

While the Berber Spring was in the end successfully suppressed by the Algerian authorities, it created a lasting legacy for Kabylie. Many of today's prominent Kabyle politicians and activists made their name during the Berber Spring events, and organizations such as the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) and the Mouvement pour l'Autonomie de la Kabylie (MAK) were later created by activists of the Spring. The Spring was also an important event for Algeria's nascent human rights community, including outside Berber circles.

Since the dismantling of the one-party FLN system in 1992—followed by abortive democratization and civil war -- a few of the demands of the Berber Spring have been met by the state, and the Berber language is now a national language of Algeria. However, this is still distinct from Arabic, which remains the official language, and many other points of contention remain.

See also

Berbers portal

• Black Spring

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