Amazigh activists have expressed outrage at attempts to link Amazighness to Zionism, calling the accusations serious transgressions against Moroccan history and cultural identity. According to them, these denigration campaigns, motivated by ideological considerations, aim to weaken the cultural and linguistic diversity which constitutes the basis of Moroccan society, while calling into question the authenticity of Amazigh traditions, including “Id Yennayer”, symbol deeply rooted in Moroccan history.
Amazigh activists have denounced the repeated denigration campaigns which attempt to link Amazighness and its cultural and festive symbols to Zionism, considering that targeting the cultural heritage of the “Imazighen”, which is part of the history of the humanity, is a dangerous drift and a transgression of historical and anthropological facts. Such a drift is motivated, according to them, by ideological considerations which aim to undermine the cultural and linguistic diversity which constitutes the foundation of Moroccan society.
This indignation follows a statement from Ahmed Wayehman, director of the Moroccan Observatory for the Fight against Normalization, who refuted the existence of the Amazigh year and thereby “Id Yennayer”. According to him, “this is a Zionist myth in which many actors have been involved, including the official side”.
Statements that denigrate Morocco’s multiculturalism
Wayehman’s statements are, according to the president of the Amazigh League for Human Rights, Boubker Anghir, “out of step with history and geography, as they denigrate the multiculturalism of Morocco and represent a serious expression of the loss of bearings and the intellectual confusion suffered by the remnants of the pan-Arab nationalist left which has missed the train of modernity , democracy and cultural and linguistic diversity in Morocco”.
“Such statements which denigrate Amazigh cultural symbols while glorifying oriental symbols and figures are the expression of intellectual superficiality and a very serious cognitive deficiency, mainly within a desperate pan-Arab left which is not not even in line with its own beliefs and visions of the future, in which cultural diversity and difference must be one of the main pillars”stressed Anghir in statements to Hespress.
And to wonder “if it was not absurd and even crazy to consider the celebration of the Amazigh year by mothers and entire families in the most distant mountains as a Zionist imperialist conspiracy? And was the Zionist movement behind these Amazigh celebrations since the dawn of time?”before adding: “when the horizon of scientific reflection is obstructed, when conspiracy theories prevail and everything Moroccan, North African and African is trivialized, while the cultures and histories of distant nations are glorified, then know that these there seek a scaffolding on which to hang the failure of their analyzes and their hackneyed theses outdated by history”.
-Ideological declarations that go against the foundations and postulates of the Amazigh movement
The Amazigh activist, Abdellah Baddou, stressed for his part that “the statements and positions hostile to the components of Amazigh identity and culture, including Id Yennayer, reflect ideological sensitivities which are in contradiction with the foundations and postulates of the Amazigh movement, and even with the measures taken by the State to establish the Amazigh New Year”noting that “the State would not have taken this step if they were not aware of the historical facts, which some ignore”.
“The proclamation of the Amazigh New Year as an official holiday, and before that the constitutionalization of the language, were among the demands for which the Amazigh movement mobilized for decades”recalled Baddou in statements to Hespress, noting that “These demands, which have been met, are framed at the human rights level by international conventions and treaties. And, keen to honor its international commitments, the Moroccan State has responded to these requests”.
And to add that “the questioning of the Amazigh New Year and Amazigh culture is one of the main battlegrounds of certain ideologies which seek to distort historical data and attempt to make false accusations against the Amazighs, by linking them to Zionism ”.
The Amazigh activist further insisted that “Amazighity has a historical depth and extension which precedes the existence of the State of Israel, which some associate today with Amazighity”.
And to conclude that “these voices, which promote the forms of discrimination and ethnicity that Moroccan society combats, should return to history books, studies and anthropological research which confirm the antiquity of Amazigh culture and rituals and their anchoring in North Africa”.
