![It’s every dictator’s desire to be immortalized in history. Gaddafi certainly won’t be forgotten but his impact on Libya is much less permanent than he intended; despite his attempt to control every aspect of each citizen’s life, Libyans - in this case the Ijabils - have sustained “protests of the weak” throughout his rule. In keeping the Amazigh language alive orally, Libyans contested Gaddafi’s attempt to control identity, to define what it is to be a Libyan citizen, to manufacture a society disconnected not only from its past, but from the aspirations of its people.
So, inshallah, as Libya continues forth on an enlightened path, we’ll see the nation emerge from Gaddafi’s regin perhaps not unscathed but unhindered by his poisonous social policies. Teaching the Amazigh language in schools throughout Libya & designating it as a national language would be one, wonderful way to start.
(Some of the above is a bit too fluffy for my liking, but I just finished exercising and the serotonin charging through my system prevents me from deleting such cheesy optimism. I’m also too lazy to even consider rewriting it, despite the beckoning of my horrendous grammar.)
Girls studying in Libyan Berber village in the west Marco Longare / AFP (via Band.com.br)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - 17:15
Berber Culture Explodes in Western Libya
“Azoul (good morning). I’ll teach you the language of their grandparents.” With these words Sara Aboud minister his first lesson in a course for children Yefren Berber. The language, which could send people to prison at the time in which Muammar Gaddafi reigned in the mountains of western Libya, today is synonymous with freedom. Since the Berber villages of Jebel Nefoussa freed themselves from the yoke of Gaddafi, its culture exploded on the radio, in newspapers, associations, museums, songs, and language courses ‘Amazigh’. On the walls began to appear real colorful geometric designs, symbolizing the ‘amazighs’ as they call the Berbers in the region: two semicircles connected by a dash to illustrate the connection of the soul with heaven and earth. “Before, we were considered second-class citizens. We are the source of this country, and we, from now on, the right to hold your head high,” ignites Taghrid Aboud, young home of 22 years. Speak or write in public, read or print language ‘Amazigh’: all this simply was banned by the Libyan leader who always repressed the people present in this country before the Arab conquest in the seventh century and known for his military resistance to the occupation of the Italian early twentieth century. Over the years, his tongue began to be spoken in secret to avoid arrest; the alphabet left to be learned, as well as their own history, explains Sara Aboud, 27. Now, these villages, we can not lose a minute to revive that identity. In Jado Yefren or children attend classes several times a week Amazigh. “Today, the most important thing is that they learn the language” to perpetuate it, Sara Aboud continues to coordinate the courses. Kafu Salah, 14, is the most frequent. “To me that means building the future.” Even adults take over the school notebooks. In the former secret service building, a museum, a painter Yefren registration records ‘amazighs’ in frescoes in which Muammar Gaddafi is represented as a mouse or vampire. “I can not stop writing! I feel born again”, says the artist of 47 years, who prefers not to be named. Buzukhar Mazigh, who paid the price for his activism Berber spending three months in prison before being released by the rebellion, is dedicated to transcribing tales passed down orally, listening to the older guardians of tradition and stories of princes and princesses of wisdom. “For 1,400 years, our literature was only oral. We need to preserve it for future generations,” said the young man of 29 years. In Yefren, all documents have to be written in Arabic and Berber and everyone wants the “Amazigh” is recognized as the official language Gaddafi Libya without a future. “The Arab blood and ‘Amazigh’ mixed on the battlefield against this tyrant. We fight the same enemy, we are brothers. And so things will be in the next 50 years,” said Salim Ahmed, host of radio programs in which discloses Jado two languages.
[*original article was (of course) in Portugese. EN translation by Google Translate]
Source: http://www.band.com.br/impressao/?id=100000445148](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lop074RR8u1qzjp8zo1_500.jpg)
It’s every dictator’s desire to be immortalized in history. Gaddafi certainly won’t be forgotten but his impact on Libya is much less permanent than he intended; despite his attempt to control every aspect of each citizen’s life, Libyans - in this case the Ijabils - have sustained “protests of the weak” throughout his rule. In keeping the Amazigh language alive orally, Libyans contested Gaddafi’s attempt to control identity, to define what it is to be a Libyan citizen, to manufacture a society disconnected not only from its past, but from the aspirations of its people. So, inshallah, as Libya continues forth on an enlightened path, we’ll see the nation emerge from Gaddafi’s regin perhaps not unscathed but unhindered by his poisonous social policies. Teaching the Amazigh language in schools throughout Libya & designating it as a national language would be one, wonderful way to start. (Some of the above is a bit too fluffy for my liking, but I just finished exercising and the serotonin charging through my system prevents me from deleting such cheesy optimism. I’m also too lazy to even consider rewriting it, despite the beckoning of my horrendous grammar.)
Girls studying in Libyan Berber village in the west
Marco Longare / AFP (via Band.com.br)Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - 17:15
Berber Culture Explodes in Western Libya
“Azoul (good morning). I’ll teach you the language of their grandparents.” With these words Sara Aboud minister his first lesson in a course for children Yefren Berber. The language, which could send people to prison at the time in which Muammar Gaddafi reigned in the mountains of western Libya, today is synonymous with freedom.
Since the Berber villages of Jebel Nefoussa freed themselves from the yoke of Gaddafi, its culture exploded on the radio, in newspapers, associations, museums, songs, and language courses ‘Amazigh’.
On the walls began to appear real colorful geometric designs, symbolizing the ‘amazighs’ as they call the Berbers in the region: two semicircles connected by a dash to illustrate the connection of the soul with heaven and earth.
“Before, we were considered second-class citizens. We are the source of this country, and we, from now on, the right to hold your head high,” ignites Taghrid Aboud, young home of 22 years.
Speak or write in public, read or print language ‘Amazigh’: all this simply was banned by the Libyan leader who always repressed the people present in this country before the Arab conquest in the seventh century and known for his military resistance to the occupation of the Italian early twentieth century.
Over the years, his tongue began to be spoken in secret to avoid arrest; the alphabet left to be learned, as well as their own history, explains Sara Aboud, 27. Now, these villages, we can not lose a minute to revive that identity.
In Jado Yefren or children attend classes several times a week Amazigh. “Today, the most important thing is that they learn the language” to perpetuate it, Sara Aboud continues to coordinate the courses. Kafu Salah, 14, is the most frequent. “To me that means building the future.”
Even adults take over the school notebooks. In the former secret service building, a museum, a painter Yefren registration records ‘amazighs’ in frescoes in which Muammar Gaddafi is represented as a mouse or vampire.
“I can not stop writing! I feel born again”, says the artist of 47 years, who prefers not to be named.
Buzukhar Mazigh, who paid the price for his activism Berber spending three months in prison before being released by the rebellion, is dedicated to transcribing tales passed down orally, listening to the older guardians of tradition and stories of princes and princesses of wisdom.
“For 1,400 years, our literature was only oral. We need to preserve it for future generations,” said the young man of 29 years. In Yefren, all documents have to be written in Arabic and Berber and everyone wants the “Amazigh” is recognized as the official language Gaddafi Libya without a future.
“The Arab blood and ‘Amazigh’ mixed on the battlefield against this tyrant. We fight the same enemy, we are brothers. And so things will be in the next 50 years,” said Salim Ahmed, host of radio programs in which discloses Jado two languages.[*original article was (of course) in Portugese. EN translation by Google Translate]
(via victoryormartyrdom)
