Berber Spring

The Berber Spring (in Amazigh: Tafsut Imazighen or simply Tafsut for "Spring") was a period of political protest and civil society activism in the Kabylie Berber areas of Algeria. 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 speech by 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 Berber politicians and activists made their name during the Berber Spring events, and organizations such as the Liberal-Berberist party Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) was 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 -- many of the demands of the Berber Spring has 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

* Black Spring