When Activists Are Lashed with the Whip of Betrayal
Those who claim to have come to their senses and suddenly discovered the value of “Tamaghrabit” insist, with intellectual arrogance, on labeling the Amazigh movement as extremist and radical. Their rhetoric even suggests that this movement is “a traitor to the nation”! A traitor simply because it cut the umbilical cord with the Arab Mashreq and restored Morocco’s natural and organic connection to its historical and civilizational roots, its land, its languages, its diversity, and its African depth.
What must be said clearly and without hesitation is that Tamaghrabit is nothing other than Tamazight—not just as a language, but as a cultural system, a set of values, and an identity rooted in time and space. Tamazight is the deep soul of Morocco, the foundation from which all forms of plurality, openness, and interaction with others have emerged. And when we say that Tamaghrabit is Tamazight, we are not excluding anyone—we are simply restoring balance, and elevating the essence rather than marketing the superficial.
In their debates and media appearances, some today try to appear clever, combining a display of renewed national consciousness with emotional nostalgia for an imported Arabist culture—this very culture that for decades sought to erase Moroccan identity and suppress its diversity. And after all that, they have the audacity to label us, the children of this land, as extremists?!
How can a movement that fought to establish cultural sovereignty, and to achieve equality, dignity, and justice, be accused of treason?! Is it because we reject dependency? Because we refuse to define ourselves through the lens of the Mashreq? Because we believe Morocco’s relationships should be balanced with all nations of the world, and not subordinated to ideological references from the East?
The Tamaghrabit some now celebrate cannot be genuine unless it acknowledges that Amazigh identity—with its historical, linguistic, and symbolic content—is its core, and its ethical and political foundation.
If Abdelaziz Hnaoui, Abdelhaq Snibi, or Abdelkhalek Klab have chosen—thankfully—to now recognize what they once rejected (the first two in a debate on the YouTube channel Touil Talks, and the third on the show Bila Loughat Khachab with Ramdani on Med Radio), then to them I say: welcome to the real Morocco. But stop demonizing those who came before you. Stop accusing of betrayal those who paved the way for you to speak freely today about Tamaghrabit.
It is unacceptable to adopt the ideas and references of the Amazigh movement while at the same time accusing it of treason. That is the logic of someone who wants to harvest the fruits without recognizing the sweat and blood that nourished the trees.
The Amazigh movement is not extremist. It is an authentic Moroccan movement that chose to be at the heart of the nation, not on its margins. And if that pains some, let them reconsider their loyalties, not their accusations.
By Amina Bencheikh
