"Tell the world that we have risen up against the oppression of the government." (demonstrator in Bejaia, Kabylia, Algeria)

Over one week ago, a young student, arrested allegedly for insulting police during peaceful demonstrations for recognition of the Tamazight language in Algeria, was shot to death by a policeman at the station, igniting the fire that has engulfed the Amazigh region of Kabylia in the northcentral region of Algeria since.

Recent reports have quoted up to 70 dead and hundreds injured, but for the first few days, a mantle of silence kept the world-at-large in ignorance of the situation. Several more deaths in the wilaya (province) of Bejaia finally brought a statement from the Minister of the Interior on the sixth day of the confrontations, which nevertheless downplayed the scope and gravity of the situation. It is also rumored that the wall of silence has been ensured through the shutting-down of telephone lines for two days. According to private sources, these were reopened on Sunday afternoon, April 29. Although it is not yet fully verified that the phone lines, which also affect internet transmission, were closed down, there have been reports from a number of Algerians that they are not able to communicate with families in Kabylia. On the other hand, they can reach families and friends in other regions.

Clashes between police forces and the people in Kabylia began over a week ago in Amizour, recently reaching crisis proportions, particularly in the region of Bejaia, but also encompassing other regions of Kabylie. Despite the vandalism and torching of public institutions, the pouvoir did not make its appearance until six days later through the person of the Minister of the Interior, who asked for calm and presented the government's "regrets" over the deaths in Bejaia.

The insurrection resulted from a build-up of years of frustration and betrayal, involving the issue of Tamazight, the maternal language of a majority of Algerians, sometimes lost as children grow up, due to social and educational pressures. Tamazight is the language, with some regional differences, of Kabyles, Chaouia, M'zabites, Touareg, and a number of other Amazigh groups, the above list including those found in Algeria alone (the language spreads throughout North Africa, but the figures are small in Tunisia and Libya where arabization has been more successful than in Morocco and Algeria.)

Friday, April 20, 2001, was the 21st anniversary of Amazigh Spring. A march and strike had been called by the MCB (Berber Cultural Movement) on behalf of Tamazight, and as a commemoration of the events of 1980, which began with the cancelation, on March 10, 1980, by local authorities of a conference on ancient Amazigh poetry and culminated on April 20, with the arrest of Amazigh teachers, students, and professionals, the murder of dozens of people, and injury to hundreds at the hands of government forces.

Although some concessions were made to pacify the Amazigh, including allowing that Tamazight be taught in their regions, these concessions were lip service at best. The language is not encouraged. It was not, nor is yet, funded. It is not offered as a major for those seeking a teaching degree. The Tamazight-language program (if it can be called such) has failed due to the lack of necessary tools, books, and training needed to teach a language effectively, the lack of money to fund classes and pay the teachers, and its informal position as an elective. Hopes were raised, but dashed. Tamazight is no closer to being recognized and respected as a language in its homeland than it was in the 1970s when people were arrested for speaking their language or possessing material in Tamazight. In fact, all hope was dashed by President Bouteflika himself, who swore last year that Tamazight would never be official.

While Amazigh music is permitted, and the culture recognized as part of Algerian society, it is regulated exclusively to the traditional, assuring that the language, art, and all things Amazigh remain only a relic of the past for purposes of nostalgia, thus reinforcing the propagandist message that Amazigh want to live in the past and Tamazight is not compatible with the modern. Nonetheless, Tamazight is a language based on root words that is easily and practically adaptable for modern technical and scientific terminology. Much of the music is quite modern, a blend of progressive world music. Lyrics include political statements, as well as popular themes of modern human life and love. Artwork can range from portrayals of traditional life to modern impressionistic art, expressing the alienated soul of the Amazigh. But the regime continues to sabotage this reality in order to ensure that Amazighness becomes a museum piece, brought out into the open only for nostalgic holidays.

This continued oppression, together with the murder of the student, Massinissa, raised the level of Amazigh resentment in the densely-populated region of Kabylia to a critical point, exploding in the events of these past few days. Police brutality has continued--citizens have been beaten and chased by the police, journalists threatened with grenades and guns-thus further stoking the fires of resentment and anger.