Mohammed Arav Bessaoud | |
---|---|
Muḥend Aεrab Besεud | |
Born | Taguemount El Djedid (Algeria) | 24 December 1924
Died | |
Years active | 1950–2002 |
Known for | Algerian War, Berberism |
Mohand Arav Bessaoud (born 24 December 1924 in Taguemount El Djedid, Algeria; died 1 January 2002 in Isle of Wight) was a Kabyle Algerian writer and activist. He was described as the spiritual father of Berberism ("Dda Moh"), and a strong supporter of the Amazigh culture. [1]
Mohand Arav was part, as soon as 1963, of the early movement that led to the rise of the National Liberation Front. He had published Happy The Martyrs Who Have Seen Nothing in 1963 in which he documented his war experience against the French. This book earned him the death penalty by the Ahmed Ben Bella administration. [1] More precisely, he wrote explicitly how Ramdane Abbane (one of the historic leaders of the Algerian movement) was murdered by Abdelhafid Boussouf, and not killed in combat. [2]
In 1965, Bessaoud fled to France. Along with individuals including Taos Amrouche, Mohammed Arkoun, Abdelkader Rahmani, Mohand Saïd Hanouz, he cofounded the Academie Berbere in Paris in 1966. [2] In 1969, he organized the first Berber music concert, and launched a Berber-focused magazine, Imazighène. That year, the Academie Berbere became Agraw Imazighen. [2] He designed the modern Berber flag in 1970. [3] [4]
In 1978, following diplomatic pressure from Algeria, France asked Mohand Arav to leave the country. He dissolved the Academie Berbere and settled in the Isle of Wight. In 1997, he returned to Algeria, his last trip to his home country before passing away on 1 January 2002. [1]
Mohand Arav wrote on the war of independence, its aftermath and the history of the Berbers. He was considered a leading light of Berberism during the 20th and early 21st centuries. [1]
Tifinagh is a script used to write the Berber languages. Tifinagh is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber alphabet. The traditional Tifinagh, sometimes called Tuareg Tifinagh, is still favored by the Tuareg Berbers of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria, northeastern Mali, northern Niger and northern Burkina Faso for use writing the Tuareg Berber language. Neo-Tifinagh is an alphabet developed by Berber Academy to adopt Tuareg Tifinagh for use with Kabyle; it has been since modified for use across North Africa.
The Zenata are a group of Amazigh (Berber) tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic.
Berber music refers to the musical traditions of the Berbers, a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migration to the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their usage of the mostly mutually unintelligible Berber languages. Berber music varies widely across North Africa. It is stylistically diverse, with songs being predominantly African rhythms and a stock of oral literature.
The Maghrawa or Meghrawa were a large Zenata Berber tribal confederation whose cradle and seat of power was the territory located on the Chlef in the north-western part of today's Algeria, bounded by the Ouarsenis to the south, the Mediterranean Sea to the north and Tlemcen to the west. They ruled these areas on behalf of the Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba at the end of the 10th century and during the first half of the 11th century.
Si Mohand ou-Mhand n At Hmadouch, also known as Si Mhand, was a widely known Berber-Amazigh poet from Kabylie in Algeria. Called the "Kabyle Verlaine" by French scholars, his works were translated by fellow Algerians Mouloud Feraoun, Mouloud Mammeri and Boulifa and one of the translations was Les poémes de Si-Mohand (1960). Due to difference of information and sources, some details of his life are not clearly known.
The Kabyle people are a Berber ethnic group indigenous to Kabylia in the north of Algeria, spread across the Atlas Mountains, 160 kilometres (100 mi) east of Algiers. They represent the largest Berber population of Algeria and the second largest in North Africa.
Marie-Louise-Taos Amrouche was an Algerian writer and singer. In 1947, she became the first Algerian woman to publish a novel.
The indigenous population of the Maghreb region of North Africa encompass a diverse grouping of several heterogenous ethnic groups who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migration to the Maghreb. They are collectively known as Berbers or Amazigh in English. The native plural form Imazighen is sometimes also used in English. While "Berber" is more widely known among English-speakers, its usage is a subject of debate, due to its historical background as an exonym and present equivalence with the Arabic word for "barbarian." When speaking English, indigenous North Africans typically refer to themselves as "Amazigh."
The Berber calendar is the agricultural calendar traditionally used by Berbers,. The calendar is utilized to regulate the seasonal agricultural works.
Colonel Saïd Mohammedi, or Si Nacer, was an Algerian nationalist and politician.
Académie Berbère d'Échange et de Recherches Culturels, usually shortened to Académie Berbère or the Berber Academy was a Paris-based Kabyle cultural association formed in 1966 and officially authorized in March 1967 with the objective of raising Berber consciousness. The association was renamed Agraw Imazighen in Tamazight in 1969.
Beni Snous is a Berber variety close to Zenati languages spoken near Tlemcen in Algeria.
The Berber flag or Amazigh flag is a flag that has been adopted by many Berber populations including protestors, cultural and political activists.
The Ait Atta are a large Berber tribal confederation of South eastern Morocco, estimated to number about 330,000 as of 1960. They are divided into "five fifths", all said to descend from the forty sons of their common ancestor Dadda Atta: these "fifths" are the Ayt Wallal, Ayt Wahlim, Ayt Isful, Ayt Yazza and Ayt Unbgi. They speak Tachelhit and Central Atlas Tamazight..
Farid Ali was an Algerian singer.
Abu Tashufin I, was the 5th Sultan of the Zayyanid dynasty ruling the Kingdom of Tlemcen, in medieval Algeria.
Abu Yahya Abu Bakr ash-Shahid or Abu Bakr was a grandson of the Caliph Abu Ishaq Ibrahim I, he ruled Tunisia for just 17 days in 1309.
al-Baranis, spelled sometimes as Barnès or Branes, are one of the two major groups to which Berbers were divided by medieval genealogists, the other being called al-Butr. Despite being mentioned by medieval Arabic chroniclers, awareness about this ancestral identity has gradually vanished over the ages and is not very well known or shared among contemporary Berbers. The Barānis are, according to Ibn Khaldun, further divided into following main groups: Awraba, ʿAd̲j̲īsa, Azdād̲j̲a, Maṣmūda-G̲h̲umāra. Belonging of another three groups, such as Kutāma-Zawāwa, Ṣanhāja, Hawwāra is controversial.
1958 Rif riots, Rif Revolt or Rif uprising took place in the northern Rif region of Morocco by tribes rebelling against the Moroccan government, motivated by the region's marginalization. The revolt, led by Sellam Amezian, had a clear set of demands: political and social rights, the departure of foreign troops from the country, the return of the resistance leader Abd el-Krim from exile, the dissolution of political parties, the liberation of political prisoners, and the installation of a "people's government". The coups and protests aimed at overthrowing the monarchy of the sultan and king Mohammed V of Morocco and his Alaouite dynasty in Morocco and forming a democratic republic