A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Second Tamazight Note of the Day: Libya

Sometimes stories come in pairs. Not only has King Muhammad VI pledged that Tamazight will be made an official tongue of Morocco (see previous story), but, as Lameen Souag notes, a rebel website showing various towns proclaiming their opposition to Qadhafi., includes one from the "Berber"-speaking Jabal Nafusa that is in Arabic with a short summary in Nafusi Tamazight at the end. He educates us on the other Tamazight and non-Arab speakers of Libya, as well.

And here is the declaration of support for the revolution from the town of Nalut in Jabal Nafusa. After the Arabic declaration (as Lameen notes, classical but with colloquializing on numbers/dates) it transfers to a Tamazight speaker at 1:29.

The second flag at right above, after the Free Libya flag, is the international Amazigh flag. The character is in the ancient Tifinagh script.

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