72 PERSPECTIVES ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS | VOL 42 | 2024 The push to recognize Indigenous culture has persisted and progress has been made throughout the last half century. The Rif region, in northern Morocco, has seen a consistent heightened level of political action, which can be credited to its unique relationship with European colonial powers. Activists today are fighting for equal access to health care and education in rural regions, encouragement of investments to promote economic development, the right to fair trials, and demilitarization of the region (Masbah, 2017). These demands came to head in 2016 when protests erupted in the Rif region, signifying a new wave of activism that was influenced, but not defined, by the Arab Spring protests half a decade prior. Riffan demands made clear the difficult choices facing the local population: stay in their communities and suffer generational poverty, poor job prospects, and lack of access to services or move to the large urban centers, where these opportunities are more available but at the expense of the loss of their cultural identity. Many have chosen the latter as evidenced by the rapid urbanization during the second half of the twentieth century. Ties to Imazighen (plural of Amazigh) tribes and villages have therefore been severed or weakened, threatening the preservation of many facets of the rich Amazigh cultural and linguistic heritage. Historical context The Amazigh, or Berber, as coined by the Romans, predate any Arabized civilization in North Africa and continue to maintain their culture. Since antiquity, the Amazigh of North Africa have, through trade, migration, and conquest, encountered numerous Eurasian and African peoples (e.g., Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, Fulani, and Mandé). This mixing has resulted in a melting pot of languages, cultures, and identities in today’s North African states, in which Arabic and Islam have become the dominant respective language and religion (Amnai, 2019). Most of Morocco’s Amazigh population adopted Islam around the eighth century, when the region was conquered by Muslim Arabs. They were certainly successful in spreading Islam among the Indigenous population, but they did not fully Arabize them (Crivello, 2003). According to the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (2020), there are over 20 million Tamazight-speaking people in Morocco. For reference, in 2022, there were approximately 37.5 million people living in Morocco (World Bank, 2022). Despite the prevalence of Tamazight, Morocco has yet to recognize the Indigenous status of Imazighen people (Congrès Mondial Amazigh, 2016) nor have they ratified the International Labour Organization (1989) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, both of which would ensure the rights and fundamental freedoms for Indigenous populations and protect against discrimination. However, some Moroccans believe that this convention has yet to be accepted because there is little distinction between Indigenous and non-Indigenous in the country today (K. Lahsaini, personal communication, November 16, 2023). Some historians are also wary of making the distinction between “Arabness” and “Berberness” because these ethnic identities are pliable and have intermixed for centuries (Maddy-Weitzman, 2012). Additionally, although Amazigh nationalism certainly exists and is on the rise in North Africa, it is not equivalent to other ethnic nationalist issues, such as the Kurdish question. The Amazigh community is fragmented along social, ideological, and cultural lines, leading experts to heavily consider that the region’s unrest may be attributed to sociopolitical issues as much as it is to “Berberism” (Lefèvre, 2016). Still, Morocco’s lack of international recognition of its Indigenous community has set the stage for systemic marginalization of the Amazigh identity, generating increased pressure to assimilate and paving the way for loss of cultural identity over time. Morocco’s fight against their status as a French protectorate in the twentieth century plays a significant role in today’s sentiment toward Amazigh culture. During the period of French colonization, there were attempts to divide and rule the Moroccan population by placing emphasis on the Amazigh population and their distinctiveness (Maddy-Weitzman, 2011). The French played on the weaknesses of the region and attempted to pit Arab against Amazigh (Crivello, 2003). In 1930, the French issued a royal edict excluding Imazighen populations from the implications of Islamic law. This ploy ignited a nationalistic reaction among the masses, and Arab nationalists became suspicious of collective Indigenous action, even though Imazighen communities had borne the brunt of the fight against French and Spanish armies in the Rif and Atlas Mountains (Maddy-Weitzman, 2012). After Moroccan independence in 1956, Morocco applied a strict Arabization policy that heavily influenced communication and education spaces across the country (Meskine & de Ruiter, 2015). This push trickled down from the Moroccan elite, who were determined to take the country in an Arab-Islamic direction by labeling themselves as “Arab” and joining the League of Arab States as well as declaring Ara-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0OTQ5OA==