A new publication by Achab Editions, Tizi-Wezzu, Algeria.
Dictionnaire de berbère libyen (Ghadamès)
by Jacques Lanfry
Preface by Lionel Galand.
 
This dictionary is a new printing of the 1973 edition by the Fichier de Documentation Berbere. It is available end of October in Algiers city center at El-Ijtihad bookstore located at: rue Hamani (former rue Charras) between Faculté centrale and the Grande Poste.
In other cities, it will be available during the month of November.

Note to our readers. ACAA will most likely acquire this book to donate to Tamazight schools in Libya. More information will be posted here as soon as details are available.

A press release by the Amazigh Cultural Movement of Libya
Below is pdf version of this text in both Tamazight and English that you can download.

It is time to build the new modern Libyan state and free. Intellectual consciousness that aspires to democracy and respect for diversity must come from the universal human values such as recognition and respect for others, dialogue and tolerance so that we can build a national consensus and work for the interest of all.

In order to build a future democratic state that respects freedom, dignity and equality, we believe that respect for human rights is essential. To contribute to the debate on this project, we propose our design for the next creation of a new Libyan state democratic, unified and free.

1 - The Amazigh language as a heritage of all Libyans without exception, and Arabic are both official languages of Libya. They have equal rights and equal privileges as to their use at all state institutions. The state will work to protect, to enhance and ensure its use in all areas. The state will also seek to teach foreign languages most commonly used worldwide to access science and modernity, open to other cultures and civilizations.

2 - After the release and stability in Libya, the state symbols must conform to the dimensions of identity, historical, cultural and intellectual Libya.

3 - Libya is a civils democratic and sovereign, with a constitutional and parliamentary-based flexible and balanced separation of powers (legislative, judicial and executive) and decentralization.

4 - It is forbidden to form political parties on religious, regional, ethnic or tribal. And in general, on any basis other discriminatory or contrary to human rights as universally recognized;

5 - To ensure equal freedoms and political rights, civil, economic, social and cultural rights for all Libyan (male and female). The State shall guarantee and protect equal opportunity and the right to life as the first right of every human being. Provide and ensure equal opportunities for individuals, coalitions and political movements to express their ideas and designs through a peaceful dialogue, peaceful, democratic and lawful in terms of both rights obligations.

6 - Ensure freedom of existence in all its forms-intellectual, opinion, expression, through all forms of creation, dissemination and publication.

Long live Libya - free Libya

Amazigh Cultural Movement,
On August 12, 2011.

Please click on the "Donate" button below to donate specifically to this fund. ACAA is raising funds to help provide Imazighen of Libya with Amazigh flags. Your contribution is appreciated.

After nearly two years of struggle, this game is finally published. As this is being written sets of the game have reached Germany, France and the USA. In a few days the game will reach the remaining port of Stokholm. The game will be sold by several associations:
- Association Franco-Berbere d'Epinay-sur-seine (France)
- Association Tamazgha (France) website: www.tamazgha.fr
- Association Amitie Kabyle-allemande (Germany) website: http://kabylei.eu/
- MAK-Section Suede (Sweden)
- ACAA (North America) website: amekti.weebly.com
The sale price has not yet been set, so please visit these websites to get more information for when the games will go on sale and what the prices will be.
ACAA thanks Akli Kebaili for this fine product designed for Amazigh children. Thanks are due to Hsen Larbiand Rabah Seffal for their hard work to make this game a reality and to our partnering associations who have pledged their support by purchasing the game (ACFB Epiany-sur-seine, Tamazgha, AFRIKA 31 Haute Garonne, Deutsch-Kabylische, Espace Franco-Berbere Creteil, Mak-Suede, ACAOH Ottawa-Hull).

Azul ɣef imeɣriyen n Taɣect Tamaziɣt.
Attan wid/tid iḥemmlen tasɣunt n tiddukla tadelsant tamaziɣt deg Marikan, tura zemren/t ad ɣren/t uṭṭunen iqdimen akken ma llan. Imir-a newweḍ ɣer wuṭṭunen d-yeffɣen deg useggas n 1995. Efktaɣ kra n wakud a d-nkemmel iseggasen imezwura.
Ma'ra ixzer wemdan s imagraden neɣ acu yellan deg tesɣunt-a, izmer ad yissin amezruy n tiddukla, u ad yissin kra n umezruy n imaziɣen. Ihi ɣret a wid ur tt-neɣri, tinim-aɣ-d d acu tennam. Ma yella tenwam, tzmrem maḍi ad aɣ-d-aznem kra umagrad a t-id-nerr deg-s. Tanemmirt!

Greetings readers of Amazigh Voice
Those who like our newsletter or would like to discover it, here is is with almost all of the back issues scanned in pdf and uploaded to our Amazigh Voice page. We have issues all the way back to 1995. There are a few more years to do and the entire collection will be here. Go ahead and browse the issues from start to finish and discover the history of ACAA (its activities, its philosophy in a way) and of course to a large extent the history of Imazighen. If you happen to have a comment or suggestion, shoot us an email. Or even if you would like to contribute an article, that would be even fantastic.
Thanks for reading

Following the publication of the draft constitutional revision of the Moroccan monarchy, to be submitted to a referendum on 1 July 2011, the public opinion is divided especially concerning the introduction of Tamazight as an official language.

Beyond the lack of clarity on the terms of the "formalization" of Tamazight, the text remains faithful to the constants that are so dear to the Arab-Muslim monarchy.

We publish below the reaction of the Amazigh Observatory of Rights and Freedoms (Observatoire amazigh des droits et libértés, OADL), and the editor at Tamazgha.fr  will certainly come back on this new trickery ...

Editor

Regarding the proposed new constitution submitted to referendum

The draft of the new constitution examined by OADL (French acronym for Observatoire amazigh des droits et libertés, Amazigh Observatory of Rights and Freedoms) will be submitted on 1 July to a referendum.  Based upon its contents and following the royal speech that followed the publication, all supporting bodies of the Amazigh movement and the national and international public opinion must be informed that:

1 - The anti-democratic method used for developing the draft document, written by the committee on the revision of the constitution followed by a team chaired by Mouatassim, resulted in something that was no surprise: a project put together in a sealed atmosphere, characterized by ambiguity, confusion and lack of transparency and visibility.  At the end of this process, the relevant forces of the nation have been deliberately excluded.  As for the Moroccan political parties, they were simply set aside and placed in a humiliating position of inferiority. The commission, which refused them access to the project during its development, gave them less than 24 hours to make their remarks. The final text of the constitution was drawn up secretly without any real consultation and strictly under the adviser to the king.  The ultimate goal of the authorities is to scandalously rush the new constitution to a referendum and at the same time refuse the right to anyone to discuss its final content.  Also, OADL strongly condemns the fact that some archaic conservative parties have been mobilized by the authorities, towards the end of the writing of the constitution, to counter the claims of the country’s democratic forces and undermine all new the articles of the constitution.

2 - The final constitutional text submitted to referendum is a revision that seems at first to provide a set of rights, but it is in fact a continuation of the principles that have always been the fertile crucible of the absolutist and arbitrary political traditions, with no change to the nature of the regime and the institutional architecture in which the king reigns and governs forever and gives himself excessive powers; as a result, no "gains" are real, because everything was done to hinder them.  No business renewal has been made that could disrupt current practices and impact the governance of the country.  As a Consequence, Morocco, while still in a serious situation and tense political climate, is about to miss its chance; a rendezvous with history. Parliamentary monarchy, as claimed, will not see the day. 

3 - It goes without saying that the formalization of the Amazigh language is an asset and an important step forward.  This is the fruit of the enormous sacrifices made by generations of activists in the Amazigh cause in Morocco, and their allies in civil and political national organizations.  However, the configuration used lends itself to many interpretations.  In fact, the fact that the formalization of Arabic and Tamazight appears in two separate paragraphs suggests that there is definitely a hierarchical relationship between a first official language, Arabic, and a second one, Tamazight.  As a language is closely linked to the identity of its people, the unfortunate results of the new constitution divide Moroccans into two distinct categories: first-class citizens and second class citizens.

4 - The evocation of a constitutional law defining "the process of implementation of our language’s official character and the terms of its integration in the school system and of public daily life priorities" makes us wonder legitimately after decades of violation of our dignity and events of the past and present, which taught us to be careful.  Will this new law reconsider everything and start all over from scratch?  Or will it take into account the gains made ​​in recent years, particularly in the teaching of Tamazight, despite all the obstacles due to lack of legal protection of this language?  How long will the new process take, and with what budget?  It seems that an inevitable and even harder struggle still awaits defenders of Amazigh language and culture.

5 - The constitutionality of all consultative bodies set up by the king before, and the exclusion of the official institution dedicated to the Amazigh (IRCAM) from this institutional list draws our attention and makes us question the real intent in the management of Tamazight.

6 - The constitutionality of the Moroccan identity dimensions as stipulated in the constitution, "its unity, forged by the convergence of its Arab-Islamic components, Amazigh and Sahraro-Hassani, was fed by its African, Andalusian, Hebrew and Mediterranean tributaries", has not met the specifics on the Amazigh language nor did it respect the chronological order in the statement, knowing that Tamazight is the first and native component.  It also eclipses our African roots, which were mentioned as a mere tributary.

7 - The new constitution totally ignores Morocco‘s land ties to Africa; it reduces the connection with our African continent to the "relations of cooperation and solidarity with the peoples of Africa”.  On the other hand, it claims our "belonging to the Arab-Islamic Ummah", thus denying the historical and geographical realities of our country.  This makes us lose all ability to take advantage of far greater geographical and civilizational assets than those related to the Middle East.

8 – The removal from the final version of the constitution of the part dealing with the civil character of the State and the freedom of conscience, which are the very bases of any constitution of a democratic society, is in itself a real failure in this new constitution.  Especially, the specific "Islamic character" of the State contradicts the commitment to respect and comply with international standards on domestic jurisdictions.  No effort is made by the Muslim legal experts to understand and benefit from the important stakes of modern life.

9 - Although the new constitution contains some progress, including a number of rights and freedoms, it falls short of the aspirations of the public as they have been clearly expressed by the movement of 20 February.  Our civil society and progressive political parties have a duty to continue their struggle to build a truly democratic and modern society based on the principles of freedom, equality, justice and dignity, and on a contract that is dedicated once and for all to popular sovereignty.

Rabat, 17 Juine 2011

For an English traslation of the new constitution, visit the following link:
http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/mo00000_.html
The original French and Arabic versions can be dowloaded right here, Click on the Adobe Pdf icon below to download it.

Tekki ɣef tebuṭunt agi akken ad tesedduḍ asekles "tajmilt i Lwennas" - Use the audio controls below to start or stop the recording.

Ass-a d as amcum. D as deg iɛdawen n tudert kksen-aɣ Lwennas seg urebbi n Ǧerǧer nneɣ. Ar ass-a ur d-nufi wid i t-yenɣan (n-nuda?). Ar ass-a a nettṛaju anwa ara rnun. Uggadeɣ ad naɣ tannumi akka alamma kfan ak agad d-yufraren garaneɣ. As m'ara ten fakken, acu ara d-yegrin deg-neɣ?

Ass-a yal aqbayli ilaq ad ibedd ad iseqsi deg iman-is d acu ara yegg ɣef ayen akken yemmut Lwennas.

Ass-a akken a d-nesmekti gmatneɣ Lwennas Tiddukla Tadelsant Tamaziɣt deg Marikan tewwi-yawen-d timlilit d-hegga radyu KALW (91.7 FM San Francisco) as n 2 seg Yulyu 1998 (azal n ssmana seg was mi yemmut Lwennas). Nnuba agi n Compo Beat tegga tajmilt i Lwennas. Inebgawen ɣer nnuba agi: Arezki Amezdat, Yahia Belkebir, Fatah Kaci, Helene Hagan ak d Ḥsen Larbi. D imaslaḍen n tiddukla. Yal wa ɣef acu d-yewwi: Lwennas, d acu n wergaz yella as mi yedder, neɣ d acu f yettnaɣ, ɣef imaziɣen s umatu. Tanemmirt i Arezki, Henri Pierre Kubaka d KALW i ɣ yeggan amḍiq akken a d-nini kra f Lwennas. Ass-a d asmekti, ihi a s-d-nɛiwed. Tanemmirt i Hsen i ɣ-d-yerran tasfift-a s asmel, akken ad as-slen ak wid yesɛan Lwennas deg ul.
Ihi, ma tebɣam ad teslem i Lwennas m'ara yebbawzeq, tekkit ɣef ubuṭun agi ufella.

Today is a sad day. It is the day the ennemies of life stole Lounes from our Djurdjura's lap. To this day we have not found who killed him. Did we try? It is as if we are waiting for another to be stolen. I am afraid we will be become accustomed to this state of affairs where they will eliminate the best amongst us. What would be left of us if they killed them all?

On this day, every Kabyle should ask himself/herself what he/she is going to do about the cause Lounes died for.

Today, so that we remember our brotehr Lounes, the Amazigh Cultural Association in America is pleased to post the recording of a KALW (91.7 FM San Francisco) radio show done in homage to Lounes on July 2, 1998, a week after his death. The show is called Compo-Beat and was hosted by Henri Pierre Kubaka. He has as guest a good group of ACAA members including Arezki Amezdat, Yahia Belkebir, Fatah Kaci, Helene Hagan and Ḥsen Larbi (via telephone). All guests were inetrviewed and talked about Lounes and the cause he fought for. The show lasted more than an hour and was filled with some of Lounes' best songs. Thanks to Ḥsen for digitizing the recording.

Let's listen to Lounes again and let him live among us forever!
Click on the audio buttons at the top of the page.

ACCA-Region 2 is pleased to announce the projection of a short documentary "DECHARGE INTERDITE " (Dumping Prohibited) a 26 min documentary by Tahar Yami. The documentary addresses the issue of wild trash dumping in Kabylie. In the last years unregulated and polluting dumps have reached a critical point. This is Tahar's attempt at sounding the alarm. The documentary has been screened at the 2011 Amazigh Film Festival in Tizi-Wezzu, Algeria and was given the Jury's Special Prize in the category Amazigh Panorama. Tahar Yami is an idependent photorapher and video author and this documentary is his first. Prior to this Tahar worked for La Maison de la Culture in Tizi-Wezzu, the AJBF association in Paris and BRTV. Tahar will be present to discuss the documentary and the environmental question in Kabylie

Place:
Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran Church
155 East 22nd Street
Between 3rd Avenue and Lexington
New York, NY 10010-5508
Subway: Train # 6 to 23 St
Thursday , June 23, 2011 at 8:30PM
This event is free.

Synopsis in French: Dans le voyage en pays kabyle, le paysage féerique tant vanté, côtoie un décor désolant fait de gigantesques montagnes d’ordure et de toutes sortes des détritus jonchant les faussées et les accotements débordant jusque sur la chaussée. Ces amas sauvages semblent s’installer durablement partout dans l’indifférence et la complicité de tout un chacun. Les populations ont tendance à s’adapter à la prolifération de ces saletés et les autorités paraissent impuissantes devant ces situations qui défient toutes règles d’hygiène, de santé et de protection de l’environnement.

As part of the political and social dynamics faced by Morocco in the same way as the people who rise against tyranny, exclusion and contempt for human dignity, and in response to developments within these dynamics at the national level, the Amazigh coordination, associations and personalities of Central Morocco met in Meknes on June 12, 2011 at the headquarters of the Tafilalet Meknes Region. After reviewing the situation, they publicly declare the following:

1 – Their rejection of any constitution that does not recognize the Amazigh identity of Morocco, an identity that is open to all cultural contributions, which does not assert in its preamble and in a separate article that the Amazigh language is an official language without conditioning its integration in all areas of public life by the passage of an organizational or operational legislation;
2-Their attachment to the promulgation of a democratic constitution that is derived from the people, and that consecrates the separation of powers and guarantees human rights;
3 – Their demand that "azref" (Amazigh Law) be considered one of the sources of national law;
4-Their condemnation of the campaign waged against the Amazigh identity of Morocco by pseudo parties and intellectuals who grew up in the lap of Arab Baathist and Nasserite nationalism;
5-Their preference for a federal system based on the principle of sociocultural and economic complementarity
6-Their request for the repeal of all laws inherited from colonialism and the enactment of national legislation guaranteeing the entitled the right to recover their plundered lands and natural resources;
7 – Their insistence that all prisoners of the Amazigh cause be released with Hamid Aâdouch and Mostapha Oussaya at the head of the list;
8-Their demand that the security services take responsibility for the safety of students in the universities against attacks from groups with no connection to University life;

The Signers:
La Coordination Amyafa des associations du Centre du Maroc 
L’Organisation de la Jeunesse Amazighe 
Option Amazighe 
APMM Morocco Section
L’Association  feminine Tifsa pour la culture et le développement 
L’Association Izrouran 
L’Association Tamunt Tazuta 
L’Association Aman Fès 
L’Association Amghar Khénifra 
L’Association Izriran Midelt
L’Association Tawada 
L’Association Afrough Sidi Elmakhfi 
L’Association  Tamunt Ait Ali Boulmane 
L’Association Tanchri Sefrou 
L’Association  Tamazight Khénifra 
L’Association  Tawada Sefrou 
L’Association Al amal  Timhdit 
L’Association  Tifsa  Méknès 
L’Association    Amjjam  Méknès 
L’Association    Amnay Ain Leuh 
 L’Association   Azriman  Taza 
L’Association    Amnayn  Midelt 
L’Association    Tawnza  Tunfit
L’Association   Amnay  Ifrane 
L’Association   Mounazzeh  Midelt
L’Association   Tizi Ifris
L’Association    Dadess Tinghir 
Amazigh personnalities

Sofiane Bellali is a young Kabyl director who is interested in making action films. RAPT (Kidnapping) is his first of the kind and tells the story of the kidnapping of the son of a wealthy Kabyl. It is not at all surprising that the first Kabyl action film is about kidnapping because the region has recently fallen victim to this sort of crime, unfortunately. Just in the last month two separate such incidents happened: a seventy year old man was kidnapped in Amechras and recently released (without rasom), but another a much younger person named Mourad Bilek, the son of operator of the French car maker Renault dealership in Algeria. The latter has not yet been released.

Sofiane is a very young and energetic video aficionado from Bughni (near Tizi-Wezzu) who put together a team of young actors and video producers who just went ahead and di something they liked. They did not come out of a prestegious film school or anything like that, they simply had a passion. Most of the team members are from the Bughni area. The film RAPT was shown at a film festival in Tunis this year but has not yet been released publicly.

Sofiane and his team of video producers and actors should be encouraged to push even further and bring Kabyl and Amazigh cinema in general in to this unchartered territory and give Amazigh art and artists a chance to develop and excel for the benefit of Imazighen and all humanity.