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Emerging Amazigh Feminist Nongovernmental Organizations

2016; Indiana University Press; Volume: 12; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/15525864-3422622

1558-9579

Fatima Sadiqi,

Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender

Amazigh feminist nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) emerged in the new century. They address, among other matters, language, identity, and “ruralness” issues that were sidelined by the mainstream Moroccan feminist movement. After the 20 February Movement (the Moroccan version of the Arab Spring) appeared, these NGOs considerably increased in number and steadily developed a public voice with a clear mission. Although they all promote the Amazigh language and culture, Amazigh feminist NGOs are divided by geographic location, class, ability to interact with larger feminist and human rights NGOs and other organizations, ability to raise funds, and proximity to the makhzan.1During the 1990s a vibrant Amazigh civil society emerged with around one thousand NGOs.2 Amazigh identity became a key aspect of Morocco in the new century, and Amazigh activism led to substantial reforms, culminating in the creation of the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture in 2001. The 20 February Movement included banners and slogans demanding that the Amazigh language be constitutionalized (i.e., made the official language of the country). This emphasis on Amazigh language and culture differentiates Morocco from other countries of the Maghreb (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania). “Amazighization” of public space led to the feminization of Amazigh activism.As larger Amazigh associations converted into development associations, such as Tamaynut (New), Azetta (Citizenship), Thaziri (Full Moon), Assid (Light), and Observatoire Amazighe des Droits et Libertés (Amazigh Observatory for Rights and Freedoms), nine feminist Amazigh NGOs quickly developed: Association Tinhinan3 Khemisset (Tinhinan Khemisset Association), Voix de la Femme Amazighe (Amazigh Woman’s Voice), Association Anaruz (Hope Association), Association Tinhinan Tiznit (Tinhinan Tiznit Association), Association Thaziri (Thaziri Association), Association Tamghart (Woman Chief Association), Association Tayri (Love Association), Observatoire Amazighe des Droits et Libertés, Femmes (Amazigh Observatory for Rights and Freedoms, Women’s Section), and Forum des Femmes Amazighes de Tamazgha (Forum of Amazigh Women in Tamazgha or Amazigh Land). These organizations share a number of characteristics. They self-identify as advocates of the Amazigh language and culture; they seek to secure a place for Amazigh women in a society where language and gender relate to social status; they use Tifinagh, the Amazigh alphabet, in addition to Arabic or French; and they position their work within human rights, diversity, freedom of expression, and development frameworks.Further, whether stated or implicit, these associations seek to ensure the presence of Amazigh women’s rights in Moroccan public policies; promote women’s (and children’s) rights in Morocco; fight against women’s legal “illiteracy”; and advocate the linguistic, political, cultural, economic, social, and civil rights of Moroccan citizens in accordance with international conventions. They encourage women to run for office, stimulate collective efforts to preserve the Amazigh heritage, and reject violence in public and private domains. Defending women against violence and discrimination, they support survivors of violence and contribute to a strong women’s movement.These NGOs organize seminars and workshops about associational work, and they lobby, network, and demand social change. They may partner with specific ministries to implement educational projects. They present plays and concerts and convene sporting activities, local fashion shows, gastronomy contests, and activities for children.Highlighting the double marginalization of a large proportion of Moroccan women, these associations show how many Moroccan women are caught between patriarchy and language hegemony and between oriental and occidental values. They emphasize “authentic” values and legal and identity rights. These rights pose important challenges to the Moroccan feminist movements, whether secular or Islamic. Often located in urban areas and, in the case of Islamic feminists, squeezing Moroccan women’s multiple identities into their religious identities, these movements have failed to capture the “Amazigh” element. Further, their urban “modernity” is problematized now that Amazigh, long viewed as backward, is being constructed as a token of modernity and secularity.The Amazigh feminist NGOs’ common goals and significance do not preclude deep divides that reflect the disparities in their larger contexts. Location is perhaps the most important dividing element. Whereas four of the nine NGOs are located in big cities (Voix de la Femme in Rabat, Observatoire Amazighe in Rabat, Tayri in Agadir, and Forum des Femmes [this transnational NGO has no specific locality]), two are in towns (Tinhinan in Khemisset and Tamghart in Essaouira), and three are in rural areas (Tinhinan in Tiznit, Anaruz in Taroundant, and Thaziri in al-Husaima). This geographic divide has implications for the impacts of the NGOs and for their access to funding and the sources of authority. Historically, rural areas have been marginalized and constructed as “useless,”4 a circumstance that negatively affected women and their mother tongue, Amazigh. Further, urban associations enjoy more media attention and national and international financial support due to their proximity to a sympathetic makhzan.5 These NGOs can network with other feminist organizations, for instance, the post-Spring coalition of Moroccan feminist NGOs that includes only the Rabat NGOs. Further, the members of urban NGOs are from the elite, who are aware of the political ramifications of their actions.The smaller associations are less urban and elite and have fewer resources and less exposure to the media. However, these associations are more likely to work on grassroots activities, such as erasing illiteracy and alleviating poverty. In the long run, these are the ones that will implement the core goals of feminist Amazigh NGOs to empower the rural women who really need it.Taken together, the urban and the rural Amazigh feminist NGOs produce counterdiscourses of real significance to the state, Islamists, and the mainstream secular and Islamic feminists. They create new subnational identities in the wake of the dramatic fall of Arabism, reinforced globalization, and the post-uprising situations in the region. They push the state, Islamists, and feminists to review their priorities and shift their paradigms in a context where equality and democracy are increasingly demanded.As an Amazigh woman linguist who has engaged with language and gender in Morocco for decades, I see the emergence of feminist Amazigh NGOs as a natural development that relocates Moroccan women’s issues in a larger-than-Islam framework, where secularism or Islamism or even a combination of both is insufficient. The emergence of these NGOs adds a meaningful shade to Moroccan feminist activism: it reappropriates a centuries-old women-related legacy, includes the hitherto marginalized Amazigh dimension, and compels Moroccan feminist discourses to be sensitive to the diverse lives of all Moroccan women and to emphasize the need for a structural analysis of Moroccan society and its economic base with a focus on the ways political and productive relations oppress women.