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Amazigh awakening: Libya’s largest minority wants recognition

Amazigh leaders are threatening to boycott parliamentary elections and a constitutional referendum if their rights and culture are not officially recognized.
Members of the audience wave Amazigh flags during Libya's first festival of the Amazigh songs in Benghazi December 15, 2011. REUTERS/Esam Al-Fetori (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) - GM1E7CG0KSM01

The Amazigh, or Berbers, Libya's largest minority group, experienced harsh treatment under Moammar Gadhafi's regime. Gadhafi's so-called cultural revolution in 1973 criminalized Amazigh traditions, prohibited the use of their native tongue, Tamazight, and declared the Amazigh to be Arabs despite their being indigenous to the land.

For Gadhafi, the Amazigh represented a separatist threat to his efforts to consolidate power and proclaim Libya an Arab nation. Today, the Amazigh are thought to comprise an estimated 10% to 15% of Libya’s population of 6 million. While the Amazigh are dotted around Libya, they are concentrated in the northwest, with the town of Zuwara considered to be their unofficial capital.

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