By Dr -Mairead Tagg
It is with deep concern that we learn that MAK militants and officials and their families are currently experiencing high levels of surveillance and harassment. The MAK is a democratic grass-roots movement seeking the independence of Kabylie.
They are engaged in a peaceful and legitimate struggle to gain their liberation from Algeria in order to protect their unique culture, language and history from increasing and unwelcome arabisation. It is unacceptable that this previously independent region, which has endured and struggled to end colonisation by the French, should now be subsumed by an alien culture and forced to renounce its language and history.
It is extremely worrying that this law-abiding independence campaign and its activists are being subjected to increasing levels of intimidation, threat and menaces from the Algerian government. We would not wish to see a repetition of the Printemps Noir in 2001, where 126 unarmed people died and a further 5,000 were injured by the gendarmerie.
The MAK threatens nobody and is absolutely against any use of force or violence, and seeks only to express the democratic will of the Kabyle people, especially the young people who are the future of Kabylie. The right of a people to protect their history, identity and culture is inalienable; it is not only a right but a duty.
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