This article is not written by a Kabyle. It is written by a French, Shira, in reaction to the vote of the French Parliament which recognizes a Palestinian state
Kabyle nation, the forgotten battle
Consistency is a value that is lost but increases the power and credibility of those who cultivate it. For that alone, even members of the French political class the least affected by this virtue should think about it. The French parliament recently decided to recognize, with surprising suddenness, Palestine.
I will not dwell on the subject, since everything has already been said. I will not spend several paragraphs to reiterate the obvious, namely that this decision reflects only the amateurism of those who took it, without a peace between the two sides is signed.
Even a terrorist organization directs partly the entity concerned, purposely kills Israeli civilians (or tries to), considering the violence and hatred as the only option and pretended to be surprised at the absence to Day of Palestinian state.
Even though there is Democrats Palestinians who know, to live it, as Hamas and its monomaniac violence are solely responsible for the condition in which they find themselves: chaos. Palestinian individuals eager for dialogue and outstretched hands trying to fight against extremists and waiting for help from the West; and this one, Sweden in the lead, just bravely condone those who drown in misery and use them as human shields.
And while they are struggling to get rid of Hamas and other fanatics of the Kalashnikov, stupid “Free Palestine” Europeans come to them cut the grass under the foot and help maintain up Hamas. If the welfare of the Palestinian people is truly their concern, the sense of commitment should be directed accordingly.
So now, what are thinking the parliamentarians we have elected about a bit of… Consistency? I am French. However, in my little corner of the world far from hexagonal turmoil, I nevertheless retains the tenderness, legitimate, for the origins which are mine. And I fear that the decision of the French parliament to recognize Palestine forced him to do the same with others.
The time has probably come to recognize the MAK and Kabylia, and nothing could justify that this is not the case. The movement for self-determination of Kabylia aiming actually for several years, peacefully, for the Kabyle to govern themselves.
All parameters to the constitution of a nation are evident in the case of Kabylia. This is a secular nation with its own language, of the family of Berbers, the original inhabitants of North Africa before the Arab Muslim invasion. Berbere kingdoms before this invasion: we will only name the King Massinissa born in 238 BC. JC, well known to all Latin scholars, King Jugurtha or the Jewish queen, according to some historians who after 16 years of resistance against the Arabs was defeated in 702 in Tabarqa. Links with the Roman Empire and Christianity too, coming as needed substantiate the reality of the distinct cultural identity of the Berbers in North Africa. More than narrow links when one recalls that these latter gave several popes (Victor, Gelasius, or Miltiades) many saints (the most famous of them, Saint Augustin), 1 emperor in Rome – Septimius Severus – and wore Latin names.
Latin names they retained until 1881, when their names were Arabized under the Code of the rights of citizenship, imposed by France in Algeria.
The work of several researchers thus determined from a reliable source that more than three quarters of the Kabyle today do not wear their true noms.
This very short walkaround is not intended to be an exacerbated nationalism tirade. It merely confirms in all humility that culture and the rich history of the old Berber people, and here the Kabyle people, make it one of the major protagonists of the great and rich Mediterranean culture. It only confirms the willingness of contemporary Kabyle to find their place and their aspiration to self-determination is legitimate and even logical. This commitment should not be interpreted by non-Berber Algerians as a sign of hostility; Kabyle lived alongside them for centuries, have been the contributions of Muslim culture, such as Christianity and Judaism. The self-determination. It is only that. Algerians are well placed to know that one is proud to honor this sacred right. And it is possible to assert that right without hatred and without enmity for anyone.
It’s not the easiest of causes. But the kabyles now have a diaspora in the 4 corners of the world, in addition to the 7 million Kabyles in Kabylia, who will contribute to this cause. Which will contribute to the efforts of Ferhat Mehenni, current leader of MAK, to make Kabylia to a land of democracy and freedom for all and tolerance towards all without distinction. I said, NO distinction. The fact that today’s Algeria denies for example to citizens who have a Israeli passports entry to the territory is nothing less than a disgrace. A shame like the harm that can represent the fact of preventing a person to walk on the land of its roots. The presence of Berber Jews is attested in Kabylia for centuries, and the opportunity to travel to the land where so many of their ancestors lived is a basic right of which they were deprived. These words, as bearers of a concern for justice will probably cause Algiers jolts I guess … In reality, these jolts do not bother me. They delight me.
A diaspora that now makes futile any attempt at physical removal of Kabyles in Kabylia as it was during the Black Spring of 2001, and 126 deaths. A diaspora that has already shown through original personalities or part of Kabyle origin, Edith Piaf, Isabelle Adjani, Daniel Prévost, and for younger generations … Z.Zidane, Earl of Bouderbala (slightly lightness can not hurt …) and others. All these statements can of course be checked, and the list is non-exhaustive.
So, if friendship towards Kabylia, for a movement that – it – wants self-determination through peaceful means and without murdering anyone, if the passion of history and Peoples, or even cynicism (the French of Kabyle origin account for between 600 000 and 800 000 people) does it not encourage you, dear politicians, think consistency. You opened Pandora’s box.
Shira
translated from:
http://rootsisrael.com/et-maintenant-vote-en-faveur-de-la-creation-un-etat-kabyle/