Tamazight in Moroccan media

Nobody can deny the fact that the majority of mass media are the most important and the most dependable for the authorities of Morocco. They have a leading role as they officially reflect the political and cultural opinion of the kingdom. About a decade ago, these mass media defended the opposite opinion of what they are supporting now.
Tamazight language is, in the eye of Moroccan mass media, a mere dialect with no prestige. Hence, from the same point of view, it is not worthy of consideration. They claim that teaching Tamazight is a waste of time, which is very disgraceful.

Now, most of Moroccan mass media changed their attitudes regarding the issue of Tamazight. For instance, some Amazigh programs found their way to the first national channel SNRT (Société Nationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision) and the second channel 2M. Both channels kept torturing their spectators, since their foundation, by showing boring and pointless foreign programs. And also, many Moroccan newspapers are actually allocating some articles and even pages for Tamazight language and Amazigh people.

This is on one hand, but on the other hand, some political parties take advantage of Tamazight by making of it a means of attraction and manipulation to Amazigh people. Many political parties, including those that have negative attitudes towards Amazigh people, use Tamazight language during electoral campaigns so as to create a center of attention for Amazigh speaking people and also to broadcast the principles and goals of their parties. Here is a clear instance of disdain of a people’s language, the act which can be conceived as cultural violence.

Tamazight is a language; it abides by the criteria stated by linguists. Mutual intelligibility: nationals from different regions of Tamazgha make no great effort to understand each other. Written literature: there are many poems, novels, fables, and tales written in Tamazight in addition to several Tamazight dictionaries. The size: Tamazight accumulated many large corpora. The standardization: this criterion is achieved through quite a few processes that Tamazight language respects. These processes are selection, codification, elaboration of function and acceptance.

To sum up, no fair linguist can deny that Tamazight is a language; however, politicians as well as the official opinion still divest Moroccan people of its mother tongue. Amazigh people have the right to teach their language and implement their cultural values; and as we know, the right should be seized people should not only make wishes to have it. Gracious and wise militancy is the only and the certain way to reinstate glory of Tamazight and Amazigh people.

Written by Abderrahman ELMABROUK

Reviewd by Amghar

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