Morocco to launch Amazigh channel

2008-01-30

A Moroccan television channel devoted to Amazigh language and culture has stirred up interest from the Amazigh cultural movement. Government officials say the programming will cater to a sizeable number of Moroccan viewers, but one Amazigh activist is worried that the channel could be divisive.

By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 30/01/08

[Sarah Touahri] Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) rector Ahmed Boukous's staff will be responsible for producing content for Morocco's new Amazigh channel, with the aim of bringing Amazigh to an audience unfamiliar with the language.

A new Moroccan television channel will broadcast entirely in Amazigh, satisfying a long-awaited demand by a significant percentage of the country’s citizens. The Moroccan government is finalising broadcast specifications to ensure that the national channel, which will air a range of general-interest programmes, can soon begin operations, Communications Minister Khalid Naciri announced before parliament last Wednesday (January 23rd).

A statement from the prime minister’s office said that "the government is prepared to make all the necessary arrangements for the creation of an Amazigh television channel." The finance and communications ministries will foot the bill, which is expected to come to 168m dirhams ($21.7m), the National Radio and Television Company (SNRT) will provide the channel’s headquarters and a significant share of the staff, and the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) will be responsible for training and also some producing.

Plans for the television station were shelved in November 2006 because of financial difficulties, but the government is now determined to get the Amazigh channel on the air. A committee made up of the SNRT, IRCAM and the Ministry of Communication worked on the production, technical equipment and human resources aspects of the project before it was taken over by the government.

According to the minister, programmes will be broadcast in all three dialects of Amazigh: Tamazight, Tarifit and Tachlhit. "This channel is intended to cater to the needs of a sizeable number of Moroccan viewers in the fields of information, culture, education and leisure," Naciri noted.

IRCAM says the aim is to bring Amazigh to an audience unfamiliar with the language.

The creation of a special channel devoted to Amazigh language and culture has stirred up interest from the Amazigh cultural movement. Even groups which do not support IRCAM are welcoming the move.

Brahim Baouche, a representative of the Amazigh Citizenship Network in Rabat, told Magharebia that all Amazighs are eagerly awaiting the new channel: "It’s a kind of reconciliation with the Amazigh as part of a move to promote cultural diversity. The request by the Amazigh movement to integrate Amazigh into the public media will finally come to fruition." While the two national channels have certainly made efforts to broadcast programmes in Amazigh, he said, the shows are scheduled during off-peak viewing hours.

Said Ameskane, a spokesman for the Popular Movement, which has made defending Amazigh language a key policy, said the channel will meet the expectations of people who do not speak Arabic. He worried, however, that the creation of the new channel would create a kind of separation. He believes that an alternative solution would have been to broadcast more Amazigh-language programmes on existing channels.

"We’re all part of one society," he said. "No Moroccan can say he is either 100% Arab or Amazigh. Morocco is made up of a cultural mix."