Morocco launches first Amazigh TV channel
2010-01-11
The new television channel for Morocco's Amazigh audience "will strengthen our national identity", one viewer says.
By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat — 11/01/10
 [Abdelhak Senna/AFP/Getty Images] Tamazight channel director Mohamed Mamad celebrated the launch of Morocco's first-ever channel for Berbers. |
An Amazigh-language TV channel first proposed three years ago finally hit Moroccan airwaves on January 6th, satisfying a long-awaited demand by a significant percentage of the country’s citizens.
During the first phase of broadcast operations, set to run until March, programmes in Amazigh dialects Tachelhit, Tarifit and Tamazight will air for six hours each day during the week and ten hours on the week-ends.
The Tamazight channel features "discussions of politics, economics, sport and religion, alongside evening entertainment programmes aimed at children and young people," station manager Mohamed Mamad said last Wednesday at a Rabat press conference held to announce the long-awaited launch.
The array of broadcast offerings "will reflect Moroccan values of openness, tolerance and modernity", Mamad added.
Speaking at the same press conference, Communications Minister Khalid Naciri said the new channel would be a media outlet for "openness, tolerance, modernity and development".
"Tamazight will bring huge added value, because it will play a part in promoting the Amazigh culture and language, a major pillar of Moroccan identity," he noted.
For Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture (IRCAM) director Ahmed Boukous, the project launch was an "historic event" signalling a "new process in state policy in the field of information".
"This new channel belongs to all Moroccans, without exception," added the IRCAM chief, whose organisation shares production and training responsibilities for the channel with the National Radio and Television Company (SNRT).
Abdellah Bouchetart, a journalist for the Tamazight channel, said the new arrival meets the "social and cultural needs of Moroccan society, which is characterised by its cultural diversity".
While many ordinary Amazigh citizens hailed the launch of the channel, which had been postponed several times by legal, organisational and financial issues, others felt the pilot schedule did go far enough to satisfy the needs of a large community. Some 28% of Moroccans speak Berber dialects Tarifit, Tamazight or Tachelhit, according to the most recent census.
"The channel is a necessity and has nothing to do with [ethnic] chauvinism; rather, it has to do with the need to raise the profile of a culture that has until now received little media attention," said economics student Samira Benchehboune.
"The simple presence of Amazigh in public [television] programming still falls short of our aspirations," she added. "Even the treatment of the reduced number of programmes to be shown is less than we might have hoped for. We're expecting Tamazight to put out programmes that cover Amazighs of all walks of life."
"Tamazight will strengthen our national identity, and will allow many Moroccans living in remote regions to feel that they're part of a rich and diverse Morocco," said bank clerk Hassan Agourram.
"I have family members who only speak Amazigh and can't understand Arabic," he added. "They can't follow the programmes on the Moroccan channels. From now on, Tamazight will change their lives and their vision."
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BEN Posted 2010-01-15
Let’s have a channel in Hassani and—why not?—in Hebrew. At least there will be some action and we do not risk getting bored or put it on mute. In Morocco, there were also Romans, Greeks, Phoenicians—know your history before decoding the prehistory. What cultural richness!? There is already French, Arabic and Spanish, which pay homage to those who colonised us. Then, Arabic mixed with French. There are three Chleuh dialects. For our immigrants, a problem of national identity ardently arises and poignantly arises from having classical Arabic and dialectical Arabic. So, you reap what you... Long live television, the weapon of passive destruction! It is no accident that the Moroccans call it "Talfa Zat"!
SincereShlueh Posted 2010-01-17
The comment below is mostly incoherent; the rest is ignorant ramble and seems to be provided by a Moroccan unfamiliar with Morocco. Amazigh, in its many categories is the chief means of communication by a sizable section of our society. That brings it out of mention with Latin, Greek, or any past intruders' tongue for that matter. The language we speak of is inalienably part of the Moroccan identity despite the tirades of the chauvinist. And for those authorities officiating with the intention of alienating Amazigh for the sake of an imagined homogeneous identity. They should be convinced that it's better by far to constantly grapple with our place in the world (united as Moroccans) than to be divided by ethnic antagonism. Ethnic conflict will follow linguistic marginalisation, beleive me.
BEN Posted 2010-01-19
It is the current language of “Amazigh” that causes the problems, not its dialects. It has been spoken for centuries without the noise of demagoguery or dangerous extremism. Taking this step backward can only be achieved by a few dubious ignoramuses, who are followers of the Dahir Berber.
Aksil Posted 2010-01-20
@BEN: Are you ashamed and not proud from being of amazigh descent? Le me know!
BEN Posted 2010-01-23
This is not a matter of pride, Grandpa?
ayour Posted 2010-02-13
Where did you bring this statistic in which you said that 28% of Moroccans speak Tamazight? Or do you publish what you want? Instead of saying 78%, you lie to ignorants who know nothing in this country.
محمد Posted 2010-03-01
It's nice that Moroccans to have an Amazigh channel. There is a category of Moroccans who don't speak Arabic. However, the broadcasting hours aren't sufficient; six hours a day aren't enough. I'm asking for more, starting from 10 a.m.
Anonymous Posted 2010-03-01
I consider anyone who speaks about an Amazigh language, which is the heritage of our race and country without morals, as a non-Moroccan and one who doesn't belong to our country.
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