Appeal from World Amazigh (Berber) Assembly to the Members of the European Parliament about teaching of Tamazight in Europe
Distinguished Members of the European Parliament and Members of the Europeans Parliaments,
I sincerely thank you for your attention to alert you to a crucial issue that concerns not only the future of thousands of young people from Moroccan immigration backgrounds in Europe, but also the cohesion of our European societies.
The European Union, and particularly countries such as Spain, France, Germany, and Belgium, have signed bilateral agreements with Morocco within the framework of the ELCO program – “Teaching the Language and Culture of Origin.” However, this program, which is supposed to promote the cultural identity of children of Moroccan origin, relies solely on the teaching of the Arabic language and a predominantly religious culture.
This view is completely erroneous, as the majority of Moroccans living in Europe – and their children – are of Amazigh origin. To ignore this reality is to commit symbolic violence against these children. Depriving them of their language, their culture, their identity is like inducing illiteracy and encouraging academic failure by imposing on them a language of instruction that is different from the one they learned at home.
Worse still, this cultural marginalization can fuel frustration, identity withdrawal, and, in some cases, Salafist radicalism. It should be remembered that most of the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks in Madrid, Paris, Brussels, and Barcelona come from Amazigh regions of Morocco, particularly the Rif.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of Parliament,
I solemnly invite you to read my text below and consider taking concrete steps to revise your governments’ educational agreements with the Kingdom of Morocco to include the teaching of Tamazight and Amazigh culture, as pillars of an inclusive education that respects diversity and truly prevents exclusion and extremism. Europe must guarantee all its children—including those of Amazigh origin—the right to learn in their mother tongue, while respecting the values of democracy, tolerance, and cultural pluralism.
Thank you for your attention and please accept the expression of our highest consideration.
Why I Insist on Promoting the Teaching of Tamazight in Europe?
Following the article published in La Razón regarding the teaching of Arabic in Catalonia [1], I wish to draw your attention once again to a matter of great importance and sensitivity. The continued lack of courageous and pragmatic decisions by European authorities is, unintentionally, contributing to the spread of Islamist radicalism rather than preventing it. This is despite the fact that Spain and Europe have been — and continue to be — victims of numerous tragic terrorist attacks: Madrid (11 March 2004), Paris (13 November 2015), Brussels (22 March 2016), and Barcelona (17–18 August 2017), among others.
The article by journalist José Antonio Lavilla, although bearing a provocative headline — “Catalonia attacks Spanish while promoting Arabic with a plan funded by the Moroccan Government” — has at least the merit of drawing attention to these educational programmes signed between the Kingdom of Morocco and several European countries (Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Italy) as part of bilateral agreements on the Teaching of the Language and Culture of Origin (ELCO), entitled “Teaching the Arabic language and Moroccan culture” [2].
Let me remind you that Moroccans are the non-European population group with the highest rate of naturalization in the EU. In 2022, they reached 112,700, with 49.2% acquiring Spanish nationality, 27.5% Italian nationality, and more than 14% French nationality… Moreover, most of their children, educated in European schools, already hold European citizenship.
The core problem of this rigid programme of Teaching Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture, currently implemented in 394 schools across Spain (distributed across 12 autonomous communities: Catalonia has 125, Andalusia 96, Madrid 70, Castilla-La Mancha 28, the Canary Islands 17, La Rioja 13, Galicia 11, Aragon 10, the Basque Country 10, Murcia 7, the Balearic Islands 5, and Extremadura 2), is that it assumes the Moroccan-origin population to be ethnically “Arab”. It thus offers instruction focused mainly on religious Islamic teachings, rather than the rich and ancient Amazigh (Berber) history — a history often shared between both shores of the Western Mediterranean, from prehistory to the eight centuries of “Moorish” (Amazigh) presence in the Iberian Peninsula.
Both Moroccan and Spanish educational authorities (and by extension, European ones) continue to negotiate with Morocco as though it has only one official language — Arabic — blatantly ignoring the other official language: Tamazight, which is recognised in Article 5 of the Moroccan Constitution of 1 July 2011 and protected by its own Organic Law No. 26.16, unanimously approved by both chambers of the Moroccan Parliament in 2019 [3]. Tamazight is the mother tongue of most Moroccan emigrants.
As I highlighted in my letter dated 10 March 2024 [4], the ELCO programmes for Moroccan-origin children have failed — and will continue to fail — for the simple reason that these students are not ethnically Arab [5], and their mother tongue is not classical Arabic [6]. Persisting in denying the inclusion of Tamazight in school curricula only serves to “manufacture illiteracy and academic failure,” as described by the renowned French linguist Alain Bentolila, who stated: “The educational systems of certain countries, however costly they may be, have become machines for producing illiteracy and academic failure because they have never been able (or willing) to solve the issue that tears them apart: the choice of language of instruction. They lead students to cruel failure because the school welcomes them in a language that their mothers never spoke to them. This is an intolerable form of violence for a child. Only on the solid foundation of their mother tongue can they access reading and writing. And from there, we can build ambitious learning of official languages.”
To deprive Moroccan-origin pupils of education in their native language is to condemn them to deeper marginalisation, more school dropout, more delinquency — and worse still, to greater Islamist radicalisation and jihadist terrorism.
Let us not forget it is no coincidence that the perpetrators of the tragic attacks in Madrid, Paris, Brussels, and Barcelona, as well as the violent acts linked to the Mocro Maffia (even in the heart of Brussels), and the numerous jihadist cells dismantled in Melilla, are overwhelmingly of Moroccan, Amazigh origin — particularly from the Rif region. Therefore, it is not at all a coincidence that the Algerian secret services have bet on young Amazighs from the Rif, marginalized and uprooted, as mercenaries, to constitute a new armed separatist movement to destabilize Morocco and the European Union [7].
In conclusion, the bilateral agreements on the Teaching of the Language and Culture of Origin (ELCO) will only yield positive results if they include, first and foremost, the teaching of Tamazight as a mother tongue, along with the history and culture of the Amazigh people. Only in this way can Moroccan-origin students integrate effectively into European schools and reconnect with the deep-rooted values of their authentic and ancient Amazigh identity — values based on the rejection of hatred and violence, respect for women and others, and the principles of freedom, equality, and democracy — values that are fully aligned with those promoted by European host societies and schools.
Rachid RAHA, President of the Amazigh World Assembly
Notes :
[3]- https://amadalamazigh.press.
[5]- https://rachidraha.com/are-
