Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Lounes Matoub, the beloved Berber singer, was known for d... Berber musician Moh Alileche, who lives in Berkeley, knew...
A little more than 10 years ago, Merzouk Allache was in his Berkeley apartment talking on the telephone with a friend, Lounes Matoub. Allache was worried for Matoub. Both men were singers who vocalized about their native Algeria, but Matoub was known as the most outspoken singer of his generation - someone whose rhetorical lyrics prompted death threats, a shooting that put him in the hospital and a kidnapping that spirited Matoub away for two weeks until he was finally released.
"He said, 'I love you like a brother; anything I can do for you, please let me know,' " Allache remembers Matoub saying from Algeria. "I told him, 'Yes, do me this: Watch out. Take care of yourself. That's the biggest favor you can do.' He was a fatalist. He said, 'If I have to die, I die.' "
A few months after their conversation, Matoub was dead at 42. A gunman (or gunmen) shot the car he was driving with almost 100 bullets. For the funeral service in his native village, which thousands of people attended, Matoub's body was draped in the Algerian flag. On Sunday in Berkeley, Allache will perform at a commemoration of the 10-year anniversary of the singer's death. Matoub's life and death are impossible to discuss without addressing the subject of Berbers, the native people of Algeria, of whom Matoub was one.
For decades, the Berbers have struggled to have their rights - and their language - recognized by Algeria's government. Though Berbers in Algeria (and across North Africa) have long adopted Islam as a religion, they are not Arabs, and have resisted any attempts to marginalize their culture. In Algeria, Matoub was openly critical of the government's treatment of Berbers, and openly trumpeted the country's Berber history. One of Matoub's first popular songs, "The Lion," profiled Berber revolutionary Ramdane Abane, an Algerian independence leader in the anti-colonial movement against France, who was assassinated in 1957. Matoub songs accused the Algerian government of mistreating and killing Berbers.
Allache and other friends of Matoub believe the government had him murdered for his outspokenness. Others believe that radical Islamists - like those who kidnapped Matoub in 1994 - carried out his killing, which has never been solved. In the Berber region of Algeria (which is the southernmost, mountainous part of the country), Matoub is a martyr - a Martin Luther King-like figure whose image is everywhere. "There is not a single cafe, restaurant or business," says Allache, "that doesn't have a poster of Lounes Matoub."
Matoub's music is also played everywhere in southern Algeria - and throughout France, where millions of French Algerians live. In the United States, Matoub's music is a staple of many world music afficionados, who gravitate to songs that veer from free-form folksy to studio-produced pop. Matoub, who made 36 albums, played the mondol, an instrument similar to the mandolin. He sang almost exclusively in Tamazight, the Berber language. YouTube features scores of Matoub videos and tributes, which show the singer in his various states of performance, including stadium shows. Part of Matoub's appeal was his infectious playing style - on stage, he was constantly smiling, joking, cajoling, storytelling, anything that moved him. He was like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie rolled into a politicized Berber musician, and like those three American performers, Matoub was a poetic songwriter. In one song, Matoub described the mountains near his childhood village as "my soul; the mountains saw me grow up - they are the mountains that protected me."
Whether he performed at stadiums or smaller venues, Matoub never took a fee, says Allache, who knew the singer for almost 30 years. Instead, the money went to causes he supported. Matoub, who grew up in poverty, made his living from sales of his albums - which made him wealthy. During Matoub's 1993 visit to the Bay Area, he went to San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood and, on the spur of the moment, bought a $1,500 leather jacket.
"You know how artists are," says Allache, who plays the guitar. "They like to dress up."
Two months ago, Allache visited Matoub's grave, which is located by his old village home in Taourit-Moussa. One of Matoub's songs was titled, "Today I Exist, Tomorrow I'm Not Sure." Allache, 47, talks about Matoub as if he's still alive, using the present tense to say that Matoub "thinks of himself as Algerian first, then Berber."
(Though Berbers use the word "Berber" to describe themselves, the word is related to "barbarians," and Berbers often prefer other descriptions, such as "Imazighen" or "Amazigh.")
Events like Sunday's in Berkeley keep the memory of Matoub alive for others who may not have known the singer the way Allache did. In the past week, Matoub events have been held around the world, including Paris, where the mayor wants to dedicate a street to the singer.
"He wanted to spread the truth," says Moh Alileche, who, like Allache, is a Bay Area Berber musician who knew Matoub for years. "That's the reason people like him so much."
A commemoration of Algerian singer Lounes Matoub, who was killed 10 years ago, will be held from 6:30-10 p.m. Sunday at the Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St. (at Spruce), Berkeley. The event, which features music, video tributes and more, is free. For more information, e-mail amazigh_group@yahoo.com.
To hear music by Matoub, go to links.sfgate.com/ZDYG.
E-mail Jonathan Curiel at jcuriel@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/28/DD5611FM0N.DTL
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/199697,moroccan-court-bans-pro-israeli-berber-party.html
Rabat - A Moroccan court Thursday banned an Amazigh party on the grounds that the law did not allow parties based on religion, language or ethnicity, judicial sources said Thursday. The court in Rabat confirmed the earlier decision of the Interior Ministry, which had refused to recognize the Democratic Amazigh Moroccan Party (PDAM), which had been established in July.
None of the other parties showed solidarity towards the PDAM, largely because the party had championed the full normalization of Morocco's relations with Israel.
The founder of the PDAM, Ahmed Dgharni, sparked a scandal in December by visiting Tel Aviv for a political conference.
The PDAM sought to represent Morocco's Imazighen (plural of Amazigh), also known as Berbers, regarded as the original inhabitants of North Africa before the arrival of Arabs and Islam.
Many estimates put the number of Imazighen at about 35 per cent of Morocco's population of more than 30 million, but most Moroccans have at least some Amazigh blood.
Morocco does not have Amazigh parties, though it has parties with many Amazigh members
By Gerald A. Honigman
I’ve watched the recent Turkish invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan closely.
What I will now say I’ve largely said before, but it’s now time to reassert what I believe to be hard truths to two friends.
I cannot condemn Ankara’s decision to invade Iraqi Kurdistan anymore than I could condemn Israel’s decision to go after Arabs who target Jews from Gaza, Judea and Samaria (renamed only recently in history the “West Bank”), and so forth. I’m glad to see that, for whatever reasons, the Turks have now withdrawn.
The PKK’s refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan was an open invitation for a Turkish invasion. I’m surprised it took so long in the coming. And I wrote that in the Kurdish media itself long ago.
Having said this, there’s another hard series of truths...
Unlike the plight of one fifth of Turkey’s population who are Kurds, Israel’s Arab population (also one fifth of Israel) are the freest Arabs anywhere in the Middle East. Despite many of the latter composing a real fifth column, (siding with fellow Arabs who call for Israel’s total destruction), Arab language, culture, political rights and so forth flourish in the land of the Jews.
Perfection? No...but compared to the plight of non-Arabs in so-called “Arab ” lands--especially those whom the Arabs call “their” kilab yahud (Jew dogs), the Jews who are left (more Jews fled those lands to Israel than Arabs who fled Israel)--Israeli Arabs live in Paradise. Just ask black African Sudanese in Darfur and southern Sudan, for starters (and Copts, Kurds, Assyrians, Amazigh/Berbers, and so forth).
I was pleased to hear that the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) recently invited Turkey to hold talks to resolve differences, while the President of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, Masud Barzani, expressed readiness to contribute to finding a peaceful solution to the problem. This is not the first time they’ve extended these invitations either.
In a statement, the PKK expressed a readiness to seek a peaceful solution to the issue of Kurds in Turkey through mediation by the government of Iraq's Kurdish Region and supported the KRG’s call for establishing dialogue.
On his part, President Barzani expressed his readiness to "actively participate" in finding a peaceful solution to the PKK-Turkish problem, which he hoped would "end violence in the region and build better relations of cooperation and consolidate security and stability for our people."
On the surface, this might appear to just be just wishful thinking. But U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ statement openly addressing the need for Ankara to address the real grievances of Turkish Kurds seems to be a welcome new development. I don’t recall an American official vocalizing this as firmly prior to now.
Let’s step back again...
Over the past century in particular, after the collapse of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the wake of World War I, the Kurds were renamed Mountain Turks, had their language and culture outlawed, etc. and so forth to insure that the new, constricted Turkey which arose with Mustafa Kemal--Ataturk--would suffer no further geographical losses. Understandable, but not a just solution to the problem. After all, long before a Turk or Arab was in that vicinity, Kurds long lived there.
Turkey has been a valuable ally of America and has resisted Islamic extremism better than any other Muslim country. It also has relatively good relations with Israel...especially when its relations with neighboring Syria take a dive.
So, as with my Kurdish friends, I truly wish nothing but good for our Turkish friends as well.
But, as I’ve written often before and will repeat until it sinks in, friends should be able to disagree and still remain friends.
When Israel goes after Hamas terror masters, Ankara is quick to criticize and lecture about the need to create the Arabs’ 22nd state and second, not first, one in “Palestine”--Jordan having surfaced on some 80% of the original April 25, 1920 territory over the past century. Turkey knows full well what the Arabs’ plans are for the Jewish State, yet makes these demands anyway. But talk about the need for justice for 35 million truly stateless Kurds, and Ankara goes ballistic.
Turkey is some forty times as large as Israel geographically and eleven times larger in population.
Despite this, Ankara sees nothing wrong, after demanding the creation of the Arabs’ 22nd state, with telling Kurds--who have been massacred and subjugated in all the lands where they have lived in the new nationalist era--that they must remain forever in that stateless condition because of the potential threat independence in Iraqi Kurdistan might have to Turkey. The Turks fear the effect this will have on their own large, adjacent--and suppressed-- Kurdish population.
As we all know, the fear is well founded, and I understand it.
But if a Turkey which dwarfs Israel in size and population has reason to fear this, then what is Israel to say?
Again, one fifth of Israel is Arab...like the fifth of Turkey which is Kurd. Yet the Jews are told by virtually all--including Turks--that they must allow yet another Arab state, dedicated to their very destruction, to be set up in their backyard.
Keep in mind that whatever its flaws may be, the PKK does not seek Turkey’s destruction. The calls for independence by some largely are sired by real, unaddressed grievances--as Secretary Gates acknowledged.
Despite the potential for problems, justice does not demand that Kurds remain forever politically powerless in the nationalist age. A miniscule Israel faces worse problems regarding such things but is expected to allow for the creation of yet another rejectionist Arab state.
So, what’s to be done?
Once again repeating what I’ve written earlier, there is no doubt that the Kurds must do what the Arabs refuse to do...
Iraqi Kurdistan must show Ankara that an independent or highly autonomous Iraqi federal Kurdish region will not be a threat. Had it done so earlier, a Turkish invasion--even with Ankara eying Kurdish oil--would not have occurred or at least wouldn’t have been justified.
As President Barzani (whose late father will forever be a hero of mine) has stated above, there must be serious discussions with the PKK about what the greater good for Kurdistan will require. This means Kurdish leaders must get their own acts together as well...beyond protecting their own virtual fiefdoms--be they Talabani, Barzani, or whomever. If need be, they must use military force to subdue their own extremists.
Hopefully, it will not come to this. And nothing will be expected in this regard if the Turks don’t show that they will be willing to grant Iraqi Kurds the same right to have in one of which they expect Israel to allow Arabs to have almost two dozen of. Ankara must also seriously address the rights of Turkish Kurds as well instead of collaborating with both Syria and Iran in suppression of their respective Kurdish populations.
There is room for coexistence and cooperation if both peoples can get beyond their fears. A brighter future awaits them. Besides problems with the PKK, there are already real benefits materializing for Turks in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Both have a history of opposing Islamic extremism, though some are to be counted amongst both populations.
Kurds from Turkey, Syria, Iran, and elsewhere wanting to live in an independent Kurdish state can have in Iraqi Kurdistan what Jews have in a reborn Israel.
Like formerly truly stateless Jews, Kurds have suffered greatly because of this political powerlessness.
Again, renaming Arabs “Palestinians” (most of whom came from elsewhere) does not change the fact that Arabs have almost two dozen states--conquered from mostly non-Arab peoples. If there is a rough analogy to the Jews, it is the Kurds, not the Arabs. The Turks especially must also understand this since, besides Turkey, there are also a half dozen other Turkish states.
Both Turks and Kurds must examine each other’s needs and fears.
The future can be a promising one for both peoples.
While Arabs of different stripes blow each other apart, Turks and Kurds have mostly shown that they want no part of this sort of thing. Positive nationalism is better than negative nationalism.
Think of the possibilities which can arise if both peoples can get themselves to grant each other the humanity and respect both deserve.
Turkish Kurds must understand that the realm of the Turks will not see itself geographically split again. But this does not mean that Kurds should continue to be suppressed in Turkey. To insure Turkey’s integrity, the Turks have demanded Turkification of all who live there. This needs to be changed drastically. Imagine the outcry if Israel was doing this sort of thing to Arabs.
Ironically, Kurdish autonomy or independence in Iraqi Kurdistan has the potential to ease these very problems...under the right conditions.
Having the potential to live in a Kurdish-ruled area will give Kurds everywhere less grievance and reason to resort to violence.
Will there be risks and problems?
Of course. There is much that will be needed to be worked out. And all thirty or forty million Kurds will not fit into Iraqi Kurdistan.
But reasonable people can come up with reasonable solutions.
It’s time for both peoples to look ahead for a better future for both of their children...something Arabs who use their kids as human shields and who send them on suicide missions in pursuit of their own one-sided version of justice have proven incapable of doing.
Source: Article submitted by the author, an IHC Featured Writer
Edited by IHC staff, www.infoisrael.net
Published 5 March 2008
Statue of Berber Poet Matoub Lounes Decapitated In Berber Town
0 comments Posted by Knightkrm at 6:41 PMStatue of Berber Poet Matoub Lounes Decapitated In Berber Town
A statue of the Berber poet and activist Matoub Lounes in the Algerian town of Tizi n'Tleta has been found decapitated.
The vandalism comes at a time when organizations dedicated to perpetuating the memory of the poet had been raising funds to repair previous vandalism to the statue.
Lounes was murdered in 1998 by persons unknown. During his life he had been shot by Algerian security forces and kidnapped by Islamists.
Dalil Amazigh, head of a Lounes memorial association, said that the association would continue to protect and restore memorials to Lounes, "who continues to bother the enemies of liberty and democracy."
Source: www.kabyle.com, February 5, 2008
Magharebia
Published on Magharebia (http://www.magharebia.com)
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2008/01/25/feature-01
UN hails Moroccan progress with gender equality reforms
25/01/2008
Morocco presented a combined report on the status of its reforms to promote gender equality to a UN committee in Geneva on Thursday. Initial feedback has been positive, saying that Morocco will soon achieve its goals.
By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 25/01/08
[Imane Belhaj] Nouzha Skalli, Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity in the middle during the briefing in Casablanca
Morocco presented two reports on its official efforts against gender discrimination to an ad hoc UN committee on Thursday (January 24th) in Geneva.
The UN committee reviewed Morocco's third and fourth periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Moroccan delegation highlighted the efforts it has made for the elimination of gender-based differences, including the lifting of reservations on certain provisions of the convention.
Moroccan women, according to the panel, have made significant advancements in terms of equality and economic and social rights. Committee Chairperson Dubravka Simonovic hailed the country's progress, saying Morocco will soon achieve gender equality.
During a preliminary briefing held January 18th in Casablanca, Minister of Social Development, Family and Solidarity Nouzha Skalli said she was optimistic about the positive strides made in Morocco since ratifying the CEDAW in 1993.
She also discussed the reservations Morocco has lifted on several convention provisions, based on feedback from the two previous CEDAW reports presented to the UN in 1995 and 1999. The successful changes concern the harmonisation of domestic laws to international conventions; accelerating reform of the Family Code; establishing a limit to provisions of discrimination in terms of legal rights; speeding up ratification of citizenship law; increasing women's representation in decision-making circles; and reforming labour and criminal law.
Naima Ben Yahia, Director of Women, Family, and Childhood Affairs in the Ministry, said the findings included in the last two reports are the product of extensive efforts made by women's associations in Morocco, in a society that looks forward to justice, equality and democracy.
The two June 2006 reports consist of three sections. The first covers reforms to promote the defence of human rights through democracy and the rule of law. These reforms have taken the form of restructuring the Advisory Council for Human Rights and the creation of Grievances Board, the Royal Institute for Amazigh Culture and the Authority for Equity and Conciliation.
The second section addresses 16 articles related to combating violence against women; changing women's and men's social and behavioural norms; combating the exploitation of women; equality in political and public life on the national and international levels; laws governing citizenship, education, work and health, social security, rights of rural women and child labour.
The third section, meanwhile, includes provisions on monitoring Morocco's implementation of previous recommendations. These include the Beijing Platform for Action - which promotes the integration of gender equality-based development policies and programs - and the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.
Some 185 states have ratified the CEDAW since its adoption by the UN General Assembly in 1979.
14/01/2008
The Amazigh New Year on January 12th was celebrated with events as diverse as the many Amazigh communities across Algeria. Festivities for "Yennayer" were held even in non-Amazigh regions and Algiers offered cultural events. With the widening popularity of the New Year festival, Amazigh activists hope to see January 12th recognised as an official holiday in Algeria.
By Said Jameh for Magharebia in Algiers – 14/01/08
 [File] Some Algerians have called for the Amazigh New Year to be made into an official holiday |
The Amazigh people of Algeria celebrated New Year 2598 on January 12th with traditional festivities, special food and parties reflecting their cultural heritage and ethnic pride. The annual event, known as "Yennayer", marks the beginning of the new farming year.
The origin of the celebration is unclear. Some think that the Amazigh calendar dates back to the victory achieved by Amazigh King Chachnaq against the Pharaohs in a battle fought on the banks of Nile in 950 BC. Rachid Malika says in his book "The Early Berbers between the Mediterranean Tassili and the Nile" that after defeating the Pharoahs, the Berber king announced the birth of the 23rd Berber dynasty and thus began the Amazigh calendar.
Today, Algeria celebrates the Amazigh New Year by holding festivities that differ from one region to another. In the predominantly Amazigh province of Kabylia, many children wear ornamental henna tattoos and families prepare traditional dishes, such as couscous with the meat of a home-slaughtered rooster. To mark the occasion, circumcisions may also be performed. These celebrations symbolise the relation between man and nature, according to Said Bouterfa, a specialist in Amazigh traditions.
The Amazigh of the Algerian desert, known as the Touareg, celebrated the day with their unique music, dance and traditional dishes. Researcher Badi Dida explained that the Touareg people maintain Yennayer customs to commemorate an historical milestone.
Another Amazigh community, the Chenoua (named after the Chenoua Mountains in Tipasa province), celebrates by preparing special bread using herbs collected from the wilderness.
Some non-Amazigh regions of Algeria also join in the New Year's events. In the western city of Tlemcen, birthplace of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, young and old celebrate Yennayer together. Directly after sunset prayers, family members have dinner and exchange gifts. Tlemcen children await a visit from "Yennayer Woman", who goes around by night from house to house bringing candy and presents.
To highlight Algeria's cultural diversity, events and seminars were offered in the capital to mark the occasion of Yennayer. The Algiers Centre for Culture and Arts, for example, organised traditional industry exhibitions and music concerts featuring artists from Amazigh regions.
Beyond its festive and historical significance to the Amazigh people, the New Year is taking on a political element. Some activists in the Amazigh Movement want to include January 12th each year as one of the eids. They are campaigning to make Yennayer an official holiday like the Muslim New Year.
Voices have been calling for making Yennayer an official holiday since 2001, when confrontations between citizens and security forces in the Kabylia region left 127 protestors dead. Those events calmed when the government officially recognised the Amazigh language.
In a statement made on January 12th, the head of the National Consultative Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights asked the government to make Yennayer an official holiday. Farouk Ksentini said the move would contribute to national solidarity.
KUWAIT (KUNA): Desert life is an integral part of the imagination of Abdullah Al-Mekhyal, a Kuwaiti movie maker who takes his camera and team from time to time to the desert in a bid to unravel some of its mysteries. Al-Mekhyal started his career as a gifted amateur director and scenarist of documentaries, driven by fascination with the desert and Bedouin life. His attraction to the desert life is clearly portrayed in “In Camel Heels, “ “Desert Call,” fruits of two years in Saudi Arabian desert, “Plain Shepherds,” filmed in Mongolia, and “Amazigh Desert,” shot in Morocco. “Morocco is distinguished with its unique texture of geography, culture and weather,” Al-Mekhyal said in an interview with KUNA. “It is a country of four seasons at one time. You may see winter in the north, spring in the west and autumn in the east while it is as hot as summer time in the south,” he says. “This led to biological diversity which flourished by the geographical diversity, with snow-covered hilltops, grassy plains and arid desert.
Diversity
“Again cultural diversity is one of the unique features of Morocco where Arab, African and Amazigh communities and cultures coexist harmoniously. “This mixture formed a colorful Bedouin life that continued to carry a lot of integrity and originality,” Al-Mekhyal went on to say. Desert, which accounts for more than 60 percent of the Arab region, is home to bedouine culture and values. It is a distinguished homeland for the bedouins, extending from the Arabian desert in the east to Morocca’s Amazigh Desert in the west. The Amazigh Desert portrays the Bedouin life in Eastern Plateau Region, East Morocco, and stretches to the Ouizazate Region in the south. “Most of southern Moroccan tribes are descendants of Arab origin and speak Arabic,” Al-Mekhyal pointed out. “Camels in south Morocco are characterized by their unique colors.
“The red and white spotted camels are not found anywhere other than Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania. “Local people in south Morocco believe this species of camels is blessed and try to keep as many of them as possible,” he noted. “Atlas Mountains extending from Tunisia in the east to west Morocco have the highest hilltop in the Arab world namely Mt Topkal which is 4,167 meters high. “Amazigh tribes are the original inhabitants of Atlas Mountains and Morocco in general, many Moroccan towns still have their Amazigh names. “Most of Amazigh people work as shepherds and raise cattle and camels due to the abundance of grassy land,” Al-Mekhyal added. Al-Mekhyal received awards from several festivals of documentaries.
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/kuwaitnews/pagesdetails.asp?nid=10099&ccid=9
Most Berbers are at least nominal followers of Islam, and many strictly observe Islamic traditions. Most of the feasts are observed and celebrated, but the fasting that is required during Ramadan is often excused for those who travel. Like most followers of Islam in northern Africa, many Berbers believe in the continuous presence of various spirits (djinns). Divination is accomplished through means of the Koran. Most men wear protective amulets which contain verses from the Koran.
Amazigh society was divided between those who tended the land and those who did not. At one time, tilling the land was considered the work of the lower classes, while the upper classes were merchants. Usually, groups of sedentary Berber paid allegience to a locally appointed headman, who in turn reported to the noble who considered the village his domain. As time has passed, however, these sedentary farmers have been able to accumulate wealth while the trans-Saharan trade routes diminished in importance. They were also given political status by colonial and postcolonial administrations.
Contrary to popular romanticism which portrays Amazigh as nomadic peoples crossing the desert on camels, most actually practice sedentary agriculture in the mountains and valleys throughout northern Africa. Some do, in fact, engage in trade throughout the region, and such practices certainly had a tremendous influence on the history of the African continent. Trade routes established from western Africa to the Mediterranean connected the peoples of southern Europe with much of sub-Saharan Africa thousands of years ago. There are basically five trade routes which extend across the Sahara from the northern Mediterranean coast of Africa to the great cities, which are situated on the southern edge of the Sahara. Berber merchants were responsible for bringing goods from these cities to the north. From there they were distributed throughout the world.
These people call themselves Amazigh. "Berber is a name that has been given them by others and which they themselves do not use. Amazigh history in North Africa is extensive and diverse. Their ancient ancestors settled in the area just inland of the Medeterranean Sea to the east of Egypt. Many early Roman, Greek, and Phoenician colonial accounts mention a group of people collectively known as Berbers living in northern Africa. In actuality, Berber is a generic name given to numerous heterogeneous ethnic groups that share similar cultural, political, and economic practices. Over the last several hundred years many Berber peoples have converted to Islam.
Berbers
People living in North Africa, from Morocco's west coast to the oasis Siwa in Egypt, from Tunisia's north tip to the oases in mid-Sahara. 
