海角大神

Three times a week Intissar Younes Issa walks over to the Sulaiman Baruni primary school, near her house on the hill above town,聽and gives lessons that聽until three years ago would have landed her in jail.聽One recent morning she taught her pupils a song:

鈥淣anna a Nanna, sekker asif n zalla, asif n zalla yeshur s yimtekan d wzemmur,鈥�聽it begins.

The words are Tamazight, an ancient language banned by Libya鈥檚 former dictator, Muammar Qaddafi. In English they mean, 鈥淢y grandmother, my grandmother, you wake the valley of Zalla, the valley of Zalla filled with figs and olives.鈥�

The song describes the region of Yefren, home to Libya鈥檚 Amazigh, or Berber, minority, which includes both Ms. Younes Issa and her pupils. Mr. Qaddafi鈥檚 ouster has allowed them to bring their language into the open and launched a debate over聽minority rights as Libya struggles to remake itself.

Rich history repressed

Amazighs have inhabited North Africa since before recorded history;聽the earliest known reference to them may be 1st聽millennium BC rock engravings of chariots in the Sahara.聽Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines all conquered the region, followed by Arabs, who brought Islam and their language. But Tamazight, a group of dialects distantly related to Arabic, has survived in places聽like聽Libya's聽Nafusa Mountains,聽a towering聽arc of red-brown escarpments that swing southwest from Tripoli to the Tunisian border.

Libya鈥檚 several hundred thousand Amazighs consider this their cultural heartland, although some towns are Arab. According to Alberto Denti di Pirajno, an Italian colonial doctor posted to Libya in the 1920s, the two populations 鈥渃ordially disdained鈥� one another.

"The Berbers find the Arabs obtuse, thieving, and treacherous,鈥澛爃e wrote in his memoir, "Un Medico in Africa," "while the Arabs say that the Berbers have 鈥榯he greed of the Jews, the venom of the asp, and the honesty of a prostitute鈥�.鈥�

Upon seizing power in 1969, Qaddafi declared Libya purely Arab. Tamazight was suppressed, Amazigh names were forbidden, and Amazighs鈥� role in Libya鈥檚 history was downplayed in textbooks.聽For Amazighs, Libya鈥檚 2011 uprising was a聽chance to reassert their culture.

Amazigh town elders backed revolt in online video statements, including one in both Arabic and Tamazight. As Qaddafi鈥檚 shells rained on the mountains, the Tamazight letter 鈥渮鈥� 鈥� two semicircles bisected by a vertical line, used by Berbers throughout the region 鈥� appeared in graffiti as an emblem of identity. Finally it appeared on Tripoli walls as Amazigh rebels helped topple Qaddafi鈥檚 regime.

Revival

Amazighs immediately began bringing Tamazight into the public sphere.聽While most Amazighs continued speaking the language in private during Qaddafi鈥檚 rule, not all know how to read and write it. Mrs. Younes Issa was among volunteers who began teaching children Tamazight.聽In 2102, Amazigh town councils began funding teacher training, salaries, and textbooks.

Last year, Libya鈥檚 interim parliament declared Tamazight and other minority languages components of Libyan society and authorized schools to teach them as optional subjects. The education ministry has even begun funding Tamazight instruction.

With liberty has come enthusiasm for perfecting one鈥檚 Tamazight, Younes Issa says,聽chatting with 海角大神 and fellow teachers in the school director鈥檚 office.

鈥淔or example, before we would say 鈥榟ammam鈥� (bathroom), from Arabic, but now people are saying 鈥榓bdus.鈥� Even 鈥榗ugina鈥� (kitchen), which comes from Italian (鈥渃ucina鈥�); now we say 鈥榓nwal鈥�.鈥澛�

鈥淲e here are the roots,鈥� chimes in Souad Shneb, a large, forthright lady who also teaches at Sulaiman Baruni school. 鈥淭he roots of Libya.鈥�

Language is only the beginning

For many Amazighs, basic freedom of expression isn鈥檛 enough. They also聽want Libya鈥檚 future constitution to enshrine Tamazight as an official language and guarantee its protection.

Last November Amazigh protesters shut down an oil port near Tripoli to press those demands. And last month the High Amazigh Council, an activist umbrella group, called on Amazighs to boycott constitutional drafting committee elections, arguing that the two seats reserved for Amazighs from a planned 60 were insufficient.

鈥淭here鈥檚 an Arab nationalist thinking that rejects us,鈥� says council member Nuri Ali Sherwi,聽who was among 45 Amazigh activists he says were jailed in the 1980s after they organized to promote their culture.聽鈥淲e won鈥檛 recognize a constitution that doesn鈥檛 recognize us.鈥�

But others worry that identity politics risk inflaming tensions at a time when Libya鈥檚 government is weak and militias proliferate.聽Magazine editor Salah Ngab makes a point of running content in Tamazight, Arabic, English, and the Taduga language of minority Tebus in his monthly magazine, 鈥淎ramat鈥� (鈥淓quinox鈥�).

鈥淭he aim is to send a message to our people that it鈥檚 possible to be different and live in peace,鈥� Mr. Ngab says.

Back in Yefren, Amazighs such as local radio director Ashraf Amroushi are relishing new freedoms. During the 2011 war, Mr. Amroushi found himself holding a gun with other rebels. Now he oversees the broadcast of Tamazight news bulletins, live discussions, and especially, music.

鈥淚 feel that now I鈥檓 offering something that鈥檚 even better than what I offered in the revolution,鈥� Mr. Amroushi says.