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By Rachid Khouya
Morocco World News
Smara, Morocco, October 15, 2012
Many Sahrawis have expressed to MWN in Smara, Moroccan Sahara, their total disappointment and disagreement with “the unacceptable and uncivilized behavior” of the president of the Confederation of Students’ Parents towards the president of the Amazigh Scout before delivering his lecture on “the Amazighity of Saharawi tribes”.
The president of the so-called Confederation of Students’ Parents brought with him several people to prevent the lecturer from giving his talk under the justification that “the tribes of the Sahara have never been Aamzigh and that letting the lecturer give a talk on that topic would be an attack on the Sahrawi identity”.
Mr. Mouhamed Aniri, the president of the Organization of Amazigh Scout, was compelled to apologize to the audience who attended the main lecture room in the cultural centre saying that he “was under the pressure of those people who wanted him not to say the truth about the Amazighity of the Sahara.” He added that “those people should first wait, listen to the lecture and then they have every right to disagree with the evidence and ideas,” as he is bringing an idea to be discussed. He went on to say that “this behavior does not go with the royal speech and his recommendation to improve and encourage Amazigh language.”
Many people from the audience were disappointed and said that “that the man who prevented the lecturer from giving his presentation does not have any authority to talk on behalf of the Sahrawi tribes and doesn’t have any scientific, cultural or historical authority to behave in such a way, as the topic is an interesting topic that all Moroccans have to discuss in an atmosphere of liberty, respect and acceptance of disagreements and diffrences.”
A member of the local branch of the Amazigh scout organization, who is from Sahrawi origins, told MWN that the behavior of that Confederation of Students’ Parents “is against the values of the people of the sear who respect their guests, listen to them and disagree with ideas and thought instead of threatening and showing their teeth”. He added that he is “going to learn Tamazight as he learned from the lecturer that some tribes have Amazigh origins.”
The Organization of Amazigh Scout organized a conference under the theme “The Amazighity of Sahrawi tribes: a return to history, anthropology and linguistics”. The event took placeon October 13 and 14 in Smara, the scientific capital of the south. The conference saw the organization of many workshops on writing in “Tifinagh”, the Amazigh alphabet,along with discussion on culture, language and customs.
