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Join on Telegram Formed in 2001, the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK), is a separatist movement in the Kabylie region of Algeria. Declared a terrorist group by the Algerian government in 2021, the MAK continues to seek regional autonomy, hoping to eventually establish a primarily Amazigh (Berber) state in the mountainous Kabylie region.
The MAK’s clashes with the Algerian government have negatively impacted Morocco’s relationship with Algeria, particularly since Algeria continues to link Morocco to the MAK despite lacking evidence to support its claims. Most recently, Algerian authorities have attributed the forest fires that swept through northern Algeria in August to the MAK movement. The country has even cited these accusations as an excuse to sever ties with Morocco.
Algiers has also claimed that Morocco’s UN statement regarding the Kabyle people was akin to a declaration of war, and the Algerian regime continues to stir up claims of increased border tensions with their western neighbor to divert attention away from domestic dissatisfaction within Kabylie.
With Algeria continuingly using the MAK to justify its long-standing hostility towards Morocco, a deeper understanding of the history and goals of the MAK is becoming increasingly important.
Cultural repression in Kabylie Province
Sharing Morocco’s eastern border, Algeria has a tumultuous political history. From a fierce war of independence against the French between 1954-1962, riots protesting government corruption, a military coup, terrorist attacks, and a vicious civil war in the 1990s, Algeria has long been shaped by political instability and violence.
It is against this backdrop of political turmoil that the Amazigh (Berber) people in the Kabylie province east of Algiers have long fought for cultural recognition and self-determination.
Whilst the majority of Algerians are descendants of ancient Amazigh groups, over three-fourths of Algerians identify as ethnically Arab due to the Arab invasions during the 8th and 11th centuries. Only one-fifth of Algerians identify as Amazigh, with the largest Amazigh group occupying the Kabylie province.
Following Algeria’s freedom from French rule, the government adopted a policy of “Arabization” aimed at promoting Arabic and Islamic cultural values. While originally enforced to rid the country of French influence, the policy has been a source of racism and erasure of Amazigh culture.
In March of 1980, Algerian authorities banned a university lecture on ancient Berber poetry, causing a wave of protests against the government’s cultural repression. The Algerian government responded to the protests with violence, with many people, most of them students, arrested, injured, and killed. The volatile period, known as the Berber Spring, is now a source of pride and commemoration for the Amazigh people in Algeria.
In 2001, the cultural tension between Kabylie and the Algerian government once again flared, exacerbated by the death of an 18-year-old student who was shot at a gendarmerie post near the capital of Kabylie just days before the 21st commemoration of the Berber Spring.
Outrage swept through Kabylie as people took to the streets in droves, demanding the removal of all gendarmerie posts from the region and greater recognition of Amazigh culture. Over the next two month, the riots – now referred to as the Black Spring – would lead to approximately 127 dead and 5,000 wounded.
Eventually, Algerian officials agreed to remove most gendarmerie posts from Kabylie and declared Tamazigh (the Amazigh language) a national – though not official – language.
The MAK – who they are and what they do
In the wake of the Black Spring protests, Kabyle singer Ferhat Mehenni formed the MAK, which initially stood for the Movement for Autonomy of Kabylia but was renamed the Movement for Self-Determination of Kabylia in 2013.
According to the MAK’s official website, their aim is to receive international recognition for the Kabyle people’s right to self-determination. For MAK, healing from the “suffering, discrimination, murder and injustice” committed against the Kabyle people can only occur “when Kabylia gains its freedom.”.
Much of the MAK’s rhetoric is fueled by strong Kabyle and Amazigh nationalism, along with a disenfranchisement with the Algerian state due to its history of political and cultural repression. Regarding the anti-nationalist nature of the MAK, prominent MAK leader Bouaziz Ait-Chebib stated that “to be anti-nationalist, there must be a nation, and there is no Algerian nation. Our homeland and our nation are Kabylia.”
Additionally, much of the MAK’s rhetoric highlights the importance of forming a secular, democratic nation in Kabylia and Afghanistan. They have routinely warned against the dangers of extreme Islamic rule of law.
Over the years, the MAK has advanced their agenda through a variety of primarily peaceful means. The movement’s activism includes boycotts of Algeria’s national elections, various demonstrations in support of Kabyle autonomy, and commemoration marches of the “Berber Spring.” Mehini and other MAK leaders are vocally outspoken critics of the Algerian government.
Mehinni’s activism has put him in direct conflict with both the Algerian government and various extremist groups. The politician’s eldest son was assassinated while in Paris in 2004, and many suspect the killing was carried out as retribution for Mehenni’s activism. Others have suggested Ferhat Mehinni himself was the killers’ intended target, but they mistakenly took his son as their target.
In 2009, Mehenni went into exile in France, following yet another warrant for his arrest. The following year, MAK formed a provincial government, the Provincial Government of Kabylie (GPK), also referred to as Anavad, with Ferhat Mehenni filling the role of President in exile.
This bold move was largely ignored in the Algerian press, though Algiers-based paper La Tribune reported that leading political parties in the Kabylie region were opposed to the GPK’s formation.
Algerian police often react to MAK demonstrations and events with excessive force. Many activists have been subjected to harassment, threats, and even kidnappings at the hands of the state. These abuses further fuel the MAK’s demands for both self-determination and the more general desire throughout Kabylie for greater cultural and linguistic rights.
Accomplishments and controversy
Over the years, the Algerian state has met a few of the Kabyle people’s demands. Most notably, 2016 amendments to the Algerian constitution declared Tamazight as Algeria’s second official language. Despite this, however, reports have found that Tamazight is still rarely taught in schools or used in formal settings.
The MAK has experienced its fair share of controversy, though much of the supposed corruption within the group has only been reported by state-influenced Algerian media, making it difficult to determine the accuracy of the various accusations.
The MAK’s popularity amongst the majority of Kabyle people has been difficult to gauge due to lack of coverage. Over the years, the MAK has been portrayed as either irrelevant or dangerous by the Algerian government and press, with coverage likely twisted to best fit the Algerian government’s preferred narrative.
According to both Mehenni and other sources, the MAK remains on bad terms with the major political parties in the Kabylie region – the Front of Socialist Forces (FSS) and the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD). The main reason for the lack of dialogue between the various groups is likely due to the MAK’s 2010 formation of the Anavad provincial government.
In 2011, an Algiers-based paper reported accusations from a former senior member of the MAK calling Ferhat Mehenni a dictator and accusing the organization of receiving funds from Morocco. The Algerian state has also accused the MAK of receiving funds from Israel and various US-based organizations.
On their official website, the MAK firmly denies the rumors that they have received funding from any foreign powers. In light of Algeria’s rivalry with Morocco and their opposition to Israel, and given the lack of evidence corroborating Algiers’ accusations, the rumors of foreign funding appear to be a way for Algeria to further vilify both the MAK and Algeria’s regional rivals.
At the start of 2021, the Algerian state declared the MAK a terrorist group, following the arrest of activists accused of planning car bombs. As with many of the accusations leveled against the MAK, however, no non-Algerian based sources could be found to confirm the accuracy of these charges.
Since the declaration of the MAK as a terrorist group, hundreds of individuals have been arrested during instances of peaceful dissent.
On August 19, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) condemned Algeria’s pronouncement of the MAK as a terrorist entity.
UNPO notes that Algeria recently modified the penal code to expand the definition of terrorism in a way that appeared to specifically target opposition groups and self-determination movements. They further condemned Algeria for using the ‘terrorist’ label to shut down dissent and opposition, attempting to expand state power, and further repress the Kabyle people.
Most recently, the Algerian government has blamed the MAK and the Islamist Rashad opposition group for the recent wave of deadly forest fires that have northern Algeria. While 22 individuals have been arrested for starting the fires, some of whom confessed to being members of the MAK, no evidence has been presented of deliberate arson instigating the fires.
The MAK has also been accused of the murder of a young Algerian artist who visited Kabylie to help fight the forest fires. The young artist, Djamel Ben Ismail, was brutally tortured and burned on his arrival in the region after being falsely suspected of starting the fires – a rumor likely spurred by the Algerian government’s own claims of arson the day before the man’s death.
With Algeria unremittingly using the MAK’s supposed actions now to justify its hostility towards Morocco, thus fueling greater regional instability, expect the MAK to become an increasingly frequent topic of interest for politicians and analysts in Algeria, Morocco, and the surrounding region.
