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Berbers

Imazighen

See also:

Kabylia

Presentation of the Berbers

The Berbers are a group of peoples who have been living in Northern Africa since 3000 BP and speak different dialects, related to a common Chamito-Semitic language, Berber, aka Tamazight.
The Berbers call themselves Imazighen (The Free Men). The name Berber was derived from Barbarian during the Greco-Roman period. The Tuaregs have kept the original Berber alphabet, the tifinagh while other Berbers use either Latin or Arabic alphabet to write Tamazight.
According to the Dictionnaire des Peuples (Larousse), there are more than 20 millions of Berber-speaking people scattered over Northern Africa as follows:

Morocco: 12 millions (40% of the country population). Rifains live on the northern coast, Imazighens and Chleuhs in the center and south of the country;
Mauritania: 12-25,000 Zenagas, living south of Nouakchott, close to the border with Senegal;
Algeria: 6 millions (20-25% of the country population). Kabyles live in the north of the country close to Algiers, Chaouis close to the border with Tunisia, Zenets and Mozabits more in the south. Tuaregs are nomadic Berbers;
Tunisia: 60-90,000 people;
Libya: 300-550,000 people;
Egypt: 10-20,000 people, living in the oasis of Siwa and speaking Tasiwit, a Berber language including 40% of words taken from Egyptian dialects;
Another 2 millions of Tuaregs are scattered over Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

Source: Courrier International, #549 (10 May 2001)

Ivan Sache, 29 May 2001

Berber flag proposed by the Amazigh World Congress (1997)

Berber flag proposed by the Amazigh World Congress - Image by Jorge Candeias, 17 October 1998

Quoting a communication from the Amazigh World Congress (Congrès Mondial Amazigh):

En ce qui concerne le(s) drapeau(x) amazigh(s), il en existe quelques uns mais celui qui semble faire l'unanimité est celui qui a été présenté par les Canariens lors de notre dernier congrès à Tafira (août 97). Il est constitué de trois couleurs horizontales (bleu, jaune, vert) sur lesquelles vient s'inscrire un grand "Z" de couleur noire. C'est celui par exemple que l'on voit maintenant dans les manifestations berbères.
Cela étant dit, Imazighen (les Berbères) ne se sont pas encore officiellement donné un emblème commun reconnu par tous et ce, pour diverses raisons. N'oublions pas qu'ils appartiennent à une dizaine d'Etats diffèrents.

Among the few existing Amazigh flags, the one that seems to be unanimuously accepted was presented by the Canarians during our last congress in Tarifa (August 1997). THe flag is made of three horizontal stripes, blue-yellow-green, on which is placed a big "Z" letter in black. This flag is now commonly seen in Berber demonstrations.
However, the Imazighen have not adopted yet an emblem acknowledged by all, for miscellaneous reasons. We must not forget that they belong to about ten different countries.

Thanh-Tam Lê, 17 October 1998

The Berber "Z" letter is the central character of the word Amazigh, though in Berber only the consonants M Z G are written; Amazigh means "free man". The Imazighen (plural of are the free men), and this is the way all Berber peoples refer to themselves.

Antonio Cubillo, President of the CNC and General Secretary of the MPAIAC, written communication to Jaume Ollé, 25 April 1998

The flag is not only used by Kabyles, but also by the Rifians, and other Berbers. I don't know exactly what the colours represent, but I have heard that the blue is for the Blue Men of the Desert, the Tuaregs; the yellow for the desert (also the colours of ancient Numidia), the green for the mountain vegetation, and the sign aza of the Tifinagh alphabet of the Tamazight language (the sign of the free men, the Berbers) in red for the blood shed by our ancestor Berbers (Barbarians) in the multiple wars in "Tamazgha", the lands of the Berbers.

Lunis, a Berber of Kabylia, 28 August 2001

Berber flags with a red symbol

Berber flag with a red symbol - Image by Jaume Ollé, 25 December 1999

Several variants of the Berber flag with a red symbol have been spotted in demonstrations, which may or may not be flags that are commonly used. Some may be homemade versions.
I believe there are different artistic renditions of the central letter on the flag. Jose Luis Cepero reports the red and rounded version, that was published in Gaceta de Banderas [gdb].

Jaume Ollé, 25 December 1999

Berber flags with vertical stripes and a red symbol

The electronic version of Spanish newspaper El Païs illustrated on 14 June 2001 the news about Berber demonstrations in Algiers with a photography showing two flags being carried by demonstrators.
The flags are vertically divided blue-yellow-green (or the other way round, since the flags were carried on a horizontal plane, so it is difficult to say which side goes up) with a red, squarish Tifinagh letter "Z" in the middle stripe.
On one flag the long axis of the "Z" is parallel to the hoist and fits inside the middle stripe. On the other the "Z" is at a right angle with the hoist and overlaps a bit the blue and green stripes.

Santiago Dotor, 15 June 2001