Amazigh Activists Criticize State’s Disregard for Constitutional Obligations Toward the Amazigh Language

Leaders of associations and Amazigh activists participating in the second national debate on the prospects for actions by the Amazigh movement and the coordination of its struggles met on Saturday, October 5, 2025, at the invitation of the Moroccan Association for Research and Cultural Exchange (AMRIC) in Rabat, to discuss ways of developing joint Amazigh actions and to consider future prospects.

According to the press release issued at the end of the meeting, this gathering was a continuation of the first debate organized in Agadir as part of the summer university, during which the four committees formed at the first meeting presented documents and overall visions concerning the areas of organization and joint work, legal and international work, discourse and intellectual work, and the Amazigh observatory of policies and institutions.

The statement reaffirmed its strong condemnation of the critical situation in which the Amazigh language, culture, identity, and civilization find themselves today, after decades of exclusion and marginalization. considering that the enshrinement of Amazigh in the 2011 Constitution has not been translated into concrete policies and that the constitutional acquis has been emptied of its content due to the lack of genuine political will to implement the constitutional provisions and the organic law relating to Amazigh in state institutions and various areas of public life.

The assembled leaders criticized the fact that the state and successive governments since 2011 have shirked their constitutional obligations and failed to make Amazigh language instruction universal at all levels, to integrate it into higher education and training centers, and the weak presence of Amazigh in the media, culture, justice, administration, local authorities, and official documents. The statement also highlighted the lack of clear action plans within ministries and institutions, the failure to allocate the necessary human and financial resources, particularly in the areas of employment and training, and the failure to include budgets allocated to Amazigh in annual finance laws.

The statement warned that this systematic exclusion and constant evasion threaten to undermine confidence in the constitutional and legal contract, in the usefulness of institutional work, and in civil defense, and could also create an environment conducive to social tensions and reactions whose nature or consequences are difficult to predict.

In the same context, Amazigh leaders expressed their rejection of the contempt shown by the state and successive governments toward the aspirations of society and their ignorance of the civil, political, and legal frameworks and expressions that represent its voice and frame its demands, particularly those related to social and territorial justice, individual and collective rights to resources and wealth, and Amazigh cultural and linguistic identity.

The statement also denounced the authorities’ ignorance of the legitimate demands of the victims of the great Atlas earthquake who did not receive reconstruction aid, as well as the continuing suffering of young Moroccans seeking a decent life through good education, good health, employment opportunities, and the fight against corruption, calling for these demands to be heard and responded to positively.

The assembled leaders reaffirmed their absolute rejection of the use of violence, regardless of its source, condemning the acts of violence and vandalism that accompanied certain youth demonstrations, while emphasizing the importance of respecting the rules of peaceful demonstration in order to express legitimate demands.

At the organizational level, the communiqué announces the commitment of association leaders and participating groups to prepare joint organizational mechanisms and action plans based on the documents and projects presented by the four committees of the national debate, which include areas of work on human and international rights, discourse and intellectual work, the Amazigh observatory of policies and institutions, organization, joint work, and Amazigh national coordination, within the framework of a modern, practical, and independent approach.

It was also decided to form a preparatory committee responsible for setting up these mechanisms and ensuring the implementation of the conference conclusions, composed of representatives of the participating executives and activists, and to announce the organization of the third meeting of the national conference in Meknes, under the auspices of the “ASID” association, in the coming period.

At the end of the communiqué, Amazigh executives, associations, actors, researchers, and activists of different generations were called upon to work seriously, coordinate their actions on the ground and on an intellectual level, and launch new or complementary initiatives, in accordance with the visions and expectations of each generation, in order to achieve demands for rights and democracy and to implement the constitutional provisions relating to Amazigh in its linguistic, cultural, identity, social, and territorial dimensions.