Letting North Africa be African

The Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and sometimes Mauritania and Libya) doesn't seem to belong anywhere. Instead of celebrating its invigorating mix of peoples and languages, and the heterogeneity of its cultures, it gets penalized for not being Arab enough, or Middle Eastern enough or in the case of the situation discussed in the article we excerpt below, it's not African enough, an accusation tinged with racial and religious biases. Here is a piece from the Guardian by Iman Amrani on the topic. Enjoy!
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Why don’t we think of north Africa as part of Africa?
by Iman Amrani
September 9, 2015

When a Guardian article stated that Chigozie Obioma was the “sole African writer” to be longlisted for the 2015 Booker prize, the journalist in question had clearly forgotten there was life north of the Sahara. Thankfully, the Moroccan-born writer Laila Lalami, who was also longlisted, was quick to remind him, tweeting: “I am African. It’s an identity I’m often denied but that I will always insist upon”.


I know Lalami’s frustration well. Every time I have to declare my ethnicity I am reminded that “black African” is seemingly the only category that exists. Being both Algerian and British, I am constantly explaining why I identify as European and African – as though I’m “choosing” to be African, rather than it simply being a fact.


In politics and academia, north African countries are commonly grouped with the Middle East under the umbrella of MENA. In conferences I have been to on “African” issues, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt have often had tokenistic representation, if any at all.

But the identity equation isn’t as simple as Arabic speakers equal Arab people. There are still communities across the Maghreb that speak Berber or Amazigh and a dialect called darija that heavily features French and Spanish phrases. Besides, being Arab isn’t an alternative to being African, or even black. Mauritanians and Sudanese can identify as all three at once.

FULL ARTICLE

Algerian Book Festival Marks Independence Celebrations

Here is an article from al-Magharebia about a festival of books that just took place in Algeria, Morocco's neighbor and cousin to the east. Moroccan author Mohamed Achaari was in attendance.
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Algiers book festival marks independence anniversary

By Mouna Sadek for Magharebia in Algiers – 25/06/12

Writers from all corners of the world converged on Algiers last week for the fifth International Literature and Book Festival for Youth (FELIV). The ten-day event, which concluded on Saturday (June 23rd), featured both experienced writers and rising talent.

"We've got different people involved this year and each of them, whether from Algeria or abroad, ran workshops and introduced our youngsters to the marvellous world of literature, drawing, visual arts and crafts to develop their imaginations," festival organiser Azzeddine Guerfi told Magharebia.

The main goal is to explore a new approach to books and bring them to the public, he said. This year's event honoured ten late Algerian writers, considered the founders of modern Algerian literature. They included Mouloud Feraoun, Mohamed Dib, Kateb Yacine, Mouloud Mammeri, Malek Haddad, Abdelhamid Benhadouga, Reda Houhou and Moufdi Zakaria.
Sixty Algerian publishers displayed their works for visitors. The festival also offered drawing studios and visual arts exhibitions. But the real hit of the event was a story-telling section.

"It's a real delight to be here with children and share with them stories that carried tales of wisdom from our ancestors," Algerian story-teller H'nifa Hammouche told Magharebia. Narrators took turns to relay stories that taught lessons about tolerance, love of studying and respect for Algerian heritage.

Moroccan writer and 2010 Booker Prize winner Mohamed Achaari and French author Alexis Jenni, recipient of last year's Prix Goncourt, attended the event. Among other participants were Congolese-born Alain Mabanckou, Karla Suarez from Cuba and Franco-Algerian author Anouar Benmalek.

Artists Magyd Cherfi, a former member of the Zebda band, Houria Aichi, Cheikh Sidi Bemol and Palestinian band Le Trio Joubran lit up the festival.

Authors delved into discussions about "the literary adventure" and independence in post-colonial literature to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Algeria's statehood. They evoked the concept of "Authors in Dialogue", whereby an Algerian author engaged in a dialogue with a foreign writer.

In a press release, Minister of Culture Khalida Toumi said that the festival would give people a chance to experience books and praised the exhibitions devoted to ten Algerian writers on the Algiers underground network, which is used by scores of people every day. This, she said, would guarantee that the names of major Algerian literary figures will be known by a large number of people.

The visitors who wandered through the festival tents praised the organisation of activities, which enabled children to develop and free their imagination and inspired adults to partake in discussions with important literary figures.
"I think the festival has been quite well organised. Just now I was listening to songs for children, and I can tell you that they plunged me back into my own childhood," public-sector worker Amel Benchenni told Magharebia.
But some visitors complained that love of books remains a costly hobby in Algeria.
"It's just a shame that books are too expensive," said student Mourad.

Opening the Border [ between Morocco and Algeria ]

Here is an article from the Economist about likely prospects that the drawn out border-related issues between Morocco and Algeria may be ending insha'Allah.
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Algeria and Morocco

Open that border
Will the long stalemate between the Maghreb’s two big rivals ever end?

May 27th 2010 | RABAT | From The Economist print edition

MOROCCANS call the vast and arid region along their border with Algeria “the Oriental”. For centuries, trade bustled between their former capital, Fez, and cities on the western side of present-day Algeria, such as Oran. Pilgrims passed through on their way to the Middle East. Ibn Battuta, a great 14th-century Muslim explorer, set off from Tangier, on Morocco’s north-western tip, on his 30-year peregrinations that took him as far as China.

Alas, there are no Ibn Battutas today, if only because the border between Morocco and Algeria, which runs for 1,559km (969 miles), or 1,601km if you include a further stretch alongside the disputed Western Sahara, has been closed for nearly 16 years. In 1994 Algeria shut it after Morocco’s government imposed visas on Algerian travellers in the wake of a guerrilla attack on the Atlas Asni Hotel in Marrakech, in which the Moroccans suspected Algeria of having a hand. Thousands of Algerian residents and tourists were summarily expelled.

The Western Sahara row has made matters worse. For 35 years, since Spain’s departure, the territory has been disputed between the Polisario movement, which wants independence, and the Moroccan government, which has offered autonomy. The Algerians have doggedly backed Polisario. The conflict is barely closer to a resolution, though Morocco has managed to keep Polisario’s guerrillas militarily at bay.

Even leaving aside Western Sahara, the Atlas Asni incident is still a big barrier to better relations. It also impedes economic integration between the Maghreb countries in general. The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), a trade organisation created in 1989 to encourage free trade between Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, has failed to hold a summit meeting since 1994, in part because of the Algerian-Moroccan spat. Trade within the AMU quintet accounts for a paltry 2% of what the region conducts with the whole of the rest of the world.

Morocco’s King Muhammad VI began trying to break the logjam in 2004, when he let Algerians visit his country without a visa. Algeria’s president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, returned the favour the next year but refused to reopen the border, despite King Muhammad’s plea in 2008 and the urging of the United States and the European Union. Algeria may still feel bitter about the expulsion after the hotel attack of 1994 but it is also nervous lest Morocco use the border issue as a lever to get Algeria to back down over Western Sahara. Algeria still insists, to the irritation of Morocco, that there should be a referendum under an international agreement signed in 2003. The unresolved issue has fuelled rivalry for dominance of the wider Maghreb region, in which the two countries are by far the biggest in terms of population: Morocco has 32m people, Algeria 35m.
The benighted borderlands

Moroccan towns such as Oujda, a ten-minute drive from the border, have been hard hit. Despite efforts to reorient the region’s economy towards tourism and to draw the area into Morocco’s hub on the Atlantic, local unemployment is two-and-a-half times the official national rate of 10%. Remittances from Europe probably provide the region’s main source of income: nearly a third of the 3m-plus Moroccans working in the EU hail from the eastern area. Their king recently visited Oujda to launch plans for new factories and infrastructure, implying he could not wait for Algeria to open up. Yet opening the border to trade would plainly bring a boom.

Signs of softening between the two countries are, however, evident. Regardless of politics, businessmen are going their own way. More Algerians now take holidays in jollier Morocco, even if they have to go by air, and Moroccan companies are trying to bring their know-how to Algeria, which is rich in oil and gas but stubbornly hostile to markets and global business. Since 2007 the intelligence services of both countries have held regular meetings on counter-terrorism, in view of a shared threat from jihadists. And AMU officials have agreed to set up a Maghreb Customs Co-operation Council with headquarters in Algiers and a training centre in Morocco’s commercial capital, Casablanca. A UN man calls it “the most important move in years towards reconciliation.”

Riots in the Slums of Algeria - Morocco's Neighbor

There are borders between Morocco and Algeria that are still undefined. So, it's okay if we let a little news from Algeria seep onto this blog. Here is an article from Aljazeera's English page about ongoing riots over living conditions in Algeria's slums. Keep Hope Alive.

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Algiers police fire on slum protest


People living in a slum district of the Algerian capital have taken to the streets for a second day to protest against job and housing shortages.

Residents of the Diar Echams area, frustrated over high unemployment and inadequate housing, clashed with police on Wednesday having started their protest on Monday night.

The police said at least 11 officers were hurt, although no figure of civilian casualties was given.

Protesters had used high ground above the suburb to throw bricks, stones and petrol bombs at police in riot gear as they attempted to enter the area late on Tuesday, sources aid.

Some residents of the shantytown are demanding that the city authorities include them on a list of those eligible for re-housing.

About 400 policemen in riot gear used tear gas and an armoured vehicle to break up the demonstration.

Tense stand-off

One officer was seriously hurt during an unsuccessful attempt to clear the protesters from a road they had been blocking, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

Residents said they were protesting against squalid conditions in the suburb [AFP]

Police sources said several other officers had been hurt.

There was a lull on Tuesday evening after the police's failed assault, but the protesters and police remained in a stand-off on opposite sides of a road.

Residents said they were protesting against their squalid living conditions in the working class suburb.

According to accounts in the Algerian press, up to 10 people live in a single room or in shacks.

Algiers has a heavy security presence due to ongoing skirmishes between armed groups and government forces.

'Alarm bell'

After more than a decade of conflict between security forces and armed groups, the violence has subsided sharply in the past few years.


"The unrest in Diar Echams is just an alarm bell"

Mohamed Lagab, political analyst
Many people in the former French colony of 35 million have now switched their focus to bread-and-butter issues, expressing frustration at the lack of jobs and housing.

"The current government has failed to solve social problems," Mohamed Lagab, an Algerian political analyst, said.

"The unrest in Diar Echams is just an alarm bell."

The government has spent billions of dollars in oil and gas revenues on projects to improve living standards and this year announced it would spend a further $150 billion on modernising the economy and creating jobs.

Algeria, an Opec member, is the world's fourth biggest exporter of natural gas.