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Omar Zanifi Group moderatorThe company name is only visible to registered members.Wisdom and knowledge in memories…Not yet in books.North Africa: Berbers Lands
North Africa: Berbers Lands
Wisdom and knowledge in memories…Not yet in books.
Whenever an old man or woman is dead in Berber tribes, individuals working on history ,linguistics ,anthropology...Intellectuals in general aware of the importance of collective memory of their community ,assume that they lost a Wikipedia of knowledge since Berbers Culture ,Language and civilisation is still oral and not yet written down .
Indeed, every Berber student or searcher working on Berber culture has no reference to strengthen their papers content but an old man sayings and witnesses .They are a store of knowledge transmitted generation by generation for millions of years.
Old Berber Man ,are often wiser giving advice concerning everyday life details activities concerns .They are experts in agriculture and are able to explain ups and downs of crops and did already found about rules to organise irrigation system .They could smell rain and predicate storms and dryness . They have the intuition of foretelling some coming events by relying on some hints data, conditions .As well as being able to fix new rules or changed already existing rules to cope with new community features and demonstrations.
They are doctors by instinct and can describe the pain and the traditional medicines plants, as well as treatment by acupuncture, fire, massage, or sand shower in hot sand of desert.
Coming to culture, old rituals are only found in their memories, special rare proverbs are stored in their mind used only in suitable cases, situations .Their words are only verses well balanced of poetry, rich in symbolism, comparison, values...
When arguing, talking with them, they don’t look much at your eyes, face, their eyes are travelling away in time, in their memories, cheeking between pages of their experiences. As if they are meditating , they stir away ,often in the sky around ,drawing their paths in life between clouds , images of regret for plans they failed to put in practice and hopes/dreams they wish live through their new generations who often they criticize and look down for not been able to add more value to their current world .They wish them add new blood to their life, bridge new stone to plans ,worlds they did not manage to reach when they are masters of their age, energy . They are sure then that golden age is something that each generation can pretend .They are sure and convinced that this time is not their own and that each generation has its time, conditions ,dreams ,obstacles ,thoughts ...philosophy.
They boast that they travel on foot thousand kilometres to the middle East ,fought and won many wars over enemies conquering Tamazgha or North Africa ,flirted many ladies, girls with well balanced verses of Ahidus ,Timnadin(Famous dances ,ritual rythms in South Est of Morocco
)...While current generation react that they just they had been at school and learned Arabic ,got access to internet to explore the world around , while losing their own language, made adventures riding big waves of seas and oceans to leave their home land, while other younger are living fine in North Africa, to join others lands doing bad staff and been victims of racism ...
Young Man accuse old ones that they were very generous and innocent that they have been occupied by arabe ideology for many years .They even wonder why they should let them stay after that they had been converted to Islam religion. Yet old Men react that they led wars against enemies during world war against French ,Spanish armies assisted by Moroccan political elite and Makhzen , central power at that time ...They ,Old Men, boast that they founded about many things, architecture ,irrigation ,tribal rules, norms...while young Men did not add any new value ,idea to the current Berber philosophy .Old men confess that young Men led a cultural movement to change their world marginalised by panarabe government ,by feeding society with manifestations ,associations, artistic creations...
Generation conflict as it seems to be, but Berber society indeed and in need to both generation to keep the cultural heritage alive ,and strengthen the future of Berbers coming tomorrow .Berbers are facing many challenges such as getting their universal rights to stay and keep different ,to teach their language, to have their own TV ,to stop arabisation , to name their babies Berber names ,to get politic ,social economic rights ...Rights that won’t be got unless efforts of Berbers come together .The world now ignore their rights .International organisations are no more independent and never be ,since they follow oil energy and dollars the same as their government do .
Written by Omar Zanifi
Asif n Dades ,South East Morocco.
- 06 Sep 2009, 5:24 pm
