- Berber Dahir
The so-called Berber Dahir is a
dahir (decree) created by French protectorate in Morocco inMay 16 ,1930 . It was an adaptation of "Berber Justice" to the conditions of the time.Background
The colonial project falls under the thought of
Louis Massignon : "Disavowal of the berberism by Massignon". cquote|It is a question which, for me, was indeed motivated by a religious and scientific conscience, during the years 1909 to 1913 when the father of Foucauld pressed me to devote after him, my life to this mission to eliminate theArabic language andIslam from ourNorth Africa , for the benefit of theFrench language andChristendom , in two stages:
# exhumation of the linguistic and traditional aspects of the Berber life;
#assimilation by a superior language and a law; French and Christian.Like all believers, I was very sympathetic with this thesis; I had believed in the franco-Christian assimilation of
Kabylie region [Algeria] by the revolving movement of the berberism (...) then I saw that their desislamization [of Kabyles] would turn tolaicité (then to a xenophobic North-African nationalism…) Martyr did not realize of the ignominy of berberism...The application of the Dahir was carried out in three stages:
September 11 1914 A first formulation appeared under the influence of a group of specialists of Berbers of
High Atlas andMiddle Atlas , such as Maurice Glay (civil Controller and author of "Récits de la plaine et des monts, les sentiers de la guerre et de l'amour, la mort du Rougui" etc.), a core of professors hostile toIslam and in collaboration with bishop ofRabat . The purpose of this dahir was the adaptation of a so-called "Berber Justice" to the proper conditions of the time and, which corresponded to the spirit of the French policy inMorocco under the governance of the Resident-GeneralLyautey who signed thedahir ofSeptember 11 ,1914 .The fundamental characteristic of this policy consisted in preserving the traditional autonomy of Berbers, primarily in the legal field, by disassiociating them from the Islamic legislation or "Chrâa", and by maintaining their
common law known as "Orf" or "Izref". The residence was mobilized to apply its plan by making the sultan Yusef sign the Dahir or legislative text [fr icon [http://www.amazighworld.org/countries/morocco/documents/dahir_berbere/dahir_my_youssef.php Dahir of September 11, 1914] ] , which will disassociate in fact the Berbers from theIslamic law , making all the calls for the judgements related to the French juridiction. This project was initially a work offreemasonry .April 8 1934 Its exact heading that was given to the Dahir by the French was titled "Dahir regulating the functioning of justice in the tribes of Berber customs". In its application, the ministrial decree of April 8, 1934 organized the customary courts that were established for the purpose. It is important to note that the Dahir, though containing the word "Berber", did not rise any question related to he Berber identity.
May 16 1930 Officializing the customary justice in the country, whose roots date back to thousands of years.
Further reading
* Katherine E. Hoffman, Assistant Professor (PhD Columbia 2000), "Language Ideologies of the French Protectorate’s Native Policy in Morocco, 1912-1956" examines the ideological underpinnings and effects of French Protectorate administrative policies for categorizing the Moroccan Muslim population as Arab and Berber. The manuscript probes links between language, law, and tribe that were codified willy-nilly by Affaires Indigènes officials.
External links
* [http://www.tawalt.com/monthly/dhahir_berbary.pdf Berber Dahir, The Biggest Lie in Morocco's Modern History]
* [http://www.amazighworld.net/countries/morocco/documents/dahir_berbere/texte_du_dahir_du_16_mai_1930.php Full Text of the so-called Berber Dahir]References and notes
"Much of the content of this article comes from [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahir_berb%C3%A8re the equivalent French-language wikipedia article] , accessed
September 7 2006 ."
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
