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30 September 2011
Antonin Artaud, French poet, and novelist of the 20th century stated that "The history of peoples is the story of the betrayal of the unity." It is unlikely that he thought of the Tamasheq people among his examples when he wrote this quote. The fact is that this quote is representative of the Tamasheq society and its continuous failure that is dangerously leading to its extermination.
The betrayal of the Tamasheq unity
This was the case during the French penetration in Western Sahara. Let's call a spade a spade. Despite the rifles and other types of guns, never the colonial France could have conquered the entire Tamasheq country from the Adagh to the Ajjer and the Ahaggar to the Ayir via the Grès and the nations of the Iwillimidans if it didn’t benefit from the betrayal of the Tamasheq unity.
France would never have returned the Tamasheq against each other, by promising to some just an Amenokal (chief of tribe) title, if it had not benefited from the betrayal of the Tamasheq unity. Today, a little over a century later, the descendants of those who have betrayed the Tamasheq unity because of these promises live the same unfortunate fate as all the other Tamasheq live.
France would never have defeated the noble Kaocen Ag Kedda who entered in history by making the siege of the French military camp of Agadez last eighty one (81) days in 1917. France would never have defeated this great resistant, one of the greatest warriors in world history, if it had not benefited from the betrayal of the Tamasheq unity and the support the leadership of two confederations of the Tamasheq country. Finn Fuglestad would never have said that "the end of the main leaders of the siege of Agadez and the revolt in the Air, shows - if any were needed - the total lack of cohesion within the rebels” if France had not benefited from the betrayal of the Tamasheq unity.
France would never have defeated Fihroun if it had not benefited from the betrayal of the Tamasheq unity. Never France and his captains de La Roche and Loyer could have violently repressed Aderamboukare, Ansogo, and Kidal and if it had not benefited from the betrayal of the Tamasheq unity. Without the betrayal of the Tamasheq unity, Fihroun would never have died on June 25, 1916 at the hands of other Tamasheq brothers from a different confederation of the same Tamasheq country.
Never would have France perpetrated the massacres it committed if it had not benefited from the betrayal of the Tamasheq unity. Never Colonel Sadoux and his repressive column could have killed as many Tamasheq in Azawak and Tamesna if they had not benefited from the betrayal of the Tamasheq unity. Rioux would have never described the French repression of Kel Denneg as a "true tragedy" if France had not benefited from the betrayal of the Tamasheq unity.
Never would have Tamasheq rebellions in Mali and Niger in the 1990s failed if the Tamasheq unity had not been betrayed. Never Tamasheq Ishoumars (warriors) would have killed each other instead of fighting their common original enemy if the Tamasheq unity had not been betrayed. Never some Tamasheq intellectuals could have created the division in the ranks of the Ishoumars if Tamasheq and Ishoumars’ unity had not been betrayed.
Never Tamasheq culture would have been much marginalized in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, and Niger if the Tamasheq unity had not been betrayed.
Never the Tamasheq people would have been endangered nowadays if the Tamasheq unity had not been betrayed.
Never the health systems would have been quasi-nonexistent in Kidal and other major Tamasheq cities if the Tamasheq unity had not been betrayed.
Never the Conference for Tamasheq Unity (CTU-Tumast) would have been created if the Tamasheq unity had not been betrayed.
Never CTU-Tumast would have allocated its resources to write this text if the Tamasheq unity had not been betrayed.
Through unity, we can
Through unity, the Tamasheq community can be a lion instead of the mouse we are today.
Through unity, we can make our so beautiful, so special, and so ancient culture that is disappearing day by the day reborn as a phoenix.
Through unity, we can make our endangered people be a tremendous player of the economic, cultural, and social emergence of Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, and Niger.
Through unity, we can enrich with our hidden treasure the nations of Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, and Niger.
Through unity, we can afford to all have a very good life and enabling in the same time our people to get out of poverty, shame, slow and silent death.
Through unity, we can help our little brothers and our children have a better life than ours, and live fully the beauty of our culture.
Through unity, we can send our children to study at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Duke, and other John Opkins University.
Through unity, we can make our big brothers, uncles, and all our predecessors proud because the former "Kirikou" (small kids) are moving mountains.
Through unity, a Kal Ansar will like, help, and support an Amaghid as he likes, helps, and supports his Kal Ansar brother. Through unity, a Kel Ayir will like, help, and support a Kel Ajjer as he likes, helps, and supports a Kel Ayir of his own tribe.
Through unity, we can build an equal-to-equal relationship with the world, instead of the relations of pity, needy, and assistance that are taking place nowadays.
Through unity we can make the world call us Tamasheq instead of the foreign name that is Tuareg.
Through unity, we can write our own history and make it known to the Chinese, the English, the Bulgarians, the Australians, the Brazilians, the South Africans, the Iranians etc.
Through unity, the peoples of the world, from San Antonio to Tokyo, from Berlin to Bogota via Sydney and other Baku will all know that Tombouctou is not a legend or the end of the world but a deviation Tin-Buktu (belonging to Buktu in Tamasheq language) and an historic town built by the Tamasheq in the middle of the Sahara desert.
The unity, only unity, nothing but unity
Again brothers and sisters, unity, the real, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies, can allow us to become a lion and not a mouse.
Unity, the real, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies, can help us not to be an endangered people anymore.
Unity, the real, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies, can allow all of us to realize our personal interests while realizing our common interests.
Unity, the real, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies, can allow us to reborn as a phoenix and to introduce ourselves to the world the way we wish to do so.
Unity, the real, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies, can allow us to enrich Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, and Niger, and then the whole world with our hidden culture.
Unity, the real, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies, will make us no longer be against the happiness of our Tamasheq brother or sister.
Unity, the real, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies, will make us never betray our Tamasheq brother or sister for a foreigner who does not wish us well.
Unity, the real, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies, will make us no longer let a stranger divide us to reign.
Unity, the real, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies, will make us be as strong as the Jewish people with whom we have cohabited thousands of years ago.
However, dear brothers and sisters, unity, the real, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies will not be easy to put in place. To paraphrase Jean de La Fontaine, we have to search with plough, and spade, and rake all the hot sand dunes of our Sahara desert. It is after this hard work that implies so much sweat, tears, and blood that we will see the fruits of unity, the true, the sincere, the one from the hearts not from the bodies.
What are we waiting for
So dear brothers and sisters, what are we waiting for to start this hard work, which will give us such beautiful fruits?
What are we waiting for to transform the threat that is our extinction as people into the opportunity of becoming a lion in Africa and in the world?
What are we waiting for to tell the whole world that there is a people whose culture is so beautiful, so special and so ancient in the middle of the Sahara desert?
What are we waiting for to make our predecessors and the ones who will follow us so proud of us?
