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The board of Amazigh Moroccan Democratic Party

The Amazigh Moroccan Democratic Party (Amazigh: - Akavar Amagday Amazigh Amghrabi) is a newly formed Berber oriented party in Morocco. It was founded in 2005 by a group of Amazigh/Berber activists who believed that an Amazigh party was a needed solution to defend the Moroccan Berber identity and help the neglected (mostly Amazigh-speaking) masses from poverty and discrimination. The party's general secretary is Mr Ahmed Adgherni, a lawyer and Berber activist. The party's birth was very difficult. During the party's constitution, the Moroccan Interior Ministry refused to register the party. The party's political board needed to place the registration at a court of law in the capital Rabat. ًWhen the party planned its first general public conference in Marrakesh on February 3, 2007, Moroccan army and security forces intervened and prevented the party members from holding their congress by blocking the streets and closing the location[1]. The party held the conference as well on the street near the closed location in Marrakesh. On November 22, 2007, several Moroccan newspapers reported that the Moroccan Interior Ministry filed a lawsuit in a court of law to ban the Amazigh Party in Morocco.

[edit] Orientation and program

The Amazigh political party is considered as centerist. However the party shows leftist attitudes in the direction of:

• Defending the (Amazigh) neglected masses.
• Secularism and the separation between politics and religion.

The party demonstrates political right attitudes too, such as:

• Defending the Moroccan Amazigh identity and language.
• Rejection of all foreign identities and influences like pan-Arabism, Islamism, and the Francophonie.
• Its positive and open attitude towards the US, Israel and the West.

[edit] Prohibition

The Amzigh party was officially banned and declared illegal and solvable by a Moroccan court of justice in Rabat on the 17th of April 2008.[2] The illegality verdict was pronounced by the court after the law suit that was filed by the Moroccan interior ministry. The Moroccan court ruled in favor of the Moroccan interior ministry despite that this Moroccan authority filed the law suit more that one year too late than is prescribed in the Moroccan Law of Political Parties.

The court rule says that the party is illegal because it is based on Amazigh race and language, an allegation which was repeatedlty denied by the Amazigh Party. The Amazigh activists say that the word Amazigh refers to the Amazigh Moroccan civilization and identity which concern all Moroccans. The concept of Amazighity identifies every Moroccan and every North African as being Amazigh / Berber in identity despite possible differences in races, cultures, languages and religions.

Many activists in the Amazigh Party considered the court rule as another proof of government control of Justice in Morocco. The Amazigh party is currently considering many options including high court appeal.

[edit] References

http://www.amazighworld.org/human_rights/index_show.php?id=1429

http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2007/12/03/feature-02

http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2007/08/28/feature-01

http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session1/MA/LADH_MAR_UPR_S1_2008_La%20ligue%20amazighe%20des%20DH_uprsubmission_E.pdf

http://www.amazighworld.org/countries/morocco/parties/pdam.php

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1000131770&ref=name#/group.php?gid=26719540420&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1000131770&ref=name#/group.php?gid=45587006360&ref=mf