The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page1 Said GUENNOUN THE VOICE OF THE MOUNTS Amazigh War Customs Translated by Mohamed Ouakrime The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page2 Publications de l’Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe Centre de la Traduction, de la Documentation, de l’Edition et de la Communication Série : Traductions - 22 Titre : The Voice of the Mounts Auteur : Saïd GUENNOUN Traducteur : Mohamed OUAKRIME Editeur : Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe Réalisation et suivi : Centre de la Traduction, de la Documentation de l’Edition et de la Communication(CTDEC) couverture : Unité de l’Edition Dépôt légal : 2010 MO 3330 ISBN : 9954-28-074-4 Imprimerie : Imprimerie El Maârif Al Jadida - Rabat 2011 Copyrigh : © IRCAM The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page3 Translator’s Note For purposes of accurate reading and pronunciation by the reader of the English version of the book, the following symbols have been used in transcribing some sounds, in conformity with the pronunciation of Tamazight (the Berber language) and Arabic. Original French Transcription Symbol Example transcription adopted ‘ (ain) a / aa ‘ Djema’a gh gh gh Aghbala sh ch sh Ineshadhen q (qaf) k q suq u ou u mektub w ou w duwar y i y Ayt 3 The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page4 The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page5 CONTENTS Preface . 7 Foreword . 9 Part One. 17 Chapter I : An Intolerable Peace . 19 Chapter II : The Alert . 29 Chapter III : The Aggression. 43 Chapter IV : Raho the Prisoner. 49 Chapter V : Towards Freedom . 55 Chapter VI : The Heart of the Matter. 61 Chapter VII : Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow . 71 Part Two . 75 Chapter VIII : The Reprisal . 77 Chapter IX : After the Battle . 85 Chapter X : Woe to the Vanquished. 89 Chapter XI : The History of ‘Ali U Hussa . 97 Chapter XII : Solidarity . 105 Chapter XIII : An Emissary from the other side . 113 Chapter XIV : El Hadj ‘Ali and Hamu U Melluk. 129 Chapter XV : Perplexity. 147 Chapter XVI : A Brave New World . 155 5 The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page6 Part Three . 171 Chapter XVII : In the Name of Independence. 173 Chapter XVIII : Great Hours . 181 Chapter XIX : Mektoub . 191 Chapter XX : The Terrible’Rumi . 197 Chapter XXI : Observations on the Berbers in the Past and Today . 207 Lexicon . 214 6 The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page7 Preface Commandant Said Guennoun’s new book is more than just a novel. It is a subtle and profound study of the Berber mentality in its relationship with the European civilization, which attests to its great interest. The author’s aim was to reveal the mystery of the mountain in an emotional and attractive way. He could achieve this only by inserting a little sentimental naivety in the rough setting to which we are introduced through his penetrating and discerning psychology. Let lovers of the world of wonders be reassured: the idyll depicted by the author has a shade of truth, and it is by all means true, if not lived. Thus, the Voice of the Mounts is profoundly human. Following Captain Alain, the hero of the book, we enter a setting where the mountain man lives, thinks and acts, with all his qualities and weaknesses. We are witness to the skirmishes between two mentalities which oppose and feel each other. Force alone, would not have the last word, or at least would have it badly, had politics not come to its rescue, with all its means of persuasion. But, how could it be persuasive without knowledge of the Berber soul? Commandant Said Gennoun was well qualified to talk about things he knew so well. Our comrades who have so passionately been interested in this country would proudly identify with Captain Alain. Together with him, they will be convinced that moral conquest which generates respect and trust, must prevail over any other conquest. It is through it that we will be able to establish the perennial nature of what France is doing here for the common good of two related people. The story of a difficult pacification which is depicted by Commandant Guennoun is not fiction. It is the very story of a complex and generous undertaking whose progress must proceed under a sign of collaboration. Rabat, February 1, 1934 L. Benazet Director of Native Affairs 7 The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page8 The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page9 Foreword From very long, but nevertheless perceptible distances, thanks to the limpidity of the atmosphere, there appears a dimensionless and endless wall, a kind of limit to a world: the snow covered Great Atlas. Beyond Khenifra, it will still bar out spaces wider than mind itself is able to measure René Valainde(1) Having read the books of Hardy, Leblay, Laoust, Odinot and Abbes, to cite but the most important writers on Morocco, it seems that everything has been said about the Berbers. It is, therefore, with qualms that one would indulge in addressing the issue at hand. The qualm is even greater when, as in the present case, one is able to serve one’s prose only with a pen that is utterly untested but rich with good will. However, my readers have demonstrated so much forbearance that I have been unable to resist the temptation of presenting this modest contribution to the study of the psychology of the Berbers. May this aim, which is as it has always been, to underline the reasons for which the French and the Natives can and must be friends, serve as an apology for all the imperfections contained in this account. The area concerned here is already well-known to our readers, for in addition to all the works that have been devoted to it by eminent writers, I myself have extensively described it in La Montagne Berbère (The Berber Mountain)(2). It will, therefore, be easy for the reader to use this book as a reference which provides information about the organization and emotions of the Ait Umalu tribes likely to shed light on the nature of the events dealt with in the present account. (1) Le Maroc sous les ordres de Lyautey 1924 Peyronnet et Cie, Eds, Paris (2) Editions du Comité de l’Afrique Française, 21, Rue Cassette, Paris (1st edition) Editions Omnia, Rabat (2nd edition) 9 The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page10 The Um Er Rebi’ area is undeniably one of the most beautiful regions in the world. Life there is so sweet and enthralling that each of its inhabitants, when the mood is on him, is a poet, and that even Europeans, who are the most indifferent to matters relating to nature, depart from it only when compelled and with regret. Poetry is in the majesty of the mountains and splendor of the forests. It is in the purling of springs and in the impetuous hubbub of torrents. Poetry is particularly in the songs of the little shepherds, in the eyes of women, in the pride of warriors; it is even in the eventful but bitter past which is transmitted to us by the minstrels and troubadours, and where barbarism itself takes on a pleasant appearance. Obviously, this Berber land is totally unknown to pressed observers with no time to spare. It is even ignored by many of our old Moroccans who are interested only in the burnous that their daily companions wear, and in their most marked defects. On the other hand, those who have condescended to listen to the improvised songs of Zayan bands, or to the sweet and naive plaintive ballads of goatherds of the Seru or of the Aqissari Rivers which provide so much delight to Mr. Pierre Mille, will not deny the mountain men a bit of this soul and sensibility which characterize the most sociable people. Anyway, it was while thinking about the Ait Umalu that Dr. Chatinières, a staunch opponent of simplistic clichés, wrote that when in contact with the Berbers, one feels a sensation of freshness, naturalness and spontaneity which constitute an act of endearment to our souls of civilized people. However, what makes the Berbers, the subject of this book, even more moving is the care-free demeanor in which they take delight, in a social state which, to say the least, is one that compels them to always live with their weapons in their hands. Would this be a sign of inability to conceive of another way of life? Or is it an invincible attachment to everything that is dear to their ancestors? One is not sure. Perhaps this is a sheer laziness of the spirit which makes individuals decide to live from day to day, not worrying about an already dead past, nor about a future which belongs to no one. However that may be, it is among the sheep and the goats which they drive from one pasture to the next, just as happened in the beginnings of their history, that their existence unfolds. They have, obviously, set up permanent water points and cultivation plots, but straw sheds, caves dug in hill sides or mud fortresses have been constructed only to 10 The voice_Mise en page 1 23/03/11 11:32 Page11 serve as storehouses or operation bases in case of war, and to shelter the disabled and the old in normal times. The rest of the population, that is its sound and solid part, live under the fragile black tent, which always moves at its owner’s whim, and from which it is so easy to vault on one’s horse when time has come to go to war.