On July 5, 1998, a new law came into effect making Arabic the only language permitted for use in public life, including all business transactions/meetings, government procedures/sessions and political party rallies. Any breach of the law carries a US$170 fine. The first problem is that most high-ranking bureaucrats and prominent business people can't speak Arabic, only French. The Berbers (who comprise 20 percent of Algeria's population), for one, were outraged. The previous month, the popular Berber singer Lounes Matoub was whacked by Muslim militants. His life expectancy wasn't helped after he described the Arab language as "uninteresting . . . unsuitable for knowledge and science." The law makes it illegal for the secular-minded Berber speakers of Kabylia to hold rallies in their own region in their own language. Protesters in Kabylia tore down Arabic signs and rampaged through government-owned shops. C'est la vie.
Berber Party
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