Maybe in Egypt there were Arabs among (and interbreeding with) the local Copts and Nubians for much longer, but the Arab Caliphates were foreign occupiers across North Africa after the Romans and before the French/British. I know the Amazigh/Berbers were not too enthusiastic about their presence.
Well, I know more about Morocco than the rest of North Africa, and I can tell you that the Berber language & culture were actively repressed and Berbers were excluded from various aspects of public life there through the 20th century, even after Morocco’s independence from France. Berbers still have a lower socioeconomic status and a lack of political representation. Moroccans are fairly mixed, racially speaking, so it’s a less extreme version of the racialized class divide you see in the US, Canada, Israel, Australia, South Africa, etc.
Really I’d take the original comment as a joke, but taking it seriously you have to consider that this is a story that happens over and over again in our history, and really the only thing that heals these wounds is just centuries and centuries of time. Should we go all “land back” for the Amazigh? I dunno. I’m just a dumb American.
TIL about Arab migration to the Maghreb. That does seem like it warrants some decolonization, at least to my uninformed eyes. I’m more familiar with Egypt and the Levant, which were a lot less affected by such actions, hence my response.
Maybe in Egypt there were Arabs among (and interbreeding with) the local Copts and Nubians for much longer, but the Arab Caliphates were foreign occupiers across North Africa after the Romans and before the French/British. I know the Amazigh/Berbers were not too enthusiastic about their presence.
True enough, but even with that context the parent comment doesn’t make sense. Which Arabs are they calling for to be expelled from Africa?
Well, I know more about Morocco than the rest of North Africa, and I can tell you that the Berber language & culture were actively repressed and Berbers were excluded from various aspects of public life there through the 20th century, even after Morocco’s independence from France. Berbers still have a lower socioeconomic status and a lack of political representation. Moroccans are fairly mixed, racially speaking, so it’s a less extreme version of the racialized class divide you see in the US, Canada, Israel, Australia, South Africa, etc.
Really I’d take the original comment as a joke, but taking it seriously you have to consider that this is a story that happens over and over again in our history, and really the only thing that heals these wounds is just centuries and centuries of time. Should we go all “land back” for the Amazigh? I dunno. I’m just a dumb American.
TIL about Arab migration to the Maghreb. That does seem like it warrants some decolonization, at least to my uninformed eyes. I’m more familiar with Egypt and the Levant, which were a lot less affected by such actions, hence my response.