The Pact of Omar in the 7th century defined the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims. Usually, this meant that non-Muslims would have to content themselves with being second class citizens. It was institutionalized racism, but did this racism only pertain to non-Muslims. The answer is actually “no”. The indigenous people of North Africa, the Berber (Amazigh) tribes, who adopted Islam early in Islamic history – some tribes, involuntarily – in the wake of the Arab invasion, occupation, and colonization of their ancestral homeland, North Africa, many times, throughout their history, have often been relegated to second class citizenship in relation to the Arab occupiers.
Since North Africa is such a huge
area, this blog has covered various locations separately. So for right now, I will
cover the indigenous people of Algeria. For a brief historical overview of the
indigenous Algerians, see this posting.
Discrimination against the Amazigh continues to this day. For articles on such discrimination, combined with their culture, see these articles from France24, Xinhua, and PressZA.
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