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The original people of Morocco were not Arabs but Berber. The were conquered by Islamic Arab armies 1000 years ago and the people forcibly converted to islam(under the usual threat of death or slavery, dhimmitude) Watch the interview on the video.
Morocco has in recent times witnessed a remarkable phenomenon: young activists, seeking Berber rights, have been courageously swimming against the tide of pro-Muslim anti-Westernism. They have even broken the ultimate taboo - reaching out to Israel. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, whose work has itself sparked controversy among Moroccans, charts these remarkable developments in the Middle East Quarterly (with thanks: Michelle, Tony):
Morocco has in recent times witnessed a remarkable phenomenon: young activists, seeking Berber rights, have been courageously swimming against the tide of pro-Muslim anti-Westernism. They have even broken the ultimate taboo - reaching out to Israel. Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, whose work has itself sparked controversy among Moroccans, charts these remarkable developments in the Middle East Quarterly (with thanks: Michelle, Tony):
The other side of the ideological divide is comprised of a variety of political parties and civic groups, some with explicitly Western-liberal orientations, others less so. One of them is the Amazigh (literally "free men") or Berber culture movement, which advocates the recognition of the Berber underpinnings of Moroccan culture and calls for remedial steps, including constitutional change, particularly with regard to recognizing their language, Tamazight, as an official state language. An estimated 40-45 percent of Morocco's 32 million-strong population speak one of the three main Berber dialects; in Algeria, the estimated numbers are 20-25 percent; in Libya, 8-9 percent; in Tunisia, 1-5 percent.
http://jewishrefugees.blogspot.com/2011/03/berbers-break-moroccan-taboo-on-israel.html
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