Temust
The revolution
Introduction
Temust
These different visions are also encountered in the conception of the widest community of belonging, temust (ortumast depending on the dialect). For some this collective being associated with a socio-political, economic & territorial organisation concerns all Touareg, calledtemust n imajaghen & is articulated around confederations around the 5 main political poles, at the same time equals & rivals, that represent the Ajjer, the Ahaggar, the Aïr, the Tademekkat and the Tagaraygarayt (also called Azawagh). It is in the name of temust n imajaghen , an expression that one can translate as 'nation of the Touareg' - in the sense of a human group which is characterised by the conscience of its affinity & of its unity & a desire to live together - that the struggle against the colonial occupation at the beginning of the century was undertaken.
It is true that the Touareg uprisings have systematically been reduced, in external historical discours, to economic motivations (drought, misery, taxes) or to feudal reactions against the new order - colonial or post-colonial - always presented as emancipatory by the dominant forces. On the contrary, from the internal point of view, these insurrections are above all based on political reasons of the defence of the wider community, considered as menaced in it's totality from the moment that certain of it's pillars are destroyed, because, as the Touareg philosophy says : without alter ego, no existence. Thus, during the French occupation, it was a question of protecting & restoring the nation & the country, both conceived not as places of exclusion but as 'shelters' open to the exterior, built with plural & complimentary elements, themselves links in a wider fabric. If one part disappears, it is the equilibrium of the whole that is broken. It is in these terms that Kaosen, chief of the war of 1916 against the French occupation, exhorted his fighters : 'No rest for us as long as the enemy is camped on our land. Let us fight until the invader leaves our country & also leaves the societies which are our neighbours'. It is true, in the harsh environment of the saharo-sahelien area, that it is unthinkable that a society could survive without being included in the networks of exchange which connect & irrigate the intercommunitary space. The shrinking reference to an identity went hand in hand with the administrative & political breaking up of this world by authorities who apply their particular ideology of tribal organisation.
Differently from the old people or those who come out of the political milieu & were in charge of interconfederal & international relations before, certain young Toureg born after the State fragmentation of their world &, in particular, the schooled, refer to narrower horizons, which are limited to their confederation, to their region or to territories whose frontiers are born from the decolonisation. The discovery of a wider community to identify with often appears in exile when they meet Touareg from other countries, as Akli evokes elsewhere.
How to resist external forces and what new form of society to adopt to do so, as the traditional organisation has failed in this ? This question was & is the object of a debate between the different political currents who have opted for various strategies.
Already, at the beginning of the century, Kaosen pushed the project of a modern State which was blocked by the traditional chiefs. In fact he was inspired by the political system of the ighollan of the Aïr where the groups, having renounced their tribe & hereditary status, are all equal in the assembly. He used this mode, not only to conceive of the relationship between the groups & social categories present, but also the links between individuals. Fighting the paternalism of the old guard, he was the first to apply consistently the idea that all men are equal before the law and that an individual defines himself by his actions & not by his rank, class or affiliation. Thus, to defend the country, he didnt hesitate to enlist, beside the warriors, all the social groups of the 'protected', traditionally pacifist. In the same vein, he considered it legitimate to attack those who had surrendered to the enemy, whatever their status, leaving the ideology of protection to refer rather to free will & the moral responsibility of the individual.
This 'revolution' (tégriwela) spread through Touareg society. Several of the great aspirations are expressed today, continuing certain of Kaosen's visions. While continuing the dynamic perception of the universe which Touareg philosophy develops, they end up with important changes in the conception of the social order.
Once complementary & hierarchical, the relationship between beings is reconsidered under an egalitarian light. Thus the abandon of the social hierarchy is largely favoured, for, as is said, the ranks have already been leveled by misery & external domination.
A continuation of this internal demand is formulated by the women who demand equality in male & female roles. Difficult to accept for the men who feel challenged on their own ground - war & dealing with the outside world -, this aspiration also rings the end of the prerogatives which the Touareg women enjoyed, placed on a pedestal, protected & adulated. This renouncement by the women of their privileges & their desire for a change in status is in fact connected to an implicit critic of the men who have not succeeded in their armed actions. The observation of male incapacity by the women, these 'criticism factories' as one young fighter says, and on the other hand the shame & the guilt of the men run through certain of the speeches on the present situation.
Finally, the equality of the revolutionary fighters is a demand that many oppose to the military hierarchy recently inculcated in the ishumar in the Libyan barracks & which ended up with the installation of a disparity between the rights & duties of each.
The attachment to a federalist political model, to the role of assemblies & of delegations at all levels of the society, to the relative autonomy of each unit articulated to the whole by a system of arbitration, is expressed & results in an open & plural conception of the nation seen as 'a crossroads for all humanity'. As some say, it is about 'finding a formula which unites all the country & the nations' by building them 'on noble pillars which respect the dignity of all'.
On the other hand, the desire expressed at the beginning of the struggle to remain united, equal & in solidarity, has been replaced by the dreadful sight of the breaking up of the armed resistance illustrated by the splits in the armed movements, by the gap between the fighters & the chiefs, as well as by the abyss which has developed between the aspirations of the people and the results of negotiations with the authorities.