Berberism

Berberism is a Berber ethnonationalist movement that started in Kabylia in Algeria during the French colonial era with the Kabyle myth, largely driven by colonial capitalism and France's divide and conquer policy. The Berberist movement originally manifested itself as anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia, and Francophilia, that was sanctioned and sponsored by French colonial authorities. The movement later spread to other Berber communities in the Maghreb region of North Africa and was facilitated by colonial policies such as the Berber Dahir in Morocco. The Berberist movement in Algeria and Morocco is in opposition to cultural Arabization, pan-Arabism, and Islamism. Some Berberist movements, particularly those in the diaspora such as MAK, may pursue separatist agendas aimed at secession from Maghrebi states.