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COMMENTARY | by Abdoul Mahdieu Savage |14 December 2022|

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This year’s Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Final raises serious questions regarding what makes up an African. The spike in the discussion about race and ethnicity is due in part to Morocco’s progress to the semi-finals, making them the first African team to do so since records began. The other variable, of course, is the France team’s many black players. In the heat of the moment, race and ethnicity can be dispassionate affairs. The same applies to football. As a result, we have a very serious combination at our disposal, which is why the debate is welcome.

Africans south of the Sahara (pejoratively called Sub-Saharan Africa) have always doubted the Africanness of North Africans. Moroccan culture has muddied the African origins of North African civilization, as we will see by looking at Morocco.

Arabs are a minority in Morocco, contrary to popular belief. Berbers make up over 55 per cent of the Moroccan population, while Arabs make up 44 per cent.

The Berber, also known as Amazighs, are disparate groups of ‘tribes’ who have lived in Morocco, as in other North African countries for millennia (from around 8000 BCE). They come in various skin tones and have their own distinct language, alphabet, calendar, and flourishing cultural life. Little wonder archaeologists discovered the remains of the oldest Homo Sapiens (300,000 years old) on record at an archaeological site in Morocco. The Berbers (a term sometimes considered offensive) fought and lived with many foreign invaders from the Phoenicians, through the Romans, to the Arabs. The Arab invasion of North Africa in the seventh century certainly radically altered the Berber way of life. Some Berbers have been Arabized and Islamized by the Moroccan Arabs. These people are known as Arabized Berbers but remain Berbers at heart. Most Berbers live distinct lives and are away from modern amenities and lifestyles.

The North African Berbers have produced great figures in almost every field throughout history: from Pharaohs to popes of the roman Catholic Church. Pope Victor 1, Pope Miltiades, and Pope Gelasius 1 were of Berber descent. (The latter Pope canonised Saint Valentine.) Saint Augustine of Hippo was of Berber ancestry. Ibn Battuta was a Berber as well. Top footballers, including Zinedine Zidane and Karim Benzema, are of Algerian Berber origin.