By Arezki Lvashir

(New York, USA)–Ladies and gentlemen, honorable guests. Today is a special and memorable day for Kabylia and the kabyle people.

The rebirth of the Kabyle State is an unprecedented historic moment, marking a decisive turning point in the history of our nation.

Honorable assistance!

Beforehand, I would like to start to share with you the proclamation of independence of this great nation —the United States of America that was pronounced in the U.S. Congress on July 4, 1776. This great Nation cherishes the values of freedom, liberty, and democracy.

As a Kabyle-American, these values became an inspiration drive in my life to fight and defend freedom.

“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Kabylia, as a nation predating the creation of Algeria, is carrying out a historic act of an exceedingly rare political dimension in the life of nations.

Mr Ferhat Mehenni, President of the Provisional Government of Kabylia (ANAVAD) and the MAK movement for Self-Determination of Kabylia—He proclaimed the rebirth of the State of Kabylia that French colonial and then post-French Algeria had confiscated and believed to be sealed off from History. 

We owe to the coordination of MAK-USA and the MAK section of New York, to the Kabyle Community of North America present here today, as well as to all the Kabyle diaspora, the honor and gratitude of having hosted and sponsored this immense milestone, deeply symbolic and rare event in the life of our nation.

The choice of April 20th holds deep historical resonance for the Kabyle people, as Mr Ferhat Mehenni elucidated, “History has made it a major landmark”.

The pinpoint of 6:57 p.m., on today April 20th, 2024, is a pivotal moment when the Kabyle State will be ceremonially reinstated, aligning with the memory of the Battle of Icheriden in 1857, a defining episode in Kabylia’s history. 

Despite the war of 1871 under the leadership of King Amokrane and the spiritual guide, Cheikh Aheddad, then the war of 1963-1965 under the leadership of Hocine Ait Ahmed, a historical figure of the Algerian war for independence, the Kabyle people were unable to meet the challenge and revive of their State. 

These political struggles led under the leadership of the MCB (Berber Cultural Movement 1980-2001), the Arch movement (2001 -2003) when the Algerian security services deliberately murdered more than 128 young demonstrators, and disabled 5000 people for life, using weapons of war, since this drastic and sad event, the MAK (Movement for Self-Determination of Kabylia) have made it possible to create the conditions for the revival of the Kabyle state, longtime denied by the Algerian authorities. 

New York City, home to the United Nations headquarters, was deliberately selected as a place for this momentous declaration.

With your presence here today, it gives strength and voice to this popular and historical event. 

We owe it to our ancestors who had sacrificed to defend our freedom, to our predecessors who believed they were liberating Kabylia by liberating Algeria, to those who carried out the April 1980, May 1981, School Boycott (1994-1995), to Matoub Lounès, to the blood of our innocent children of the Black Spring (2001-2003), to those burned alive by the Algerian army in August 2021 and September 2023, to those who lost their lives during COVID-19 pandemic by preventing the distribution of medical equipment and medication provided by the Kabyle community around the world, to Mr Ferhat Mehenni who believed in peaceful struggle and never gave up on his people. We finally owe it to more than 500 brothers and sisters imprisoned by Algeria since 2021, to 38 Kabyles sentenced to death, to their mothers and fathers who are crying in silence daily.

Let us be worthy of the sacrifices of our people and let us all act peacefully to regain our sovereignty, which was confiscated by Algeria.

Thank you.