Berber Academy


The Berber Academy is a cultural association founded in 1966 by Mohand Arav Bessaoud and a group of young Kabyles, including Ramdane Haifi. This group consisted of intellectuals, artists and journalists, all eager to put the Tifinagh in use. Fearing misuse of the term "academy", they renamed the association Agraw Imaziɣen in 1967. This was dissolved in 1978.

Berber alphabet standard

The Academy proposed a Berber alphabet standard on the basis of Tifinagh circulated in Morocco and Algeria - among them :Kabyles, Tuaregs, and Riffians - in order to revive old writing of several millennia, and transcribe all Berber dialects. Periodically, and often in Tifinagh, the organization published the journal Imazighen.
The academy also proposed the design of the Berber flag.