“DOES A PEOPLE HAVE TO DISAPPEAR FOR US TO KNOW THAT THEY EXIST?”
Mano Dayak
The name of Mano Dayak and his memory are familiar in the Sahara desert among the Tuaregs and his memory is present in the minds of freedom seekers.
Mano Dayak – a freedom fighter from Niger who fought for the rights of the Tuareg people of Niger and who became the symbol of the struggle for freedom of all the Tuaregs, who are now lost and scattered all over the world and in the Sahel, separated by artificial borders that were drawn by the colonialists. They once lived in freedom as nomads in the great Sahara without borders.
He was a businessman, trade unionist and politician, and he had the true spirit of a revolutionary and a rebel for the freedom of his people and his land.
He has published two well-known books, in French:
“Touareg, the Tragedy” and “I was born with sand in my eyes”
I was born with sand in my eyes, so why shouldn’t I fight it?
Mano Mohamed Ag Dayak “Mano Dayak”
Mano Dayak, who has become the very emblem of the Kel Tamacheq or Tuareg people’s struggle for freedom, was born and raised in a nomadic environment in Tidene, in the south-central Air Mountains of present-day Niger. He died tragically in a plane crash in the Adrar Chirouet region, in the north-eastern Air Mountains of Niger, on Friday, December 15, 1995. Many believe that it was not an accident.
The famous desert blues band Tinariwen also composed a song called “Mano Dayak”. A classic today, one of the many pieces of this group who are the pioneers of desert blues music and the struggle for Azawad, which their songs speak of, full of the pain of nostalgia.
READ THE STORY OF MANO DAYAK:
AMAZIGH WORLD NEWS – 25th anniversary of death of Tuareg legend Mano Dayak
CITATIONS OF MANO DAYAK
He made many quotes and here are some of his most famous quotes apart from the one in the title, it is probably his most famous quote of all. The expression and the title of one of his books “I was born with sand in my eyes” refers to being born under oppression.
“Because of their irreducible difference, for not having respected the artificial borders resulting from colonization, for having revolted against a policy of marginalization, of forced assimilation, here they are condemned to disappear in silence.” “And with them, a unique civilization, an essential part of the memory of humanity”
Mano Dayak 1995
Tuareg the Tragedy..p96:
“They have drawn borders in Africa that correspond absolutely to nothing at all, that were made arbitrarily and completely illogically. And within these borders they want to try to crush all the differences, all the cultural identities of each of the peoples and try to create a unitary state, this unity cannot exist if we want to trample on these identities and these cultural particularities of each of the communities.”
“The Tuareg culture is a desert culture, it is a very strong culture, these are very ancient traditions to which the Tuaregs are very attached. The Tuareg people who live today in the desert need to be helped to develop, they need to be helped to develop the means at their disposal, certainly to have an education, but all this must be done in a certain cultural and social gentleness, that the Tuaregs have always known.”
“We are in favor of change, but we do not want a change that would completely kill our mentality and our culture.”
“A Tuareg does not show his tears. The most terrible suffering, the one that one experiences in one’s solitude for honor and dignity…”
“I am proud of this blood of sand that flows in my veins as hot as the burning sun of the Ténéré to stifle social injustice.”
“The desert cannot be learned, brave man. It is lived… It is lived and it kills those who do not respect it.”
“But nothing and no one can overcome those who defend a just cause.”
“The desert cannot be told. It is lived. Like the land he inhabits, the Tuareg has known how to become humble to survive but also austere and strong to defend himself.”
THE MANO DAYAK “CROSS” OR KEY.
The crosses of Agadez are known worldwide and are called “crosses”, but they are not crosses, they are rather symbolic “keys” to different places and a way for the bearers to show which location they belong and come from. When Mano Dayak passed away, a cross was made in his honor (it was made in 1996), and it became the 22nd cross or key out of the 21 existing.
These keys have many symbolic engravings. From what we have heard, the two loops represent the infinity loop, the infinity point in the middle represents the five elements water, air, fire, earth and the fifth being love, with a point in the middle and a circle around the point (the circle equals the collective) and the sword symbolizes protection.
But the cross/key of Mano Dayak is also a symbol of the struggle for freedom of all the Tuaregs who have today become a displaced people suffering terrible oppression and persecution.
The Tuaregs or Kel Tamacheq (the people who speak Tamacheq) are a branch of the Amazigh people who have lived in the Sahara for thousands of years. “Amazigh” means free man. But they are no longer free, and the people of Azawad who suffer terrible persecution will not be free until Azawad gains its independence from Mali which wants nothing more than to take the north, Azawad and exterminate the people living there, replacing them with their own people from the south.
Mali has never belonged to this northern part, this desert land….Azawad is for the Azawadians! Mali is for the Malians. They are two different countries, brought together by force by France. Understand that and peace will follow.
The struggle for freedom continues…
Azawad Support Group
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