Berber Spring the Berber language is now a national language of Algeria. However, this is still distinct from Arabic, which remains the official language, and many other points of contention remain. Since January 2011 massive Berber activism re-emerged in North Africa in the wake of the Tunisian revolution and the overthrow of the Tunisian president Ben Ali, in what Berbers sometimes call the Berber-Arab Spring. This time, Berber activists were much more active and vocal on the streets of Morocco and Libya compared to Algeria. In Libya, Berber rebels helped topple Gaddafi, as the offensive that captured Tripoli and greatly helped end
Berber languages Oasis of Egypt. Large Berber-speaking migrant communities, today numbering about 4 million, have been living in Western Europe, spanning over three generations, since the 1950s. The number of Berber people is much higher than the number of Berber speakers. The bulk of the populations of the Maghreb countries are considered to have Berber ancestors. Around 90% of the Berber-speaking population speak one of seven major varieties of Berber, each with at least 2 million speakers. They are, in order of number of speakers: Shilha ("Tacelḥit/Tasussit"), Kabyle ("Taqbaylit"), Central Atlas Tamazight ("Tamaziɣt"), Riffian (internal:"Tmaziɣt, external:Tarifit"), Shawiya ("Tacawit") and Tuareg ("Tamaceq/Tamajaq/Tamahaq"). The