Today was supposed to be a light day in terms of things to do, so I scheduled a meeting with a friend on the campus of the university of Tizi-Ouzou. It has been a long time since I set foot on this campus so it should be emotional. In addition to this visit, my brother in law wanted me to visit the village of Taourirth Moussa and more specifically the memorial and grave site for the iconic and revolutionary singer and freedom fighter: Matoub Lounes. Given that i needed to watch my time carefully. The meeting on the campus of Hasnaoua was brief; i walked through the campus at a fast pace and did not recognize a lot of the buildings; a lot of new additions. Many new colleges and departments were added since my days in this place. My most vivid memories of this campus were the days of the Amazigh spring when we took over campus operations and threw out all the government bureaucrats. This action set a sequence of events that ended in an army crackdown on the students and a total shutdown of the university. This became known as the Amazigh spring of 1980. I was a foot soldier in the movement and was called upon to guard dorms at night as well as other duties. These memories were flashing in my head as I walked around campus. My friend and I then headed to a coffee shop near campus and chatted on various things going on at the university. Before long, I had to say goodbye to my friend and head home to meet my brother in law. After a light lunch, my sister and her husband and I headed to the car and left for Matoub’s grave site. The drive was slow as we had to deal with some steep roads and sharp turns, however the views were spectacular as we got higher and higher in altitude. Before long we reached the village of Taourirt Moussa and more specifically the grave site and memorial for Matoub Lounes. Here are pictures from today…
