arkam

The Kabyles live still grouped in villages generally rather important, being able to reach several thousands of hearts and going down only seldom below five hundreds, and built on the pitons of mountains or the tops of nipples separating the valleys. That they are of lengthened or circular form, they were conceived in order to be able effectively to be defended, at least before the artillery does not make its appearance. They bear the name of touddar, plural of taddart (life, of the radical Dr., food, which one finds with this direction in all the Berber dialects). The houses all, into hard, generally without stage, red glazes of tiles, are crushed the ones on the others so much so that, seen by far, they give the impression to form only one of them, immense. The village, streaked inside by many dead ends, often cut in the rock, opens on outside only by two or three streets. It is very rare that it is surrounded by a wall. Undoubtedly it is modernized each day, but, as a whole, its face did not change. A little more than one century ago, this village constituted a unit political and administrative supplements, a body which had its own autonomy. It was managed by an assembly (djemaa) made up of all the citizens in age to carry the weapons; it ensured the respect of the payments in force, abrogeait the old ones and enacted the new ones if the need were felt some; it decided tax and war, managed the goods of mortmain and exerted without division the judicial power. By delegation, it discharged from the exercise of these capacities on a chief of the executive called, according to the areas, lamin (right-hand man), amukran (old, dignitary), ameksa (Pasteur), elected by all the major citizens brought together in plenary assembly. It chaired the djemaa, ensured the application of its decisions and prepared the businesses to be subjected to him. It was assisted in its functions by a oukil and tamen. The oukil, generally recruited within the hostile party with that of the lamin, managed the public case and controlled the intrigues of the chief of the executive. The tamen (agents) were indicated by the fractions of the village to represent them in the restricted meetings and to make apply the decisions of the assembly, which were made in full session after debates where any citizen, without reference to social condition, could emit and defend his opinions on such or such problem, to propose solutions, to be even opposed to the executive. The continuity of this politico-administrative organization was ensured by the kanoun, kinds of charters of which certain fundamental provisions must go back to the most moved back times. Although not written, they represented the most raised material authority and even took the step on the religion.