Ręka w rękę, czyli rzecz o tuareskim dążeniu do jedności i własnego państwa
La main dans la main. The Matter of Pursuit of Tuareg Unity

Summary/Abstract: The Tuareg tribes live in a vast desert in the area of south-western Libya, southern Algeria, northern Mali and Niger and the steppes of Mali Sahel, Niger and Burkina Faso, and have never been able to unite. Their historical background is mainly that of wars, plundering and fratricide. The Tuareg people were even unable to unite in the struggle against their mutual enemy, the French, who were gradually conquering the lands belonging to the different Tuareg tribes. Although very belligerent, the Tuareg people have always been aware of their linguistic and cultural community, which is manifested mostly in their endoethnonyms. The Tuareg people experienced great changes in the middle of XX century. Thousands of shepherds who lost their fortune as a result of the failure of the Tuareg uprisings went abroad, especially to Algeria and Libya, to look for work and create the Ishumar (“unemployed”) movement. Its aim was to liberate the compatriots from Mali and Niger and create an independent Tuareg State. To this day poet-musicians, so popular among the Tuareg people, have remained followers of the Ishumar ideas. In their songs their call for giving up quarrels and for unity (“Without unity, there is no rescue. Without unity, nothing will arise”). More and more frequently Ishumar poets are accompanied by women from traditional Tuareg musician groups. In the words sung by women from the Tartit group: „The Tuareg people should love one another, and go hand in hand, for unity and understanding. It is freedom that is above everything”.

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