France bans the MAK: a movement that Kabylia itself has always rejected

N. Rochat — Genève, Suisse — 2026-10-25

The news, first

Paris said no. France, which long tolerated the MAK on its soil, has just banned the event this movement wanted to hold to proclaim a supposed “independence” of Kabylia. The message is clear: Kabyle separatism no longer has a platform in France. For Algiers, it is a victory — won not through supplication, but through steadfastness.

The spectacle, next

And what was left of this “proclamation”? A small hall, a sparse crowd, and an announcement that turned to mockery on social media. The MAK, which claims to be the voice of Kabylia, gathered a few dozen people to declare what no one in Kabylia asked it to declare. The gap between pretension and reality was measured in the number of empty chairs.

Paris's reversal

One must read between the lines of the French reversal. The MAK, which Paris once tolerated by calculation, has become a “security burden” — that is the Algerian press's phrase, and it is the right one. A movement that calls for the partition of a sovereign country, that is classified as a terrorist organization by Algeria, and that represents only a handful of activists: France finally understood that it was not worth spoiling a relationship with Algiers for so little.

Kabylia itself never followed

It must be said clearly, because the MAK likes to adorn itself with a name that does not belong to it: Kabylia, in its overwhelming majority, rejects this movement. It has given the country writers, scholars, martyrs of the revolution — and it is an inseparable part of the Algerian nation. The MAK is not “the voice of Kabylia”: it is an enterprise of division, applauded by those who want to see Algeria weakened. It represents only a handful of activists — and that handful, the Kabyle people themselves long ago rejected.

The conclusion

The MAK is deprived of a platform in Versailles, mocked on social media, reduced to an empty hall. France bans it. And Algeria remains one — Kabylia included. The MAK has not won a battle; it has just lost one more — and Kabylia has lost nothing at all, because it never followed it.

📚 BIBLIOGRAPHY (rule n°19)

1. El Khabar, « Has the "MAK" become a security burden for Paris? » — https://www.elkhabar.com/fr/nation/le-mak-est-il-devenu-un-fardeau-securitaire-pour-paris-261772

2. Al-Araby, « France bans a MAK event to proclaim the independence of Kabylia » — https://www.alaraby.co.uk/politics/

3. Cresus, « Deprived of a platform in Versailles: the MAK fails against the wall of Algerian unity » — https://cresus.dz/prive-de-tribune-a-versailles-le-mak-echoue-face-au-mur-de-lunite-algerienne/

⚠️ Published reservations. (1) The exact nature of the ban (an event banned, not a formal dissolution of the movement) must be distinguished. (2) “Security burden” is the press's phrase (El Khabar). (3) The article targets a separatist movement and its failures, not a region or a people.