About the Kabyle language icon

Two weeks ago we decided that our Kabyle language icon should be changed. The new language icon is now live and is based on the Berber flag.

This change was probably the most contested decision we ever had to do. It took us more than a year to actually decide what to do. You can trace back all the details starting from this Wall thread:
https://tatoeba.org/eng/wall/show_message/32995#message_32995

To summarize:

• We received many complaints telling us that the flag that we used to craft the icon is a political flag and is not at all a flag that represents the Kabyle people. 
• However, the opposition to change the flag was also very strong, with the active Kabyle contributors telling us that people who try to remove this "Kabyle flag" have a hidden agenda to eradicate the Kabyle culture and language.

There was an unprecedented level of polarity among the Kabyle native speakers community.

What helped us come to a decision was:

• Finding out that the flag is a very recent flag, adopted only in March 2015.
• Finding out that the Kabyle people, regardless of their political opinions, already acknowledge another flag as a symbol of identity: the Berber flag.

We will see in 10, 15, 20 years how the opinion about the newer Kabyle flag has evolved and we can reconsider using this flag when it is not-so-new anymore. Until then, we hope that our choice to use the Berber flag as a graphical representation of the Kabyle language will bring more peace and collaboration among the Kabyle native speakers in Tatoeba.