Morocco: uprising of the young
In recent days Morocco has been shaken by major protests staged mainly by young people. Initially they were peaceful, but in the meantime there have been clashes in which three people have died and hundreds have been injured or arrested. The demonstrators are calling for investments in education and healthcare instead of in infrastructure for the 2030 World Cup.
Forced to emigrate in the absence of reforms
El Mundo hopes for real change in the country:
“The uprising of Morocco's Generation Z has become the biggest challenge the regime has faced since 2011 and reveals a latent social unrest to which the monarchy has failed to respond despite its promises of modernisation. The uprising has reopened the social wound that Mohammed VI was able to heal 15 years ago during the Arab Spring. Back then, he saved the monarchy from collapse with reforms. Now he finds himself in a similar dilemma: repression will not solve the crisis, which requires a democratic dialogue with civil society and policies that are geared towards the future of a generation of young people who are condemned to emigrate.”
Tarnishing the glittering façade
Morocco has a major reform backlog to deal with, comments Le Monde:
“Good intentions have not stood up to an economic model - rentier capitalism based on rents and collusion - that generates social costs and regional imbalances in favour of a super-privileged minority. ... [The protest movement] GenZ 212 shines a harsh light on what is happening behind the glittering façade of 'emerging' Morocco. This is a serious blow to the image that the kingdom likes to project abroad. Easing the tensions in this revenge of reality will require more than just clever stopgap measures: it demands the courage to tackle a dual monopoly - political and economic - that unabashedly displays its flaws.”