Morocco's recent protests, my 2 cents

Despite sounding contradictory, I can’t help but find the recent uprise of youth against the injustices in my country both disheartening and heartening at the same time.
As a Moroccan myself, having lived in the country from cradle to early twenties, having studied, celebrated, and observed the ongoing progress and regress of a nation that, above all, derived its maintenance of peace through heritage, history, religion, and practice of goodwill, both in the mainland and beyond, and having seen firsthand with my fellow citizens more than one might have hoped for—good and bad—I have full authority to exercise an opinion.

In the wake of such circumstances, I always hold the belief that only a small minority of citizens tend to seek positive, active change that may or may not see its resolution, and that, in essence, the majority of those appearing to join voices for the said changes are but a nuisance to the actual cause, if not the very reason for its total dissolution. What concerns me most is the emergence of groups who revel in protest as spectacle—name-calling, street fights, and destruction for its own sake. Opposition to the state becomes an excuse for chaos.

The reason for this accumulates to none other than their rigidly skewed perspective: their idea of calling out inconsistencies within the government, social unfairness that begins with basic human needs and access to proper healthcare and doesn’t end there, poor infrastructure at all levels, violations of terms, and gaslighting by state officials—and higher—is executed through an acute force of violence and barbarity.

Responding fire with fire is never a good endgame. Gen Z is indeed aware of the multitudes of hypocrisy going on in the state; they have come, notwithstanding their best efforts, too late to realize how rotten the injustices have become. The iron has long rusted, and the idea of a simple clean-through is not only improbable but downright insulting.

There are so many livelihoods that are greatly affected by the decaying system: foster homes, public hospitals (in major, touristic cities, I’ll have you reminded), elderly care homes, schools—the list goes on. One real look at the situation, I’d argue, and nobody would need to venture to the cinemas in search of a horror movie. Real life is as horrific and as distressing, if not more, and unlike a movie in theaters, the plot doesn’t resolve satisfactorily after two hours of runtime.

This is an ongoing problem that has persisted for ages and will remain for more to come even if fought with immediate effect. Because we are not dealing with one animosity here, there isn’t a single entity upon which we can all gather and target blame. It’s an accumulation of years of looking the other way, bribing for personal advancement, and disregarding the systemic defects that scream for fundamental rewiring. I also speak of the lowly citizen whose inability to afford basic insurance, whose idea of a well-fed stomach is a dry loaf of unchewable bread, two olives on top for a lucky day.

The sickly teenagers who can’t afford schooling or healthcare because their sickly, aged parents can’t pay the increasing bills in turn. Single mothers who must support themselves and their infants from charities, most of which are inefficiently functional. A vicious cycle of extreme poverty that’s both humiliating and extreme, individuals begin to fade off the lists and into the background. The lack of safe pathways to schools in mountain-bound areas, outdated maps that singlehandedly lead to accidents, loss of security, and general mistreatment by those in power. Lies after lies, and more lies.

My personal problem is with a certain group of lazy, name-calling, group-tagging individuals who aren’t even aware of the systemic reforms that inspire such protests. They’re not ready for any substantial dialogue or even deny the accountability of their destruction. They marvel at the opportunity to wreak havoc and delight in smashing a few faces and a bunch of street cars along the way.

It’s the inhibition of a disdain against the government for no apparent reason—the opposition against the blue-uniformed men and women whose sole purpose is to maintain city-wise order and prevent citizens from going loose on their rhetoric, however right and legal. And out of frustration from these individuals, the dialogue we should aim to open—a candid, truthful, and mature conversation with whoever is willing to listen from the ‘government’—is at risk of being annulled. No government is going to remain idle in the face of outright, blind chaos.

No country is perfect, no political system is devoid of holes. Having lived myself in three different countries now, each with its own values and history, and each believing to exercise the best kind of political compass, I’d say, with perspective, that correctness only survives a millennium. Newer generations would doubtless find faults, and whatever was made sacred in some random bureau, initiated by some random forty-year-old who thought he or she owned the world and that the world owed them nothing in return, the tides would surely soon turn for the next ride.

Change is always, always inevitable. Exercise your right to speak up and be a positive voice for that change in protest. Remind yourself that whatever we do, we do for the ‘all’ and not the ‘one’; therefore, human empathy should always be your first and foremost referendum, without a need for bloodshed or, indeed, rioting as a pastime.

October 3rd, 2025.