By Cesar Neto
Introduction
A clear wave of struggles is shaking Africa. Initially localized in sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, Angola, and Madagascar), these struggles are now spreading northward with mobilizations in Morocco. These struggles are all explosive and radicalized, and they lack class leadership. Tired of paying for the capitalist crisis, Moroccan youth are loudly and clearly saying: “We are the youth. We are not parasites.” There is also a strike by oil workers at the largest and most modern refinery on the continent, which is located in Nigeria.
The protests began on September 27 and were called for by Generation Z, who are known as Generation Z 212 in Morocco. The 212 refers to the country’s international dialing code.
The protests grew day by day, reaching their peak on October 2 with clashes with police in almost all of the country’s major cities.
The road connecting Agadir Airport to the coastal metropolis in southern Morocco still bore the scars from the 48 hours of violence leading up to Thursday, October 2. Passing through Inezgane, a town on the outskirts of Agadir, blackened marks from tires burned by protesters on Tuesday night could be seen on the road. The riot police deployed that day had to retreat when angry youths threw stones; some of these youths had participated in setting fire to a post office.
Further on, the Marjane hypermarket in Inezgane was targeted; its imposing facade was pockmarked with stone impacts. The GenZ 212 movement had managed to contain this violence during the first days of mobilization, but it intensified on Wednesday night after police fired shots in front of a gendarmerie brigade in Lqliaa, leaving three people dead. (Le Monde – 10/04/2025)
Bourgeois analysts are shocked by how young people have responded to their problems. Demonstrations of this magnitude are rare in Morocco, which is seen by imperialist powers as a beacon of stability in the Middle East and North Africa. Over the next few years, the authorities plan to invest $35 billion in infrastructure, earmarking a considerable portion for infrastructure projects and soccer stadiums. In 2030, the World Cup will be held in Portugal, Spain, and Morocco simultaneously.
The structural reasons for the protests
Morocco is one of the world’s largest producers of phosphate and a major exporter of fruit and food. It also manufactures cars and auto parts. These factors rank the country as the 60th largest economy in the world, among 216 countries. Morocco also has large oil reserves that remain largely untapped. Morocco is considered an emerging country because its companies have been privatized since 1993, and several sectors have been liberalized from state monopolies. Morocco has free trade agreements with the United States and the European Union.
While the economy is doing well, the same cannot be said for the living conditions of workers and the general population.
Health: “The stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals?”
The health system has precarious infrastructure and lacks human and financial resources. Morocco spends 885 dirhams per capita on health care, while neighboring Tunisia spends 2,900 dirhams per person per year. Due to the shortage of resources, hospitals lack medicine and supplies.
There are only four doctors for every 10,000 people. Waiting lines are endless, and when people do receive care, hospitals lack equipment, so patients must pay for tests at private clinics.
The situation is so dire that eight women died during childbirth in Agadir, sparking widespread outrage and mobilization.
This is why young people are protesting in the streets: “The stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals?”
Education: “I’m not studying to emigrate”
The official unemployment rate is 13.3%, a figure that is widely disputed. The contracting economy is unable to absorb university graduates. Among people aged 15 to 24, unemployment has reached a record high of 36.7%.
The crisis in the automotive industry, which employs 200,000 people directly and indirectly, is likely to worsen the high unemployment rate. The service sector, which includes 800 call centers and 90,000 workers, is also threatened by new French laws because France is its main customer.
In addition to being angry about unemployment, young people are upset about a bill on higher education and research that was presented to Parliament at the end of September. This bill essentially limits the right to organize within universities, which undermines students’ freedom of expression and political affiliation. Furthermore, this law paves the way for the privatization of public universities.
Funds are allocated to soccer stadiums and infrastructure for the World Cup or investments in health and education
The last straw for the youth uprising was the huge contradiction between the deplorable health and education conditions, rising unemployment and inflation, and the substantial funds allocated to constructing stadiums for the 2030 World Cup. Three new stadiums are being built while others are being renovated and expanded to host the African Cup of Nations next December.
This has led to the slogan, “The stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals?”
The participation of the working class in the mobilizations
Their participation was not collective, but rather individual. For example, there has been no news of major factories stopping work in support of Generation Z’s struggle. On the contrary, the trade union federations maintain a complicit silence with the government.
On the contrary, the Union Marocaine du Travail proudly displays on its website that they received an important delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and called on the Fund’s leaders to adopt a social approach that breaks with top-down impositions that do not consider Morocco’s economic and social reality.
A strong appeal must be made to workers in industry and phosphate mines to join the protests. Only the unity of youth and workers can lead to a great victory.
Youth at the forefront, but without revolutionary leadership
In recent protests in sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Ghana, Mozambique, and Angola), the significant participation of youth was evident, and this trend has now been confirmed in Morocco.
Two common points are the heroic fighting strength of the youth, which must be recognized, and the great weakness represented by the lack of revolutionary political leadership.
Generation Z is calling for the mobilizations through social media, using the skull from One Piece as its symbol and a bourgeois democratic program. In Morocco, they declare: “We demand the resignation of the current government for failing to protect the constitutional rights of Moroccans,” said GenZ 212.
An important feature is that, in countries where Generation Z has played a leading role, the question of overthrowing the government has always been present, as seen in Kenya, Nepal, and Madagascar.
Overthrow the government of Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch!
Morocco’s political structure is based on a constitutional monarchy, and the government is headed by the prime minister. If Akhannouch falls, the two ministers most criticized by protesters will fall with him: Amine Tahraoui, the Minister of Health; and Mohamed Saad Berrada, the Minister of Education. Both are members of the Rassemblement National des Indépendants and are close to Akhannouch.
There is no confidence in the monarchy
According to the local news site Aldar, Generation Z 212 is a movement that does not demand social justice beyond national values. The group explicitly declares its commitment to respecting the royal institution under the leadership of King Mohammed VI and maintaining Moroccan territorial unity.
While fighting for the fall of Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, it is important to have no illusions about the monarchy or Mohammed VI (Mohammed bin Hassan). It is important to understand that the Moroccan regime of domination consists of the prime minister and the monarchy, which determine the direction of the country.
Extending the struggle to neighboring Arab countries
The bourgeoisie is enormously concerned that these demonstrations could inspire other Arab peoples in North Africa to rise up and create a new Arab Spring. A wave of protests and popular uprisings known as the Arab Spring began in Tunisia in 2010 and spread to several other countries in North Africa and the Middle East, including Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Oman, and Sudan.
A new Arab Spring and the struggle in defense of Palestine
The elements for combined action in the Arab countries are already present. The economic crisis, collapse of foreign exchange reserves, fuel shortages, inflation, and rising unemployment set the stage for a new Arab Spring.
A new Arab Spring would destabilize regional governments that remain passive in defending Gaza. The masses in the streets would surely raise the banner of a free Palestine, from the river to the sea.
