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Rabat – What has been happening in major cities across Morocco over the past few days has been a long time coming, the foregone culmination of the failure of successive governments, and this government in particular, to deliver on their promises and meet citizens’ most basic and legitimate demands. Central in those demands is a fundamental aspiration for a dignified life, something that requires governments and local authorities to ensure the fair distribution of the country’s limited wealth among the different segments of society and the various cities and regions of Morocco.
Frankly, every time I come to Morocco I feel a great sense of pride at the progress the country has achieved in infrastructure in some Moroccan cities, and I underline the word some. At the same time, I also feel a deep sense of apprehension, mixed with anger and fear for the future, because the policies pursued by the state in recent years have been enough to push millions of Moroccans into feelings of resentment, anger, and the conviction that their lives do not matter much, that their struggles and their families’ hardships are not front and center in list of priorities of the country’s political class.
More than seven decades after Morocco’s independence, the Moroccan political “elite” still approaches the country and its issues with the same logic established by Marshal Lyautey when Morocco fell under French colonial rule: dividing Morocco into two regions: “useful Morocco” and “useless Morocco.”
This was not only a dangerous way of governing; it fundamentally set up many Moroccans to feel like failures, losers, and outsiders or foreigners in their own country. And every self-respecting observer of social dynamics, be they researchers, intellectuals, or genuine politicians or statesmen, knows that the natural, ultimate corollary of this way of governing is the creation of a deep-seated resentment bomb whose explosion in the public sphere is only a matter of time.
Perhaps even more alarming is that the public policies Morocco has pursued over the past decade have sent a clear message: the political elite has no intention of narrowing the gap between Moroccan cities, but rather of deepening it in ways never seen before. The clearest evidence of this selective and exclusionary approach is the state’s overwhelming focus on infrastructure investment along the Rabat–Casablanca–Tangier axis, and, to a lesser extent, in the Marrakech and Agadir regions.
In less than a decade, government policies have brought about an unprecedented transformation in Rabat, turning it into one of Morocco’s most attractive cities in terms of infrastructure, green spaces, and recreational facilities. Meanwhile, cities such as Fez, Meknes, Oujda, Taza, and many others have received less than one percent of the allocations directed to Rabat and Casablanca. Fez, for instance—deprived of any state development program for over three decades—has been reduced to the largest “village” in Morocco, if not the world. The once-famous saying among the people of Fez, “Everything is in Fez,” has now become “Nothing is in Fez,” apart from misery, poverty, and the economic decline endured by large segments of its population.
Daily marginalization and humiliations breed resentment
If I personally, despite my comfortable social situation, feel anger and the sense of hogra (injustice and humiliation) suffered by my city, then one can just can imagine the feelings of millions of young people, whether in Fez or in the rest of “useless Morocco”, who suffer from unemployment and its accompanying set of vulnerabilities.
Bereft of quality public services and stripped of the opportunities they desperately need- not necessarily to rise in the country’s dysfunctional social ladder- but at least to make life bearable for them and their loved ones, they feel abandoned by, and unwanted in, their country.
In a relatively thriving national economy that rewards fluency in French and fancy diplomas from abroad or prohibitively expensive private schools in “useful” Morocco, many feel systematically starved of the opportunities that would allow them to take part in Morocco’s projected development journey.
In addition to the failure of successive governments to reduce the gap between Moroccan cities and regions, Moroccans can see how public policies in the agricultural sector have not contributed at all to securing the country’s food security. Instead, while the country is paradoxically a net exporter of prized agrifood to Europe, low-income families across Morocco have had to endure an outrageous and unacceptable rise in the prices of basic foodstuffs. Meat, which has gone from costing around 80 dirhams to 150 dirhams per kilo over the past two years and agrifood products have become a rarity for most Moroccan households reeling from an epidemic of purchasing power collapse. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.
What further fuels the anger of Moroccans is that the same figure who has dominated the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries since 2007 is the one leading the government since 2021. For most Moroccans, this is someone who has worked for years to control the Moroccan economy- for his own business interests and ambitions- not for the legitimate aspirations of Moroccan households and the dreams of young Moroccans from underprivileged backgrounds.
There are countless glaring examples that reveal how the current government has treated Moroccans with disregard, even contempt. As citizens watch opportunities slip away- while the country propels itself into the 21st century yet leaves them behind, deemed “useless” and unwanted- many feel that Morocco now serves only the cronies of the National Rally of Independents and the Authenticity and Modernity Party. These circles alone seem to profit from the nation’s wealth, at the expense of citizens’ livelihoods and social peace, while the head of government handles the people’s money as if it were an inheritance from his ancestors.
One of the most significant financial scandals to have shaken Morocco in recent years was the disappearance of 13 billion dirhams in government subsidies that had been allocated to livestock importers. This massive budget was ostensibly intended to reduce meat prices and ease the daily economic burdens of Moroccans amid sweeping inflation. Yet none of that materialized. Instead, the main beneficiaries of this windfall were 133 large livestock importers. Rather than providing citizens with an explanation for this blatant theft of public funds, the government chose to remain completely silent.
Through this scandal of mismanagement and corruption, the government sent a clear message to millions of Moroccan households: it could not care less about their grievances, and its priorities lay elsewhere. What made it even more evident that the government has no intention of combating rampant corruption, and is in fact one of its prime beneficiaries, was its rejection of a draft law designed to criminalize illicit enrichment.
The real threat to Morocco’s storied stability
The greatest threat to Morocco’s stability does not come from those who demand their legitimate rights to education, healthcare, and access to services that safeguard their dignity, but from the legions of opportunists who exploit the nation’s wealth. For the sake of Morocco’s hard-earned stability, the responsibility now rests with the ruling elite to act with wisdom and foresight at this critical juncture in the country’s long-standing governance crisis, most importantly, by taking the people’s legitimate demands seriously and responding constructively. Any hesitation or refusal to heed the people’s voice would amount to a golden gift to the enemies of this nation, who would not hesitate to exploit the situation to undermine its stability and drag it, God forbid, into a perilous downward spiral.
The gravest threat to social peace, national stability, and the political system that safeguards Morocco’s unity and continuity lies in those who abuse power in pursuit of obscene enrichment and entrust vital sectors such as health and education to individuals lacking both competence and the patriotic spirit required to carry out their responsibilities. What meaningful contribution can be expected from someone whose fortune comes from candy and cookie companies (when placed at the head of the Ministry of Education? And how can a person whose entire career was spent in the cosmetics industry be qualified to lead a sector as critical as health?
Enough of this nonsense, cronyism, and favoritism. Morocco must not remain the playground of a privileged class of nouveaux riches who devour everything while refusing to share the nation’s wealth with its people. The situation has reached a breaking point, and broad segments of the Moroccan population will no longer tolerate a government led by a man who, beyond owning the largest fuel company in the country, appears to revel in steadily eroding their purchasing power.
Several figures in the current government have come to embody corruption, favoritism, clientelism, illicit enrichment, and exclusionary policies that weigh heavily on millions of Moroccans. Their resignation from government and withdrawal from political life should therefore be among the first measures the state adopts to ease the mounting tension gripping the country.
How is it justifiable that oil prices continue to fall on global markets while fuel prices in Morocco never decrease? Since independence, Morocco has never had a government that has so systematically undermined the purchasing power of citizens, entrenched cronyism, and treated the state as spoils of war. Public service, as its names implies, means committing — sometimes even sacrificing — oneself to making a change in the lives of one’s fellow compatriots, especially those whose personal circumstances make the state’s helping hand a necessary presence in their journey to a dignified and fulfilled life. Yet, our government appears to be composed of a group of self-serving opportunists who entered politics solely to serve their own interests and enrich themselves at the expense of the people.
How can it be justifiable to build a new stadium in Rabat with taxpayers’ money, only for the primary beneficiary to be a minister who also happens to preside over a football club recently promoted to the first division? This represents the height of absurdity, an act of disdain and outright contempt toward Moroccans.
As they strive to make sense of the unprecedented unfolding of events across Morocco over the past week, some mainstream media have suggested that the slogan of the ongoing unrest, hospitals not stadiums, means many in the country are not thrilled with the idea of organizing prestigious international events to sell to the world the notion of a Morocco that does not exist and does not work for them. While the premise of this interpretation is right, its conclusion is wrong and dangerously misleading.
Moroccans are not against the idea of hosting a World Cup, and many believe that the infrastructure spending spree Morocco has embarked on will enable the country to make huge strides that would otherwise have taken decades. Moroccan youth are not out to oppose the World Cup or the coming African Cup of Nations. They are simply demanding fair distribution of the country’s resources among its regions, greater attention to education and healthcare, and action against corruption, illicit enrichment, and cronyism.
Morocco and the Moroccan people need statesmen who want the best for this nation and its citizens, who think of building a Morocco where all segments of society enjoy decent living conditions. Even as we deplore the violent turn of the ongoing protests and hope for things to de-escalate or calm sooner rather than later, it is of utmost importance to never lose sight of the fact that, at the end of day, Morocco’s number one problem is its political and economic elite, a class of opportunists who use power as a ladder to fulfill their personal ambitions at the expense of the public good and the country’s strategic interests in the short, medium, and long term.
