Why is Nobel Laureate Glorifying Unrest, Inciting Against Monarchy?

Rabat – Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman, who also sits on Meta’s Oversight Board, praised the youth protests in Morocco in language that many Moroccans found inflammatory. This includes describing demonstrations calling for better healthcare and education as a “revolution.” 

In addition, her statements implied that demonstrations are not just social or economic in nature, but are escalating toward a direct challenge to the monarchy. Her words triggered a wave of anger, calls for her removal from Meta’s board, and even demands that the Nobel Committee rethink her 2011 prize. 

Karman rose to international fame during the Arab Spring and was co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her role in peaceful protest and for advancing women’s participation in peacebuilding. Since then, she has remained a visible voice on regional politics. 

She is also one of the named members of Meta’s Oversight Board – a body set up to advise the company on difficult content decisions. That combination – Nobel laureate and oversight board member – means her words carry both moral weight and institutional significance.

Targeting the monarchy

In posts and statements, Tawakkol Karman associated the demonstrations in Morocco with broader waves of political change, praising the courage of protesters and using rhetoric that many read as celebrating unrest and inciting against the Moroccan state and monarchy. 

“The protests in Morocco are approaching the palace. Glory to the revolutionary Moroccan people,” she said in one of her posts on Facebook, where she shared videos of the unrest.

Many Moroccans saw her words as reckless and inflammatory, and a deliberate attempt to challenge the monarchy and glorify chaos rather than call for calm. The protests in question began as youth-led demands over education, healthcare, and jobs, and in some cases they turned violent and led to significant damage and clashes with security forces. External praise for “revolutionary” energy felt like an endorsement of chaos to a large segment of Moroccan public opinion.

At the heart of the controversy lies the fine line between solidarity and incitement. While Karman framed her remarks as support for freedom and dignity, many Moroccans saw them as an attempt to stoke instability in a country already facing social tensions. Her words crossed the boundary between advocacy and provocation.

Moroccan backlash

Almost immediately after her posts went viral, hundreds of Moroccans flooded her social media pages with critical comments. They accused her of “encouraging chaos” and “interfering in Morocco’s internal affairs.” 

“It seems your hobby of spreading lies has brought you to Morocco this time! The palace is far beyond your imagination… and the schemes of chaos you excel at have no place here. What you wrote is nothing but lies and cheap incitement,” a Moroccan social media user commented.

The ongoing protests are “an affair that does not concern you and is none of your business. Morocco has its own men and women. We don’t need lessons from platforms of sedition,” the user added.

“The United Nations should strip you of your Nobel Peace Prize and arrest you for incitement to violence, which is punishable under international law,” another commented.

This online backlash reflected not just anger but a sense of betrayal, because how could a figure once celebrated for peace appear to endorse unrest and violence?

This was not the first time that Karman has been involved in controversies. In May 2020, Facebook appointed Tawakkol Karman to its Oversight Board, a move that sparked significant backlash. Critics, including political analysts and media outlets, expressed concern over her ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and her history of provocative statements. Some argued that her inclusion could undermine the board’s credibility and its mission to promote responsible free expression.

In 2018, the Yemeni Islamist party Al-Islah suspended Karman from her position in the party after she accused the Saudi-led coalition of acting as occupiers in Yemen. Her criticism of the coalition’s actions led to tensions within the party and her subsequent suspension.