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When you’ve been friends for 248 years, similarities arise. For example, Morocco, the Atlas Lion, resembles California, the Golden State, in many ways. The two are similar in size, population, as well as societal diversity. Surf, sun, snow, and scenery. Both embrace the optimism of youth and the endless possibilities of tomorrow, in good times and bad.
Led by young people, urban and rural, the GenZ212 protests now underway in Morocco represent a challenge for a nation famous for its domestic stability, located in a region often known for levels of instability.
The GenZ priorities seem straightforward. More spending on public health services and educational institutions, less corruption, and an end to a perceived inertia amongst elements of the political class. The protests have often been framed as a “schools versus stadiums” debate. That debate is common in the United States, too, as professional stadium price tags often approach $2 billion.
Large publicly-financed stadium construction projects in the U.S. are now often accompanied by a commitment for specific new investments in neighborhood resources, some of which are only tangentially related to professional sports (small business loans, school investment, affordable housing, etc.).
As World Cup 2030 approaches, new ideas about ticket sale structure and sponsorship revenue sharing should be a priority for Morocco’s sporting and governing leadership. Invigorating regional investment, through increased funding to local communes and enhanced technical support to local civic associations, would bolster the country’s much hyped advanced regionalization program. The nation’s de facto credit union, Fonds d’Equipement Communal (FEC), will likely play a key role.
Gen Z expectations
More profoundly, the protests also tell the story of a generation of young people looking for meaning. Like it or not, the concept of adulthood is changing. Young people are digitally connected, but they are marrying later, they’re living with their parents longer, and they’re taking more time and more thought concerning career and life priorities.
Between 2014 and 2024, the average household size in Morocco decreased from 4.6 to 3.9 persons. Driven in part by smaller families that are generally healthier than those of a generation ago, Morocco’s development has created expectations for a new generation (Gen Z) that was born when Morocco’s economy was just one-fourth the size that it is today.
High school enrollment and graduation rates increased over the past two decades as K-12 education infrastructure rose across Morocco, from remote Occidental towns to Atlas villages. But like a new bridge or a modern hospital, maintenance and ongoing investment are critical. Paying teachers to work in a functioning school building is critical to student success, no matter their preferred vocation.
Some lessons from the experience of Generation Z young Americans (born in 1997 to 2012) may be illustrative of the factors that are driving youth angst in Morocco, too.
One phenomenon, the so-called gig economy, is becoming a larger driver of economic activity in the United States and Europe. Freelance work offers flexibility alongside uncertainty, personal freedom mixed with financial fragility. Short-term contracts were jarring to many private sector European workers twenty years ago, and they are likely viewed with similar hesitation in Morocco. 2019 saw protests in Morocco over the expansion of short-term contracts for teachers. The new economy requires a reset for long-term expectations.
On the political front, young people often respond to new faces and new ideas that are considered “outside the box”. It was true in the U.S. in 2008 with a little-known senator named Barack Obama. In 2024, Donald Trump, despite losing the overall under-30 vote to Kamala Harris (54% to 43%), attracted large numbers of young male voters under 30 by focusing on pocketbook issues (inflation) and by challenging the prominence of traditional political narratives.
Social contracts
In the United States, NYU marketing professor and podcaster Scott Galloway has gained widespread fame in media and economic circles over the past few years for his research on the significant challenges facing young Americans, especially young men, under 30. Some of Galloway’s themes speak to young Moroccans, too.
There has been a breakdown in a key societal contract in the United States, claims Galloway. Economic mobility, the ability to live a more financially secure life than one’s parents. The current challenges are the result of a myriad of factors, claims Galloway, from the rise of AI and automation to decades-old tax and investment policies (home mortgage tax deduction, etc.) in the U.S. that are geared toward middle-aged and older Americans with accumulated assets. Climate change upheaval, too, is changing the nature of economic development and dampening the mood of young Americans under 30, too.
For the first time in history, half of 30-year-old Americans now make less money than their parents did when they were age 30. Galloway notes that these profound changes have given rise to a mix of isolation and pessimism.
The data points add up to significant levels of stress—for young Moroccans and young Americans. As one USA Today columnist opined this past summer. “Gen Z has become lonely and antisocial. We have only ourselves to blame.” In Morocco, though, GenZ212 protests combine genuine youth solidarity with old-fashioned pocketbook “what’s in it for me” issues. Cell phone autonomy meets organic fellowship. Young people engaged in debate and peaceful protest signal a democracy that must be doing something right. Protest movement leaders have even organized clean-up efforts in some of the cities that have seen widespread protests.
2030 & beyond
The GenZ212 protests represent a genuine movement by young Moroccans to claim their rightful place in a nation that is seen as a trendsetter on a continent with the youngest average age in the world.
For Professor Galloway, success for young Americans will come not by following one’s passion. His admonition: “Find something you’re good at and apply the thousands of hours of grit and sacrifice necessary to become great at it.”
Morocco is going to welcome the world in 2030, and many Gen Z Moroccans, it seems, want to play an active role in showcasing the best attributes of Morocco. One attribute is passionate and engaged young people. And that’s a good thing.
