After Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Madagascar, now another country Morocco is facing rebellion of Gen Z youth. Thousands of youths have landed on the streets here. The movement, which started from the last week of September, has gradually spread across the country.
There are demands of youth-good health services, strong education system, curbing corruption and employment. They are calling themselves Genz212. Let us understand why the anger of the youth suddenly erupted in this country? And why was this movement named 212?
Why is the movement of Morocco special
The biggest feature of this movement is that there is no political party, leader or union behind it. Genz 212 and Digital Group named MorocCo Youth Voice are leading it. These people are using platforms like Tiktok, Instagram, Discord and Facebook.
Genz 212- What is the secret of the name?
The youth who led the performance have named themselves Genz 212. Here Genz means that the young man born from mid -1990 to the early 2010 is the telephone area code of Rabat, the capital of Morocco. That is, this movement is completely of youth, whose roots have reached the streets from the digital world.
Why the anger of the youth of Morocco furious?
The real spark of this movement took place in mid -September, when eight pregnant women died in a government hospital in Agadir. The reason was the crowd, lack of staff and lack of equipment. This painful incident exposed all the poles of the health system of Morocco.
For example, there are only 7.7 doctors on every 10,000 people in the country, while the WHO guideline is 25. In areas like Agadir, this number is even less-4.4 doctors per 10,000. This incident instigated anger over the neglect of rural areas and government negligence.
Football vs Hospital: Ruckus at expenses
The anger of the youth was not limited to hospitals only. The real spark erupted when discussion of the government’s football love and billions of dollars expenses came to light. The Morocco government has announced to spend more than $ 5 billion stadium and infrastructure for 2025 Africa Cup and 2030 FIFA World Cup. On the other hand, the health and education sector is in extreme condition. This anger was especially seen more among the rural youth who have not yet recovered from the devastation of the 2023 al -Hauz earthquake.
From peaceful agitation to violence
The protests, which began on 27 September, were previously peaceful, but the situation worsened on 1 October. There were clashes in many cities. Three people have died so far. More than 200 security personnel and 23 common citizens have been injured. More than 400 people were arrested. Cases on these arrested youth are going to start from 7 October.
