[published: February 23, 2011]
You Say You Want a Revolution?
Not so much, actually. On the ground in Morocco, Part One.
I found them sitting cross-legged in the middle of Avenue Mohammed V, just next to the train station in downtown Rabat. The palm tree-lined street, the capital city’s main drag, had been blocked off all day Sunday as thousands of Moroccan protesters joined the chorus of their Arab state neighbors and demanded changes from their government.
These 20-somethings were worn out. Having braved the rain to lead the crowd in a march from the gates of the medina to the steps of the Parliament, Laila, a philosophy student from the nearby town of Temara, made it clear that she wasn’t interested in talking for long.
“We just want more freedom,” she said as she frantically sent text messages back and forth on her iPhone, barely looking up as she spoke. “This is our demand. We just want to feel freer.”
Hamza, a 19-year-old grocer from Rabat jumped in. “But it’s not about the king,” he said, as if to remind his friends that this was not a revolution, but rather a call for royal evolution. “We’re not here fighting against the monarchy. We’re here fighting against the government. And there’s a difference.” Issam, an economics student agreed. “I am okay with the demands of the people as long as they are peaceful and as long as they are with the king.” he said.
Compared to the raucous uprisings elsewhere across the Arab Maghreb, the protests in this North African kingdom were mostly peaceful. There were reports of riots in some cities, including Agadir where vandals burned a bank resulting in the deaths of five people. And, Monday evening after a small encore performance of Sunday’s protests, several journalists were hustled and bruised up in downtown Rabat.
There was also a general sense of unity with the monarchy. Amidst the excitement generated by such chants as “Stop Increasing the Number of Police, Start Increasing the Number of Schools,” and “The Arab Government is Corrupt,” spirited, patriotic youth waved Moroccan flags and led the sea of demonstrators in refrains of the country’s national anthem. Bellowing out the last line of the beloved hymn, a group of high school boys halted their march, saluted, and sang, “Make the world witness that we here live with the emblem of God, homeland, and king.”
To be sure, the intended target of Morocco’s protests was much more nebulous than the bulls eye painted on such iron-fisted leaders as Egypt’s Mubarak, Tunisia’s Ben Ali, and Libya’s Gaddafi. Here, the real enemy is government corruption, unemployment, and poverty—problems many believe can be solved by revamping the constitution and dissolving an unpopular parliament.
“I think our voices will be heard,” a 25-year-old journalist named Yusuf told me. “We are here for the right reasons and we will be heard.”
Late Sunday it was announced that the king, Mohammed VI, would acknowledge the massive demonstration. An acknowledgement came, but perhaps not the one that Yusuf and other inspired Moroccan youth had hoped for. Mentioning the protests in passing during a speech before members of a social and economic council, he said that he would not “cede to demagoguery and improvisation.”
The youth were growing weary of my questions. It was Sunday night after all, and with a long day behind them, Monday morning would come too soon. Though the Arab world around them was rocking with revolution, these daylong rebels had work and school in a few short hours. Their “Day of Dignity” would have to be continued.
Copyright Last Exit 2011
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