The Genz 212 collective has taken the Moroccan authorities to run with its manifestations, unprecedented by their spontaneity, for better public health and education services. What do we know about this movement?
How did the Genz 212 movement were born?
This group recently appeared on social networks under a name which refers to the generation born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s as well as the telephone indicative of Morocco (+212).
The trigger was the death, mid-September at the hospital in Agadir, of eight pregnant women admitted for cesareans, according to one of its first members who did not wish to reveal its identity. A discussion space is then created on the Discord platform around the degradation of the public health and education sectors.
How did the movement decided to protest on the street?
The founders of the movement are unknown because participation in their discord space is anonymous. They describe themselves as “free young people”, without political affiliation and say they act by “love of the fatherland and the king” Mohammed VI. Debates are animated each evening and end with a vote.
This is how they voted to come out peacefully demonstrating on September 27 and 28 in several cities. An appeal that has not been taken seriously either by observers or by the media.
Since the prohibition of the first demonstrations, the number of members on Discord has exploded, reaching Friday nearly 170,000 members under pseudonym.
In the street, the demonstrations gathered between dozens and hundreds of young people.
The collective claims to reject any form of violence. However, three people were killed by gendarmes while they were trying “to storm” a gendarmerie brigade near Agadir, according to the authorities.
What are his claims?
First of all, a reform of public education and health systems, two sectors that reveal the extent of social inequalities in Morocco.
During the night of Thursday to Friday, in a document addressed to the king, the collective also called for the departure of the government. Before asserting Friday that his message had not been formulated in its “final” version.
In Morocco, public hospitals are saturated and lack staff and equipment compared to booming private clinics.
This hinders access to care for disadvantaged populations, despite the generalization of medical coverage in 2021.
“We are sometimes forced to pay bribes” to have a hospital bed, says Fatima Zahra, 20, who demonstrated Monday in Rabat.
As for public schools, they are marked by overloaded classes and dilapidated premises.
According to official figures, the lack of education is responsible for 47.5% of cases of poverty, despite a general level of poverty level of 11.9% in 2014 to 6.8% in 2024.
Does the Genz 212 reject the organization of the 2030 World Cup?
In its demands, the movement makes no mention of the joint organization of the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal.
However, the slogans “We don’t want the World Cup” and “the stadiums are well designed, but where are hospitals?” were chanted during certain rallies.
The question was raised among the members on Discord “not to reject the organization of the World Cup but to ask that the same efforts made to build stadiums be for the construction of hospitals,” said a member.
The renovation of six stages and the construction of another gigantic by 2028 will cost around 15.5 billion dirhams (around 1.4 billion euros), according to official figures.
The Kingdom relies on even larger investments in infrastructure by 2030, especially in rail transport (around 7.6 billion euros), 5G (around 6.8 billion euros) and airports (3.2 billion euros).
Why did this collective surprised?
If social manifestations are common in Morocco, the emergence of a youth movement claiming itself as apolitical has taken short by its spontaneity and the speed of its mobilization.
Even if, as the political scientist Mohamed Chiker recalls, “young people have been expressing their anger for years in football stadiums”, youth have often been perceived as disengaged.
On the contrary, the movement shows a strong social and political awareness among young people.
