Moroccan Diaspora Ignites Global Movement for Reform

"We want hospitals, not stadiums!", "Social justice!", "Stop corruption!" In Paris, several hundred Moroccans gathered at the Trocadéro, facing the Moroccan embassy, and chanted the slogans of Casablanca and Rabat in chorus. Demonstrations also took place in Marseille. Other cities, such as Toulouse, are organizing in turn to host symbolic actions. On Saturday, October 5, many gathered in front of the Moroccan Consulate General in Montreal, Canada. This was the first major demonstration organized outside the country since the beginning of the movement. Other gatherings will take place this Saturday, October 11, in Berlin, Brussels and several cities in the United States.

Remittances from MREs - more than 110 billion dirhams transferred each year - provide a breath of fresh air for Morocco. But Moroccans living abroad (MREs) feel marginalized when it comes to citizenship and political participation. "We are spoken of as an economic windfall, never as real citizens," explains Yassine, an engineer in Paris and organizer of the October 4 gathering. Beyond anger, Moroccans now want to become actors of political reflection. "These groups, made up of Moroccan students, entrepreneurs and researchers abroad, intend to produce concrete proposals on social reforms, public governance, or the political representation of MREs," says Maghreb Intelligence. "We want to channel this collective energy," says Amal, a doctoral student in Brussels and a member of a collective in the process of being created.

She adds: "We are not just in anger: we want to contribute to thinking about the Morocco of tomorrow." They are already meeting through several Discord servers and online collaborative spaces to organize debates, publish opinion pieces and, ultimately, to address a document of common proposals to the Moroccan government.