[Abdelhak Senna/AFP/Getty Images] Young Moroccans say they do not seek charity, only a “good life” free of oppression.
No major celebrations marked International Youth Day in Morocco on Wednesday (August 12th), but that did not stop young people from reflecting on concerns ranging from unemployment to marginalisation. “Celebrating the international day is not the important thing,” Hind, a student, said of the annual UN event meant to spotlight youth issues worldwide. “The important thing is to take care of the youth, who are suffering from the neglect of the state, which is not justifiable because the youth are the base of progress.” Other young people echoed her concern, including Abdullah, an unemployed youth. Abdullah, an unemployed young man in Rabat, told Magharebia, “We’re not asking for charity from the government.” “One of our rights is for everyone to live a good life, including the youth, who have been oppressed,” he added. Ismail Hamraoui, president of the Moroccan Youth Forum, also pinned part of the responsibility for young Moroccans’ woes on the state.
“Moroccan youth suffer from several clear infrastructural crises that require the re-building and restructuring of the youth sector, whether at the level of public policies or the implementation of those polices,” he told Magharebia. “[T]he state has a duty to rehabilitate young people, because they are living through what we call, in Moroccan slang, social hekra (“contempt”) in the sense of marginalisation and exclusion in all its forms.”