By Youssef El Kaidi
Morocco World News
Fez, July 6, 2013
On the track of the Egyptian rebellion movement that led to the ouster of the president Mohamed Mursi on July 3, a number of Moroccan activists launched two Facebook pages calling for political change in Morocco. The first page bore the name “Moroccan Rebellion to Overthrow the Regime” and the second came under the name “Rebellion Morocco.”
The first page raises the demand of overthrowing the whole ‘Makhzen regime.”
The second page, however, doesn’t clearly state whether it lobbies against the Islamic government or against the whole regime. Claiming that there is no real reform in Morocco, the page calls on all Moroccans to “overthrow the regressive regime and rise against the use of religion” in politics.
While the identity of people behind the new protest trend in Morocco remains unknown, many sources claim that most rebellion activists are likely members of the Socialist Union Party and the Istiqlal, which is a member of the coalition government.
A source from the Socialist Union made it clear to ‘Good’ that “the leadership of the new movement was constituted of young people from different leftist backgrounds in addition to the unemployed,” and that “the Socialist Union members are just part of the movement.”
A member from “Tamaroud” movement in Tangier who requested anonymity told Morocco World News that the current Islamic government “causing heart attack to Morocco on all levels. Therefore, it is the responsibility of all Moroccans to overthrow this government which is reluctant in implementing the constitution and fighting corruption.”
The same source affirmed that the movement has started a petition against the government and initiated coordination with the 20th February movement in Tangier.
The activist spoke to Morocco World News about his “certainty that the movement will have a striking number of supporters in the north and all over Morocco because.”
“Moroccans are deeply disillusioned at the Islamic government which has done nothing after two years in power.” He noted.
The two pages, however, did not succeed in attracting a significant number of followers. While the first page, which was created on July 3rd attracted 23 followers, the second page created on June 21, attracted 110 followers.
In addition, at the time of writing the totality of comments posted on these pages goes against the goal of people behind them.
These comments show people’s attachment to the monarchy and their refusal to see the country embark in a hazardous process to the unknown as is the case in Egypt and other Arab countries.
A number of Moroccans told MWN that the creation of this movement is an attempt by the leaders of the leader of the Istiqlal and some opposition parties to accelerate the fall of Benkirane’s government.
“The parties of the Istiqlal and the USFP are trying to take advantage of what happened in Egypt to weaken Benkirane’s and accelerate the fall of his government,” a University professor from Fez, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told MWN.
“The overwhelming of Moroccans will not be duped by this movement, for they know, that regardless of the obstacles it faces, their country is on the right path towards progress and development,” he noted.
“We don’t want a movement that will undo all the progress achieved by our country over the past decade. What we need is to fight against the forces of corruption and nepotism that are still infesting our country's social fabric,” he added.