Why Morocco's revolution is not quite a revolution...yet

Yesterday tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the streets in the major cities of Morocco, one of the last countries to join the chain of protests throughout the Middle Eastern/African region. In Rabat where I live, people camped out in front of the Parliament and all around Bab al Had, Rabat's version of Tahrir Square in Egypt.

However, the protests were nowhere close to the ones that have taken place in Tunisia, Egypt, or now in countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Instead of unitedly calling for the overthrow of the King, they separated into different groups among themselves and called out on different issues. There were womens groups demanding changes for womens rights, labor unions calling for higher wages, and mostly citizens calling for the distribution of power. There were vendors selling food and the protesters parted for lunch breaks. It is similar to the kind of protests you might see in Washington D.C., except it is taking place in a region where the time has come for them to universally demand their rights.

Morocco differs from the other countries in the Middle East and Africa in that it is not demanding the overthrow of a dictatorship or the corrupt regime of the ruler. In fact, every single Moroccan I have met so far claims they love their king, whose picture is seen on almost every street and most buildings. King Muhammad who is only 47 years old is viewed similarly by Moroccans as President Obama is viewed by young liberals in America. He's...well, cool. He's well-liked and approachable as opposed to leaders like Hosni Mubarak who was so far removed from the people that he became a ruthless tyrant in their eyes. Moroccans do not want him gone, they want him to share his power with the people so that democracy still exists.

I don't know much about Morocco's political system. The few things I know about this country at all I have learned in the past three weeks. But as an outsider, it doesn't appear to me that Morocco like the other nations is headed towards a revolution. Even so, corruption is not absent here. Today my friend Tinora witnessed riot police beating a small group of remaining protesters in Bab al-Had, among them young teenage girls and boys. It's incidences such as these that have angered the people to the point where they will no longer accept it silently. Whether this will turn into something bigger is yet to be seen.