On February 20, 2011, thousands of Moroccans took to the streets in Rabat, Casablanca, and Tangier, demanding wholesale change to the country’s constitution. The protests were led by the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), a Rabat-based organization founded in 1979 by secular, left wing activists and former political prisoners.
AMDH leaders had begun strategizing for political change as soon as the Arab Spring began in Tunisia, two months earlier. They created a Facebook page, a new website, and a YouTube video calling on Moroccans to turn out en masse on February 20. In response, more protestors hit the streets than the country had witnessed since major social uprisings in the 1980s.
The AMDH’s initial success is puzzling. According to the Human Rights Perceptions Polls, based on a representative sample of 1,100 adults living in Rabat, Casablanca, and their rural environs, Moroccan rights groups have a weak social base. Although the public does afford local human rights organizations (LHROs) some trust, they have little personal contact with these organizations.
