The World Cup has only just finished, but the next tournament is already causing discontent in Morocco, one of the co-hosts of the 2030 games.
Last September saw a Gen Z protest movement emerge as young people across the North African nation organised online and took to the streets to urge the government to prioritise spending on healthcare and education over football infrastructure and tourism.
Morocco plans to spend $1.4bn on the six stadiums it will use to host the World Cup, as well as extensively investing in airports and its high-speed rail service to allow spectators to travel to games.
But many young Moroccans believe the money would be better spent on measures to ease spiralling living costs.
“When you compare the salary with the cost of living, it doesn’t match at all,” Salma, a Gen Z activist from Casablanca, told openDemocracy. Like many young people, Salma believes Morocco’s monthly minimum wage – 3,200 dirhams ($345) – is not enough to cover rent, utilities and rising food costs. “Everything is expensive, especially for families, which puts pressure on the household as a whole.”
Morocco is no stranger to social uprisings – and the ghost of another youth-led protest movement from the early 1980s looms particularly large.
The student-led ‘Bread Revolution’ erupted in 1981 in response to high inflation and another cost-of-living crisis that threatened the working class. At the time, heavy spending on the Western Sahara War, severe droughts affecting agricultural production, and foreign debts had left Morocco’s economy in “a state of high financial stress”, according to a 1997 report by the World Bank.
To secure loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Morocco’s government agreed to lower food subsidies – leading the cost of household staples to soar. This, combined with high unemployment affecting two-thirds of university graduates and half of high school graduates, sparked protests nationwide.
The state responded with brutality, though the extent of its crackdown remains disputed. The government reported an official death toll of 66 people in the 1981 Casablanca riots, and said none were killed by police fire, while the opposition Socialist Movement said 637 people died, mostly from bullets fired by police. A similar discrepancy is seen in the number of arrests: police reported around 500 detainees, while the opposition said there were 1,000. The figures are hard to verify as media coverage was suppressed during the protests, with some news outlets closed down.
Days after the riots, the government quietly temporarily walked back on some of its most aggressive price hikes, although it later bowed to IMF pressure to reduce subsidies further. By August 1982, the cost of bread had risen by 30%, tea by 77%, butter by nearly 50%, sugar by 14%, and cooking oil by 18%. The following year, prices of these goods and others soared by an additional 20% when subsidies were cut again.
A second wave of protests began in early 1984, triggered by more IMF-driven austerity proposals and increased student fees. This time, King Hassan II used a live television address to officially cancel the proposed subsidy cuts and school fees.
Now, as tensions rise once again, experts are drawing parallels between the Bread Revolution and the current situation.
“The similarity between the situation in the early 1980s and now lies in the fact that social tension is often fueled by rising prices, eroding purchasing power, and limited prospects for the middle and lower classes,” said Redouane Amimi, professor of public management in the legal and economic department at Mohammed V University in Rabat.
In April, the country’s annual inflation rate reached its highest rate since February 2025: 1.7%, almost double the 0.9% the month before. Much of the pressure stemmed from increased transport costs as the US-Israel war on Iran led to soaring fuel costs. In response, the government launched a 25% subsidy scheme for transport professionals, but drivers and the National Union of the Road Freight Transport Sector say this is not enough to offset the price hike.
No support has been offered for households dealing with rising costs as a result of the fuel spikes, despite food costing 0.5% more in April than at the same time last year. Youth unemployment rates also reflect patterns seen in the 1980s; 29.2% of 15-24-year-olds and 16.1% of 25-34-year-olds were unemployed in the first quarter of this year.
But unlike the 1980s, today’s economic pressures are deeply tied to global geopolitical instability – particularly the months-long blockades and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, which have pushed up commodity prices globally.
Morocco holds approximately 70% of the world’s known phosphate reserves, and relies on imports of sulfur – much of them coming via the Gulf – to turn phosphate into fertiliser. “Any closure or disruption of the Strait of Hormuz is significant for a major portion of supplies,” Amimi said.
Continued disruptions may affect Morocco’s ability to produce fertiliser, harming its agricultural industry and global crop yields into early 2027, according to a report by the Middle East Institute.
Fear, force, and demanding dignity
For young people, Morocco’s export-led agricultural model has long been a source of anger. The country ships its premium domestic produce to European markets, leaving local consumers facing soaring prices for lower-grade leftovers.
“Our priority is the sovereignty of the local market. Gen Z and ordinary citizens alike denounce an export-led model that penalises them,” activist Youssef Bellaj told openDemocracy.
Above all, “we must feel assured that the citizens’ Karama [Arabic for dignity] carries more weight than the dividends of large corporations,” Bellaj said.
While Gen Z succeeded in forcing conversations about inequality into public discourse, Bellaj said the authorities largely responded with “technical management” rather than systemic reform. One of their key concessions was a 16% increase in funding for health and education in 2026, reaching $15bn. The government also promised to create 27,000 jobs in the same sectors.
Speaking on the Gen Z wins, Bellaj said: “It’s undeniable that we have succeeded in imposing the concept of a ‘two-speed’ Morocco within royal and governmental discourse.” He added that the movement had “made repression harder to justify without tarnishing the country's international image.”
But Gen Z’s expectations have evolved; they no longer only want to see “a simple reduction in the cost of living”, Bellaj explained. Instead, activists are demanding “a real fight against monopolies: a more aggressive activation of the Competition Council to sanction price-fixing agreements among major [oil] operators”.
In late 2023, Morocco's Competition Council fined nine major fuel distributors, including leaders like Afriquia and Total, $180m for price-fixing. “Activists expect the state to tackle ‘superprofits’ generated at the expense of the consumer,” Bellaj said.
For now, Gen Z remains off the streets – but Salma believes the discontent they were voicing has not gone away. “The reason people stopped [protesting] was due to fear, whether they want to admit it or not.”
By the end of 2025, more than 2,400 people were being prosecuted in relation to the Gen Z protests, with many handed sentences of up to 15 years in prison.
Salma recalled being reduced to tears by the arbitrary arrests and violence inflicted by the authorities: “I watched one young woman being arrested, and in the process, her hijab fell off. The police didn’t even allow her to put it back on.”
Amimi told openDemocracy it is impossible to predict whether protests will resume. He believes Morocco has demonstrated resilience during crises, but “reducing the risk of future unrest will require addressing purchasing power concerns, improving public services, and rebuilding trust in institutions.”
