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Located at the intersection of Africa and Europe, the kingdom of Morocco has long been a melting pot and a colorful example of globalization. Since the 9th century AD Berbers, Muslims and Jews lived, worked and studied together in this region. Today’s youth bulge in North Africa can be viewed as both a challenge and an opportunity for the Maghreb. In Morocco, young people benefit from increased global links yet grapple with unemployment, illegal migration and growing radicalism. This precarious situation invites us to look at the issue in terms of both economic and psychosocial needs. Initiatives designed to constructively intervene in adolescents’ lives should integrate conflict management skills training into youth-focused economic programs.
Following a sharp rise in extremist activities in the region, many security experts are now quick to note Morocco’s strategic location in the war on global terrorism. International leaders keen to thwart the spread of radicalism in North Africa—where terrorism is again on the rise in Algeria and a recent coup in Mauritania alarmed Western and African allies alike —should make the plight of youth in the region a priority since they are particularly vulnerable for recruitment. Moroccan police have reportedly broken up more than fifty terrorist cells and arrested roughly 3,000 people since 2003, when twelve suicide attackers killed thirty-three people in Casablanca. This first-ever suicide attack on Moroccan soil resulted in a new discourse on social disparities in Moroccan society, as the young attackers had come from the Casablanca slum area Side Moumen. An in-depth look at conflict dynamics in Morocco reveals that successful security-building is intimately intertwined with the stability of its youth.
Individuals can acquire values and social norms both vertically (e.g. when family traditions are passed down) and horizontally (through the less routinized spheres of extended social networks). In an increasingly interconnected world, youth have access to an astronomical influx of horizontal inputs. Although Islamic cultural norms traditionally have been passed on to Moroccan youth from one generation to the next, recent studies show that this generation is the first in its history to have such vast access to the outside world using the Internet and other forms of modern communications. Suffice it to look at the country’s music festivals, its media production and consumption as well as the number of national and international NGOs on the ground, which all point to Moroccans as active agents of globalization.
Young people today live in a rapidly changing society that looks up to the material wealth of its European neighbors while still maintaining pride in its traditional Islamic mores and African roots. Sonja Hegasy’s survey of over 600 Moroccan youth in rural and urban areas found that while many people perceive negative effects of this increased inter-connectivity, half of Moroccan youth believe that there are advantages in globalization as an agent of modernization. According to the study, youth today spend more time with their friends than with family members. More than 90 percent of youth surveyed did not belong to political parties. While they are eager to move forward socioeconomically, youth also need political leaders to implement programs that will empower this generation.
Some 70 percent of Morocco’s thirty million people are under the age of thirty and 50 percent are under twenty years old. In 2003, the legal voting age was lowered from twenty to eighteen; yet Moroccan youth generally feel disenfranchised from politics. Despite their potential as a majority voting block, numerous attendees at a recent ‘get out the vote’ style forum that targeted Moroccan youth used the opportunity to convey their reluctance to engage with the system. They argued that local leaders offered lofty promises in effort to get their votes and that once in office, the same leaders worked primarily to line their own pockets.
Economic reports and youth protests both underline the need for Moroccan leaders to extend current initiatives and take a hard look at how education and social training match up with labor market needs. NGOs are proving instrumental in the effort to address the needs of struggling youth. Moroccan staff of a nation-wide scheme of programs that target youth development in rural areas emphasized that most schools use “the blackboard and notebook approach” with little emphasis on creativity and critical thinking. One area of reform the government might consider emphasizing in future teacher training is how to better embolden young people with entrepreneurial and conflict management skills—pedagogy aimed at developing adolescents’ self esteem and teaching youth how to think critically. This type of approach is essential to engaging young people’s awareness and eventual rejection of extremist ideology despite other negative social influences.
Young Moroccans frequently voice their frustration that their efforts in university do not afford them any successful transition into adult life. Many hold out hope for coveted public sector jobs but the reality is that the government is unable to provide ample employment opportunities at any scale relative to the number of graduates seeking employment. Youth finish their schooling armed with good grades eagerly looking for gainful employment, only to become discouraged after long job searches with no success. This leads to deflated senses of their self worth and leadership potential. Unemployed youth in economically depressed neighborhoods are particularly vulnerable to the teachings of extremists who twist Islam’s benevolent teachings.
Globalization has resulted in new levels of interconnectedness between the West and North Africa. The cultural fruits are often celebrated, evidenced in one example by Moroccan leaders sponsoring world music festivals that youth attend in droves. Moroccan youth are regularly exposed to Western cultural norms via the Internet and other media. While some cultural imports such as music can be easily accessed by most people, the pull of Western materialism remains strong. Morocco’s proximity to Europe is detrimental to youth’s outlook on their own prospects of acquiring wealth as defined by the standards of their prosperous neighbors just a few kilometers across the straight of Gibraltar. This is accentuated by the Moroccan Diaspora in Europe and North America, sending remittances to the homeland, and the flux of Moroccan migrants back on holiday who create heightened expectations of the treasures to be gained through immigration.
Every summer the ferries arriving in Tangiers are full of expatriate Moroccans returning home with expensive cars, designer clothes and tales of success found abroad. Young people discouraged with their prospects in Morocco dream of escaping to find their own fortune while Morocco’s future work force relies on keeping its best and brightest at home. Government schemes focused on education-to-employment should provide incentives to employers to add entry-level positions. If Moroccans abroad opted to open businesses back home and hire struggling youth, this could be another way to utilize the large youth population as an asset rather than a challenge. Structural and financial reforms that favor the development of small enterprises could encourage this.
Understanding the struggles of Moroccan youth in a rapidly changing society is not solely a matter of assessing economic opportunities. In addition to enhancing education-to-job readiness, youth should feel that their young energy and self-confidence can be utilized for a brighter future. The NGO Search for Common Ground (SFCG) in Morocco is conducting a new initiative that will create community mediation centers in disadvantaged urban areas. In contrast to traditional youth centers that primarily organize sports and cultural activities, the mediation centers will include a dual focus on training youth in conflict management or ‘life skills’ as well as job readiness training. In 2008, I designed and conducted a study for SFCG in Morocco that sought to measure youth self- perception in relation to their potential to be leaders in their community and in businesses. The study also includes qualitative interviews with local leaders and educators. The study sought to collect baseline data on how youth perceives their current capacities and gaps in areas such as leadership, self-esteem, community conflict management, mediation, nonviolent communication skills and job readiness. It included sixty-five randomly selected youth in four different low-income urban communities including Sidi Moumen, home to several of the 2003 bombers.
Over 70 percent of youth surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that “young people today play an important role in promoting non-violence solutions to problems encountered in school, at home, or in their neighborhood.” Most youth surveyed shared their frustrations related to employment opportunities. Interestingly, nearly all surveyed indicated their potential as agents of positive change: while only 63 percent agree/strongly agree that “I am a leader amongst my peers, family and/or community”, an impressive 95 percent agree/strongly agree that “I would like to take more initiative in working for change in my community.” Youth perception of their potential extends to the workplace: 78 percent agree/strongly agree that they possess skills useful to managing their own business. This study underlines that youth are eager to receive training not only in technical skills but also in methods that will enhance their communication skills to use within their community, in job interviews and with future employers. Overall, youth indicated a strong interest in social skills training, thus supporting SFCG’s proposed approach, which is designed to intervene at a level that addresses youth development both in conflict management techniques and job readiness.
Moroccan educators and officials also emphasize that local youth are struggling in this era of intense globalization—they see the world around them rapidly evolving and improving but at the same time, young people are not receiving sufficient training in meeting today’s challenges. Neither at the social level nor with regard to the job market. One teacher articulated the view that students need better guidance on societal engagement, and that communities must orient youth on the right path before they deviate. One aspect of this, he noted, is teaching youth how to constructively confront problems in a globalized world.
This study strongly backs the proposed approach of integrating conflict management skills training into youth programming. Whether Moroccan youth will be a stabilizing force in a country that is situated in a region with rising Islamic extremism will be determined in large part by how Moroccan leaders choose to address youth socialization in the 21st century. Linking youth education to job market needs is a fundamental aspect of a successful strategy targeting youth unemployment.
Life skills training that builds self esteem and emphasizes critical thinking and decision making is arguably even more important to ensure that youth succeed not only professionally but also as leaders in their community and their country. Moroccan youth ultimately might succumb to a radical identity; alternatively, youth might embrace a narrative of social mobility and view themselves as meaningful contributors to Moroccan society. Programs that address economic development with a dual emphasis on conflict and communication strategies will create the potential for Moroccan youth to see themselves as stakeholders in a story that is a very different narrative than the reactionary account of the jihadists.