It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Trump ‘Sends a Dangerous Message’ With ‘America First’ Diplomat Purge, Says Union
The American Foreign Service Association said the move “tells our public servants that loyalty to country is no longer enough—that experience and oath to the Constitution take a back seat to political loyalty.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks beside President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, DC on December 2, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Following Politico‘s Friday reporting that “the Trump administration is recalling a number of career ambassadors appointed by former President Joe Biden,” several news outlets confirmed Monday that the purge is affecting at least 29 diplomats.
“This is a standard process in any administration,” an unnamed senior official at the US Department of State claimed to multiple journalists. “An ambassador is a personal representative of the president, and it is the president’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the ‘America First’ agenda.”
However, Nikki Gamer, a spokesperson for the diplomats’ union, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), told the New York Times that “those affected report being notified abruptly, typically by phone, with no explanation provided.”
“That method is highly irregular,” she said. “The lack of transparency and process breaks sharply with long-standing norms.”
Gamer told Reuters that “abrupt, unexplained recalls reflect the same pattern of institutional sabotage and politicization our survey data shows is already harming morale, effectiveness, and US credibility abroad.”
In a statement, the AFSA added: “To remove these senior diplomats without cause or justification sends a dangerous message. It tells our public servants that loyalty to country is no longer enough—that experience and oath to the Constitution take a back seat to political loyalty.”
According to the Associated Press: Africa is the continent most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 countries being removed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Uganda.
Second is Asia, with ambassadorial changes coming to six countries: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Vietnam affected.
Four countries in Europe (Armenia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Slovakia) are affected; as are two each in the Middle East (Algeria and Egypt); South and Central Asia (Nepal and Sri Lanka); and the Western Hemisphere (Guatemala and Suriname).
Noting that there are about 80 vacant ambassadorships, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) accused President Donald Trump of “giving away US leadership to China and Russia by removing qualified career ambassadors who serve faithfully no matter who’s in power.”
Eric Rubin, a retired career diplomat and former AFSA president, similarly highlighted that over half of US embassies won’t have a confirmed ambassador, which he called “a serious insult to the countries affected, and a huge gift to China.”
“This has never happened in the 101-year history of the US Foreign Service,” Rubin told CNN. “Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president. But every president has kept most career professional ambassadors in place until their successors are confirmed by the Senate.”
“The ambassadors who have been dismissed will mostly have to retire, which means the State Department will lose a large number of our most senior, experienced, and accomplished professionals,” he explained. “This is bad for our diplomacy, bad for our national security, and bad for our influence in the world.”
Monday, December 22, 2025
Trump removes nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial positions
MATTHEW LEE Sun, December 21, 2025
President Donald Trump holds a cell phone with a call to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as he departs on Air Force One at Rocky Mount-Wilson Regional Airport, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Elm City, N.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)(ASSOCIATED PRESS) Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a news conference at the State Department, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 career diplomats from ambassadorial and other senior embassy posts as it moves to reshape the U.S. diplomatic posture abroad with personnel deemed fully supportive of President Donald Trump’s “America First” priorities.
The chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January, according to two State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel moves.
All of them had taken up their posts in the Biden administration but had survived an initial purge in the early months of Trump’s second term that targeted mainly political appointees. That changed on Wednesday when they began to receive notices from officials in Washington about their imminent departures.
Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president although they typically remain at their posts for three to four years. Those affected by the shake-up are not losing their foreign service jobs but will be returning to Washington for other assignments should they wish to take them, the officials said.
The State Department declined to comment on specific numbers or ambassadors affected, but defended the changes, calling them “a standard process in any administration.” It noted that an ambassador is “a personal representative of the president and it is the president’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda.”
Africa is the continent most affected by the removals, with ambassadors from 13 countries being removed: Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia and Uganda.
Second is Asia, with ambassadorial changes coming to six countries: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam affected.
Four countries in Europe (Armenia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovakia) are affected; as are two each in the Middle East (Algeria and Egypt); South and Central Asia (Nepal and Sri Lanka); and the Western Hemisphere (Guatemala and Suriname).
Politico was the first to report on the ambassadorial recalls, which have drawn concern from some lawmakers and the union representing American diplomats.
Thursday, December 18, 2025
Scientists from the American Museum of Natural History discovered more than 70 new species in 2025
Newly described species range from insects to mammals to a new mineral
From fruit flies that bite to a tiny mouse opossum and a feathered dinosaur preserved with the remains of its last meal, more than 70 new species were described this year by researchers at the American Museum of Natural History. The discoveries span an extraordinary range of life—dinosaurs, mammals, fishes, reptiles, insects, arachnids, marine invertebrates, and even a previously unknown mineral, highlighting the Museum’s continued leadership in exploring the natural world.
Some of these species are the result of recent fieldwork and modern collecting expeditions, while others were uncovered by revisiting specimens that had been preserved in the Museum’s collections for decades, awaiting new technologies and fresh scientific insight.
“Together, these discoveries highlight the remarkable richness of Earth’s biodiversity and underscore the enduring value of natural history collections,” said the Museum’s Senior Vice President and Provost of Science Cheryl Hayashi. “Specimens preserved across generations continue to reveal new insights, reminding us how much there is still to learn about life on our planet.”
Among the newly described species are:
A new genus and species of sea anemone, Endolobactis simoesii, that has frond-like projections located on its lobes. The discovery results from an effort to improve scientists’ understanding of the diversity of sea anemones of the Atlantic side of Mexico and brings the number of documented species in this region to 24. (Zootaxa)
Two species of fruit flies whose mouthparts are modified into a pair of hard “jaws” in the males. An extraordinary feature among flies, these structures are likely used for grasping the female during courtship. Both species are known from single specimens collected from the Philippines in the 1930s but just recently studied. (Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington)
A Jurassic reptile with python-like hooked teeth and a body similar to a gecko’s that has links to the origins of lizards and snakes. The new species, Breugnathair elgolensis, was discovered in Scotland’s Isle of Skye by an international team of researchers and is one of the oldest relatively complete fossil lizards yet discovered. (Nature)
A new species of mineral, called Lucasite-(La), which was discovered within a volcanic rock in Russia. The mineral was officially approved by the International Mineralogical Association this year, and the type material is now part of the Museum’s permanent collection. (European Journal of Mineralogy)
A small species of mouse opossum with an exceptionally long nose and tail (Marmosa chachapoya). The mouse opossum was found in Parque Nacional Rio Abiseo in a remote part of the Peruvian Andes formerly occupied by people of the pre-Columbian Chachapoya culture, for which the species is named. Few species of mouse opossums have been collected at such a high elevation. (American Museum Novitates)
A squirrel-sized animal that lived in the early Jurassic in what is now China between about 174 and 201 million years ago, Camurocondylus lufengensis. In a study led by researchers at the Museum and at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, C. lufengensis was detailed along with a second species discovered in the 1980s, finding that the evolution of the modern mammal jaw is more complex than previously thought. (Nature)
A new genus and species of a crinoid, an ancient group of marine animals still alive today—sometimes called sea lilies—that are related to starfish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. Discovered on the Natiscotec River on Anticosti Island, Quebec, the new fossil species, Anticosticrinus natiscotecensis, has a unique pattern of plates on the main structure of its body. (Journal of Paleontology)
A fish from northwestern Madagascar that was discovered more than 20 years ago when the lead scientist was a graduate student. The new species, a cichlid that was named Paretroplus risengi, is distinguished by unique breeding coloration among other features. (Deep Blue Documents)
Forty-seven species of fossil and modern insects, primarily bees, including a “teddy bear” bee species from Vietnam, Habropoda pierwolae (Raffles Bulletin of Zoology); a cuckoo bee with long, sword-like spines on its back, Xiphodioxys haladai (American Museum Novitates); a digger bee from Chile, Anthophora brunneipecten, with a small comb on its face for combing up pollen from its host plants (Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine); and a fossil bumble bee species from the crater lake of Enspel, Germany, still carrying pollen, Bombus messegus (New Phytologist)
Two new species from the group of earliest feathered dinosaurs that lived about 125 million years ago in what is now China: one that was originally identified as a primitive “bird,” Sinosauropteryx lingyuanensis, and was discovered more than 10 years ago; and the other, Huadanosaurus sinensis, which was found with two mammal skeletons in its abdomen, the remains of its last meal. (National Science Review)
Two new species of suckermouth catfishes from rapids along the Congo River, Chiloglanis kinsuka and Chiloglanis wagenia. These sister species are both highly adapted to the river and are separated by nearly 1 mile of river (1600 kilometers). (American Museum Novitates)
Four species of small “sap” flies (family Aulacigastridae) in 17 million-year old amber from the Dominican Republic, captured when the tree resin was still soft. These flies today feed on the sap of wounded trees. The species reveal a surprising connection between the Caribbean and North America, since most such connections today and in the past are with Central and South America. (Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington)
A suckermouthed minnow from the highlands of Vietnam that was collected and shelved 25 years ago by Museum ichthyologists and only recently examined. This is the first species of this genus discovered in Vietnam, and it was given the name Supradiscus varidiscus. (American Museum Novitates)
Four different arachnids, including a scorpion from Iran—Hemiscorpius jiroftensis—whose venom is of interest in the development of pharmaceuticals (Diversity); a giant vinegaroon/whip scorpion from Mexico, Mastigoproctus spinifemoratus, discovered in collections borrowed from the California Academy of Sciences (Arthropoda); a short-tailed whip scorpion from the Venezuelan Amazon, Jipai longevus (Zootaxa); and a troglomorphic, cave-dwelling hooded tick-spider from Venezuela, Cryptocellus armasi (Zootaxa)
A cryptic large-eyed fish from the Kouilou-Niari River in the Republic of the Congo that had long been misidentified. The new species, Labeo niariensis, a type of African fish known as Labeo, a type of carp, is based on specimens collected between 2010 and 2013. (Journal of Fish Biology)
A pollen wasp (Metaparagia cuttacutta) collected in the Northern Territory, Australia. It represents the tenth described species of this genus and was collected by the lead scientist while he was stranded in Australia for eight months during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Australian Entomologist)
A new species of small “sap” fly, Aulacigaster alabaster, preserved in 17 million-year old amber from the Dominican Republic
ABOUT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY (AMNH)
The American Museum of Natural History in New York City, founded in 1869 with a dual mission of scientific research and science education, is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses more than 40 permanent exhibition halls, galleries for temporary exhibitions, the Rose Center for Earth and Space including the Hayden Planetarium, and the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. The Museum’s scientists draw on a world-class permanent collection of more than 30 million specimens and objects, some of which are billions of years old, and on one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. Through its Richard Gilder Graduate School, the Museum offers two of the only free-standing, degree-granting programs of their kind at any U.S. museum: the Ph.D. program in Comparative Biology and the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Earth Science residency program. Visit amnh.org for more information.
David Graeber, American anthropologist, anarchist activist, author
. PHOTOGRAPHER: MICHA THEINER/EYEVINE/REDUX
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David Graeber Archive The David Graeber Journal
One of the Institute’s central missions is to collect the documents left by David Graeber and to build up an archive of his work. The aim of this collection is to contribute to current and future research.
Participants in the DGI project in one of the Global South locations (possibly in Nairobi or/and Tanzania) will work directly with the archive, creating new publications and multimedia editions that bring David’s ideas to wider audiences.
Preparations are underway for the gradual publication of parts of the archive, beginning with Graeber’s field research in Madagascar. Some of the archives will be available to the public here, and some to researchers affiliated with our institute.
Among the invaluable benefits of this collection are the hundreds of pages of original field notes from fieldwork conducted by David Graeber in Madagascar. He kept detailed and meticulous notes and compiled a great deal of primary historic information, including hand-drawn maps, kinship charts and land ownership tables. Much of this information is represented in both written and pictorial form and is written in English, Malagasy, or French.
We’ve also published David’s music library, his video and audio archive and his social media archive. We are working to releas his book collection—a catalog of over 1,500 volumes. From this catalog, we’ll curate thematic collections that trace the intellectual networks that shaped his thinking.
Currently, 165 notebooks have already been digitized. Our next challenge: is converting handwriting to text.
David’s personal website, davidgraeber.org, will continue to work on collecting, sorting, and publishing available online information related to David.
If you want to contribute to the David Graeber Institute, please email us or visit our open call page for volunteers and interns.
Saturday, December 13, 2025
Science reveals new trigger point for the Black Death
People watch lava at a volcanic eruption at Litli Hrutur near Reykjavik, Iceland
- Copyright AFP Kristinn Magnusson
The Black Death, also known as the Bubonic Plague, was a devastating pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353, resulting in the deaths of millions, possibly 50% of Europe’s population at the time. Since then there have been repeated outbreaks, such as the plague pandemic that swept through India towards the end of the nineteenth century.
The plague and its disease-causing bacterium (Yersinia pestis) are with us today. Currently, Peru, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar are the so-called ‘plague hotspots’ in the world today. Such is the continual concern, I wrote an academic paper a few years ago titled “Could the ‘Black Death’ Become a Re-Emerging Infectious Disease?”
What triggered the Black Death is a subject that fascinates historians. Could a climate disaster have been the cause?
A newly analysed set of climate data points to a major volcanic eruption that may have played a key role in the Black Death’s arrival. Cooling and crop failures across Europe pushed Italian states to bring in grain from the Black Sea. Those shipments may have carried plague-infected fleas. The study ties together tree rings, ice cores, and historical writings to reframe how the pandemic began.
This new theory comes from the academics Martin Bauch (Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe) and Ulf Büntgen (Department of Geography, University of Cambridge), who have evaluated research on tree ring growth from eight regions in Europe, measurements of volcanic sulphur preserved in Antarctic and Greenland ice cores, and written reports from the fourteenth century.
Italy in medieval times. Image by Tim Sandle
Together, these records point to a significant volcanic eruption somewhere in the tropics around 1345 CE (ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica show a large burst of sulphur into the stratosphere around 1345). The eruption appears to have increased atmospheric sulphur and ash, which contributed to colder and wetter conditions across southern Europe and the Mediterranean.
“This is something I’ve wanted to understand for a long time,” says Büntgen. “What were the drivers of the onset and transmission of the Black Death, and how unusual were they? Why did it happen at this exact time and place in European history? It’s such an interesting question, but it’s one no one can answer alone.”
Historical accounts describe widespread crop failures and famine during this period in Spain, southern France, northern and central Italy, Egypt, and the Levant. The post-volcanic climate downturn and trans-Mediterranean famine prompted Italian maritime powers — such as Venice, Genoa and Pisa — to negotiate a ceasefire in a conflict with the Mongols of the Golden Horde (around the Sea of Azov, also referred to as the Kipchak Khanate) so they could secure grain shipments from the Black Sea region around 1347 CE.
A few months later, Venetian ships were sailing to Tana, near the mouth of the Don River, and to Asia Minor to secure grain. Also supporting this premise is the fact that Milan, Rome, and several grain‑producing centres in the Po Valley and along the Adriatic coast did not import Black Sea grain during 1347 and 1348. Consequently, these regions saw little or no plague during this initial phase.
The researchers point out that Venetian sources suggest that these imports helped prevent mass starvation. However, the timing of arriving grain ships and the first plague outbreaks in cities that received them raises another possibility.
Fleas carrying Y. pestis may have travelled with the grain. As the shipments were moved to additional cities, including Padua, these fleas could have helped accelerate the spread of the Black Death throughout Europe.
What is known is that the first human plague cases in Venice were reported less than two months after the arrival of the last grain ships.
The authors conclude, in their research paper, that this combination of climatic disruption, famine, and grain transport offers a plausible explanation for how the Black Death began and spread across Europe.
The findings appear in the journal Communications Earth, with the research titled “Climate-driven changes in Mediterranean grain trade mitigated famine but introduced the Black Death to medieval Europe.”
Murder of the Dead. Page 2. In Italy, we have long experience of "catastrophes ... oppressor of the living, is the murderer also of the dead: "But as ...
The youth movement in Morocco is part of the evolution of Moroccan society over almost twenty years, and in particular the difficulties of the workers’ movement and of all resistance forces in their relationship to the power of the state.
In what context did the Generation Z 212 [1] movement emerge?
The context was characterized by high social tension, stemming from the accumulation of popular discontent. The country has experienced unprecedented inflation for the past four years, but anger has remained dormant, failing to erupt into the kind of protests seen in 2006-2007, with the emergence of coordinating committees against the high cost of living. Not forgetting, of course, the deterioration of public services, particularly education and healthcare, and the spread of unemployment, following decades of strict adherence to the directives of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Overall, since the crackdown on the Hirak Rif movement in 2017, the situation has been characterized by the suppression of opportunities for protest and freedom of expression, with strict censorship and the arrest of bloggers and journalists. Popular resistance thus took the form, in 2018, of a boycott campaign targeting the products of several large companies, in protest against rising prices. Among these companies was the oil company owned by the current Prime Minister, one of the country’s wealthiest capitalists, whose net worth is estimated at US$2 billion. The movement of popular struggle min disadvantaged regions, which emerged in the second half of the 1990s and reached its peak in Sidi Ifni in 2005-2008 and in the Rif region in 2016-2017, has lost momentum.
A movement of popular struggle emerged after the earthquake in the Haouz region (in September 2023), but it was repressed and some of its leaders were imprisoned. Given the impact of climate change, many regions now face shortages of drinking water, leading to a resurgence of protests, particularly in rural areas, but these struggles have not been coordinated due to the weakness of leftist forces.
It was then that the Hirak movement in Figuig (November 2023) emerged, in response to a measure aimed at privatizing water services. The country has experienced sectoral struggles led by young people, particularly those of medical students and teachers (often contract workers) and workers in the health sector…
Then came this year’s wave of popular struggles, beginning with the Aït Bouguemez march last July, a two-day trek between the mountains and the city of Azilal, demanding social improvements: education, healthcare, the right to build rural housing, and an end to road and digital isolation. This victorious march marked the start of a wave of similar marches in the region. Simultaneously, other regions experienced popular demonstrations due to the shortage of drinking water (Morocco is experiencing an unprecedented drought that has lasted for 10 years), as well as a popular movement in the city of Taounate , protesting against the widespread deterioration of the social situation. Finally, the Generation Z movement emerged following a demonstration in front of the Agadir Regional Hospital on September 14, 2025, after the deaths of eight women in the hospital’s maternity ward. Due to prolonged austerity in healthcare spending, public hospitals are in such a state of disrepair that they no longer meet the minimum needs of citizens . This is a deliberate policy aimed at diverting citizens from the public sector to the private sector, which has been given free rein and has seen considerable growth, expanding from clinics to large healthcare complexes. The demonstration in Agadir resonated widely on the national level, especially since it was repressed, and that allowed many victims of the public healthcare system to speak out about their tragic situation.
Less than two weeks after the spark in Agadir, the Generation Z movement protest began on September 27, 2025.
That’s the context of the GenZ 212 movement from the perspective of popular social struggle. What about the working-class context?
The Generation Z 212 movement began its struggle three days after the entry into force of a law that effectively outlawed workers’ strikes. The adoption of this law represents a historic defeat for the Moroccan workers’ movement and demonstrates its extreme weakness, which has rendered its influence on young people engaged in the struggle virtually non-existent. Due to the dominance of political forces advocating social peace within the workers’ movement, defeats have followed one after another under the pretext of "social partnership," which involves the state integrating union leaders into all plans aimed at eroding social gains.
Starting with what was called the National Charter for Education and Training, a neoliberal charter (1999) that paved the way for the destruction of the public education service in favour of capital invested in the sector. There was also a restructuring of social protection (health insurance and pensions) according to the same neoliberal logic, and the modification of labour law towards greater job insecurity and the elimination of historical gains, as well as the application of workforce management methods specific to the private sector in the public sector (temporary contracts, increased exploitation, etc.).
Added to this is the inability of the workers’ movement to oppose creeping privatization, the policy of high rates of unemployment, widespread job insecurity, and the repression of union freedoms. Thus, Moroccan law still contains provisions that criminalize strikes (an "obstruction of the freedom to work") and prohibit strikes by civil servants (a law dating from 1958), as well as forbidding strikes by workers involving requisitioning of their workplaces. The policies of union bureaucracies have weakened unions and eroded their credibility, leading to workers’ anger being expressed through sectoral coordinating bodies that have further fragmented and disintegrated the union landscape.
Of course, workers’ resistance continues as a last line of defence (fighting against layoffs, defending union rights, etc.), but it is fragmented, lacking a unified programme of struggle or a clear political horizon. The biggest struggle in this context was the three-month-long strike by education workers (2023-2024) to repel the attack aimed at imposing a statute that would destroy hard-won gains and impose difficult working conditions. This movement was characterized by the emergence of new coordinating bodies that mobilized teachers, including the rank and file of the unions, most of which had supported the Ministry of Education’s plan. The movement achieved a partial victory, with the state abandoning certain provisions of the statute and granting a salary increase unprecedented in the sector’s history, exceeding that obtained during the February 20, 2011 movement. However, this increase did not fully satisfy teachers, as inflation limited its impact. But the absence of a union left prevented the structuring of the base of the movement, as well as the extension of the strike to at least two major sectors of the state which were in turmoil at the time: local authorities (90,000 employees ) and health (80,000 employees ), an extension which could have opened the way to a general strike giving the union movement renewed dynamism and new perspectives.
Instead, union leaders continued their policy of collaboration with the state by accepting the adoption of a law that eliminates the right to strike, while feigning opposition. They also agreed to continue the reform of the pension system, following an initial reform in 2016 (raising the retirement age for civil servants to 63, reducing pensions, and increasing the amount of payroll deductions). Finally, union leaders agreed to modify labour law in the direction of greater flexibility and job insecurity.
These fundamental setbacks have aggravated the crisis of the trade union movement and caused it to lose all respect in the eyes of the working class.
The Moroccan trade union movement was therefore completely taken by surprise by the GenZ 212 movement, while it is in a state of organizational weakness and under the domination of leaders who collaborate with the state, which makes it incapable of supporting the struggle of young people and responding to it as required by the duty to struggle.
The position of union leaders, some guided by reformist or reactionary religious opposition parties, while others are directly subordinate to the palace, is not new: the same approach was followed during the February 20, 2011 movement, and it intensified after the revolution that began in Syria turned into a civil war. At that time, they emphasized safeguarding stability and social peace, exceeding the state’s expectations in this regard. This was confirmed in the face of the Hirak movement in the Rif and the entire wave of popular struggle in neglected regions. Union bureaucracies systematically avoid any convergence between workers’ and popular struggles, in the name of social peace and maintaining stability.
We are therefore far from the example of Madagascar, where the Generation Z movement coordinated via the Internet with the unions to call for national strikes.
What is the social base of the Generation Z 212 movement, what are its demands and what forms does its struggle take?
In the background, there is the social catastrophe that the Covid-19 pandemic brought to the forefront of the political and media scene: more than 4.5 million families need social assistance, hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost due to the pandemic and successive droughts, public services (especially health) have deteriorated due to decades of austerity and support for the private sector, etc.
The GenZ 212 movement, due to the dynamics linked to its creation and operation, is a movement of young, highly qualified digital activists, graduates of the education system, who are confronted with the reality of the labour market, characterized by high unemployment rates and great job insecurity.
The unemployment rate for 15-24 year olds (the largest segment of Generation Z) reaches 35.8 per cent, and 47 per cent in urban areas. Most jobs offered to young people are extremely precarious, with fixed-term contracts becoming the norm following the widespread use of temporary work and employment agencies. The sectors employing young people are also characterized by overexploitation, as evidenced in particular by the security sector (120,000 employees), call centres (130,000), and electrical wiring for the automotive industry.
Initially, the movement’s demands were of a general social character, lacking precision and a direct political dimension. The movement adopted the slogan "We don’t want the World Cup, health first," widely disseminated by the Agadir protest on September 14, and it demanded reform of the education and health sectors, improved living conditions, and the fight against corruption.
The demand for the government’s removal appeared on October 3, expressing illusions about a superficial change that would not touch the core of neoliberal policy and would only be a false political outcome undermining the struggle dynamic of the Generation Z 212 movement, like the renewal of the superficial government during the February 20, 2011 movement, which had contributed to extinguishing that movement.
After six days of protests, the movement clarified its demands, addressed directly to the king by a list of eight demands: the dismissal of Aziz Akhannouch’s government for failing to protect the purchasing power of Moroccans ; the launch of an impartial judicial process to combat corruption; the dissolution of political parties implicated in corruption; the implementation of the principle of equality and non-discrimination, guaranteeing equal opportunities for young people in health, education, and employment, free from patronage and nepotism; the strengthening of freedom of expression and the right to political dissent; and freedom for all detainees linked to peaceful demonstrations; the release of all prisoners of conscience , participants in popular uprisings and student movements; the organization of a national public accountability session under the auspices of the king.
This document was followed by another, published on October 10th and entitled "List of Demands of Moroccan Youth: For the Activation of the Constitutional Contract and the Realization of the Ambitions of the New Development Model." As its title indicates, it draws on the state’s discourse, beginning with the 2011 Constitution, rejected by the February 20th Movement and the entire political opposition, and the "new development model," governed by a purely neoliberal logic. Even if the demands contained some illusions, they reflected a very broad dynamic of politicization among young people, long considered to be disinterested in politics. This dynamic quickly shattered some of these illusions after the great hopes that the Generation Z 212 movement had placed in the king’s personal intervention. Hopes that the king disappointed in his opening speech to the parliamentary session on October 10th.
Compared to the February 20th Movement of 2011, launched by young people influenced by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, the Generation Z 212 movement operates at a lower political level. The two main slogans of the February 20th Movement were: “Freedom, dignity, and social justice” and “The people want the fall of tyranny and corruption.” The young people of GenZ212 retained the first slogan and half of the second, without calling for the fall of tyranny. The February 20th Movement envisioned replacing despotic power with a parliamentary monarchy where the king would reign but not rule. A statement from the GenZ 212 movement, released on Discord on September 18, clarified that the group "clearly affirms that it is not against the monarchy or against the king, but on the contrary, considers the monarchy as an element of stability and continuity of Morocco" and that it demands "radical reform and positive change within the state and its institutions, so that priority is given to education, health, employment and the fight against corruption, so that Moroccan citizens can live in dignity and social justice."
The forms of protest employed by the Generation Z 212 movement consist of street demonstrations, some of which have turned into marches, which have been met with repression and resulted in arrests from the very first day. A major factor fragilizing the movement has been the involvement of the most oppressed groups of young people. These are the young people from the impoverished margins of society, the unemployed, victims of the education system, and victims of the spread of drugs and violence. The towns of Lqliaa and Aït Amira , in the Souss plain, have experienced the most significant acts of vandalism and arson, and the equipment and premises of the security forces have been targeted by masked youths. These cities are working-class neighbourhoods, home to young people from all over the country seeking employment in the Souss plain, which concentrates the majority of the agricultural workforce (70,000 to 100,000) on large capitalist farms, most of whose produce is destined for export. These young people, victims of the violence of an authoritarian capitalist system and its repressive apparatus (105,000 prisoners in Morocco, half of whom are under 30), responded to state violence with predictable vengeful violence that reached its peak on the fifth day, October 1st . Undoubtedly, the nature of the Generation Z movement, whose organization on Discord contrasts sharply with its organization on the ground, fuelled the outbreak of violence, unlike the demonstrations organized in rural areas and those organized by the workers’ movement.
After these acts of violence, from which the Generation Z movement distanced itself, it began to precisely determine the location and duration of its demonstrations in order to avoid the intervention of hooded youths, which led to a decrease in participation in the demonstrations, a sign that this phase of the movement was coming to an end.
What was the regime’s reaction?
Pro-regime media attacked the Generation Z 212 movement with the usual accusations that it was directed from abroad and had objectives hostile to the regime. Marches and rallies were violently dispersed, and numerous arrests were made. The Moroccan Association for Human Rights documented approximately 1,000 arrests, many of whom have since been released. By mid-October, 272 people, including 36 minors, remained in detention, while 221 had been released on bail. Sentences to prison terms and fines continue to be handed down.
In a speech delivered on October 10th, the king stated that "job creation for young people and concrete improvements in the education and health sectors" were priorities, but he did not mention the youth protests or the measures the government would take to achieve these goals.
Then came the communiqué from the royal palace after the meeting of the Council of Ministers (chaired by the king) on October 19, 2025 on the draft finance law for the year 2026, which attempted to highlight the social character of the budget by emphasizing the priority given to the creation of jobs for young people and to increasing the budgets of the health and national education sectors.
The announcement made in this press release will have an immediate calming effect, but its weakness will quickly become apparent given the scale of the population’s social needs and expectations, while the same general policies persist. Similarly, the Minister of Health announced measures and funding for the Agadir regional hospital in the aftermath of the September 14th demonstration, which proved far below what was needed. This is to be expected as long as there is no radical overhaul of the socially destructive neoliberal capitalist policies. Such an overhaul requires a relationship of forces favourable to the working class, in which the GenZ212 movement has played a significant role, but which still remains far from achieving this goal.
What will be the impact of the Generation Z 212 movement on the workers’ movement and left-wing forces?
The main characteristic of GenZ 212 is the politicization of a large segment of youth after decades of sectoral struggles, the most significant of which was that of unemployed university graduates. This latter movement structured youth struggles for over twenty years and disappeared after the state replaced direct recruitment with competitive examinations. Instead of fighting together, young people were pitted against each other. The country also experienced struggles by young teachers, the most important of which was that of the Teachers’ Coordination, organising contract workers, which shook the education sector for six years.
Higher education has experienced fragmented struggles, particularly in institutes and higher schools, the most important of which was that of students in faculties of medicine and pharmacy, which lasted 11 months (December 2023-November 2024).
The unifying nature of the Generation Z 212 movement and its demands, which concern the working class as a whole, make it a significant step in the evolution of youth consciousness. Furthermore, the confrontation with state repression and the shift from social to political demands—including the removal of the head of government and the disappointment sparked by the king’s speech on October 10th, 2025—represent a move towards greater political clarity. This has manifested itself in the political debates organized by the movement on the Discord platform, with the participation of political actors, all from the left and supporters of a parliamentary monarchy that strips the king of his absolute powers.
There is no doubt that the influence of the movement, which has temporarily receded under the weight of repression and promises from the government, will extend to young workers, who are also active in the digital space, to all young people from the working classes, as well as to the base of the trade union movement.
Will young people find their way toward forms of self-organization that structure their movement outside the virtual world? Will they evolve toward a radical, comprehensive political perspective? This will depend on the workers’ movement and its involvement in sectors that employ a large number of young people, as well as on the emergence within it of a left-wing pole that defends the real interests of the working class with a vision that offers an alternative social project. It will also depend on what left-wing forces do. As usual, some of these forces are content to express their solidarity with social struggles from afar, call on leaders to reform, and wait for elections, while their grassroots activists play a significant role in numerous popular struggles and in everyday union resistance. As for the radical left, most of it is called upon to review its tactics, whether in union work, where it refuses to defend an alternative line to that of the bureaucracy, aligning itself with the latter in exchange for positions in the apparatus, or in the course of electoral political life, where it adopts a sterile abstentionist position.
The politicization of Generation Z and the rapid evolution of their consciousness represent a major shift in the Moroccan political landscape, a landscape rich in possibilities that opens up unprecedented opportunities for left-wing forces. For over forty years, young people have been radicalizing in a reactionary fashion, strengthening Islamist forces, which has practically turned the page on the Marxist youth radicalization that characterized the 1960s and 70s. Today, we are facing a wave of politicization in a completely different context, due to the profound erosion of class consciousness following the defeats of the workers’ movement and national liberation movements, but this is not, however, an Islamist politicization.
Since young people took to the streets on September 27, 2025, the conditions for building a broad anti-capitalist left have improved, based on the social demands at the heart of youth struggles—the same demands as those of workers’ resistance and popular resistance in rural areas. Everything depends on how we act, drawing on events as they unfold. Politics is nothing other than the art of acting appropriately in response to circumstances.
Globally, the youth uprisings in many Asian countries and in Madagascar, as well as the global solidarity movement with Palestine, of which the general strike in Italy was a qualitative step, have had positive effects, to which must be added, at the regional level, the general and global strike that took place in the Tunisian province of Gabès on Tuesday, October 21, 2025. There is great hope that internal and external developments will combine to give new impetus to the workers’ and popular struggle in Morocco.
4 November 2025
Published in French in Inprecor, issue 739, December 2025.
