Moroccans protest after monarchy, Muslim party fail to deliver on reform
Morocco, held up as a model for reform in the wake of the Arab Spring, is slipping back into autocracy. Though a new constitution was passed in 2011, ongoing economic marginalization, a lack of transparency, and abuses by security forces have driven citizens to the streets for the first time in five years.
Observers and activists say that the government has responded by stifling speech and press freedoms and using the long reach of its security services to prevent a new protest movement from gaining steam.
They have concluded that it’s not enough to change the laws without reforming the institutions that enact those laws—institutions that remain unaccountable and enforce the monarch’s will.
