Arab Spring in Morocco: social media and the 20 February movement

• Main Authors: Brouwer, Lenie, Bartels, Edien
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Gents Afrika Platform, Afrika Brug 2014-12-01
• Series: Afrika Focus
• Subjects: Morocco; Arab Spring; new social movement; social media; meaning-making
• Online Access: http://www.gap.ugent.be/africafocus/pdf/2014vol27nr2_LenieBrouwer.pdf

Encouraged by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, and the Arab Spring, young Moroccans began to organise huge demonstrations across the country demanding more democracy, social justice and anti-corruption measures. The 20 February movement, named after the first demonstration held on that date in 2011, is a good illustration of one of the new social movements characterized by an intense use of technology and their diffuse membership. This article explores how protesters challenge the dominant institutions and norms in society through their struggle and how they try to create new meanings for these institutions, not only by protesting but also by using social media. We argue that using new social media is not only a vehicle for the mobilisation of activists, but also represents a form of new meaning-making for them: they participate, not only in a local sense, but also globally. Their online activities intersect and influence offline practices and vice versa, creating a continuous interaction which exerts an influence on both worlds. It is precisely this interconnectedness of offline and online worlds that is the decisive force in these movements and creates new meaning-making.