Cyberactivism and protest movements: the February 20th movement – the forming of a new generation in Morocco

Abstract

ABSTRACT The digital revolution has drastically transformed the conventional system of political representation, participation and communication, bringing accordingly many cultural changes in the public sphere where collective action is built and new identity aspects are constructed. This article attempts to make sense of the February 20th movement youth activists’ actions, understand their dynamics, analyse their mobilisation process, examine their paradoxes and highlight their promises from a social and political outlook. Youth activists in this movement used the internet as a tool to strategise, organise and mobilise supporters across the country to take the streets to demand for the democratisation of political institutions, lifting the veil on the dysfunctional and seriously out of touch political parties, more freedom of expression, more limits on the royal power and an end to corruption, nepotism and favouritism. To address this concern, a quantitative opinion survey was addressed to 100 activists in the February 20th movement in 2011 in three major cities in Morocco: Rabat, Casablanca and Meknes. The results obtained were significant with regard to gender participation in the movement, level of education, political affiliation and the use and manipulation of the Internet for political activism. Similarly, the manuscript shows that activists in the February 20th Movement have managed to transform the Moroccan society and changed the meaning of political participation and social debate in Morocco, altering, thus, Morocco's protest culture.