Dear mothers, your absence today makes your children victims of chaos tomorrow.
This question must be urgently raised today, especially as the streets of many Moroccan cities have turned into battlegrounds between law enforcement and minors barely over the age of fourteen. Young people, who should be focusing on school, exams, and their future, instead participate in riots, vandalism, and disorder, without understanding the meaning of their actions or realizing the consequences of their behavior.
From Ait Amira and Ola Taima to Casablanca and Oujda, and on to Kenitra, the scene is the same: chaos, losses, chases, and acts of vandalism that exceed any context of legitimate peaceful protest. The biggest absentee amidst this disorder is the family. Where are the fathers? Where are the mothers? Where is the family responsibility in protecting minors from being led into the unknown?
What’s worse is that some who raise slogans of freedom and democracy exhibit blatant hypocrisy. They warn their children against the dangers of going into the streets and ensure their safety at home while encouraging other people’s children to take to the streets and protest, even pushing them to the front lines to become fuel for chaos and potential victims. What kind of morals is this? What kind of logic?
Protest is an undeniable right, but it becomes a disaster when it turns into a game in the hands of minors. They lack the tools for understanding and the protection of experience, making it easy for opportunistic parties to exploit them, seeking chaos more than reform. Responsibility is shared: families that neglect to guide their children, and organizations that claim to provide direction while leaving youth to face the unknown.
The interests of children and youth are above any slogan and greater than any political rhetoric. Protecting the generation of tomorrow from slipping into chaos is more important than any packaged freedom slogans, as the nation can only thrive with educated and aware youth, not with youth used as fodder in street battles.
Do we need to wait for a greater catastrophe to recognize this truth?
