Need hospitals more than stadiums, cry Morocco's Gen Z

As Morocco races to build the world’s largest football stadium, a 1,15,000-seat colossus in preparation for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, a youth-led uprising is demanding the government redirect its billions toward something far more urgent: hospitals, schools, and basic dignity. Fueled by fury over crumbling public services and galvanised by the preventable deaths of eight women in an Agadir maternity ward last month, thousands of young Moroccans have flooded city streets nightly since 27 September, chanting: “No World Cup—health comes first!” and “We want hospitals, not football stadiums!” At the heart of the movement is Gen Z 212—a leaderless, digitally native coalition named after Morocco’s international dialling code. Organised through Discord, TikTok, and Instagram, and inspired by recent youth...