Thousands of Moroccans recently took to the streets in peaceful demonstrations, raising clear demands: the right to quality education and respectable healthcare. The slogans were not linked to political choices but focused on the daily life details of the ordinary citizen: overcrowded classrooms and hospitals lacking staff and medicines. Nevertheless, these demonstrations became a subject of political contention in the Algerian media.

The Algerian media coverage did not just highlight the events but presented them in a way that almost turned them into a political uprising: exaggerated headlines and a direct link between social demands and attacks on the monarchy emptied the scene of its real content. More importantly, this interpretation ignored essential elements: first, the peaceful nature of the demonstrations conducted in civilized ways far from chaos (except for some isolated incidents disavowed by protest leaders from Generation Z); second, the state’s responsibility to improve basic services as a constitutional right; and third, and most importantly, that this type of protest reflects the vitality of civil society rather than the collapse of the political system.

More dangerously, this Algerian media discourse overlooks an obvious fact: the crises in health and education are not exclusive to Morocco. They are a Maghreb-wide dilemma. Hospitals suffering from a lack of doctors and equipment also exist in Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. Schools failing to accommodate the increasing number of students or meet labor market demands are not only a Moroccan problem but a shared struggle across the region. If anything, Morocco is in a better position than many of these countries, foremost among them Algeria. Turning these crises into a matter of political one-upmanship obscures the need for comprehensive regional reform that recognizes what unites the peoples more than what divides them.

Through the peacefulness and organization of its demonstrations, the Moroccan street showed that demands for the right to health and education can be raised in civilized ways reflecting citizens’ awareness of their dignity and rights. However, when the Algerian media emptied this scene of its true meanings, it missed a valuable opportunity for serious discussion on how the region’s countries invest in people and direct resources toward building schools and hospitals instead of fueling futile political conflicts. The truth ignored by the inciting media discourse is that the demand for health and education is not evidence of the weakness of any particular state but a desire of all the peoples of the region for a better life. This is not a matter for mockery or incitement but a collective call deserving response and cooperation.

A placard carried by a young man in the streets of Marrakech demanding a good public school means much more than a “Moroccan crisis.” It is a mirror reflecting a collective regional demand: a better life in a homeland that respects human dignity. Will they understand the lesson?