Event

How Gen Z is reshaping protest in North Africa

This event hosted by UK think tank Chatham House explores how youth activism in Morocco and Tunisia is shaping political change and reform.

More than a decade after the Arab uprisings, young people across North Africa are once again taking to the streets, echoing a global wave of movements led by Gen Z activists demanding accountability, equity, and a voice in shaping their futures.

In Tunisia and Morocco, this new activism channels both frustration and creativity, drawing on the memory of 2011 but reframing it through today’s digital and economic realities.

This panel brings together North Africa analysts from different generations to explore how young people’s aspirations and forms of dissent are attempting to reshape politics in the region, and what these shifts might mean for the future of governance and reform.

Key questions to be discussed include:

• How are demographic patterns and the weight of a large youth population shaping the way young people in Tunisia and Morocco respond to today’s political and economic grievances, and what sets Gen Z’s protest culture apart from earlier waves of mobilisation?
• In what ways are digital tools, online networks and new forms of civic expression influencing youth led mobilization, and how do these patterns compare with global trends in Gen Z activism?
• What do the recent protests reveal about the future relationship between state and society in North Africa, and is the current social contract with young people sustainable?
• Looking ahead, which policy choices or governance reforms could respond meaningfully to the demands expressed through these protests, and what risks emerge if these demands continue to go unmet?

Speakers

Hayder Al-Shakeri – Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme

Merissa Khurma – CEO AMENA Strategy, Associate Fellow Middle East Institute

Mondher Tounsi – Member, Common Futures Conversations, Tunisia