Morocco¡¯s capital Rabat gleams with new roads, restored buildings, buzzing cafes and its immaculate Andalusian Gardens. Yet across the river, the gloss quickly comes off King Mohammed VI¡¯s showpiece city.
The adjacent commuter town of Sale is full of rutted roads, dilapidated housing and crime. A hotbed for activists over the years, it erupted again last week as young protesters in the densely populated neighborhood of Al-Amal smashed police cars, vandalized banks and set properties ablaze. They were met with a brutal crackdown by the authorities.
Their anger stems from widening inequalities in a country that¡¯s spending billions on hosting the World Cup and such things as Africa¡¯s biggest ice hockey rink, and where the ruling class lives lavishly but youth unemployment sits at 60%. And it¡¯s a resentment that¡¯s echoing across the globe at the moment.
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