have long felt marginalized by the Moroccan state. In the Rif region, the unemployment rate is over 20 percent of the labor force, twice the national average, while the informal economy prevails. Most households rely on the financial support of family members living in Europe, mainly in the Netherlands and Belgium.

A year on, the demands of the Hirak (the movement) – including jobs, better infrastructure, access to healthcare and education, and the demilitarization of the region – are still very well alive. But the Hirak as a street force has vanished. No major protest has taken place in the region since July 20, when police forces violently dispersed and used tear gas against the inhabitants of El Hoceima and its surroundings as they tried to gather in theof financial concessions and heavy repression, authorities have succeeded in silencing the Hirak. The press also played a major role in discrediting the movement’s leaders, spreading unfounded rumors and accusing activists of being separatists, of creating fitna – division and disorder in the community, a serious accusation in Morocco. In recent months, the Hirak has transformed into a movement mainly calling for the release of political prisoners.

In Morocco, the history of protest movements is one of perpetual renewal. The February 20 Movement, which called for more democracy, accountability from political leaders, and an end to widespread corruption, led the biggest protests the country had witnessed in its recent history. While protests took place in as much as 115 cities at the peak of the mobilization in April 2011,