Posted on 01/19/2012 2:16:13 PM PST by presidio9
Five unemployed Moroccan men set themselves on fire in the capital Rabat as part of widespread demonstrations in the country over the lack of jobs, especially for university graduates, a rights activist said Thursday. Three were burned badly enough to be hospitalized.
Once rare, self-immolation became a tactic of protest in the Middle East and North Africa ever since a vegetable seller in Tunisia set himself on fire in December 2010 to protest police harassment, setting off an uprising that toppled the government and sparked similar movements elsewhere in the region.
The Moroccans were part of the "unemployed graduates" movement, a loose collections of associations across the country filled with millions of university graduates demanding jobs. The demonstrations are often violently dispersed by police and in some towns and cities have resulted in sustained clashes.
While the official unemployment rate is only 9.1 percent nationally, it rises to around 16 percent for graduates.
Around 160 members of the movement have been occupying an administrative building of the Ministry of Higher Education for the past two weeks in Rabat as part of their protest. Supporters would bring them food until two days ago when security forces stopped them.
"The authorities prevented them from receiving food and water, so five people went outside to get food and threatened to set themselves on fire if they were stopped," said Youssef al-Rissouni of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights.
Of the three who were hospitalized, two were in serious condition, while the other two just had their clothing singed, he added.
Online videos of the incident show at least one person writhing while covered in flames. Photos afterwards showed men with large sections of their skin burned. The online newspaper Goud reported that two of the men had second degree burns and were going to be sent to the Casablanca burn unit.
While the Moroccan economy has posted steady growth rates for the last several years of around 4 to 5 percent, it has been unable create enough jobs for the growing numbers of young people entering the work force every year.
The self-immolation of Tunisia's Mohammed Bouazizi in the hardscrabble town of Sidi Bouzid in December 2010 became the symbol of the depths of despair to which the poor of North Africa and the Middle East have sunk. Last week, four more people set themselves on fire in Tunisia, including a father of three who died from his burns.
Moroccans elected a new Islamist government in November which ran on a platform of social justice and tackling unemployment.
RE: Unemployed graduates’ in Morocco set themselves on fire to protest lack of jobs
What are they going to do when the job market improves?
No wonder they can't get hired, they can't even set themselves on fire right.
Well, I’ll confess that this is one approach to job-hunting I never considered.
Mad Mo’s fault.
What? The 7th century principles of sharia law not working out?
Could #5 get a job supplying gasoline and matches to numbers 1 through 4?
.
They really made an ash of themselves!
To paraphrase Sam Kinison, “GO TO WHERE THE JOBS ARE!”..................
Are the Occupy people taking notes?? I will donate all the oily rags and gasoline they want....
Math was evidently not his strong suit. Perhaps those Arabic numbers threw him.
They have an Obama too? Wonder how their Hopey Changey thing is working out?
Occupy Casablanca?
Hopefully, this idea will spread to the “Occupy” morons.
Excellent. This is a practice that needs to be widely adopted in Muslim Societies.
New York probably requires a carbon offset tax for self immolation so OWS is out.
Well that was effective.. are they employed now?
Five set themselves on fire.
Two just singed themselvesI had to read it three times to figure out the count.
two went to the hospital in serious condition
one went to the hospital but was only in medium-rare condition.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.