For my money, the best-produced and most dramatic Arab Spring videos have been those of Morocco's February 20 movement. Here's the latest, calling for a boycott of the July 1 referendum.

Reuters reports that one group in the Moroccan coalition that is protesting today has backed out:

(Reuters) - A Moroccan youth movement that led calls for nationwide protests on Sunday has pulled out because of a disagreement with Islamists and leftists over the role of the monarchy, one of its leaders said.

I suspect they were intimidated, because one would think they would have thought about their partners in this, who would bring out the numbers, earlier. Surely the better logic would be to have people from the mainstream center participate so that Islamists and leftists don't monopolize the day. This will make it easier for the regime to paint the protests as run by "extremists". 

Update: Some of the people alleged to have pullout have issued a denial.

Here is their statement:

Le "mouvement liberté et démocratie maintenant au Maroc" annule la manifestation de dimanche

Rabat- Le "mouvement liberté et démocratie maintenant au Maroc" a annoncé, samedi dans un communiqué sur le Web, l'annulation de l'appel à la manifestation de dimanche 20 février.

MM. Antit Rachid, Hicham Ahalla et Ahmed Qatib du groupe des jeunes fondateurs de ce mouvement ont annoncé cette annulation dans plusieurs réseaux sociaux du Web.

Le mouvement a motivé cette décision par quatre raisons à savoir "les tentatives de groupes religieux et de la gauche radicale à exploiter les événements internationaux pour orienter cette manifestation vers les luttes confessionnelles et idéologiques au lieu de s'unifier autour des besoins de la société marocaine en réforme sereine dans le cadre de la stabilité et de la cohabitation".

"La non précision de tous les participants de leur identité politique et de leurs positions référentielles sur la monarchie marocaine en tant que système politique jouissant de l'unanimité nationale" est la deuxième raison de l'annulation de cette manifestation, a précisé ce groupe de jeunes.

Pour le mouvement liberté et démocratie, "la violation de l'engagement du principe de l'indépendance des mouvements du 20 février vis à vis des agendas extérieurs" et "le manque de visibilité de l'ensemble des institutions, partis et individus ayant tardivement rejoint l'appel du mouvement Jeunesse du Facebook", sont les autres raisons qui ont motivé l'appel à l'annulation de cette manifestation.

Partant de ce constat, "le mouvement annonce l'annulation de sa participation dans les marches prévues et nous faisons assumer aux parties

appelant à manifester les responsabilités politiques de tout dérapage des orientations et des fondements du mouvement liberté et démocratie maintenant en tant que mouvement principal duquel sont issus les autres mouvements".

Après avoir souligné que "la clarté et l'intelligence étant synonymes de toute véritable action de militantisme et qu'il est impératif que dans chacune de ses étapes l'on s'imprègne de la vertu de la responsabilité et de la maturité", le mouvement "repose à tous les véritables questions avec la même audace que celle avec laquelle nous réclamons l'amélioration des situations au Maroc".

"Doit-on s'oublier dans la vague des événements, négliger les fondements et laisser la voie libre aux amateurs de la pêche en eaux troubles. Doit-on observer le silence tout en étant contents du lot considérable des opportunistes de solutions faciles qui nous rejoignent alors qu'ils ont omis de révéler leurs contradictions. Nous ne pouvons laisser les choses se transformer subitement à ce que nous n'avions pas visé par cette manifestation ni se prétexter du consensus et de la tolérance avec ceux ne croyant pas en la liberté, la démocratie et la diversité", s'est interrogé le mouvement.

"La manifestation et le droit à l'expression impliquent la responsabilité des répercussions politiques. Aussi manifester dans la rue n'est pas, en lui même, l'objectif alors que grandissent les illusions de groupes et d'individus, rejetées par la société marocaine constamment mobilisée autour de l'institution de la Monarchie garante de la continuité", poursuit le communiqué.

"Nous constatons que ces groupes et individus exploitent ce moment propice pour dévoiler leur véritable visage dans l'exclusion et l'aventure, et ce à l'encontre de notre volonté saine et mature à contribuer à l'amélioration de notre situation dans le calme".

Le mouvement liberté et démocratie maintenant décèle le danger découlant des appels au chaos et des desseins voulant transformer le droit à manifester en désordre et entraîner le Maroc dans le terrain des clans religieux et de confrontation gratuite sur fonds d'idéologies archaïques".

"La même audace qui nous a permis, au départ, d'exprimer nos revendications naturelles pour une transition vers la démocratie, l'attachement à l'acquis de la Monarchie et l'appel à la réforme par voie du dialogue et du débat franc, nous amène à annoncer l'annulation des marches du 20 février", conclut le communiqué.

Above is the second video ahead of February 20 protests for constitutional reform, the dissolution of parliament and the formalization of the Amazigh (Berber) language(s) in Morocco. These videos have been attacked as too well produced to be the work of young Moroccans, which tells you a lot about the contempt the regime has for the country's youth. Incidentally, I think it was a mistake to add the second two requests — the last parliamentary election was fairly clean (even if money played a big role) and the question of Amazigh is a) divisive and b) something parliament can vote for. The real problem is the emasculation of parliament by a constitutional framework that gives all power to the palace. But that just my jouj centimes and I wholeheartedly support the protest movement.

Tomorrow's protest will be joined by all sorts of people, but it seems to me two groups will stand out. One is a network of mostly leftist youth that has been involved with all sorts of activism in the last few years and is close to the human rights world and the AMDH specifically. It gravitates around leftist parties such as the PSU and will probably include disaffected members of the USFP, the historic center-left party. The other group will consist largely of Adl wal-Ihsan, the largest Islamist movement in Morocco, which has long advocated constitutional reform. It is legally banned. Also present should be the wing of the legal Islamist party, the PJD, whose leaders have largely been "Makhzenized" but that has a strong figure of resistance in Mustafa Ramid, a member of parliament for Casablanca. And of course there will be tons of ordinary people with no political affiliation.

Some more notes:

• The government is said to have jammed al-Jazeera's signal on Nilesat (unconfirmed.) Several months ago Morocco withdrew accreditation from al-Jazeera.
• This document [Ar] has the demands of the 20 February movement and some tips on how to deal with riot control police. It stresses the need for peaceful protests.
• Profile of Said Benjebli, one of the bloggers at the core of the movement. Benjebli is a former Islamist.
• This intervention by the third-in-line to the throne in Morocco, Prince Moulay Hicham, who has been estranged from his cousin King Muhammad VI for over a decade, is generating a lot of commentary in Morocco. Moulay Hicham (whom I've met a few times) has been blamed by pro-regime media for all kinds of things. Idiots like Ahmed Charai, who publishes a lot of Moroccan propaganda in English, even accuse him of being some kind of pro-Islamist force. He always gets accused of plotting against the regime, but what he says here is pretty clear and I largely share his opinion. 
• Ahmed Benchemsi has a nice op-ed, without his former magazine (that's doing propaganda for the regime now). 
• Morocco protests will test regime's claims to liberalism | World news | The Guardian
• The Canadian Press: Moroccans mobilize online for anti-government protest, but government itself barely blinks
• Riots in Moroccan city over utility costs | Reuters
• Morocco braces for protests as unrest moves westward
• An interesting blog for info: MAMFAKINCH - Moroccan Independent News Portal
• Moroccan activists have taken the RNN model developed in Egypt and set up a similar Facebook-based news portal. I hate Facebook so I never read these things.
• I hear from friends that there was a bunch of vandalism in Tangier. Sounds like the same methods used in Egypt are being applied by the regime in Morocco. A lot of disinformation is flowing around, the people against the protests are using extremely violent language against the protestors. What I'm most afraid of is violence tomorrow by citizens manipulated by the authorities (never mind hired thugs).

Here's another video that explains more, along with its text in French and English:

Qui sommes-nous?
Nous sommes des jeunes marocains qui aiment ce pays, nous appelons de nos vœux le changement et la dignité. 
Pourquoi on descend dans la rue?
C'est parce que nous voulons que beaucoup de choses changent dans ce pays que nous ne voulons plus être méprisés. Nous voulons que ceux qui pillent nos richesses soient sanctionnés. Nous voulons sortir pour dire : stop au pillage! Stop à la corruption.
Qu'est ce qu'on veut?
Nous voulons une Constitution démocratique, la fin de l'impunité des
responsables qui commettent des abus de pouvoir et qui profitent des richesses de ce pays. Nous voulons un gouvernement qui serve nos intérêts et un Parlement qui nous représente.
Et les rumeurs?
Les rumeurs d'annulation des manifestations pacifiques du 20 février sont de
fausses rumeurs, malgré ça on confirme qu'on va descendre dans la rue le 20 février.
Comment ça a commencé?
Les manifestations ont toujours existé au Maroc, les révolutions tunisienne et
égyptienne ont redonné espoir à la jeunesse marocaine et au Maroc tout entier.
Qui est derrière nous?
Ce que tout le monde doit savoir, c'est qu'aucune organisation politique ne
se cache derrière nous, notre unique souci c'est le changement et les revendications du peuple marocain.
Et les detentions?
Nous n'avons plus peur des coups de matraque et des arrestations illégales,
au contraire, cela nous donne plus de détermination et rend nos revendications plus légitimes.

Who is behind us?
What everybody must know is that there is no political organisation behind us and that only the worries of the Moroccan people and the responsability of change motivate us.
How did it start?
The protests have always existed in Morocco and the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions gaves hope to the Moroccan youth and to the whole country.
What about detentions?
We are no longer afraid by truncheon hittings or either by illegal arrests, on the contrary, that gives us more determination and legitimates our claims. 
What do we demand?
We ask for a democratic Constitution, the end of impunity of those who committed power abuses and those who have taken advantage of country's wealth. We want a government who serves our interests and a Parliament who represents us.
Who are we?
We are young Moroccans who love this country and we deeply ask for change and dignity.
Why do we protest?
The reason we want a wide change in this country is that we refuse to be despised. We want those who looted the country's wealth to be sanctionned. We want to go out to say : stop looting ! Stop corruption !

Following up on my previous post on Morocco, here is the video made ahead of the February 20 protests for constitutitional reform (and muche else), but with subtitles this time.

The Moroccan press and most of the political parties are on full-fledged attack mode against the organizers of the 20 February movement, accusing them of either being irresponsible, extremist or actually traitorous. The narrative emerging from the inimitable Minister of Communications, Khaled Naciri (effectively the government spokesman) is that some wayward Moroccan youth are being led astray by a call from Facebook that is probably initiated by an American-Iranian-Algerian-Polisario conspiracy.

Another line the regime has taken is that it's ridiculous to want to imitate Tunisia or Egypt because Morocco has always been considerably freer. This is untrue, some regime figures have had the temerity to claim that people have been free to protest since the 1960s, which is an insult to the memory of the victims of the "years of lead." In any case, a confusion has been deliberately created that the February 20 protests are about overthrowing King Muhammad VI, which they are absolutely not about: they are largely about socio-economic grievances and the need for the reforms that the regime has pretended to undertake to actually be implemented, starting with constitutional reform to make Morocco into a genuine constitutional monarchy rather than an absolute one that disguises what it is by calling itself an "executive monarchy".

For the past two weeks, the regime propaganda machine has created an outpouring of affection from Muhammad VI. Much of it is based on genuine respect for the institution of the monarchy as well as the man himself, but it is dangerous to play with the king's image in this way. One possible backlash is that on February 20 the protestors will get attacked as traitors. Street violence can get pretty savage in Morocco — I dread to think what might happen. And that's on top of official and covert repression organized by the state. And the regime is taking steps like boosting subsidies (which begs the question — if they were not thinking of doing it before, are they only doing it now because of the threat of protests?)

I've been in touch with activists are there are reports of Youtube and other social media accounts being hacked, everyone involved is changing their passwords. Nonetheless, I am seeing organizing committees in about 10 cities thus far, mostly in the north. What's not clear right now is how things might play out in Western Sahara, where protests took place only last November (ending in a riot, partly because of the army's intervention). Since one of the main arguments used against the protestors is that they are putting Morocco's territorial integrity in danger (even though the protests have nothing to do with Western Sahara, but nevermind). This is the line being put out by anti-protest bloggers, whose motivation against the protests are utterly confounding: if these are just normal protests, and Morocco is a free country where one can express oneself, then what's the worry? Take a look for instance at Robin Des Blogs and BigBrother.ma — in the French-language Blogoma, long the most stalwart defenders of the Makhzen. For the other side, see Larbi or Vox Maroc. There are many more of course on either side, but I don't follow that many blogs myself. I am curious what my friend Ibn Kafka will say when he decides to intervene, though.

To summarize, I think these protests hint at the malaise that has taken over Morocco in the last few years in the face of the mounting political and economic micro-management from the palace (and accompanying corruption), the king's unwillingness to move away from a neo-feudal system of governance that relies on his own symbolic power combined with backdoor negotiations led by the Makhzen, as well as disgruntlement with the result of this style of management: high unemployment, inability to carry out educational reform, political disaffection, etc. The 20 February movement has strong elements from the hard left and from Adl wal Ihsan, the largest Islamist movement. These have long been the monarchy's most outspoken critics, but their ideologies often alienate others. From what I've seen so far, I'm not sure that large parts of the apolitical urban middle class youth will join in, either because of fear, brainwashing of simply discomfort with these groups. Even so, these protests could put the question of constitutional reform back on the table, and remind the regime that it cannot continue to claim to be reformists while not carrying out any fundamental reforms in the last five years.   

Update:

Here's a rap video made for the day:

The video above is part of a viral campaign to encourage people to protest in Morocco on February 20. The call to protest was initially put out by the center-left PSU party, but it is also backed by civil society movements. Many are skeptical that this movement will end up very far: unlike Egypt or Tunisia, Morocco has not been ruled by the same man for over two decades (Muhammad VI became king in 1999). 

But there are similarities with these countries: over the last five years or so, Morocco has regressed after initially showing promise. Freedom of expression is at the lowest since the late 1990s, with independent voices shut out by campaigns of intimidation and libel lawsuits. Political life has been hijacked by a party run by the king's closest friend. Economic life is being suffocated by the palace, with the king's economic interests now harming entrepreneurship with its anti-competitive measures. There is also still no new constitution making Morocco into a real constitutional monarchy, with Muhammad VI effectively an absolute ruler. The Makhzen — the state and business elite that runs the country — acts with ever more impunity. Rule of law suffers, notably because people close to the royal family can get away with anything — including, a few years ago, shooting a police officer.  

Moroccans deserve better. We need rule of law and a monarchy that respects citizenship and political life. We need to reduce the Makhzen's micro-management of politics and its encouragement of tribalism and feudalism. The Sidi Ifni uprising of 2008 and Agdaym Izik protest of 2010 showed there is a lot of underlying tension caused not just by poverty but because of corrupt management of the country, notably by the palace and its walis (governors). This is why you need accountable government: not because it will make Moroccans richer overnight, but because you need an interface between people and government that is accountable.

Already a campaign of accusations against this movement has started in Morocco, with these people being branded as "Islamo-leftists," "nihilists" and the other buzzwords favored by the ridiculous Ministry of Communications. Moroccans at home and abroad are getting tired of this bullshit, empty promises, and a king who is not the "executive monarch" he claims to be (if so, he should be taking responsibility for the people he surrounds himself with and spend a lot less time on leisure trips abroad) and who has done nothing to give Moroccans a dignified relationship to the state in the 21st century. Morocco's government has had a chance to initiate more profound reforms in the past decade and failed to seize it. Intimidation continues and torture has been making a comeback. It's about time it got a little push in the right direction.