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“Vive la génération Zbeul!”
An Account of the Morocco Riots as Seen from a Far Corner of France
The term “zbeuler” is now quite widespread in France, especially among those who seek to make a break with normality, whether that of the exploitation of labor, the power of the police, the patriarchy, etc… “Zbeuler” as a verb means to disrupt and disorder what that the rich and powerful seek to impose upon us all. The linguistic origins of the term derive from the Arabic word “zbel,” meaning “garbage” or “waste,” and, by extension, what must thrown away or eliminated. “Zbel” quickly took on a social significance, especially through the popularity of an online meme based on a web series character named “Bouzebal.” Literally translating to “garbage man,” Bouzebal is a young lower-class drifter from the banlieues whose sworn enemy is “Kilimini” (a phonetic contraction of the French “qu’il est mignon” in the Moroccan Darija dialect), a rich kid symbolizing those privileged youth who had the means to study abroad and can speak formal French.
From September 30 to October 1, a riotous wave of “zbeul” engulfed more than 30 cities in Morocco, big and small, which largely seems to have been the work of a bunch of “bouzebals,” as some would say out of contempt for the working class but which for others is a sign of pride. Whether they were indeed bouzebals or not, all of the rebels who attacked police stations and burned down banks defied authority with a fiery intensity seldom seen in Morocco in recent years. Continue reading “Vive la génération Zbeul!” An Account of the Morocco Riots as Seen from a Far Corner of France


