A World in Flux

The last time was in 2019, a few months before the outbreak of the pandemic, and Marrakech airport was a white cathedral of concrete and iron in the middle of nowhere, with a dusty front square used as a disorganized parking lot, a pre-entrance under the scorching sun full of tourists queuing for travel document checks, and a long avenue through the desert toward the city. We returned last November and landed in the middle of houses; on the sides of the runway, entire neighborhoods of new homes have swallowed the airport, and air traffic does not stop even at night. So much so that, after protests from citizens and in view of the upcoming 2030 World Cup, construction has begun on a new one about 30 km away, which will be the largest airport in the area.

In 2014, Marrakech had just over 900,000 inhabitants; today there are more than one million and 400,000, witnessing a growing nation that looks to the future as a protagonist. The 2023 earthquake (2,900 deaths) brought destruction but simultaneously generated new energies that are transforming the country. The signs of the many collapses of historical buildings and the walls of the Medina are still visible, and the dramatic images of the great Koutoubia minaret swaying come to mind, but everything is being reborn with a new light and perspective; one breathes strength, will, and youth. And it is precisely the latter that is the key unlocking the doors to the future: the young people, the vast majority of Marrakech's inhabitants, the true resource of the nation, are taking the field and playing their part. In times of total falling birth rates, of Musk setting fire to the tricolor and pointing to us as being close to disappearance, the comparison is, to say the least, perplexing.

In the incessant bustle of the Medina's activities, one breathes the powerful air of a world in flux, decided to grow, determined in the will to build a better future; young people make their voices heard, demanding better education and an open and efficient public healthcare system; they feel like the authors of their own destiny and want to live it as protagonists. Exponentially rising tourism is the pivot of the economy and the engine of every activity and trade, the true soul of this place—vibrant, incessant, omnipresent. In this living market that weaves through and occupies every tiny space, I have never seen a TV turned on (nor even a screen turned off); television as a habit simply does not exist. Time is money and is not wasted; no television-induced idleness, but scooters, bicycles, donkeys, carts, and mules incessantly crossing the crowd loaded with every kind of goods. The young people never stand still, except for the shopkeepers, sitting in front of their colorful shops, hunched over their cell phones. The contrast is dazzling: social media is stronger than tradition and the local commercial instinct; no one stops you anymore to invite you to make a purchase, start a negotiation, or haggle over an item; the voice of the Medina has gone silent; here too, technology has claimed its first victims and corrupted the soul of Marrakech.

Michelangelo Dotta
NP December 2025