Gen Z protesters make their voices heard

On Saturday, young protesters in Peru’s capital of Lima gathered in a park before marching to the legislative headquarters. Some waved Peruvian flags, while others beat drums.

In weeks of protests, led by a group called Generation Z Collective, demonstrators are insisting Puru’s new interim president must resign and that Congress must shut down. Although authorities last Wednesday began a 30-day state of emergency, restricting movement and empowering armed patrols, demonstrators have defied the countermeasure.

Since last year, similar youth protests, largely organized online and without clear leadership, have echoed across several countries, ramping up in recent months and bringing political changes in places like Morocco and Nepal. Protesters’ exact motivations vary, but dissatisfaction with government is a prominent theme, sending young adults into the streets in hopes of changing their countries’ futures.

In Peru, the protests initially began late in September with calls for better pensions and wages, before ballooning into larger frustrations. Congress removed former President Dina Boluarte from office earlier this month for failing to quell the country’s high crime rate. Congressional leader José Jerí then stepped in as interim president.

But protesters have said that lawmakers and Jerí, who has faced corruption and assault charges, need to resign. Jorge Calmet, one of the Generation Z leaders, accused Congress of weakening prosecutors’ power and making it harder to jail criminal suspects.

“This is a dictatorship disguised as a democracy,” he told The Guardian.

Globally, the start of such youth-led demonstrations can be traced back to a 2022 uprising in Sri Lanka, when protesters stormed and occupied government residences and forced the president to flee the country. Since then, protests have followed in countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Timor-Leste, spurring what some have called the Asian Spring.

But the demonstrations have also spread outside of Asia, with protests last year in Kenya and more recently in Madagascar before the trend hopped the Atlantic Ocean to Peru. The Gen Z movement in Madagascar has protested water and power outages, eventually forcing President Andry Rajoelina to resign.

Protesters have also drawn inspiration from each other, coordinating on social media and borrowing protest symbols. Demonstrators in Nepal and Indonesia used a pirate flag from the Japanese anime series One Piece as an emblem of resistance. In Madagascar, protesters adapted a modified version of the flag, with a skull-and-crossbones donning traditional Malagasy headwear instead of a straw hat.

Ashish Pradhan, senior adviser to the president of the International Crisis Group, said protesters in the country of Georgia also brandished the Nepali flag in the capital city of Tbilisi. But the transcontinental uprisings are linked by more core issues.

“There are a number of countries where citizens are vulnerable to these overlapping multiple pressures that are making life more expensive, and you have governments that aren’t seemingly set up to listen to the grievances of those people,” Pradhan said. “And then you also have the aspect of security forces that just make things worse by using deadly force on protesters.”

In Nepal, Gen Z demonstrations forced former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli to resign last month. At least 72 people died as protests turned violent and police opened fire.

Nepal’s interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki, the country’s first female to take the spot, pledged to offer monetary compensation to families of deceased protesters and to care for the injured.

“We all need to get together to rebuild the country,” she said. Karki has said she will hold the office for only six months.

Nepali pastor Mohan Bhatt said there’s an unsteady sense of calm as protesters look ahead to elections set for March 5. Many young Nepalis have rushed to register to vote. But it’s unclear how much can change before the March poll, Bhatt said.

Some factions of the protesters want to elect the country’s leaders directly, which conflicts with Nepal’s parliamentary system. Others have called for corruption investigations of lawmakers. It’s unclear if the youths will form a new political party or support existing parties.

“If their agenda isn’t fulfilled, then all the bloodshed … would be worthless,” Bhatt said. “So we pray first for the right decisions for those in the decision making.”

The protests brought a stronger government response in Morocco, where mosques last Friday urged parents to convince their children to support existing leaders.

“A true citizen is the one who serves his nation and does it well,” a leading imam said at a mosque in the capital city of Rabat.

The mosque sermon, thought to be government-influenced, followed a month of youth-led protests fueled by frustration with the government spending billions of dollars on the 2030 World Cup while public services like education and healthcare remain underfunded. A flashpoint came after at least eight women who were pregnant or had recently given birth died within days at a hospital in the coastal city of Agadir.

A grassroots group called Gen Z 212 began organizing the protests on online messaging platforms like Discord, mostly used by gamers and teenagers. The group has no clear leaders but has successfully coordinated the demonstrations.

Moroccan King Mohammed VI announced a $15 billion draft budget last week that touts more funds for health and education. He also pledged social reforms meant to increase youth participation in politics.

Still, Moroccan authorities have charged more than 2,400 protesters with offenses ranging from rebellion to incitement to commit crimes. Public prosecutors said some people have already received prison sentences of up to 15 years.

Considering the varying protest outcomes, Pradhan from the International Crisis Group says the widespread marches signal a need for countries to listen to their younger populations.

“A lot of these leaders would dismiss their younger counterparts for not being serious political actors,” he said. “I think now they need to reckon with the fact that they also need to take the demands of their younger populations into account as they make their policies.”