Most of the time popular revolts arise unexpectedly. The spark flies and the fire spreads at high speed, even crossing borders and becoming global. This is the case of the massive protests that have shaken several countries around the world in recent weeks and have brought down presidents, prime ministers and entire governments. Behind the massive mobilizations is the so-called Generation Z (Gen Z), young people born between 1997 and 2012, who are now between 28 and 15 years old and who grew up at the height of the Internet era. Tens of thousands of people of all ages have joined the rebellion.
The uprisings intensified last September in , , the Philippines and East Timor. They made the leap to Africa, in and (in Kenya they started earlier) and have had their replicas in Latin America, in and Paraguay. They all have in common to happen in countries with authoritarian regimes or with democratic deficit, in which the economic uncertaintya inequality growing, a corruption systemic and a high rate of youth unemployment. The average age of the population of these countries ranges from 20 to 30 years. In Spain it is 46 years.
A decisive factor in the protests and that explains their rapid expansion throughout various countries around the world is the use of social networkspowerful tools movement. This also happened in the arab revolts from 15 years ago. They exploded in December 2010 in Tunisia and they expanded like foam throughout the region known as . Then, in less than a year, the rebellion ended four dictators: the Tunisian Zine el Abidine Ben Alithe Egyptian Hosni Mubarakthe Libyan Muammar Gaddafi and the yemeni Ali Abdullah Saleh.
New platforms
The digital activists of that time mainly used Facebook y Twitter as weapons of struggle and dissidence. Now Gen Z does it through TikTok, Instagram, Telegram or Discord. From these platforms they communicate, share experiences, demands and call to mobilize from the Himalaya until the Andes. As in Arab countries, these are decentralized movements, without prominent leaders or union organizations or politicians, which they associate with the ‘establishment’.
The cross-border movement shares the same symbology that is inspired by the popular Japanese manga series ‘One Piece’starring Monkey D. Luffy, captain of a pirate ship who along with his crew fights against the corrupt governments of the world. The comic series, created in 1997 by Eiichiro Oda, has more than 110 volumes and has sold more than 500 million copies. The television series has exceeded 1,000 episodes. Luffy wears a straw hat and carries a flag with a smiling skullhallmarks of Gen Z. In the revolt in Nepal, the pirate flag flew over the burning Parliament building. In Peru, a young man planted it in the central Plaza San Martín in Lima.
In the country of Everest, protests forced the resignation and flight from the country of the prime minister and forced the appointment of the former president of the Supreme Court for being clean of corruption as head of the transitional government. In Peru, the revolt contributed to that of the country, while its replacement is on the tightrope. The same thing happened in Madagascarwhose head of state was forced to take flight and flee abroad. Now the military has taken power and has promised democratic elections in two years.
Future perspectives
The protests of recent weeks, some still latent, such as in Morocco and Peru, have as precedents closer in time to the popular revolts in Bangladesh y Sri Lankawhich also forced the flight of their respective leaders. In Sri Lanka the president fell from grace in 2022. The current president is a outsider of the left who was elected by surprise last year and who has promised to end corruption and the privileges of the elite. In Bangladesh, the person who escaped from the country last year was the prime minister. The young people have created the National Citizen Party, which will compete in next year’s elections.
The riots have left a global toll of hundreds of dead and thousands of injured, in addition to a good number of detainees. That they will spread even more worries leaders of countries where the mobilizations have not yet arrived, but which meet all the political and socioeconomic conditions for them to occur. There is no shortage of candidates.
On one of the walls of the burned-out Parliament in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, someone wrote: “From now on, only Gen Z will be in this place. Corrupt leaders will be expelled from the country. Long live Nepal. Long live the youth of Gen Z.” The message went viral in seconds. The new Nepalese authorities have called general elections for March next year.
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