McLeod Group blog by Maria Dakli and Maïka Sondarjee, November 12, 2025
In the past months, Protesters from the Gen Z generation are rising (and winning) in Nepal, Madagascar, Morocco, the Philippines, Peru and Indonesia. Before that, they were also involved in other uprisings, including the one that led to the resignation of Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh in 2024. Demonstrators, typically born between 1997 and 2012, are organizing horizontally via social media to demand greater redistribution in the face of economic hardships. Their mobilizations are driven by their generational culture. In Nepal and Madagascar, they managed to oust their respective presidents.
At the beginning of September in Nepal, young adults organized public protests to denounce labour shortages, lack of economic opportunities, and corruption, among other things. Because the movement was fuelled by online organizing, the Nepalese government angered the protesters when it banned most major social media in the country (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube), under the guise of addressing misinformation on those platforms. Pop culture symbols of defiance and solidarity are commonly used, like the Luffy character from the manga One Piece or the three-finger salute from The Hunger Games. While law enforcement had killed at least 19 people and injured 145 since the beginning of the protests, Gen Z Nepal managed to oust the government in three days.
As an offshoot of the uprising in Nepal, the self-proclaimed “pacifist” Gen Z Madagascar movement began on September 25 as a protest against frequent electricity and water shortages, and the poor socio-economic conditions of the younger generations. Since then, the leader of the opposition joined the protesters, the military seized power, and Malagasy president Andry Rajoelina fled the country on a French military plane for an undisclosed location. His departure was triggered by the president’s loss of military support, including from the elite unit CAPSAT on October 11, which was instrumental in the 2009 coup d’état that brought him to power.
Gen Z Madagascar also succeeded in ousting the Senate president and former military officer Richard Ravalomanana. At least 22 people were killed since the beginning of the protests and over 100 were injured, according to the United Nations. Young people represent two thirds of the Malagasy population, and at least 80% of Madagascar’s 32 million inhabitants live on less than 15,000 ariary per day (Cdn$4.50), the World Bank’s poverty line.
A similar movement of young Moroccans, which grew from 1,000 to approximately 120,000 members, took to the streets at the end of September to denounce rising inequalities, corruption, and the poor state of schools and hospitals in the country. The protests were met with police repression, with dozens of arrests and two young people killed by the police. The Moroccan Association for Human Rights has condemned the violence against Gen Z protesters marching peacefully.
Mainly organized on the online gaming platform Discord, the founders of the Gen Z 212 movement (named after Morocco’s international dialling code) remain anonymous. . According to political scientists Aziz Chahir and Mohamed Masbah, this anonymity can be an asset because it complicates the authorities’ task of identifying potential targets of repression. Much as in Nepal, shared grievances of the Gen Z 212 movement contribute to its collective identity.
Push for dignity
The main demands of these digitally driven, spontaneous, and decentralized movements concern human dignity. Compared to many other revolutionary movements in those countries and elsewhere, these Gen Z protesters don’t seek formal institutional power, but rather basic standards of living, greater redistribution of wealth, and functioning educational and health systems. The absence of centralized leadership allows young protesters to gain allies both internally and externally, while fuelling this transnational discourse of social struggles for dignity rather than power-seeking.
Their political demands come at a time of rising inequality internationally and within their countries. In Morocco, for example, the top 10% holds 32% of the national income, approximately 12 times the share of the lowest 10%. Much of the anger among youth stemmed from the discrepancy between the lack of basic infrastructure and the Moroccan government’s spending millions of dollars to host the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup in 2030. In Madagascar, the costly Antananarivo cable car, a government flagship project, became a symbol of inequality and is considered disconnected from the needs of the population.
The Gen Z movements around the world are seeking better access to healthcare, education, and job opportunities. They quickly became representative of a push towards more democracy. However, the transformative potential of these movements is yet to be seen. History tells us that such social movements are usually more effective in mobilizing people against something or someone (e.g., colonial rule, an unpopular regime, plastics pollution) and less effective at mobilizing for viable alternatives.
In addition, the slogans around dignity are not new. This demand was already at the heart of the anti-colonial struggles in Africa in the 1960s, led by the grandparents of today’s protesters. However, if Gen Z is rising for greater dignity, will their society (and the world) hear them?
Maria Dakli is a PhD student in the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. Maïka Sondarjee is an associate professor in the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. Image: Vazhnik.