A generation that intends to take its destiny into its own hands. Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina was overthrown this week and forced to flee the country after weeks of demonstrations by “Generation Z,” a movement made up of young protesters.
If the president’s fall resulted in a coup, the soldiers who seized power promised that a consensus prime minister would be elected “in consultation with Generation Z,” a sign of the weight of youth in the country’s political future.
The Malagasy youth revolt echoes other anger movements that have erupted around the world in recent months. From Indonesia to Nepal, Peru and Morocco, Generation Z, born between the late 90s and early 2010s, is making its voice heard against governments. To the point, sometimes, of making them bend.
Comparable social and political contexts
In Nepal, the pressure from the streets was such that the Prime Minister had no choice but to resign. The crisis began on September 8, when the police opened fire in the capital against a procession of thousands of young people who were denouncing the blocking of social networks and the corruption of the country’s elites.
In Madagascar, “zoomers” took to the streets for the first time to protest against water and electricity cuts, on an island where natural resources do not benefit the population. In Morocco, it was the death of eight women who gave birth by cesarean section in a hospital in Agadir, a symbol of the failures of the public health service, that ignited the wildfire this summer.
Although these protest movements do not have exactly the same causes, they emerged in comparable contexts.
“The countries in question are part of the global South (unlike the Western countries of the North, editor’s note) and have a long history of colonial and then post-colonial protests,” Paolo Stuppia, doctor in political science at the University of Paris 1, professor at Science Po and associate researcher at the European Center for Sociology and Political Science (CESSP), explains to BFMTV.
“These countries have similar characteristics, particularly at the demographic level, since generation Z represents at least a quarter of the population,” continues the researcher, also mentioning “a growing level of education and urbanization.”
“Corrupt and disconnected elites”
The protesters have, therefore, the particularity of being young and claiming to belong to “Generation Z” or “Gen Z”. From Africa to Asia through South America, their demands are similar.
“There is a desire to denounce the bad governance of these countries led by political elites considered corrupt and disconnected from the daily lives of young people,” underlines Paolo Stuppia, co-author of Geopolitics of youth: commitment and (de)mobilization (with Valérie Becquet, Le Cavalier Bleu, 2024).
“These young people, today, act according to demands other than purely political ones. They have a radical need for coherence, for authenticity. They want to compare, they judge everything, they see everything, because they have constant access to social networks,” adds Élodie Gentina, professor at the IESEG School of Administration specializing in Generation Z cited by RFI.
The demonstrations were born precisely on social networks. In Nepal, it all started with the publication on Instagram and TikTok of videos showing the luxurious lives of the children of political leaders. Hashtags like #NepoKids, short for nepotism, pointed out the contrast between the daily lives of ordinary citizens and the dream life that the children of political leaders shamelessly flaunt.
Discord, a virtual parliament
The anger was then moved, to be better structured, to the Discord platform, an instant messaging system popular among communities of video game players. It was in a group called “Youth Against Corruption”, with 160,000 members, that the demonstrations were planned.
Also in Morocco, the GenZ 212 collective has chosen Discord. In conversation loops, members discuss their demands in writing or orally and set the locations of their next meeting.
“This web and gaming culture is found in demonstrations with this idea of cooperation between actors who each play a different role, like in online role-playing games,” explains Paolo Stuppia.
Digital platforms are also places of democratic expression to make decisions. For this reason, every night in Morocco a vote on the renewal of the movement was organized online. In Nepal, the Discord group has become a true virtual parliament, at the center of political decisions. Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki was appointed Prime Minister after topping a poll organized on the candidature.
“One Piece” Flag
“This misuse of digital platforms is not an absolute novelty. It is something that we had already observed during the Arab Spring in 2011-2012 or during the protests in Hong Kong against the Chinese government’s security law in 2019-2020,” recalls Paolo Stuppia.
“This also shows that behind the denunciations of daily life or economic predation, hides the idea of putting back at the center of the game something that had already been noticed at that time, in 2012, that is, the very ideal of democracy,” continues the sociologist.
Social networks have also made it possible to connect these movements with each other. The sociologist Paolo Stuppia observes a “circulation of demonstration practices but also of symbols.”
From Indonesia to Peru, the flag of pirate Luffy, manga hero one pieceIt is therefore brandished like a banner by this freedom-loving youth. In Indonesia, the flag with the skull and the straw hat has become such a symbol of protest that the government decided to ban it, considering it “a form of betrayal” against institutions.
The future of these youth movements remains uncertain. In Nepal, the departure of the Prime Minister and the prospect of new elections in 2026 have, for the moment, satisfied the young protesters. But in Madagascar, it is the fear of recovery that lurks behind the military takeover. In Peru, young people confront the police and the government has announced that it will declare a state of emergency.
“What these movements have in common is not having a designated leader,” says geopolitician Pascal Boniface, director of the Iris research institute, on his YouTube channel. “In the long term, this could be an obstacle to a political solution to their revolt.”
Source: BFM TV
