Gen Z protests have emerged as a global phenomenon in recent years, affecting at least 12 countries in 2025. With further such protests expected in 2026, Neo Tsotetsi explores the long-simmering grievances driving these movements, as well as their innovative use of technology to maintain momentum.
In 2024 and 2025, youth-led protests took place in several developing countries, each forming part of a global wave of Gen Z protests. While economic challenges have driven hundreds of protests in recent years, the combination of high youth unemployment, the rising cost of living and perceived democratic backsliding in these countries has given rise to an organised, clear demand for systemic change. The scale of demonstrations has also been unprecedented, with activists in at least 12 countries holding sustained protest campaigns against a backdrop of rising youth participation in politics. Activists have wielded their familiarity with digital platforms and tools to demonstrate innovative ways to translate online activism into real life protests, giving a tangible form to the depth of frustration young people feel with the state of the economic and political establishments on a global scale.
While the ongoing wave of demonstrations is focussed on addressing the demands of the present youth, the core grievances driving it are far from new. Looking back to the previous decade, young people’s grievances with political authorities they felt were out of touch and an economy they struggled to enter drove several major protest campaigns including Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring. With much of Gen Z now in their early career age, a new generation has inherited these concerns, with their economic challenges compounded by the aftermath of COVID-19, price instability due to multiple global conflicts and an ongoing cost of living crisis in many countries. Meanwhile, the core of the political grievances driving protests has remained the perceived indifference of elected officials, with activists citing examples including widespread corruption and failing public infrastructure as evidence of their governments being negligent or out of touch with the broader public.
Nepal |
Indonesia |
Philippines |
|
| Date |
8 – 13 September 2025 |
February 2025 – Present |
September 2025 – Present |
| Cause |
|
|
|
| Outcome |
Regime change, with changes including:
|
Protests ongoing; secured concessions include:
|
Protests ongoing; secured concessions include:
|
Corruption has emerged as a driving force behind several of these demonstrations as protesters blame sociopolitical or economic ills on governments’ perceived prioritisation of their own or corporate interests over the public. In the Philippines, tens of thousands have protested corruption in government-funded flood control projects following two typhoons which revealed the infrastructure had been defective or not even been constructed. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, demonstrations emerged in multiple stages, with the most recent waves of protests following cases of food poisoning from government-funded school meals and reports that lawmakers’ monthly housing allowances would be raised to over USD 3,000, nearly ten times the minimum wage. While much of the outrage has been directed at government officials, companies with perceived or real links to these scandals have also been targeted in protest campaigns. For example in the Philippines, protesters caused an undisclosed amount of property damage at the premises of several construction companies. And, in Indonesia, demonstrations forced lawmakers to withdraw controversial proposed reforms which would have allowed universities to gain mining permits, and triggered the resignations of dozens of government officials.
One of the most consequential commonalities across the protests in 2025 has been the use of modern technology and social media as key tools to mobilise on a large scale. While these tools – including online social spaces, adaptations of artificial intelligence technology and communication applications – had been deployed in previous campaigns, their use in the ongoing wave of youth-led demonstrations has allowed for an unprecedented level of reach and participation. In Morocco, the ‘Gen Z 212’ online server allowed protesters to vote on the movement’s next steps as well as break off into smaller chatrooms to plan localised responses to police aggression. In Kenya, activists deployed AI tools to explain the Finance Bill at the centre of the protests to supporters and used online crowdfunding to transport activists to protest locations. These strategies demonstrate a growing proficiency in using digital tools to facilitate movements, elevating potential for online campaigns to quickly result in on-the-ground protests and allowing activists to keep a broader movement intact in the event of a crackdown by authorities.
However, online connectivity has also, contributed to a cross-pollination across protests, with activists taking inspiration and adapting ideas from prior movements. Most of these shared ideas have been around how best to respond to authorities and mobilise the public, with activists in Morocco having cited Nepal for the inspiration to establish the ‘Gen Z 212’ online server that served as the movement’s headquarters. However, protesters have inspired each other in even more consequential ways, with the 2025 Nepalese insurrection driving strong demand for deep political reforms or regime change in youth protests globally. One expression of these demands has been the widespread use of a skull-and-crossbones flag from a popular animated series in which a group of pirates overthrows oppressive governments and challenges the global order. Also in this vein, Malagasy protesters pointed to the protest-led regime changes in Nepal and Bangladesh as a motivation to transition from focusing on denouncing ongoing water and electricity cuts to demanding then-president Andry Rajoelina’s resignation.
Though Gen Z protests continue to see mixed results around the world, the core issues driving them will likely persist in 2026, elevating potential for such cross-pollination to drive disruptive civic action across the coming year. While it remains unclear where protests will emerge next, countries experiencing a combination of high youth unemployment, widespread corruption and rising economic precarity will be among the most susceptible. And, for the movements that will drive these demonstrations, deep systemic change in both governments and the economy will continue to form the core of their demands.