Oct 31 – Generation Z is emerging as the driving force behind a new wave of popular uprisings across Asia, Africa and Latin America, as young people confront corruption, dynastic politics, economic exclusion and attempts to curb digital freedoms.
The first signs of this youth-led disruption were seen in Sri Lanka in 2022, when students and young citizens spearheaded mass demonstrations over corruption, soaring inflation, power cuts and the high cost of living. The protests culminated in the resignation and flight of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, underscoring the capacity of an organised, angry youth constituency to upend entrenched power.
A similar pattern followed in Bangladesh, where university students in Dhaka challenged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s long rule, denouncing corruption and dynastic politics. The mobilisation, which resisted attempts by the security establishment to seize the moment, led to her departure and opened the door for a transition guided by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, with the youth insisting on fresh, credible elections.
In Nepal, a government move to restrict social media after videos exposing the lavish lifestyles of politically connected “nepo kids” went viral sparked an even more visceral backlash. For many young Nepalis, social media is not entertainment but a lifeline for expression, opportunity and dissent. Attempts to curtail it triggered large-scale demonstrations in Kathmandu and other centres. Students and unemployed youth besieged government offices, confronted ministers in public and stormed official residences. Parliament was attacked and furniture hurled out in a symbolic rebuke of a political class seen as aloof and ineffective.
Their anger was rooted in long-standing grievances: frequent government changes since 2008 without meaningful reform, high unemployment, deepening poverty and the perception that corruption and patronage had locked an entire generation out of opportunity. The attempt to silence them online became the final trigger.
This wave has since spread to the Philippines, Indonesia, Kenya, Morocco and Madagascar, where 75 per cent of the 30 million population lives below the poverty line. In Madagascar, protests over power cuts, joblessness and graft turned deadly, leaving at least 22 people dead and more than 100 injured, and forced President Andry Rajoelina to flee as the military intervened. The pattern was familiar: a young, digitally connected population pushing back against economic hardship and unresponsive leadership.
In Peru, youth mobilisation has been fuelled by crime, corruption and dizzying political turnover — seven presidents in under a decade. Young protesters took to the streets demanding stability and accountability, contributing to the ouster of President Dina Boluarte. Subsequent attempts to impose a replacement leader have met resistance, with protesters insisting that cosmetic changes at the top will not resolve systemic failures.
Across these countries, the common threads are clear: rejection of elite capture, anger at shrinking civic space, opposition to hereditary or entrenched political families, and insistence on dignity, jobs and digital freedom. These are not externally choreographed upheavals but local, organic responses to governance failures.
The conditions that ignited those movements are visible in Pakistan. More than 107 million Pakistanis are estimated to be living below the poverty line, while former finance minister Dr Hafiz A. Pasha puts unemployment at about 22 per cent — numbers that point to deep social strain. Parliament is widely viewed as more united in protecting benefits and privileges than in addressing public hardship. Corruption and patronage endure, public services falter and seasonal rains repeatedly expose frail infrastructure, turning weather events into national emergencies.
With a young, connected population watching events from Colombo to Dhaka, Kathmandu, Antananarivo and Lima in real time, the warning signs are evident. When economic pressure, political exclusion and attempts to muzzle expression intersect, youth mobilisation becomes not only possible but likely.