Morocco (2025)

Protests erupted in Morocco on September 27, 2025. They took place under the aegis of the youth movement GenZ212 (named after the country’s international dialing code) and demanded more funding for public health and education, as well as an end to corruption. One of the catalysts for Morocco’s protests was government spending on sports stadiums. Morocco is scheduled to be one of the hosts for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, sharing the event with Portugal and Spain. This expenditure was seen as both wasteful in itself and symbolic of larger, long-lasting problems. The aspirations of the youth were further frustrated by very high and seemingly intractable levels of unemployment, exceeding 35 percent for young people.

The protests were organized with the use of social media. GenZ212 launched its Discord server on September 18; by October 7 about 250,000 users were already on the server. Discord users put forth numerous demands, including improved job opportunities, more affordable housing, and better public transport.

The course of events evolved from street protests to riots and clashes with police; they spread from the large cities of Rabat, Marrakech, and Casablanca to many other urban centers. Numerous injuries to both protesters and security personnel were reported, as well as extensive property damage. On October 10 King Mohammed VI publicly called for the intensification of social and political reforms in an address to parliament, although he did not mention the protests directly. By the end of the month a complicated picture had emerged: The government began introducing reforms, while also arresting more than 2,400 protesters.

Turkey (2025)

Few members of Gen Z in Turkey remember a time before Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The oldest among them were young children when he came to power as prime minister in 2003. Back then Erdoğan rode a wave of populism, promising to battle corruption, liberalize the economy, and enhance personal freedoms. But after a decade in power, it became clear that he did not intend to give up control. The Gezi Park protests in 2013 marked his government’s first overt display of authoritarian suppression. When in 2014 he was prevented by party rules from a fourth term as prime minister, he took on the largely ceremonial role of president. In his first term he engineered a constitutional referendum that abolished the post of prime minister and shifted its powers to the presidency.

When Erdoğan reached the height of his power in 2018, the economy began to decline. Despite unstable conditions for Turkey in the global market, Erdoğan asserted populist measures that bucked market pressures and spooked investors. Confidence in the economy sank further when he appointed his son-in-law as the country’s finance minister, a move that not only reeked of nepotism but also indicated Erdoğan’s intent to dictate economic policy. Weeks later the central bank declined to raise interest rates, despite market pressures to do so. The lira took a sharp hit, and prices began to soar. For the Turkish youth, another major blow took place in 2021, when Erdoğan began interfering in university administration and issuing directions that strained academic freedom and placed a ceiling on the quality of education available in the country.

In 2025, seven years into the economic turmoil, a third of Turks aged 18 to 24 were neither employed nor studying. Less than two-thirds of recent university graduates had a job. In March Istanbul University annulled the bachelor’s degree—awarded 31 years earlier—of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the opposition mayor of Istanbul many hoped could unseat Erdoğan. The next day İmamoğlu was arrested.

Hundreds of thousands of Gen Zers took to the streets, organizing online despite bans on major social media platforms, such as Discord, that had been used to coordinate protests in other countries. More than a thousand protesters were detained, and the crackdown expanded, targeting other mayors and public officials as well as journalists. But Turkey’s youth will remain a challenge for Erdoğan: Only a tenth of voters between 18 and 29 support Erdoğan’s party.

Peru (2025)

In October 2025 Peruvian Pres. José Jerí declared a state of emergency in the capital city, Lima, citing a sharp rise in violent crime. The decree followed a surge in killings, extortion, and attacks on public places that had intensified public anxiety and helped trigger widespread protests. Rising insecurity had already contributed to the impeachment of former president Dina Boluarte, whom Jerí replaced after Congress voted to remove her from office. Yet the crisis extended beyond public safety. Jerí became Peru’s seventh president since 2018 and the fourth to assume office following a predecessor’s impeachment, underscoring the country’s chronic political instability. Protests erupted across Peru soon after his inauguration. Although demonstrators had opposed Boluarte, many also rejected Jerí’s appointment, calling for “a clean slate” and demanding that no one from Peru’s existing political class remain in power.

The protests that erupted in 2025 were not the first to challenge Peru’s government. In 2023 widespread unrest shut down one of the country’s most famous landmarks, Machu Picchu. More than 400 tourists were stranded when demonstrators damaged railway tracks, suspending the only regular transport route to the site. The turmoil followed Pres. Pedro Castillo’s failed attempt to dissolve Congress and rule by decree, an act the Constitutional Court condemned as a coup d’état. Castillo was swiftly impeached and arrested, and his deputy, Boluarte, assumed power, becoming Peru’s sixth president in five years. These cycles of upheaval and public frustration paved the way for the larger, youth-led protests that would erupt two years later.

Against this backdrop of political turmoil and public distrust in government, a new generation of Peruvians began to assert themselves. Most were members of Generation Z, young people who had grown up amid Peru’s recurring corruption scandals, economic uncertainty, and fragile democratic institutions. Disillusioned with traditional channels of political participation, they turned to social media to organize, share information, and rally thousands into the streets. What began as spontaneous demonstrations soon evolved into a broad youth movement demanding accountability, security, and genuine political renewal.

The 2025 protests differed from earlier waves in both tone and tactics. Largely decentralized, they were coordinated through digital platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. Youth leaders used memes, short videos, and live streams to share updates. Unlike previous demonstrations led by unions or political parties, these protests were organized horizontally, without a single spokesperson. Although the immediate catalyst for such protests was public anger over rising crime and government corruption, the movement’s demands have gone beyond these initial concerns. Gen Z protesters have called for reforms to Peru’s pension system, where the government had made it mandatory for self-employed workers to contribute to their own retirement. They have also demanded higher wages and an end to abuses of power within the government. As the demonstrations have continued, they have at times turned violent, prompting calls for state accountability over the deaths and injuries of protesters. In Peru, as in other countries, protesters adopted the Jolly Roger flag from One Piece as a shared symbol of rebellion against corrupt authority.

Mexico (2025)

Several thousand people took to the streets of Mexico City on November 15, 2025, in a large-scale, youth-led demonstration under the banner of the Generación Z México movement. Protesters carried flags and signs that blended political slogans with pop-culture imagery, most notably the Jolly Roger from the manga and anime One Piece. The demonstrations in Mexico City began peacefully but eventually turned tense, with clashes between protesters and police leaving roughly 100 officers and 20 civilians injured. Smaller but coordinated demonstrations also took place in more than 50 cities across the country, though the capital remained the symbolic and organizational heart of the movement.

One of the immediate triggers of the protest was the high-profile assassination of Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan in the state of Michoacán, who was shot in broad daylight at a Day of the Dead celebration on November 1, 2025. The death of Manzo, who had publicly criticized corruption, organized crime, and cartels, as well as the government’s weak show of force against them, shocked the country. Many citizens saw his death as emblematic of the government’s inability to curb increasing violence. In fact, preceding the death of Manzo, researchers recorded more than 300 incidents of violence targeting political figures during Mexico’s 2024 election cycle, underscoring the risks faced by those who challenge Mexico’s long-standing power structures. For many young Mexicans, Manzo’s assassination lit the fuse on frustrations with a broken government system, one where corruption and violence are routine and accountability rare. The protest in the capital was led by a collective calling itself Generación Z México, which described itself as nonpartisan and as a voice for young people tired of violence, corruption, and abuse of power. Although the initiative was framed around Generation Z, the demonstrations drew participants of all ages and gained visible support from opposition figures and public personalities. Among these were former president Vicente Fox and business magnate Ricardo Salinas Pliego, whose endorsements expanded the protests’ visibility while fueling debate over their political undertones.

Before the protest in the capital took place, Pres. Claudia Sheinbaum criticized the movement, suggesting that it was being supported by opposition politicians and business figures such as Fox and Salinas Pliego. Uniquely, Sheinbaum faced the protests while enjoying high approval ratings during her first year as Mexico’s first woman president, yet the protests have exposed a widening gap between her administration and a generation becoming disillusioned with politics. Although the demonstrations were sparked by a specific act of violence against a political actor, they reflected broader grievances shared by the youth in the country. Many in this generation have come of age amid soaring crime rates, economic insecurity, and a deep mistrust of institutions. Mexico’s homicide rate has remained among the highest in the world, and the country consistently ranks poorly among Latin American countries on global corruption indices. Despite these numbers, younger cohorts of Mexican citizens remain politically engaged. According to a 2024 survey by Expansión and the Valle de México University Center of Public Opinion of more than 1,500 participants under the age of 30, approximately 81 percent said that they planned to vote in the presidential election, while 64 percent reported feeling excluded from national politics. The numbers reflect a generation that wants to participate in shaping Mexico’s future but sees few meaningful channels for doing so—a frustration that helps explain the scale and tone of the Gen Z protests.

The demonstrations in Mexico form part of a wider pattern of Gen Z activism emerging across the globe. From Peru and Morocco to Nepal and Madagascar, young people have taken to the streets to protest corruption, inequality, and unresponsive governments. Although the specific grievances differ, these movements share a common language of digital coordination, creative symbolism, and impatience with traditional politics. The Generación Z México marches revealed the same paradox seen elsewhere: a generation that distrusts institutions yet still demands to be heard by them. Whether these mobilizations lead to reform or fade into frustration remains uncertain, but together they signal a profound generational shift in how citizens understand power, accountability, and their own political agency.