From Morocco to Madagascar, Gen Z is taking digital dissent offline

By Kara Fox, CNN

(CNN) — From Kathmandu to Lima, youth-led uprisings are driving thousands from their screens to the streets, demanding accountability, change and, in some cases, toppling governments.

These Gen-Z protesters come from disparate backgrounds and have different demands.

But the throughline is clear: Growing inequality and marginalization is destroying young people’s hopes for the future – and the only way forward is to confront a broken social contract head on.

Here’s what you need to know.

A global movement

On consecutive nights this week, cities and towns across Morocco have pulsed with the anger of young people mobilized under the umbrella “GenZ 212” – the country’s international dialing code. Led by mostly students and unemployed graduates, the protesters are demanding sweeping reforms in healthcare, education and social justice – issues they say have been sidelined as the government pours billions into 2030 World Cup infrastructure.

While stadiums and luxury hotels are erected, hospitals remain overcrowded and rural areas underserved. Morocco’s education system, long underfunded, is churning out graduates with few job prospects: Youth unemployment sits at 36% – and nearly 1 in 5 university graduates are out of work.

The recent protests were triggered by the deaths of several pregnant women following routine C-sections in the coastal city of Agadir, spotlighting the crumbling healthcare system. The government’s response has been swift and brutal: Three people were killed and hundreds of others injured, authorities said. Riot police have been deployed across major cities, using force and arresting dozens. Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch said Thursday his government had “engaged” with the protesters’ demands and was ready for “dialogue and discussion.” On Friday, GenZ 212 demanded the government resign.

But protests aren’t fading.

Thousands of miles away to the south, youth-led unrest is rocking Madagascar. For several days this week, cities across the Indian Ocean nation – one of Africa’s poorest – have been flooded with young protesters outraged over water shortages and rolling blackouts. They quickly morphed into calls for systemic reform, with the protesters demanding the resignation of President Andry Rajoelina, who first came to power in a 2009 coup, and his government.

Rajoelina responded by dissolving the government this week, saying, “I heard the call, I felt the suffering,” but authorities continue to crack down on dissent. The United Nations said Monday at least 22 people had been killed and more than 100 injured. The government disputes these figures.

Meanwhile, in the South American nation of Peru, youth demonstrations began on September 20 after the government announced reforms to a pension law. The protests then swelled to wider calls to stamp out corruption, repression and rising crime under President Dina Boluarte’s rule. The Peruvian leader’s approval ratings recently sank to 2.5%, with her government at 3%, according to the Institute of Peruvian Studies’ July report, reflecting widespread economic anxiety, anger over corruption scandals and continued outrage over the killing of dozens of protesters after she took office in late 2022.

The Nepal connection

The unrest comes in the wake of Gen Z’s extraordinary and unprecedented take down of the Nepali government in September. What began as a protest against a government social media ban quickly morphed into a broader revolt against corruption and economic stagnation. In fewer than 48 hours, at least 22 people were killed and hundreds injured as demonstrators torched government buildings in the capital Kathmandu and toppled the prime minister.

It mirrors other recent Gen Z-driven movements across South Asia: In 2024, Bangladeshis ousted Sheikh Hasina, who ruled the country for more than 15 years in power; in 2022, young Sri Lankans ended the Rajapaksa family dynasty that dominated the country’s politics for two decades.

And it adds to youth-led protests across Indonesia, the Philippines and Kenya this year.

Subir Sinha, director of SOAS South Asian Institute, noted the link between various Gen Z-led protests across the Global South.

The priorities of ruling elites, “seems very far away from the everyday lives of and fears and anxieties that Gen Z is facing,” he told CNN, underlining a bleak economic outlook for many.

“There is a kind of a catastrophic feeling around, with a kind of end days of liberal democracy (felt) in country after country,” he said.

A cocktail of grievances

Gen Z – born between 1997 and 2012 – grew up in the shadow of the 2008 financial crash. As they’ve come of age, they’ve faced deepening political division, a growing climate crisis, economic uncertainty and a pandemic that has exposed deep inequalities.

Bart Cammaerts, a professor of politics and communication at London School of Economics, told CNN this generation feels “short changed,” with “their interests not represented or taken into account.”

As a result, Cammaerts said Gen Z is skeptical towards liberal representative democracy, although they still value democratic principles and democratic decision making.

The protests that are now unfolding are a result of that skepticism.

The rise of authoritarianism, xenophobia and nationalism is also fueling young people’s desire to act, as opportunities that were once available to their parents’ generations have nearly disappeared.

“The exit option of at least temporary migration has been closed as a part of the authoritarian age we are living in,” Sinha said.

It is also no surprise that the countries where this unrest is unfolding are experiencing the brunt of major extreme weather events, he said, where older generations are in power and often taking inadequate steps to stop global warming from getting worse.

For young people, “the idea of the future being cancelled appears to be very real – – and I think that is partly the sort of contagion we see,” Sinha said.

As traditional forms of challenging political discontent become more challenging, Gen Z are looking to their peers in other countries for a roadmap.

“When they see that somewhere else has had a similar kind of situation, and people have had some degree of success … they might feel, let’s try this out over here,” Singh said, pointing to Nepal’s recent demonstrations.

“It’s as if they’re holding each other’s hands across national borders.”

Digital natives

For as long as there’s been protest, young people have been leading the charge. From the student-led uprisings of May 1968 in France to the Vietnam War demonstrations and Civil Rights Movements in the United States – to the Occupy movement and the Arab spring, youths have always played a central role in driving change.

Gen Z are no different. They’ve just got different tools to organize and mobilize.

They have transformed activism over digital platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Discord – a messaging app first popularized by gamers – and Telegram. These tools enable decentralized, real-time coordination, rapid information sharing, and viral symbols that unify diverse groups from across the globe.

“You don’t need necessarily a big organization or mobilizing force,” Cammaerts said of the protesters’ tactics.

That’s because they’re all online.

For example, in Morocco, the anonymous Discord server “GenZ 212” grew from 3,000 members to more than 130,000 in just a few days, Reuters reported, exemplifying how quickly an online presence can materialize into the streets.

That sort of online capability allows protests to be more spontaneous, decentralized and leaderless, making them harder for authorities to dismantle, and therefore appealing to young people who are sometimes risking their lives to demonstrate, Cammaerts said.

“The online infrastructure facilitates that,” he said.

In Madagascar, an online youth-led movement known as Gen Z Mada first coordinated over Facebook and TikTok before organizing with more traditional civil society groups and trade unions.

When Gen Z’s digital protests manage to cut through class and generational lines they gain further momentum, power and the ability to drive greater change, Sinha said.

“When they do that, then it becomes not just a Gen Z thing … it goes beyond that, and it becomes a much bigger kind of movement altogether,” he said.

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