Hyperconnected Youth Challenges Political Elites in 6 Global Hotspots

A highly-educated and digitally-connected Generation Z is challenging established political systems and leaders globally, with street protests in Antananarivo rocking the capital since September 25, 2025. What started as outrage over constant electricity and water shortages has become a direct challenge to President Andry Rajoelina, mirroring similar youth-led insurrections across Asia and beyond.

This wave of unrest, which has transformed social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram into tools of mobilisation and protest, stretches from Colombo to Dhaka, Kathmandu to Jakarta.

The protests are driven by a systemic malaise: a marginalised, hyperconnected youth demanding a future that their political leaders have failed to provide.

MADAGASCAR’S FRAYING TIES

The revolt in Madagascar is rooted in an unbearable daily reality: rampant poverty, soaring prices, and unending utility cuts.

Historian Richard Ranarivony of the University of Antananarivo notes the deeper political rot.

Since the last regime change in 2009, there has been no real political alternative to offer prospects to the youth, who represent 75% of the population.

Rajoelina, already weakened by scandals, has lost credibility with a generation that refuses to repeat the struggles of their elders.

The situation draws parallels with May 1972, when student action helped topple President Tsiranana. However, today’s youth are determined to prevent their revolt from being co-opted by political elites.

ASIA’S YOUTH-LED UPHEAVALS

The Malagasy anger echoes recent youth insurrections across South Asia, where young people have proven capable of overthrowing the established order:

• Sri Lanka (July 2022): Youth spearheaded the ‘Aragalaya’ (the struggle) movement. Facing colossal debt, uncontrolled inflation, and shortages of fuel and food, they stormed the Presidential Palace.
• Images of protestors lounging in the gold-plated chairs of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence circled the globe, marking a definitive end to the perceived “untouchable” Rajapaksa dynasty.
• Bangladesh (August 2024): Protests against a civil service quota system—accused of locking graduates out of jobs—erupted into a national insurrection after police used live ammunition, causing over a hundred deaths.
• Galvanised students in Dhaka attacked symbols of power, including the Parliament, before Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India. Social media served as a crucial catalyst, exposing the brutal repression.
• Nepal (September 2025): The Nepalese government banned several social media platforms, attempting to crush digital dissent, but the move backfired, sparking an explosion of anger.
• Peaceful demonstrations turned into an insurrection following 19 protestor deaths in clashes. The Parliament and the Prime Minister’s residence were set alight.
• The unrest is fuelled by an economic crisis, including youth unemployment exceeding 20% among 15–24 year olds, forcing 4.5 million Nepalis to emigrate.

THE DIGITAL REVOLUTIONARY

These insurrections are not isolated incidents but symptoms of a systemic global malaise. Observers note the paradox of a generation that speaks the language of globalisation but remains marginalised in its own country.

• Digital Tools: The Gen Z movement redefines protest by using social networks as parallel public stages, mixing art, music, and pop culture into their activism.
• This viral form of contestation has overwhelmed governments accustomed to controlling traditional media.
• Tactical Focus: Protestors directly target key institutions—presidential palaces, parliaments, and official residences—to physically materialise their rejection of the established order.
• The global nature of the generation allows them to draw mutual inspiration across borders.

This phenomenon extends beyond South Asia. In Morocco (2023-2024), youth mobilisations on TikTok and Instagram denounced the high cost of living, unemployment, and lack of freedoms, creating a diffuse contestation that confounded authorities.

In Indonesia (2019, 2023, 2024), student protests against penal code reforms and corruption demonstrated the centrality of youth in a country where over half the population is under 30.

OBSTACLES TO LASTING CHANGE

Despite their unprecedented power, observers caution that the youth movements face major obstacles:

1. Brutal Repression: Authorities actively seek to break the momentum through fear and violence.
2. Elite Co-option: The risk of established elites absorbing and neutralising the youth movements.
3. Political Fragility: The difficulty in transforming anger into a credible, long-term political alternative.

Historical movements like May ’68, the Arab Springs, and Occupy Wall Street showed the mobilising force of youth, but also their fragility against the slow pace of political change.

The insurrectional Gen Z is rewriting the codes of protest using its creativity, demography, and digital capacity.

The ultimate challenge remains turning these global revolts into sustainable revolutions and ensuring this generation becomes a central political actor, rather than a street movement that is quickly stifled by the entrenched systems.

Source: l’Express