Gen Z protests swept the world this yr, pushing for political change in international locations from Turkey and Indonesia to France and Mexico.
Demonstrations led by younger folks have been largely pushed by anger at political corruption and wealth inequality, and even led to the ousting of presidency leaders in Madagascar and Nepal.
Protesters have rallied behind an unlikely image: a Jolly Roger-inspired straw hat-wearing pirate flag.
What’s the One Piece flag?
The Mugiwara Jolly Roger — a black flag bearing the picture of a cranium and crossbones sporting a straw hat — is a fictional image of resistance from the Japanese manga and anime collection One Piece. Mugiwara, a phrase for “straw” in Japanese, is used to imply straw hat on this context.
The story revolves round themes of justice and freedom and options the Straw Hat Pirates, a gaggle of misfits preventing a corrupt and oppressive regime who sail below the flag.
One Piece’s teenage protagonist is Monkey D Luffy, who travels the world along with his crew of pirates, battling villains, liberating oppressed peoples and looking for the legendary “One Piece” treasure that guarantees final freedom. Their chief adversary is the World Authorities, an omnipotent authoritarian organisation that enforces “absolute justice”. One Piece is likely one of the longest-running collection of its type in historical past, with 113 manga volumes and greater than 1,000 animated episodes.
The place has the One Piece flag been seen?
The Straw Hat Jolly Roger has emerged as a logo of dissent in a wave of youth-led demonstrations all over the world, as photos of the flag being raised at protests unfold by social media.
The flag was seen at final yr’s protests in Kenya, which pressured President William Ruto to reverse proposed tax will increase and sack his cupboard, and in Bangladesh, the place college students led a revolt that toppled former chief Sheikh Hasina.
However it was first recorded as early as October 2023 at a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Indonesians have since then raised the flag to voice discontent with authorities insurance policies amid frustrations over the nation’s financial slowdown and price range cuts for schooling and infrastructure.
Within the run-up to the nation’s eightieth anniversary of independence in August, when residents normally elevate their nationwide flag, many as an alternative hoisted the One Piece flag. This prompted an official crackdown, as police eliminated the pirate flags from homes, automobiles and murals, in accordance with Amnesty Worldwide.
The Straw Hat Jolly Roger was additionally broadly used throughout Nepal’s violent Gen Z protests in September that toppled the federal government of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Photographs of the Straw Hat Jolly Roger in opposition to the backdrop of its burning Singha Durbar palace, which homes authorities workplaces, have been beamed out worldwide.
One of many activists who led Nepal’s protests, partly pushed by anger at political “nepo babies”, mentioned protesters there picked up the flag after seeing it in photos from Indonesia on social media platforms similar to TikTok.
“We decided to use that flag as a symbol — [to show] that there is nothing impossible if the young people in a country want it,” mentioned Rijan Rana Magar, 23, who sports activities the picture as his profile image on the messaging app WhatsApp. “We decided to be united under the same flag: the One Piece flag.”
The flag has since been recorded at protests in at the least 16 international locations together with Madagascar, the place massive, near-daily protests about shortages of electrical energy and water ousted President Andry Rajoelina in October. Demonstrators there accessorised the Jolly Roger emblem by changing its straw hat with a vibrant raffia hat.
“We saw the protests in Nepal and we wanted them in Madagascar too,” mentioned Anja’ndraina Andrianaivo, 25, a medical scholar who took half.
The Straw Hat Jolly Roger has additionally been raised at demonstrations in France, Slovakia and Mexico, and extra just lately in Bulgaria, the place nationwide anti-corruption protests have pressured a change in authorities.
What does the One Piece Straw Hat Jolly Roger flag imply?
Analysts say the flag alerts belonging to Gen Z — a visible shorthand for resistance in opposition to unjust authority that has turn out to be a part of its symbolic political language.
Thred Media, a London-based consultancy targeted on younger folks, mentioned the flag had been embraced by this technology (born between 1997 and 2012) that has “far more limited paths to success” than earlier cohorts and shared experiences such because the Covid-19 pandemic, excessive residing prices and the emergence of synthetic intelligence.
“They are far more likely to be brought together by a shared sense of identity through popular culture than by national backgrounds,” mentioned Jenk Oz, the group’s founder and chief government. “Gen Z are also united in a shared feeling of economic injustice and generational hardship that transcends borders.”
Dana R Fisher, a professor on the Faculty of Worldwide Service at American College, mentioned this yr’s wave of Gen Z-led protests was “remarkable” in that younger folks in numerous elements of the world with disparate causes had “created a sense of collective identity” from Japanese popular culture.
“Their targets are not identical,” mentioned Fisher, who research democracy and activism globally. “What is universal is that young people are being inspired by social media and then adopting similar images, tactics and framing.”
Amanda Edelman, chief working officer of PR company Edelman’s Gen Z Lab, which advises purchasers on partaking with this technology, mentioned the flag had resonated amongst younger folks rising up in a world with “extremely high levels of grievance” the place many “believe institutions are lying to them”.
“The One Piece flag works because it’s a visual symbol people can project their own meaning on to,” she mentioned. “It’s a canvas for discontent.”
Further reporting by A Anantha Lakshmi in Jakarta and Monica Mark in Johannesburg
Graphic by Aditi Bhandari
