Why Gen Z protesters worldwide are flying an anime pirate flag

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Gen Z-led protests are making waves from Africa to Asia, and whereas the problems spurring them are completely different, the image they’re utilizing is identical: a grinning cranium and crossbones sporting a straw hat.

It was there when younger individuals indignant with the lavish existence of the elite introduced down Nepal’s authorities final month. It was seen within the Indonesian and Philippine protests this 12 months, and once more when Madagascan youth marched in opposition to continual water and electrical energy shortages over the previous 10 days. Proper now, it is being waved at protests raging over poor healthcare in Morocco.

Why are annoyed youth taking to the streets worldwide elevating this explicit Jolly Roger?

The flag comes from a long-running Japanese anime and manga sequence known as One Piece, a few rag-tag band of pirates dubbed “the straw hats,” who’re led by a cheerful character named Monkey D. Luffy and are combating an oppressive world authorities.

It is grow to be a worldwide popular culture phenomenon, translated into a number of languages, and is now additionally a live-action Netflix sequence.

Protesters in Madagascar Sept.25.

Victor LOCHON/Gamma-Rapho by way of Getty Pictures

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Victor LOCHON/Gamma-Rapho by way of Getty Pictures

“What makes One Piece so powerful in protest is really the story at its core. It is about a group of misfits, outsiders, rebels, people who do not fit in the system coming together,” explains Nuurrianti Jalli, an assistant professor affiliated with the Institute for Southeast Asian Research, at Yusof Ishak Institute Singapore.

A person hanging a pirate flag as smoke and flames rise from the Singha Durbar, the seat of Nepal authorities’s numerous ministers workplaces in Kathmandu, Sept. 9, 2025.

Sunil Pradhan/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures

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Sunil Pradhan/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures

“That narrative translates across borders, whether you are in Asia, Africa, or elsewhere,” she says. “Young people who feel unheard by the government, who feel trapped in unfair systems, immediately recognize themselves in that story.”

A 23-year-old Nepali who took half within the protests there final month is consultant of this group. He does not need to be named for concern of retribution however says he is watched the One Piece anime and skim a few of the manga.

“In addition to entertainment, the Straw Hat pirates symbolize freedom, liberty – the spirit that you have to oppose the unjust authority. That really inspired me,” he says.

A 25 year-old Madagascan protester, who does not want to be named for a similar causes, can be a One Piece fan.

“It relates and resonates with the Gen Z protests around the world because Gen Zs are trying to take down corrupt systems,” he explains. “The main character Monkey D. Luffy stands against injustice and that’s what we Gen Zs around the world are standing against.”

“It is so inspiring for young people. In the story of One Piece there is injustice, there is corruption, the government is thinking themselves to be untouchable, but it can be touched by the power of the people,” he continues.

The Madagascans have even tailored the image barely to offer it an area taste. The cranium wears a satroka bucket hat, worn by Madagascar’s Betsileo ethnic group.

Andrea Horbinski, has a PHD in fashionable Japanese historical past and is an knowledgeable on manga. She says when individuals carry the One Piece picture to a protest they are not simply signifying that they are followers of the present “but also in solidarity with other protesters in other countries who have recently famously flown the flag themselves.”

May it get politically complicated if these teams in several corners of the world, with completely different ideologies, all use the identical flag?

Horbinski does not assume so.

A protester outdoors the U.N. headquarters wears a Monkey D. Luffy pirate flag from the “One Piece” manga and anime Sept. 26, 2025, in New York.

Ted Shaffrey/AP

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Ted Shaffrey/AP

“I don’t think that bringing a pirate flag, whether it’s the straw hat flag or a different pirate flag to the protests, is going to necessarily confuse people,” she says. “And I think also the power of this kind of symbol at a protest is that it is a common narrative.”

“Pirates historically and in the series One Piece are opposed to the government. The government wants to stamp them out because they don’t follow the rules and they flout the government’s authority,” she says.

Some governments need to stamp them out in actual life too.

Indonesian officers prompt flying the flag might quantity to treason, prompting Amnesty Worldwide to difficulty a press release defending protesters’ rights to free expression.

In fact, the Straw Hat jolly roger is not the one popular culture image to have been utilized in anti-government protests through the years.

In Hong Kong, demonstrators reclaimed alt-right meme Pepe the Frog as a pro-democracy image. In Myanmar protesters in opposition to army rule used the three-finger salute from The Starvation Video games motion pictures. And elsewhere protesters have used the Man Fawkes masks from V for Vendetta and masks from The Joker motion pictures.

“Because they are popular and familiar to a large swath of people, that’s what inspires people to make a sign or bring a flag that references them… to show where you stand pretty quickly,” says Horbinski, noting that this additionally occurs within the US.

On the “No Kings” protests in opposition to President Trump in June, a few of the placards made references to Andor, a Star Wars franchise on Disney+ a few insurgent alliance combating an oppressive regime.

However for the Gen Z youth proper now, the anime flag embodies a spirit no politician can match.