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Across the Indian Ocean, in Kenya on Africa’s east coast, massive Gen Z protests have been taking place since last year when thousands of people took to the streets to protest an unpopular finance bill.
Africa faces a new demographic problem. The youth-led protests are roiling countries one after the other. The latest to fall in line is Morocco, where youth protests are reported to be spreading in disparate parts. Couched as Gen Z movement, those under 28, the agitation is sending shock waves. Experts are mentioning about the spread effect of the movement, which triggered in Nepal and witnessed the toppling of the Governance apparatus and installation of a new one, has had a global impact. Soon it spread to Madagascar.
Less than a week of protests over water and electricity shortages in Madagascar, an island off Africa’s East Coast, prompted President Andry Rajoelina to dissolve his government.
But protests are ongoing, with demonstrators demanding Rajoelina—who first came to power in a 200 coup but later stepped down and contested elections in 2018 and 2023 — leave too. Many feel that government’s handling of the protests has only strengthened the youth’s resolve.
Protesters face security forces during a demonstration against repeated water and electricity outages in Madagascar. The Madagascan government has not given a death toll but the United Nations says at least 22 people were killed and accuses the security forces of a heavy-handed response.
Protester say Madagascans watched what happened in Nepal, where many were angered by videos of the children of politicians living in luxury, or “nepo kids.” They allege that that is also happening in Madagascar and beyond. That is why Gen Z is demanding a complete overhaul of the governance structure.
Aside from Nepal, elsewhere in Asia there have been youth-led protests in the Philippines over corruption and in Indonesia over politicians’ perks. Europe isn’t immune either, with young people in Serbia taking to the streets in massive demonstrations this year over a deadly railway station collapse and perceived government corruption.
Across the Indian Ocean, in Kenya on Africa’s east coast, massive Gen Z protests have been taking place since last year when thousands of people took to the streets to protest an unpopular finance bill. At the height of the protests the demonstrators stormed and partially burnt the parliament in Nairobi and dozens of protesters were killed. Despite some concessions from President William Ruto, sporadic, large-scale protests have continued this year, mainly organized on social media.
There have also been protests in West Africa. In Togo in June thousands turned out to protest what they said was the president’s attempt to change the constitution to stay in power indefinitely.
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https://trendsnafrica.com/madagascar-faces-agitations-more-security-forces-deployed/
Now Morocco is in the grip of a wave of protests. The cause and effect are the same running across despite the geographical distance between the destinations that are witnessing organized moves of the youth, whether it was in Sri Lanka some time ago, Indonesia, Nepal, Kenya or now Morocco; denial of basic needs and skewed distribution of income in the hands of a few. That is a global issue where every country is a stakeholder and a role to play.