Policymakers: Are they ready to work with Gen Z

• Today’s Gen Z movement is not a sudden awakening but a cumulative result of growing up in an environment in which crisis and inequality are visible and institutional responses are often disappointing

Sri Lanka has witnessed protests of various kinds. These vary from protests that end following government’s responses towards people’s demands to mass scale people’s movements such as the aragalaya to pseudo-satyagraha campaigns launched by politicians and actual satyagraha done by people. The right to peaceful assembly is a right guaranteed by the Constitution and therefore, people have a right to take to the streets and protest peacefully if they are at the receiving end of injustice. 

This was evident during the 2022 aragalaya when people from all corners of the country took to the streets protesting against a government that deprived people of basic necessities. People became fed up of a government that led the country towards an economic crisis. Global protest movements, such as the Gen Z protests in Nepal in September 2025 to student protests in Bangladesh that led to the ousting of the country’s long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, have been organised due to similar frustrations and anger. 

Today (12), over 127 million Bangladeshi people will choose a new government in what is called the country’s first proper free and fair poll in more than a decade. But even though the protests have led to various changes in the Bangladesh’s political landscape, people remain uncertain about the outcome of the polls. Many anticipate that the Bangladesh National Party has a higher chance of sweeping a majority of Parliamentary seats even though the party has never governed by itself.  The Gen Z protesters have formed their own party, the Nationalist Citizen Party, aligning with the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami which according to analysts is putting up a strong challenge against the BNP. 

When the protests happened in Sri Lanka, some of the younger protesters came up with several demands with a vision to usher in a new era of governance. Two of their main demands were to end corruption in governance and to end nepotism and dynastic politics. Other demands included the abolishing of the twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, making it mandatory for elected officials to declare their assets with investigations carried out to apprehend and recover unlawfully acquired assets through lawful means and include the right to life as a fundamental right. 

The Gen Z has been the driving force behind most protests that toppled governments from Nepal to Madagascar, Togo, Kenya and Morocco. The Gen Z protests in Nepal began in response to a social media ban while Gen Z protests in Kenya took place over tax rises. Youth in Togo took to the streets demanding an end to corruption and repression. In Morocco, the youth took to the streets to express their disappointment towards the state of healthcare and high unemployment while the government was spending money to host upcoming football tournaments. 

Like the Arab Spring Movement, these protests carry the possibility of turbulence and political collapse. They also carry the possibility of renewal. According to Erica Chenoweth’s research on non-violent resistance, major political change is possible when roughly 3.5% of a population participates in sustained protest. Perhaps what is unique about the current movement of Gen Z uprisings is the infrastructure of mobilisation. From TikTok to X to other social media platforms have allowed users to amplify and accelerate grievances. Analysts note that the same memes, tactics and symbols are shared across countries. Gen Z has also used digital platforms to plan, coordinate and rapidly deploy large-scale protests which have surprised governments and global observers, similar to how the protests began in Sri Lanka. 

It now looks like an entire generation has come of age during the most conflict-prone era since World War II. Today’s Gen Z movement is not a sudden awakening but a cumulative result of growing up in an environment in which crisis and inequality are visible and institutional responses are often disappointing. But whether policymakers are ready to partner with Gen Z to build more durable, legitimate political systems, still remains a doubt.                    

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