Arrogant and unresponsive political leadership runs like a thread through nations affected by the so-called Gen Z riots that have spread through Africa, Asia and now South America. For this reason, and others, they might return. In some countries, they might even sweep regimes away.
In Nepal, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigned soon after protests flared early last month. In Madagascar, President Andry Rajoelina dissolved his government and is fighting for political survival after protests led to the deaths of at least 22 people.
In Kenya, President William Ruto seems unable to learn from experience. For three years, the East African country has faced disaffected youths deploying social media to organize protests against tax increases, police brutality and a cost-of-living crisis. Ruto has responded with violent police crackdowns, media blackouts, Internet shut downs and half-hearted Cabinet reshuffles — but few systemic solutions. And so the riots have recurred, each deadlier than the last.
Illustration: Mountain People
In 2023, Ruto — who won elections in 2022 on a pro-poor ticket and promises to end rampant police brutality — hiked taxes despite youth opposition. At least 23 people died in the resulting protests. Last year, after the country’s “7 Days of Rage” youth protests in which at least 50 people died, Ruto fired a handful of Cabinet members, but did not stop abductions and beatings of activists. Like clockwork, protests erupted again earlier this year. This time, Ruto instructed police to shoot protesters in the legs and banned live coverage of demonstrations, repeating a tactic from last year when he shut down the Internet. At least 65 people have died in this year’s Gen Z protests in Kenya.
Leaders need to realize that the protesters will not just go away. That is because young people, key players in these demonstrations, are dominant in many countries. In Madagascar, 68 percent of the population is younger than 30. Nepal’s under-30s make up 56 percent of the population; in Peru, the number is 47.8 percent. The median age in Morocco is 29.8 years. Unlike their parents, these young people are not prepared to tolerate corruption and unresponsive leadership.
In Mozambique, where 250 mostly young people died in December last year disputing election results, half the population is younger than 17. They feel ill-served by the governing party, Frelimo, which has been in charge since 1975 while the mineral-rich country has remained one of the 10 poorest nations in the world.
Angola, where 300 people died in youth protests this year, has a median age of just 16.2 — and the governing People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola party, despite being tainted by numerous corruption scandals over the decades, has clung to power since 1975 as well.
Half of the Philippines, where more than 200 people were arrested last month after tens of thousands of anti-corruption protesters took to the streets over the alleged disappearance of billions in taxpayer dollars for flood relief projects, is younger than 25.
Incumbent leaders have shown themselves to be hopelessly ill-equipped to resolve the problems. Many have reached for old playbooks; riot gear, teargas, media clampdowns, shootings and arrests. Ruto’s order for riot police to shoot youth protesters in the legs is perhaps the most callous and incendiary, but similar tactics have been deployed elsewhere.
The same attitude among Togo’s leaders has led to the deaths of an unknown number of young people in mass protests that have roiled the West African nation for weeks. In Angola, 30 people died in a police crackdown in July.
The signs of disaffected youth inspired by others through TikTok and other platforms are everywhere. In Ghana, youths staged numerous protests against state corruption following the Kenyan riots. Nigeria’s youth-led “#EndBadGovernance” protests, triggered by rising living costs and economic hardship, resulted in at least 22 deaths and more than 1,200 protesters detained.
In Mozambique, more than 300 people were killed in youth-led protests against alleged vote-rigging in the elections on Thursday last week. Leaders of these countries should be working to avert future flare-ups, because resentment and bitterness from previous crackdowns lingers.
Most of the protests have been organized through social media, and some leaders might be tempted to throttle the Internet. They should not. Ruto’s Internet bans last year and this year did not work; Nepal’s ban ignited chaos and anger. These methods have repeatedly been shown not to work
Such heavy-handed responses illustrate that leaders are failing to grasp that the African continent and the world’s young people are changing, and will continue to change the world in profound ways in the next few decades. The future prosperity of African nations lies not just in its abundant mineral wealth, but in its youthful population, as demographic shifts in many of the world’s richest nations tilt unfavorably.
The youngsters are starting to become more mindful of their power, and are coming for unresponsive governments everywhere. A hopeful signal in how to avoid inflaming the situation is available in Morocco. Although that government’s initial response to its riots was “swift and brutal,” officials have since toned down their rhetoric; Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch now says dialogue is the only path forward.
It is a tactic Ruto and many other leaders should adopt. If they continue to ignore the lessons before them, it seems inevitable that the uprisings will flare up again — and that they will spread to other similarly economically and political stressed countries.
Justice Malala is a political commentator and former editor of South Africa’s This Day. He is the author of The Plot to Save South Africa: The Week Mandela Averted Civil War and Forged a New Nation. This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
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