Youth-led protests erupted across the world in 2025, challenging corruption, inequality and entrenched political power — forcing governments to confront a generation no longer willing to wait its turn.
Often grouped under the banner of the "gen Z protests", the movements first flared in Bangladesh in 2024 before spreading through Asia, Africa and Latin America the following year.
Images of young protesters confronting riot police, storming halls of power and, in some cases, toppling governments dominated global headlines.
A pirate flag from the Japanese manga and anime One Piece emerged as a shared symbol of defiance, linking movements separated by borders but bound by common grievances.
Yet Athena Charanne Presto, a sociologist from the Philippines and PhD candidate at the Australian National University, cautions against framing the unrest as a purely generational phenomenon.
Youth-led protests erupted in many countries worldwide in 2025. Source: AAP / Claudia Rosel
The protests, she said, shattered the stereotype of young people as passive digital natives disengaged from real-world politics.
Some are still on social media practising self-care, she said, "but that care is community-focused, so we can collectively participate in more transformative goals".
So what did the protests actually achieve?
SBS News took a closer look at three of the uprisings — in Nepal, the Philippines and Indonesia — to examine how youth-led movements reshaped political conversations, challenged authority and, in some cases, altered the course of power in 2025.
Nepal: Youth protests force regime change
Nishchhal Kharal is a Nepali international student in Australia who founded a grassroots organisation that went on to play a key role in Nepal's youth-led uprising.
Born in rural Nepal, he moved to the capital, Kathmandu, as a child.
Growing up between city and country — across divides of caste, class and gender — he said he started to recognise deep inequalities embedded in society.
Nishchhal Kharal is a Nepali international student in Australia who founded a grassroots organisation that went on to play a key role in Nepal's youth-led uprising. Source: Supplied / Nishchhal Kharal
Based in New Baneshwor, just a few streets from Nepal's federal parliament, the studio found itself at the heart of the gen Z–led protests that erupted in September last year.
The unrest followed the viral spread of the #NepoBaby campaign, which aimed to expose the wealth and privilege of Nepal's political elite. On 4 September, the government responded by attempting to ban social media, citing regulatory concerns.
Students poured onto the streets. From Australia, Kharal coordinated Freedom Studio's staff to support demonstrations sparked by the proposed ban, but driven by deeper frustrations over rampant corruption and lack of economic opportunity for ordinary Nepalis.
The government lifted the ban after protests intensified on 8 September, with police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters trying to storm parliament. Nineteen people were killed and more than 100 were injured in the protests.
The following day, then-prime minister KP Sharma Oli resigned and fled his official residence.
Fire and smoke rise from the Singha Durbar Palace, which houses government and parliamentary buildings, as protesters stormed the premises in Kathmandu, Nepal. Source: EPA / Narendra Shrestha
"The government really underestimated the power of young people," Kharal told SBS News.
'The people have spoken'
Today, the parliament building lies in ruins.
An interim government was selected through a poll on the social media platform Discord, with former justice minister Sushila Karki emerging as the winner.
Kharal, who voted online, said many people joke about a youth-led movement electing a 73-year-old leader.
"She's a fearless lady and we have our first female prime minister," he said. "That's so cool."
The Karki government has formed a three-member judicial commission to look into the killings of protesters as well as the vandalism, arson and other violent activities that shook the country.
Since the change in government, Kharal said Freedom Studio has been targeted by nationalists loyal to the deposed leadership.
"They have threatened to kill me, chase me in the street. It's really horrifying what kind of hate speech they use on social media," he said.
To protect his team, much of the studio's work has moved offline — but Kharal said he remains undeterred.
Nepal's interim prime minister, Sushila Karki, faces challenges in restoring order and rebuilding trust while preparing for new elections. Source: AAP / Niranjan Shrestha
Ousted prime minister Oli is seeking re-election as president of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist). At a rally in December, he rejected accusations that his party was hostile to young people.
"We are being projected as anti-gen Z youths. But this is not true," he said.
When SBS News spoke to Kharal, he was preparing to return home. One of Freedom Studio's goals for 2026 is to collaborate with other civil society groups to support new candidates in the election.
"I have a fear that the country might go back to this loop of instability, but on the other side, the people have spoken," he said.
"We showed the world that no leader can dominate your citizens. You have to protect your promises and be accountable to the people.
"And if you don't, the people will revolt."
Philippines: Protests expose climate and corruption crisis
Protests erupted across the Philippines in early September after revelations that billions of pesos meant for flood-control projects had been lost to corruption, leaving communities exposed to climate disasters.
The fury was directed at company owners, government officials, and parliament members accused of pocketing billions in funds for substandard or nonexistent flood-protection projects.
Reports showed up to 70 per cent of government funding intended to protect the country from flooding had allegedly been lost, with more than 400 projects marked as completed later found not to exist.
The scandal struck a nerve in the Southeast Asian country, one of the "most vulnerable to climate disasters", according to Presto, a researcher focusing on young people's political participation.
She alleged corruption is deeply embedded in the political system in the Philippines, with officials who awarded contracts to themselves or family businesses nicknamed "congtractors" — "congressmen" who doubled as private "contractors".
Sociologist Athena Charanne Presto said corruption is deeply embedded in the political system in the Philippines. Source: Supplied / Athena Presto
"Having forty-four luxury cars is absolute madness," she said, referring to a construction company owner and former mayoral candidate reportedly linked to the scandal.
The anger driving the protests reflected broader economic pressures, particularly among young people.
Presto said the median age in the Philippines is around 26, while poverty remains "persistent and increasing", leaving many feeling shut out of opportunity.
"If you're 26 and underemployed, you're angry, right? That means you have the best years of your life wasted all because of persistent corruption in your country," she said.
An ongoing cycle of protests
Street protests started on 4 September outside the headquarters of a construction company implicated in the scandal in Pasig City near Manila, before spreading nationwide.
Some rallies drew tens of thousands of people and continued for weeks.
While the Philippines' President Ferdinand Marcos Jr initially pledged reforms when the scandal emerged in July, protesters said little had changed. An independent commission set up to investigate corruption was widely criticised for being ineffective.
"It's all for talk," Presto said.
Various anti-corruption protests have been held in the Philippines since September as Filipinos continue to demand accountability for massive corruption in flood-control projects. Credit: Lisa Marie David/Getty Images
Some viewed the scandal as an opportunity for Marcos Jr to "redeem his family name", while others viewed it as "same old" corruption.
"He does come from one of the most historically corrupt and one of the most violent political dynasties in the Philippines," Presto said.
She said the lack of unified demands weakened the movement.
"What has not been consistent is having a unified goal," she said.
"Some of them would want to keep the administration, some of want to kick it away."
Similar protests also erupted in Manila in November, when tens of thousands of people marched through the capital, demanding Marcos Jr's resignation over the scandal.
While two cabinet members have resigned over the scandal, protesters called for implicated officials, including other senators and members of the House of Representatives, to be jailed and ordered to return the funds they allegedly stole and used to finance their lavish lifestyles.
With no clear resolution in sight, Presto said she expected the unrest to continue. "I'm expecting to see more protests," she said.
Indonesia: A death sparks unfinished reckoning
For Ethan Joes, 22, a recent philosophy graduate now in Australia, the streets of Medan, in the Indonesian province of North Sumatra, are never far from his thoughts.
It was here, on one of Indonesia's largest islands, that youth-led protests erupted in August — protests that brought back painful memories of the nation's past.
Ethan Joes spoke at a rally in Sydney in August, held in solidarity with Indonesian student protesters. Source: Supplied / Ethan Joes
When the protests resulted in casualties — in particular, the death of a motorcycle taxi driver run over by a police vehicle — the public anger grew, leading to riots.
Thousands poured into the streets and even the parliament. Public buildings, including police stations and regional legislatures, were set on fire, and the homes of some politicians were looted.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto ordered the security forces to take firm action against the protests, but he also announced that politicians' perks — including the contentious housing allowance — would be cut, as well as overseas trips, a rare concession to the protesters.
The protests in Jakarta started on 25 August, with thousands demonstrating outside parliament against a housing allowance for MPs that was nearly 10 times the minimum wage in the Indonesian capital. Source: AAP / Tatan Syuflana
The protests, however, were only part of a larger, unresolved story.
In November, Subianto officially designated his former father-in-law, the late former president Soeharto, a national hero.
For Joes, this decision was deeply troubling. Soeharto's 32-year rule was marked by corruption, nepotism, and mass killings that started in 1965 — atrocities in which a United Nations tribunal found Australia complicit — allegations that Australia rejected.
"The government is trying to whitewash our history," Joes said. "The legacy of corruption, of nepotism, of police brutality, it's still a living breath. We're still experiencing those."
Teaching the other history
In response, Joes joined Aliansi Gusar, a group of Indonesians abroad.
Their Australian chapter formed during the August protests, with the mission of teaching the country's history from perspectives often ignored in official narratives.
A screenshot shared from a video filmed during Ethan Joes' recent trip to Medan, where posters declaring former Indonesian president Soeharto a "national hero" were put up across the city. Source: Supplied / Ethan Joes
"We don't want to naturalise corruption."
By highlighting stories from survivors and eyewitnesses of 1965 and Soeharto's regime, the group hopes to empower a new generation to engage in politics.
"I hope that some day with the consolidation of this movement, we would not be afraid to do electoral politics," he said.
Joes is well aware of the risks of speaking out in a country where critics are often silenced. Yet, for him, staying silent is far more dangerous.
"Bro, I just want them to do their job," he said, echoing the modest expectations of many Indonesians who yearn for accountability, fairness, and change.
Share
