The Activists and the Anime

The activists and the anime

Gen Z protests are having a moment.

In just the last month, Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines and Madagascar have all seen large protests led by young people outraged over government corruption and inequality. Flying above each of the protests was a common flag: a grinning skull and bones wearing a straw hat.

The flag comes from a long-running Japanese manga and anime series called “One Piece,” which follows a scrappy crew of pirates as they take on a corrupt and repressive government. The franchise, recently relaunched as a live-action series on Netflix, has been dubbed in more than a dozen languages and has amassed a huge following, with more than 500 million copies of the print version published.

One of the first times the flag flew at protests was in 2023, at pro-Palestinian marches in Indonesia and Britain. In the years since, it has become a symbol for youth-led demonstrations around the world.

It hung on the gates of Nepal’s government complex, which was burned in protests that eventually toppled the government. It was painted on walls in Jakarta and hoisted by crowds in Manila. This week it popped up in Madagascar, where protests forced the dissolution of the government on Monday.

“We know that Gen Z is protesting all around the world, and we wanted to use symbols that made sense to our generation,” Rakshya Bam, 26, one of the Nepali Gen Z protest organizers, told my colleague Hannah Beech. “The pirate flag, Jolly Roger, it’s like a common language now.”

The “One Piece” flag isn’t just an emblem — it’s an allegory. The protagonist, Luffy, is a terrorist or a freedom fighter, depending on whom you ask. His iconic straw hat was a gift from his childhood hero, who believed Luffy and his generation would eventually prevail.

The plot makes the symbol particularly resonant, another Nepali protester, Irfan Khan, told Hannah. “The pirate, it’s like a way to say we are not going to put up with injustice and corruption anymore,” he said.

It’s not the first time that protesters have found common cause with youth-coded cultural references. In the 2010s, protesters against a military coup in Thailand adopted the three-fingered salute from the dystopian movie “The Hunger Games,” which has persisted in countries like Myanmar.

“I think we are entering a new era of organizing that draws heavily from digital, pop and gaming culture, creating a common vocabulary,” said Raqib Naik, the director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, a U.S.-based watchdog group that tracks online activity and misinformation.

The “One Piece” flag is being used by protesters who are thousands of kilometers apart. But they are linked by their generation’s shared culture, fusing popular narratives and anti-establishment politics into a force that has brought down at least two governments — and counting.

— Additional reporting by Parin Behrooz and Hannah Beech

MORE TOP NEWS

What Moldova’s election says about Europe

Moldova is a country of 2.4 million people, roughly the population of Manchester. But its geographic position gives this former Soviet republic an outsize strategic importance. That’s why the decisive victory of a pro-European Union party there Sunday, in an election that was predicted to be a nail-biter, felt so consequential. It was, as my colleague Jeanna Smialek put it, “a values race — a referendum on Europe versus Russia.”

It made me want to look at how Europeans feel about the E.U. When Britain voted to leave, there were fears that other countries might follow. Today, however, despite the rise of the nationalist right, almost three in four E.U. citizens say their country has benefited from being a member. In Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban is famous for his anti-Brussels stance, it’s 77 percent!

The economic benefits of the bloc are a big part of its appeal. And security is another priority, with Russia fighting a war in Ukraine and President Trump turning the U.S. into a less reliable partner. There are counterexamples like Georgia, which was once staunchly pro-Western and has drifted toward Russia. But it was still striking to see such a vote of confidence in the E.U. in Moldova — and discover that it is an example of a broader rally around the European flag.

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OTHER NEWS

• The U.S. government shut down for the first time since 2019 this morning after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on a funding bill. Federal services will be disrupted and thousands of federal workers will be sent home without pay. However, functions considered essential — including health care services for older people — will continue to operate. Trump has threatened to use the closure to fire civil servants and cut federal programs.

• Trump said he would give Hamas “three or four days” to respond to his proposal for an end to the war in Gaza. The plan gives Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu almost everything he hoped for despite Israel’s growing isolation.

• The U.S. deported a planeload of Iranians back to Iran after the two governments made a deal.

• An earthquake struck the central Philippines yesterday, collapsing buildings and killing at least 53 people.

• A car bomb exploded outside the headquarters of a paramilitary force in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan, killing at least 10 people.

• China, which urged Cambodia and Thailand to end their brief war, was also selling weapons to Cambodia.

• South Africa’s ambassador to France was found dead outside a Paris hotel, in a case police are investigating as a possible suicide.

• A new A.I. start-up has lured researchers away from Meta and Google by promising to advance scientific discovery.

American public support for Israel has sharply declined since the war in Gaza began two years ago.

A New York Times poll found that a majority of Americans now oppose sending more economic and military aid to Israel. For the first time since The Times began polling on this issue in 1998, more U.S. voters sympathize with Palestinians than with Israel.

And four in 10 American voters say Israel is intentionally killing civilians in Gaza, nearly double the figure from about two years ago.

In this hyper-polarized era, it’s rare to see major swings in public opinion. That’s what makes the shift in U.S. attitudes toward Israel and the war in Gaza so extraordinary.

Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid since its founding in 1948. But the poll hints at a different future: Nearly seven in 10 voters under 30 said they oppose additional economic or military aid to Israel. — Lisa Lerer, a Times national political correspondent.

MORNING READ

The church survived the Sept. 11 attacks, but its pipe organ, which had been in service since 1923, was severely damaged. Over two decades later, its replacement is finally ready. The new organ was 10 years in the making and cost nearly $17 million. Have a listen to its pew-shaking 8,041 pipes.

AROUND THE WORLD

Who they’re stereotyping in … Colombia

In Colombian slang, the first name Brayan is often used to refer to a reckless, low-income delinquent. Attention to the use of this stereotype was all over social media last month after Colombia’s gaffe-prone president, Gustavo Petro, called men named Brayan “vampire men” who leave women “pregnant and abandoned.”

The country’s Brayans — a population more than 165,000 strong according to the national registry — were not pleased. An influencer named Brayan Mantilla rallied some of his fellow Brayans in a video calling for a National Brayan Day. (The name is a Hispanicized spelling of the English name Brian.)

“For years we have been unfairly singled out, turned into memes and denied the right to be taken seriously in our professional and personal lives,” Mantilla said in a video. “We are not to blame for the name our parents gave us.” — Genevieve Glatsky, reporting from Bogotá

Maraq misir is a hearty red lentil soup found in Somali cuisine. Also known as shurbo cadas, the soup gets its body from tomatoes, onions and carrots, and its deep flavor from a layered blend of spices and fresh cilantro leaves.

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