Gen Z-led protests are making waves from Africa to Asia, and while the issues spurring them are different, the symbol they’re using is the same: a grinning skull and crossbones wearing a straw hat.

It was there when young people angry with the lavish lifestyles of the elite brought down Nepal’s government last month. It was visible in the Indonesian and Philippine protests this year, and again when Madagascan youth marched against chronic water and electricity shortages over the past 10 days. Right now, it’s being waved at protests raging over poor healthcare in Morocco.

The flag comes from a long-running Japanese anime and manga series called One Piece, about a rag-tag band of pirates dubbed “the straw hats,” who are led by a cheerful character named Monkey D. Luffy and are fighting an oppressive world government.

  • Maeve@midwest.social
    711·
    7 days ago

    Despite what capitalists color revolutionaries tell you, the only way humans survive is by working together for everyone, financially and ecologically.

      • Zachariah@lemmy.world
        3·
        6 days ago

        We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win, and the others, too.