How Gen Z is burning down the old order

Raised amid economic collapse, climate chaos, and elite impunity, Gen Z see institutions—governments, dynasties, universities—as kindling. Social media is their spark, turning local fury into global anthems.

From a Tunisian terrace overlooking the Mediterranean, I watched flames erupt on Greta Thunberg’s boat, a fiery beacon in the September sky. The Global Sumud Flotilla, docked in nearby Sidi Bou Said, was struck by what activists called an Israeli drone strike—a blazing symbol of Gen Z’s fearless stand against goliaths.

That fire, mirrored by burning streets in Nepal and defiant chants in France, ignites a truth: September 2025 is Gen Z’s inferno, a generation torching the old order to forge a new one.

This week, Nepal’s youth toppled Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on September 9, sparked by a social media ban.

In France, Prime Minister François Bayrou also fell on September 9 after a 364-194 vote loss over austerity, fuelling Gen Z’s ‘Block Everything’ roadblocks. In the US, the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September 10 at Utah Valley University exposed the lethal edge of campus rage.

In the UK, Youth Demand’s pro-Palestine rallies saw nearly 900 arrests by September 7, defying bans to block arms factories. From Sri Lanka’s 2022 unrest to Bangladesh’s 2024 uprising, Gen Z is on fire, refusing to wait for permission to reshape a broken world.

In Nepal, a ban on 26 social media platforms lit the fuse for a generation choked by 20% youth unemployment and the flaunted wealth of ‘nepo kids’—politicians’ privileged kin. Gen Z didn’t beg; they stormed parliament, set Singha Durbar ablaze, and clashed with police, leaving around 20 dead and hundreds injured. Oli’s resignation was their victory, their demand for an interim government under ex-Chief Justice Sushila Karki a battle cry. This wasn’t protest—it was power, a refusal to accept the status quo, but instead a spark to demand change.

Here in Tunis, Thunberg, the 22-year-old climate warrior turned Palestine advocate, led the flotilla to smash Israel’s Gaza blockade with aid. When drones—suspected Israeli—set two boats ablaze, Thunberg roared, ‘We will not be stopped.’ Her Gen Z crew, chanting ‘Free Palestine’, fused eco-fury with anti-imperial fire, undeterred by Tunisian denials of drone activity or past interceptions. In the USA, Kirk’s killing—a sniper’s bullet from a college-aged suspect during a campus clash—laid bare Gen Z’s polarised rage. Conservative or progressive, they’re done asking, as vigils mark a generation burning to dictate terms.

This September blaze is no fluke; it’s the peak of a global firestorm symbolising 2025 as Gen Z’s reckoning. Serbia’s student-led anti-corruption blockades, burning since November 2024, flared in September with 5,000+ youth marching silently in Belgrade for snap elections, undeterred by tear gas. In Indonesia, September 7 marches raged against elite housing subsidies amid 13% unemployment, with #Reformasi2 memes exposing ‘nepo’ deals, echoing Nepal and sparking global vigils.

Recall Bangladesh, where Gen Z catalysed Sheikh Hasina’s toppling in August 2024, using TikTok to expose corruption and storm government buildings, forcing her exile. The interim government under Muhammad Yunus now faces 2025’s ashes—hundreds of lynchings, economic decay—but youth demands for 2026 elections burn on, inspiring Nepal’s flames in turn. In Sri Lanka, the 2022 Aragalaya movement, where Gen Z occupied the presidential palace to oust Gotabaya Rajapaksa, showed youth rejecting half-measures, their memes and flags fanning systemic overhaul.

What fuels these fires? Gen Z’s refusal to wait. Raised amid economic collapse, climate chaos, and elite impunity, they see institutions—governments, dynasties, universities—as kindling. Social media is their spark, turning local fury into global anthems. Nepal’s ‘nepo kids’ hashtag, Bangladesh’s anti-quota reels, Serbia’s #SerbiaBezStranke, and Youth Demand’s swarms blaze across borders. Unlike past generations, who sought reform through votes or talks, Gen Z strikes—through protests, violence, or flotillas—with unrelenting heat. France’s youth ballots indirectly scorched Bayrou. Governments offer scraps, like Indonesia scrapping perks, but repression only fans the flames.

This awakening has a dark glow. Kirk’s assassination, dubbed a ‘political hit’ by the FBI, shows how polarisation can burn deadly when Gen Z skips discourse for action. The suspect, a rifle-trained student, mirrors the precision of Nepal’s firebombers or Indonesia’s looters. Yet Thunberg’s mission and UK rallies reveal Gen Z’s moral blaze, risking all for solidarity. This duality—rage and righteousness—defines their 2025 inferno, a fire that could consume or illuminate.

What’s scary is that we don’t really know which. Gen Z’s rejection of permission torches the status quo but risks reducing dialogue to ashes. Their digital spark and moral fire are strengths, yet violence—Kirk’s killing, Nepal’s arson—questions whether ends match means. India, with its own restless youth, must feel this global heat. Will our Gen Z wield weapons like in the case of the Kirk killing or courage like that of Thunberg? What 2025 already tells us is that their fire won’t brook our tentativeness.

(The author is an independent writer)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.