In recent weeks, the One Piece pirate flag has emerged as a global protest symbol among Generation Z, from Indonesia to Madagascar. This generation uses shared cultural references on social media to express discontent with traditional politics. Politician Zohran Mamdani has leveraged this virality in his campaign, focusing on everyday issues like housing and inflation.
Generation Z has turned memes into political language, replacing traditional slogans with cultural symbols like the One Piece pirate flag, originating from the Japanese anime. This image circulates on social media from Indonesia to Madagascar, symbolizing an unprecedented protest against governments without a centralized movement, but rooted in shared distrust of conventional politics.
Protests no longer confine to streets but occur in digital visual codes, where images condense ideas that words fail to express in a discourse-saturated world. This cultural phenomenon gained political weight with Zohran Mamdani, who used virality as a campaign vehicle. Instead of targeting party militants, Mamdani focused on a young, skeptical digital audience, addressing issues like mobility, housing, urban living costs, and access to basic services.
His strategy relied on a precise reading of the digital ecosystem, allowing the public to spread his content. A key example is the term “halalflación,” referring to rising prices of rice and chicken at street food carts frequented by Muslim workers. As Mamdani puts it: “the food is getting more expensive around the corner.” This approach translated inflation into accessible, relatable street language.
Mamdani's success shows that Generation Z's apparent apathy stems not from indifference but from saturation with political artifices. His campaign proved that authenticity builds trust and votes. Questions now arise about whether traditional politics can adapt to an electorate that scrolls rigorously but does not militate, and how credibility relies more on tone than on programs. In Colombia and elsewhere, the challenge is to recognize that power is contested in digital conversations.