From livestreams in Lima to mass marches in Mexico City and youth networks in Buenos Aires, a new generation is reshaping protest in Latin America. Gen Z activists respond to corruption, crime, and political instability by blending street mobilisation with digital organising, memes, and cultural expression. Decentralised, creative, and often born online, their movements show how humour, hope, and hashtags are transforming activism across the region.
Young demonstrators, many in their 20s, occupy city streets, chant slogans, and document unfolding events through their phones as police stand behind lines of shields. Protest livestreams circulate across social media platforms while hashtags multiply in real time.
Scenes like this spread widely across Peru in late September and October 2025, when protests led by Generation Z erupted over a controversial pension reform law passed on 5 September requiring adults over 18 to join a private pension system. What began as opposition to the policy quickly evolved into broader political demands.
Across the country, demonstrators called for the removal of then-president Dina Boluarte, the dissolution of Congress, improved security, and more economic opportunities for young people. The uprising reflected deeper frustration over corruption, rising crime, economic insecurity, and long-standing political dissatisfaction.
For many young Peruvians, the protests unfolded simultaneously in the streets and online. Social media became a lifeline for coordination, information, and visibility. Hashtags such as #PerúEnLucha (#PeruInStruggle), #QueSeVayanTodos (#TheyAllMustLeave), and #PeruProtests spread widely on platforms like X, TikTok, and Instagram, helping organisers share protest routes, safety updates, and livestreams while documenting events as they happened.
Digital Protests and Networked Mobilisation
Similar dynamics have appeared across Latin America as a new generation of activists blends digital culture with street mobilisation. In Mexico, online organising helped bring tens of thousands of demonstrators to the streets of Mexico City in November 2025 to protest crime, corruption, and impunity. In Argentina, youth activists have relied on social media networks to coordinate demonstrations against economic reforms and restrictions on protest rights.
Scholars of digital activism highlight that hashtags have become powerful tools for collective mobilisation. They allow participants to coordinate actions and create shared narratives around political demands, helping movements reach audiences far beyond their immediate locations.
For protesters on the ground, digital platforms often serve as tools for real-time monitoring and documentation. Grecia Flores, a 21-year-old activist from Lima and youth representative to the World Food Forum, recalls how people online tried to track events during the Peruvian protests as tensions escalated.
‘There was a moment that was especially distressing every time vehicles appeared without clear identification and people were taken away’, she says. ‘No one knew exactly where they were taking them or what would happen afterwards.’
Viewers following livestreams began recording clips and screenshots, attempting to identify vehicle number plates and gather evidence.
‘It was like trying to perform a small role of citizen surveillance’, Flores explains, ‘in case that information could later help show what had happened.’
Yet alongside the fear, she notes, the livestreams also revealed moments of solidarity. Volunteer medics moved through crowds with improvised first aid kits, while residents brought water, masks, and vinegar to help those affected by tear gas.
‘You could see how people took care of each other’, she says.
Memes, Humour, and the Language of Protest
Across the region, digital platforms spread information and shape the cultural language of protest. In Peru, demonstrators carried banners inspired by the straw-hat skull from the anime One Piece, a symbol of rebellion and unity that has appeared in other youth-led movements worldwide.
In Mexico, humour and satire often play a similar role in sustaining engagement. When thousands of protesters converged on Mexico City on 15 November 2025 in what was framed as a ‘Generation Z’ movement, many online posts combined political criticism with memes and jokes.
The demonstrations were triggered by outrage over crime and corruption following the assassination of Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo earlier that month. Images and videos of the killing circulated widely online, fuelling calls for accountability and protests in cities across the country, from Guadalajara to Veracruz.
Hashtags such as #GenerationZ, #MarchaGenZ (#GenZMarch), and #MéxicoSeLevanta (#MexicoRises) facilitated the coordination of gatherings and circulation of footage from the streets. Estimates suggest that between 40,000 and 55,000 people participated in demonstrations nationwide. As documented, young demonstrators carried banners demanding transparency, security, and accountability.
The demonstration in Mexico City culminated in clashes with police in the squares (Zócalo) where barriers were breached and some protesters confronted security forces with stones and other projectiles, leading to reports of around 120 people injured – including both civilians and police officers – and dozens of arrests.
For many young Mexicans, the protests were not simply about a single incident but reflected broader frustration with systemic insecurity: everyday life for many involves concerns over personal safety, pressures around employment and inequality, and a sense that political solutions lag behind social realities.
Ximena Iñiguez Becerril, a Mexican human rights and development activist, points out that humour often becomes a way to process frustration and anger.
‘Mexico has a knack for turning serious issues into memes and jokes’, she observes. ‘That humour can make the hard reality feel a little lighter, but it also sparks conversations.’
Researchers studying digital dissent have observed similar patterns in youth movements worldwide. Memes, satire, and playful content often function as strategic tools that mobilise audiences and sustain engagement while making complex political issues easier to understand.
Becerril connects this dynamic to what many describe as the Mexican spirit of desmadre, a form of irreverence that allows people to confront authority with humour.
‘Memes might seem chaotic’, she says, ‘but they share information in a way that people actually engage with.’
Civic Space, Repression, and New Forms of Activism
Elsewhere in the region, youth activism has taken shape within different political contexts but reflects similar patterns of digital organisation. In Argentina, where protest culture has deep historical roots, from student movements to the influential #NiUnaMenos feminist wave against gender-based violence, the mid‑2020s have been marked by large demonstrations against President Javier Milei’s controversial economic reforms, austerity measures, and what many activists describe as increasing restrictions on protest rights.
Several key actions in 2024 and 2025 have been fuelled by discontent with cuts to public services, pension and disability funding vetoes, and broader dissatisfaction with cost‑of‑living pressures. Civil society monitoring groups, such as CIVICUS Monitor, have documented a pattern of restrictive regulations affecting freedom of assembly and expression, including policies that criminalise peaceful blockades and expand state powers to disperse demonstrations under a ‘public order’ pretext.
Despite these constraints, social media remains central to mobilisation. Activists frequently used hashtags such as #ArgentinaResiste (Argentina Resists), #ParoGeneral (General Strike), and #marcha (march) to circulate calls to action, protest visuals, and political commentary.
Mariela Belski, Executive Director of Amnesty International Argentina, says Generation Z activists are bringing new styles of organisation to political engagement.
‘We observe a form of protest that is more horizontal, network-based, and characterised by rapid organisation’, she explains. ‘Social media is not just a tool to mobilise. It is also a space where debate, identity, and coordination happen.
Scholars describe these forms of mobilisation as ‘hybrid movements’, where online discussion and identity-building often precede street demonstrations and then reinforce them.
Digital networks also help activists share safety information, coordinate protest routes, and document clashes with authorities. Civil society organisations have reported instances of excessive force during demonstrations in Argentina, including the use of batons, rubber bullets, and tear gas against protesters.
Even under such pressures, humour and creativity remain central elements of youth protest culture. Memes, protest graphics, and short videos circulate widely across platforms, helping activists explain complex political issues in formats that resonate with younger audiences.
‘Humour acts as an entry point’, Belski says. ‘It lowers barriers to participation and helps messages reach people who might otherwise remain distant from these issues.’
What unites young protesters across Lima, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires is not only their grievances but their fluency in digital culture. Online networks allow them to document abuses, coordinate demonstrations, and circulate messages at a speed unavailable to previous generations.
Across Latin America, Gen Z activists are reshaping how dissent unfolds. Their movements are decentralised, creative, and deeply rooted in the digital spaces where many young people organise and debate. In blending street protest with memes, livestreams, and online networks, they are redefining what civic participation looks like for a new political generation.