Several social media accounts with the same name, the image of the pirate flag from the manga “One Piece,” and tensions with the government of President Claudia Sheinbaum surround the Generation Z youth movement in Mexico. Lacking clear leadership, they share a common thread: they demand security in Mexico and reject political corruption. And they want to be heard.
“There’s a lot of social discontent. There are many things that young people don’t think are right,” Iván “Mero Perro” tells CNN. He asks to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal and uses his Discord username instead. This group messaging platform, widely used by gamers and streamers, is where this movement of young people—aged 18 to 35—communicates and shares their ideas.
The imagery of a skull wearing a straw hat from the manga “One Piece” has become an emblem of anti-government mobilizations in countries like Nepal—which led to the prime minister’s resignation—and in France and Indonesia, as a symbol of the fight against oppression and the demand for freedom. These demands reached Latin America and grew in Peru, Paraguay, and Mexico, inspired by what happened in Nepal, where massive protests led by young people against the political class for corruption took place.
Iván lives in the state of Puebla, located in central Mexico. He is 29 years old and a spokesperson for the group. He says they have no leaders and that they seek to be a “decentralized” group, where nothing depends on a single person. He joined the conversations with other young people in early October, after the first Generation Z Discord server was created.
“We went from 1,000 users to 50,000 in a week,” says another young woman who is part of the organization and asked not to be named out of fear. She joined the first server in mid-October, just as the movement was beginning to gain popularity.
The turning point for these young people in Mexico was the murder of Carlos Manzo, mayor of the municipality of Uruapan, who was killed on November 1st. “We were talking on the server when he died. It was very shocking. That was the last straw and made us say, ‘We have to take action now,’” says Iván.
Just a few days later, in early November, there was a breakdown. The young people who spoke with CNN recounted that suspicions grew that among the users of the first Discord server, where thousands of them met, there were alleged ties to a political party opposed to the Sheinbaum administration, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
Source: cnnespanol
