After the rise of the internet, Gen Z-led movements have reshaped politics across the world, and the tide has now reached the world’s largest democracy with a staggering 600 million young people. As the two-month-old youth movement in India has garnered global attention, it’s worth situating this within the wave of Gen Z uprisings that have swept Europe, Africa and Latin America, but our story is unlike any other.Beyond the movement itself, it allows us to look at the larger political canvas, the moment in history we are in, and what it means for the future of Indian politics.The uprising next door and its aftermathThe Gen Z protest in Bangladesh was triggered by a quota reform that reserved a large amount of civil service seats for freedom fighters’ children. Nonetheless, the overwhelming outpouring of youth frustration was due to years of shrinking civic space using digital security laws, where journalists, cartoonists and human rights defenders were arrested for expressing dissent.The 36-day uprising was met with brutal force, killing more than a thousand, leaving more than a thousand injured, amputated and a few, even blind. The government then imposed a nationwide internet shutdown but the youth responded with graffiti, music, cartoons and memes, leading up to the fleeing of the Prime minister to India on August 5, 2024.The interim government formed by Nobel Peace Prize Laurette Yunus attempted to introduce reforms and ensure justice with new laws and executive orders including the inquiry commission on enforced disappearances.Also read: Public Anger Forced Dharmendra Pradhan’s Exit. BJP Praises Him as a Hero AnywayIn November 2025, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal convicted Hasina of crimes against humanity and sentenced her to death for ordering the brutal crackdown. Although the country has not fully revived from the scars of the violence, the youth movement continues through Students Against Discrimination, which later took shape as a political party, National Citizen Party.A prominent youth activist from the July revolution, Sharif Osman Hadi, was shot dead on the campaign trail in December 2025, but what is important is that the 2024 movement galvanized youth, bolstered youth participation in politics and continue to do so.Rakinul Hakim, a Bangladeshi human rights lawyer who worked with the survivors of the July revolution notes, “The July movement is a genuine youth-led manifestation of frustration against a decade of kleptocracy and systemic strangulation of any form of civic and political engagement of the youth. But the successive governments appropriated the movement for political gains and thus survivors continue to wait for reparations and justice. The public must remain vigilant to ensure that the organic outpouring of anger against corruption and abuse is not hijacked by political forces seeking to convert a democratic movement into a vehicle for sectarianism, extremism or partisan control. But ultimately, it politicised the country’s youth and reaffirmed that if rights are continuously and systematically denied, the youth shall organise to reclaim their constitutional rights.”A leaderless yet much lively movement in Peru and across Latin AmericaSince the 2022 political churn in Peru, the persistent state brutality, democratic backsliding and corruption and the controversial pension reform in 2025 triggered the ‘Generation Z collective’ that unfolded both online and in the streets. The state cracked down by gunning down a 32-year-old protester and rapper, Eduardo Ruiz, leaving hundreds injured.Further, the impeachment of President Dina Boluarte and replacing her with José Jerí, who was facing a sexual assault allegation galvanised the youth. Although the political turmoil is still unsettled, what is remarkable is the constitutional assertion of the right to dissent by the Peruvian youths even until today.Less than a week ago, Gen Z activists launched the organisation “Legado Nacional Unido” to empower youths in the country’s political life and public affairs, who vowed to take on the erosion of democratic institutions. The anti-corruption uprisings led by youth in Mexico and Paraguay echo similar political undertones.The swift Gen Z-led political reckoning in Europe’s BulgariaIn November 2025, a new budget reform raising taxes and pension contributions in Bulgaria, saturated the youth’s long-standing fury against systemic corruption and attempts to consolidation of political power by oligarch, Delyan Peevski.Although the protests turned violent like in other countries, the decentralised organisation of the protests using the coalition, ‘We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria’ and its youth units, effective usage of digital space with memes and songs and the protest culture in Bulgaria yielded a quick response.Within less than three weeks of mass demonstrations, the government withdrew the budget and resigned fully from power, making the movement one of the fastest capitulations of the global wave of Gen Z uprisings, and the first ever Gen Z movement that brought down a European government.The galvanisation of Kenyan youths against poverty and corruptionKenyan youths sparked into action by a finance bill raising taxes on ordinary goods. The movement was deliberately leaderless, organised and mobilised mostly online under the civic ethos, “leaderless, tribeless, fearless”, echoing Nigeria’s #EndSARS protests.Similar to Bangladesh and Peru, the killing of 29-year-old protester Rex Masai and the eventual storming of Parliament accentuated the movement leading to the withdrawal of the bill, but the police crackdown on June 25 left more than 60 dead and several forcibly disappeared. Two years on, families affected by the crackdown await justice but the youth movement continues.Also read: Politic | Narendra Modi’s Rude AwakeningKenyan youths consider June 25 to be a symbol of resistance, which succeeded in the withdrawal of the bill, mobilizing gig workers and first-time demonstrators and most importantly, gave rise to decentralised politically active network of youth who continue their digital activism.Wangechi Grace Kahuria, a Kenyan human rights activist who fought for the justice of the injured protestors notes, “Since the 2024 protests, the Kenyan youth are not only active in the civic space but are redefining politics, accountability, justice and governance. Gen Zs are the driving force behind today’s democratic awakening globally. Through their courage, voice, and agency, they are reclaiming the meaning of sovereignty as the enduring power of the people. They have endured torture, silencing, being disappeared, killed all for the fundamental right of citizens civil and political liberties.”The unique case of the world’s largest democracyThe Gen Z protests around the world offer striking similarities but also jarring contradictions with the movement initiated by the ‘Cockroach Janata Party’ (CJP) in India. Although India was late to enter the catalogue of Gen Z uprisings that shape world politics, our story is unique in its own way.In the last decade, India has been experiencing a steady decline in civic freedoms, reprisal against dissidents, journalists and human rights defenders and systemic impunity, which were also the common denominator in all the Gen Z movements across the globe.But the jarring contradiction that can’t be missed is what triggered the movement in India, the way it took shape and the proximity of the issue the movement focused, to the lives of youths. Also hard to miss is the provocative role of the judiciary which is much different from Bangladesh, Kenya and most other uprisings.While the tipping point in other countries were a regressive policy, a quota or state violence but in India, it was the chief justice of India’s remark, calling unemployed youths and RTI activists as ‘cockroaches’ that ignited the movement.Unlike other countries, it started as an online satiric in the name of CJP with no intentions of a street wide movement as its founder clarified. The movement did not have a specific issue to tackle initially but the flooding online solidarity from youths across the country made the founder flee back to India, frame the educational irregularities as their prime concern and start demonstrations across the country.The issue of the paper leaks in the NEET exam and the CBSE OSM scam is more crucial to the education and life of the youth of India more than the finance bill in Kenya or the pension reform in Bulgaria is, to their youths.Although the movement started rudderless, it coalesced around this ongoing crisis in the Indian education system that resonates much more than anything to the Indian youths and lead to the resignation of the education minister of the country.The support by figures like Arundhati Roy, Prakash Raj, and the initiation of hunger strike by Sonam Wangchuk garnered attention and solidarity for the movement which is burgeoning across the country as we speak. Like all other countries, the movement got much decentralised today with many states across the country witnessing students flooding the streets with the support of regional youth organisations, but all in solidarity with the protest at Jantar Mantar.Delhi Police’s brutal crackdown on the July 20 march to parliament, and the operation to forcibly hospitalise Wangchuk from his hunger strike, mirrors the pattern seen in all the other Gen Z movements, not to mention that this is not uncommon for the National Capital Territory of India. The Indian judiciary’s role is once again ironical and appalling.In Bangladesh, the International Crimes tribunal held Hasina accountable and in Kenya, the high court held the use of force unlawful and ordered relief to the victims. The independence of the judiciary in Bulgaria and Peru was part of the problem, but the judiciary didn’t exacerbate the situation like the Indian story. When detained and injured protestors approached the court asking for relief, the court reprimanded them saying, “We are not interested in videos; we don’t have time to watch” and “don’t drag the court into this”.What this means to India?The opposition members involvement and the call for the resignation of Prime minister Modi signals capitalisation of the Gen Z movement for political mileage, but the undeniable truth is this. All the countries that saw Gen Z uprising had a lasting impact on the politicisation of the youth and a vibrant dissent.The young roaches of India have come together for the first time and this Gen Z movement means much more to a country with 600 million youth population than any other. The movement is growing stronger across the nation and it shall send a strong message to the ruling power which has stabilised its rule in the last 12 years by capturing all the independent institutions, making any political change virtually impossible.Also read: ‘Who Gave the Order to Hit Students?’: Rahul Gandhi Writes to Amit ShahBut the movement should also be careful in not letting in partisan priorities and appropriation of the country’s youth anger against an oppressive government like Bangladesh.It is no more a project of the CJP or Sonam Wangchuk but a movement that belongs to 600 million young Indians, the largest youth cohort in human history.The myriad songs and memes shall certainly outshout the rumble of the trucks carrying stones and pellets. The slogans of solidarity shall echo long after the clouds of tear gas have dispersed. Dissent is louder than ever before in India and the robust machinery that the BJP has spent a decade perfecting shall be finally be tested by the ‘cockroaches’ of this country, a generation that has refused to be silent. The government better not take them for granted.Edgar Kaiser is a human rights lawyer at People’s Watch, Tamil Nadu and an L.L.M candidate in European and International Human Rights Law at Leiden University, Netherlands, and Grace Anu is a Counsellor at People’s Watch.