The Gen Z Protests in Nepal: A Wake-Up Call For the Country's Political Class

If the events of early September were any indication, the youth have clearly indicated to the state that they hold deep contempt for those institutions that promote endemic corruption, crony capitalism and inefficient governance.

Nepal parliament building burning amid protests. Photo: AZAY HAKA/Himalkhabar

The September 8 “Gen Z protests” in Nepal and subsequent developments were an important reminder that the political system of Nepal developed in the last three decades is failing its population. The horrific events at the outset may appear as protest against the endemic corruption and the lavish lifestyles of the politicians and their children who are living off the hard earned money of the taxpayers. However, these protests were an attack against the process of partyfication of social life in Nepal.

Following the end of the party-less Panchayat system in 1990, these political parties came to the centre stage of politics and have been in the driving seat ever since. The reemergence of the multi-party system was heralded as a refreshing and rejuvenating development as it allowed for more open and competitive dialogue among different sections of the society that was not found in the preceding panchayat period.

However, the process of opening up of the polity with competitive party politics also resulted in the party echelons filling up the public institutions with their loyalists. All aspects of public life, be it government institutions, universities or even sections of civil society, were captured by party members. So much so, that the appointment of Supreme Court Justices, head of the police force and constitutional bodies such as election commission, anti-graft mechanisms and ambassadorial positions were done on the basis of party affiliation.

What is more interesting and also repulsive is the fact that these positions were shared between all the major political parties and not just those in the government. As a result of such narrowly held grip over power by political parties, citizens who are not the members of the political parties did not get any meaningful opportunities to participate in the broader public life.

In addition to this, the political parties also monopolised the economic resources despite the hardship for the common person. The political parties and by extension the political class ripped off the masses for their luxury. Therefore, the stifling environment, especially on the economic front which was compounded by the impact of COVID-19 and the earthquake of 2015 provided a combustible opportunity for the people to explode their anger. What is surprising and ironical is that the very political parties that have led democratic movements since the 1950s were in the firing line this time around.

New mode of politics and communication
Even as political parties continued to run the affairs of the country, there was a shift in the ways people organised themselves politically. The emergence of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) offered new ways to organise people and discuss issues. If politics is to be projected through issues, then these NGOs were successful in coalescing people around certain issues. In fact, the rise of the NGOs led to a situation where a parallel structure to the state was created.

While we point out the rise of NGOs, it is important to clarify few things about them. Most of the NGOs, especially those advocating right-based issues are led by people with ties to political parties, especially those close to the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist). But there is also another group of NGO operatives who had no affiliation to the political parties and were quietly working on issues concerning them.

The second lot of NGO activists have currently mobilised the protest against the political parties. I am well aware of the fact that NGO discourses many a times depoliticise issues. But if the unfolding of events in the aftermath of the Gen Z protest is any indication, then we might have to say that such depoliticised and instantaneous mode of conducting politics is here to stay for some time.

Additionally, these group of young people are those that belong to the age group which has grown up in the time of internet and is hyperconnected. They belong to the period of instantaneous communication and view politics very differently. This generation is not interested in understanding politics through legacy but is focused on how their present and near past have been shaped.

The fact that the protestors successfully mobilised themselves on an instant messaging app called Discord is a telling point of how the mode of political communication have changed. The political top brass is still habituated to the traditional forms of political communications such as sloganeering, mass meeting rally and communicating through traditional or legacy media with occasional foray into the new media.

This indicates the rupture in the traditional hierarchical (vertical) mode of communication. In fact, the political class is either unable or ill equipped to communicate with the young population that has socialised itself with the new media from an early stage in life. To top it, all these young people draw lessons from events of similar kind happening in other parts of the world/region available to them through the new media at their fingertips.

In fact, Tiktok was a major platform where these protestors had been castigating and making mockery of the life style of the children of politicians called “Nepobaby” drawing parallels from similar events elsewhere. Hence, we see a major cultural lag when it comes to engaging in political communication.

The aspirational class
The young protestors who took to the streets against the political conduct of the parties represent a new class of aspirational group. These are children of those middle-class or aspiring middle-class parents from across the country who have given every inch of their resources to secure a better and a brighter future for their wards. These youths are living in an age where their ambitions and goals need not be restricted within the boundary of the nation-state of Nepal.

They have acquired skills and knowledge to participate in the global economy, although the hierarchy of such participations remain intact. Depending on their social, cultural and economic capital, these youths participate in different capacities in the global economic system. Some would go to the Gulf nations as skilled or semi-skilled labours. Others would go to the West including Australia and participate in different capacities in those economies.

In fact, the global mobility of the Nepalis in the last two decades has been phenomenal giving them exposures to global processes of cultural, economic and political importance. Therefore, despite the ever-growing class divide, youths of Nepal have a global aspiration which is difficult for the state to tame as it has very little to offer in terms of opportunities. If the events of early September were any indication, the youth have clearly indicated to the state that they hold deep contempt for those institutions that promote endemic corruption, crony capitalism and inefficient governance.

published date: 04/Oct/2025
Source: https://thewire.in/south-asia/the-gen-z-protests-in-nepal-a-wake-up-call-for-the-countrys-political-class