On a chilly December morning in 2025, the world’s attention has turned to an unlikely force shaking the pillars of power from Kathmandu to Cairo: Generation Z. Born between 1997 and 2012, these so-called "Zoomers"—digital natives fluent in memes, mobilization, and social media—are redefining the boundaries of political activism, often at great personal risk. Their uprising, sometimes chaotic and always digitally supercharged, is sending tremors through the old guard in countries as varied as Nepal and Egypt, where authorities are scrambling to adapt, respond, or simply suppress.
Just a year ago, KP Sharma Oli, the Khas-Arya ethnonationalist and four-time prime minister of Nepal, stood atop the nation’s political hierarchy. According to Kathmandu Post, he had commanded obedience and adulation, even bending long-time rivals to his will. But by July 15, 2024, though he managed to take the oath of office once more as the head of a coalition government, the winds were already shifting. The National Congress had fused itself into his political outfit in the name of ‘national interest,’ yet stability was fleeting. The Fall Protest of 2025, a 36-hour whirlwind that engulfed Nepal’s executive, legislative, and judicial centers, left public, commercial, and private buildings smoldering across the country. The movement, led by urban youth and branded as a Gen Z uprising, succeeded not only in unseating Oli but also in tarnishing his decade-long legacy of ethnonationalism.
Oli was quick to denounce the protests as a “colour revolution” designed to weaken Nepal’s sovereignty and his party, the UML. The Kathmandu Post notes that his accusations, though strident, had some resonance given the global history of color-coded revolutions—from the Rose Revolution in Georgia to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia. Yet, as the article points out, most of these movements toppled governments but struggled to institutionalize lasting change. Nepal’s own Rhododendron Revolution, which ousted the Shah monarchy, failed to deliver on its promise of an inclusive, federal republic. The Fall Protest of 2025, dubbed by some as the “chartreuse revolt”—a nod to the burning yellow-green of wood on fire—was emblematic of both raw emotion and the restless energy of a generation raised on TikTok and AI-driven newsfeeds.
The generational fault line couldn’t be starker. For the old guard, stability is the prize; for Gen Z, dynamism and social justice are non-negotiable. The Kathmandu Post captures this tension: “The old guard yearns for stability to retain its station in life, while the new claimants seek dynamism—deriving stimulation from TikTok, information from asocial media algorithms, and knowledge from AI systems. They live in different worlds.” The intergenerational conversation, the article suggests, can only happen through the language of social justice, the new lingua franca for power, exclusion, and dignity.
This phenomenon is hardly unique to Nepal. In Egypt, the government’s response has been far less accommodating, and far more ominous. On December 16, 2025, The New Arab reported that Egyptian security forces had arrested dozens of young people after infiltrating youth groups on platforms like Discord, a favorite among Gen Z for its privacy and flexibility. The Egyptian Network for Human Rights confirmed that many detainees, most of them young, had been brought before prosecutors, while others had simply disappeared—victims of enforced disappearance with no official disclosure of their legal status. The group called for transparency, respect for the rule of law, and guarantees for detainees’ rights, especially for minors.
Authorities have become adept at online counterintelligence, creating replica groups that mirror the look and feel of genuine activist circles. These tactics have ensnared unwitting youth, leading to further arrests. Human rights activist Ahmed El Attar told Arabi21 that the recent detentions were part of a sustained campaign against online activism, with authorities often infiltrating youth organizations by mimicking their digital footprints. “If reports of infiltrating Discord or other platforms are true, this reflects the fragility of a system that cannot tolerate young voices,” said Mohamed Hamdy, deputy head of the Technocrats of Egypt Party. He warned that the government’s approach risked repeating the mistakes that led to the 2011 uprising.
Discord, in particular, has become a battleground. Rights groups and activists note that Egyptian youth have increasingly turned to the platform for political discussion and organizing, especially after Morocco’s Gen Z movement made the leap from online mobilization to street protests. While rumors of a government ban on Discord were later denied, user complaints and security assessments suggest the platform is under close scrutiny. Some Egyptian users have reported access difficulties since 2018, despite its technical availability.
One youth movement, GenZ002 of Egypt, has drawn attention for its weekly Discord discussions on political, economic, and security issues. The group insists it is not a political party or religious organization, but rather a collective seeking to build a new social and political consciousness grounded in freedom of expression and non-violent change. According to pan-Arab journalist Nezam Mahdawi, these discussions have tackled everything from land sales and public debt to prisons, Gaza, and Nile water rights “with a boldness unheard of for years.” The Egyptian leadership, he suggested, should be concerned.
Meanwhile, the crackdown is growing more severe. Rights groups warn that arrests are increasingly targeting young women, with nearly 1,000 female detainees in 2025 alone—often for social media activity as innocuous as liking opposition posts. Human rights lawyer Abdelrahman al-Badrawi cautioned that the expanding dragnet could have serious consequences, especially as the profile of detainees changes. “These youths were too young to experience the events of 2013,” said activist and journalist Adham Hassanein, referencing the military takeover. Their lack of fear and growing political awareness, he argued, could eventually push them into the streets.
Globally, the Gen Z phenomenon is unmistakable. As Substack observed on December 16, 2025, this is a generation that often feels like “strangers in their own lands.” Raised in a virtual world, detached from local traditions, many Zoomers experience reality as “exasperating friction” and suffer high levels of anxiety, depression, and even suicide. Their politics, the article notes, are “outbursts of frustration.” In 2025 alone, Gen Z-led protests have erupted in countries as diverse as Bulgaria, Bangladesh, Peru, Madagascar, Morocco, and beyond. The global reach of Gen Z activism, estimated at 1.86 billion strong—about 23.6 percent of the world’s population according to the UN—makes it a demographic force that governments can no longer ignore.
What unites these movements, whether in Nepal, Egypt, or elsewhere, is a shared sense of alienation and a refusal to accept the status quo. They are digital natives, yes, but their grievances are deeply rooted in material realities: corruption, inequality, lack of opportunity, and government repression. Their tools may be new—Discord servers, AI-powered campaigns, viral hashtags—but their demands are age-old: dignity, justice, and a voice in their own futures.
As the dust settles over the burned-out buildings of Kathmandu and the locked cells of Cairo, one thing is clear: the old guard’s yearning for stability is no match for a generation that finds its strength in dynamism, solidarity, and the relentless pursuit of social justice. The world’s leaders might do well to listen—before the next chartreuse revolt arrives on their doorstep.
