Quite a few human rights activists carry posters and wave the Straw Hat Pirates’ Jolly Roger flag from the anime One Piece throughout the 873rd Kamisan Motion in Jakarta, Indonesia, on August 14, 2025.
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Claudio Pramana/NurPhoto by way of Getty Photos
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Gen Z-led protests are making waves from Africa to Asia, and whereas the problems spurring them are totally different, the image they’re utilizing is identical: a grinning cranium and crossbones sporting a straw hat.
It was there when younger folks indignant with the lavish life of the elite introduced down Nepal’s authorities final month. It was seen within the Indonesian and Philippine protests this yr, and once more when Madagascan youth marched in opposition to power water and electrical energy shortages over the previous 10 days. Proper now, it is being waved at protests raging over poor healthcare in Morocco.
Why are annoyed youth taking to the streets worldwide elevating this specific Jolly Roger?
The flag comes from a long-running Japanese anime and manga sequence known as One Piece, a few rag-tag band of pirates dubbed “the straw hats,” who’re led by a cheerful character named Monkey D. Luffy and are combating an oppressive world authorities.
It is grow to be a worldwide popular culture phenomenon, translated into a number of languages, and is now additionally a live-action Netflix sequence.
Protesters in Madagascar Sept.25.
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Victor LOCHON/Gamma-Rapho by way of Getty Photos
“What makes One Piece so highly effective in protest is basically the story at its core. It’s a few group of misfits, outsiders, rebels, individuals who don’t match within the system coming collectively,” explains Nuurrianti Jalli, an assistant professor affiliated with the Institute for Southeast Asian Research, at Yusof Ishak Institute Singapore.
A person hanging a pirate flag as smoke and flames rise from the Singha Durbar, the seat of Nepal authorities’s varied ministers places of work in Kathmandu, Sept. 9, 2025.
Sunil Pradhan/Anadolu by way of Getty Photos
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Sunil Pradhan/Anadolu by way of Getty Photos
“That narrative interprets throughout borders, whether or not you might be in Asia, Africa, or elsewhere,” she says. “Younger individuals who really feel unheard by the federal government, who really feel trapped in unfair techniques, instantly acknowledge themselves in that story.”
A 23-year-old Nepali who took half within the protests there final month is consultant of this group. He does not wish to be named for concern of retribution however says he is watched the One Piece anime and skim a number of the manga.
“Along with leisure, the Straw Hat pirates symbolize freedom, liberty – the spirit that it’s a must to oppose the unjust authority. That actually impressed me,” he says.
A 25 year-old Madagascan protester, who does not want to be named for a similar causes, can be a One Piece fan.
“It relates and resonates with the Gen Z protests all over the world as a result of Gen Zs are attempting to take down corrupt techniques,” he explains. “The primary character Monkey D. Luffy stands in opposition to injustice and that is what we Gen Zs all over the world are standing in opposition to.”
“It’s so inspiring for younger folks. Within the story of One Piece there’s injustice, there’s corruption, the federal government is considering themselves to be untouchable, however it may be touched by the facility of the folks,” he continues.
The Madagascans have even tailored the image barely to offer it an area taste. The cranium wears a satroka bucket hat, worn by Madagascar’s Betsileo ethnic group.
Andrea Horbinski, has a PHD in trendy Japanese historical past and is an professional on manga. She says when folks carry the One Piece picture to a protest they don’t seem to be simply signifying that they are followers of the present “but additionally in solidarity with different protesters in different nations who’ve lately famously flown the flag themselves.”
May it get politically complicated if these teams in numerous corners of the world, with totally different ideologies, all use the identical flag?
Horbinski does not suppose so.
A protester outdoors the U.N. headquarters wears a Monkey D. Luffy pirate flag from the “One Piece” manga and anime Sept. 26, 2025, in New York.
Ted Shaffrey/AP
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Ted Shaffrey/AP
“I do not suppose that bringing a pirate flag, whether or not it is the straw hat flag or a unique pirate flag to the protests, goes to essentially confuse folks,” she says. “And I believe additionally the facility of this type of image at a protest is that it’s a widespread narrative.”
“Pirates traditionally and within the sequence One Piece are against the federal government. The federal government desires to stamp them out as a result of they do not comply with the foundations they usually flout the federal government’s authority,” she says.
Some governments wish to stamp them out in actual life too.
Indonesian officers recommended flying the flag may quantity to treason, prompting Amnesty Worldwide to challenge a press release defending protesters’ rights to free expression.
After all, the Straw Hat jolly roger is not the one popular culture image to have been utilized in anti-government protests over time.
In Hong Kong, demonstrators reclaimed alt-right meme Pepe the Frog as a pro-democracy image. In Myanmar protesters in opposition to army rule used the three-finger salute from The Starvation Video games motion pictures. And elsewhere protesters have used the Man Fawkes masks from V for Vendetta and masks from The Joker motion pictures.
“As a result of they’re standard and acquainted to a big swath of individuals, that is what conjures up folks to make an indication or carry a flag that references them… to indicate the place you stand fairly shortly,” says Horbinski, noting that this additionally occurs within the US.
On the “No Kings” protests in opposition to President Trump in June, a number of the placards made references to Andor, a Star Wars franchise on Disney+ a few insurgent alliance combating an oppressive regime.
However for the Gen Z youth proper now, the anime flag embodies a spirit no politician can match.
