As Andry Rajoelina, Madagascar’s president, fled the country earlier this month, before generals seized control of the island nation, he may not have had time to take in the sight of a flag held aloft by protesters bearing the symbol of a skull-and-crossbones wearing a straw hat. Demonstrators from Generation Z, who have rattled leaders from Nepal and Indonesia to Morocco, Peru and now Madagascar, have rallied under the same image, taken from a Japanese manga featuring a group of misfits fighting a corrupt and oppressive regime.

Whether you call them the TikTok generation, Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) or simply student protesters, young people the world over are demanding — and in some cases affecting — political change. Just ask Sheikh Hasina, former prime minister of Bangladesh, who was drummed out of office by student-led protests last year.

Gen Z protests are particularly significant in countries where the median age is low, as in Madagascar where half the population is below 19. There, protests were ignited by power and water cuts, but, as in other countries, a dearth of jobs and a disgust with elites flaunting their wealth were deeper causes.