Across South Asia, young people have led powerful protests against economic insecurity, political exclusion, corruption, inequality, and the erosion of democratic possibilities. Often described as “Gen Z protests,” these movements have been enabled by digital networks, new political vocabularies, and experimental forms of organisation. Yet the generational label can also conceal important differences of class, caste, gender, geography, and political context.
These mobilisations have been profoundly urban. Streets, squares, university campuses, and other public spaces have become sites of confrontation, collective care, political experimentation, communal joy, and the imagining of alternative futures.
In this episode, we bring developments in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India into conversation. We ask what conditions precipitated recent youth-led movements, how protesters have occupied and transformed urban space, and what kinds of cities, public cultures, and political communities they seek to create. We also explore regional resonances and differences – including the role of digital mobilisation, social inequalities, political achievements, and the internal limits and contradictions of these movements.
Guests
Tanzil Shafique
Tanzil Shafique is an Associate Professor of Urban Design at the University of Sheffield School of Architecture and Landscape. His research examines decolonial theory, informal settlements, Southern urbanism, and climate justice. He is also co-founder and Chief Mission Steward of Next50 Research to Action Commons, a platform connecting knowledge and action across majority-world contexts.
Mukta Naik
Mukta Naik is an urban planner and policy researcher at the Delhi-based Sustainable Futures Collaborative. As an Urban Studies Foundation International Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change, she is developing a manuscript on how young people experience and engage with cities amid continuing crises.
Hasini Lecamwasam
Hasini Lecamwasam is a doctoral researcher in Political Geography at the University of Zurich and a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Her research examines politics and agricultural life in Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone.
Host
Nitin Bathla
Nitin Bathla is a researcher in the Department of Geography at the University of Zurich, where he leads the Infrastructure Geography group. His work examines urbanisation, infrastructure, labour, and political ecology, particularly in South Asia and Europe. He is also an editor of Urban Geography and the Urban Political Podcast.
This episode was edited and posted by Jo Kosowska.
Further Reading
“A Letter from Lahore for Abhijeet Dipke: We Watch with Wonder and Longing”, Ehtesham Hassan, Scroll.in — a reflection on the CJP’s wider resonance across South Asia.
“The Magnificent Rage of Young Indian Women, and the Meltdown It Triggers”, Mukta Naik, Rambling in the City — on the targeting of young women protesters in India.
“Dimagi Naxal Is a Call for Adults to Listen to Young People”, Mukta Naik, Rambling in the City — an interpretation of “Dimagi Naxal” in the context of the youth protests.
“Teaching a Lesson: How the NEP’s Killing of the Public University Brought Gen Z Out on the Streets”, Eram Agha, The Caravan — connecting the protests to the NEP-enabled decline of public higher education.
“The Cockroach Janata Party’s Caste Blindspot”, Ankush Pal, Himal Southasian — examining caste and inequality as a significant blind spot within the movement.
“Run Modi Run”, Rahul Bhatia, Equator — a vivid account of the political encounters and forms of sociality that emerged at the Jantar Mantar protest site.
Polity, Volume 10, Issue 1 — essays, interviews, and reflections on Sri Lanka’s economic crisis and the 2022 Aragalaya, including the #GotaGoHome movement.
Polity, Volume 10, Issue 2 — further analysis of Sri Lanka’s crisis, protest movements, political transition, and the repression that followed the Aragalaya.
Credits
Sound: Cockroach Janta Party Anthem by SAYHAN