Young people are demanding that the world’s main political parties offer real benefits

By Donald A. Collins | 10 November 2025
Church and State

(Credit: YouTube / screengrab)

On Sunday morning, November 9 on CNN, Fareed Zakaria showed the segment on the effect that a growing percentage of young people around the world are demanding that their government focus on providing real services instead of seemingly self-serving propaganda that does not provide such benefits.

One article on this controversial movement begins here.

Gen Z-led protests are making waves from Africa to Asia, and while the issues spurring them are different, the symbol they’re using is the same: a grinning skull and crossbones wearing a straw hat.

It was there when young people angry with the lavish lifestyles of the elite brought down Nepal’s government last month. It was visible in the Indonesian and Philippine protests this year, and again when Madagascan youth marched against chronic water and electricity shortages over the past 10 days. Right now, it’s being waved at protests raging over poor healthcare in Morocco.

Why are frustrated youth taking to the streets worldwide raising this particular Jolly Roger?

The flag comes from a long-running Japanese anime and manga series called One Piece, about a rag-tag band of pirates dubbed “the straw hats,” who are led by a cheerful character named Monkey D. Luffy and are fighting an oppressive world government.

It’s become a global pop culture phenomenon, translated into multiple languages, and is now also a live-action Netflix series.

“What makes One Piece so powerful in protest is really the story at its core. It is about a group of misfits, outsiders, rebels, people who do not fit in the system coming together,” explains Nuurrianti Jalli, an assistant professor affiliated with the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, at Yusof Ishak Institute Singapore.

Further is more than one symbol, the one with the jolly Roger with a straw hat has caused the downfall of the government mentioned in the article say it above!

While the percentage of young voters is still not a majority, the percentage of them certainly is rapidly increasing, and it stands possible that they will be a real factor in the next election.

Ferried pointed out that one of the best examples was the newly elected mayor of New York Mamdani who use this strong reference to the need for benefits, not now emphasize enough by the mainstream political parties to win this election, even though he represents a far left point of view. Apparently similar figures are appearing on the right so that around the world, there seems to be a resurgence of demand for governments to govern rather than playing political theater, such as the Trump administration has become so focused.

Is this an approach which the Democrats should pick up immediately and begin to offer not only cost of living improvement but also a services such as housing, health, and food for the least privileged.

Is the main symbol of government inability to function, symbolized by the longest breakdown in federal government service in our history, which does not seem now to be ending as Thanksgiving approaches?

The perfect example is that one November 9, Marilyn governor Wes Moore decided to take the SNAP hold up by allocating millions of dollars of state funds to attempt to provide these services as long as possible while the government shut down continues!!

Former US Navy officer, banker and venture capitalist, Donald A. Collins, a free lance writer living in Los Angeles, CA, has spent over 60 years working for women’s reproductive health as a board member and/or officer of numerous family planning organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Guttmacher Institute, Family Health International and Ipas. Yale under graduate, NYU MBA. He is the author of 15 books: “From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013”, “Trump Becoming Macbeth: Will our democracy survive?”, “We Humans Overwhelm Our Earth: 11 or 2 Billion by 2100?”, “What Can Be Done Now to Save Habitable Life on Planet Earth?”, “Vote”, “Can Homo Sapiens Survive?”, “Will Choice and Democracy Win?”, “Can Our U.S. Survive 8 Plus Billion of Us”, “Economic Growth: A Cancer on all Earthly Life”, “On the Precipice of Political Disaster in 2024”, “Democracy at Red State Risk”, “Does Trump Go to Jail or to The Oval Office?”, “Trump: Pardon or Punish?: The Nixon Precedence Was Not A Trump Coup Denied!”, “Common Sense: When will Trump be Impeached, Indicted, and Exited?” and “Trump–unrestrained dangerous liar!”.

Fareed’s Take: People around the world are dissatisfied with democracy

Zohran Mamdani wins New York mayoral race | BBC Americast

Is Donald Trump a Fascist? | Robert Reich

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