Generation Z-led protests sparked by systemic energy and water shortages led to the ousting of Madagascar’s government. Protesters, living with a crumbling education system, poverty and widespread unemployment, wanted an end to a corrupt and self-serving government, with their anger further intensified by its lethal violence in response to protests. But its replacement comes from the military, with a colonel the new president after an elite army unit switched sides and led a coup. Madagascar’s Gen Z will need to keep up the pressure for a rapid transition to prevent the country joining the growing list of African states under ongoing military rule.

When Madagascar’s Generation Z took to the streets, they wanted change. And they got it, with the president ousted and forced to flee. But the fact it took a military intervention to bring change and an army colonel is the new president points to an uncertain future. For a generation that has just learned its strength, the struggle may only be beginning.

Breaking point

Madagascar is a youthful but poor country, where the median age is just 20 and three-quarters of people live in poverty. Its young people have grown up knowing only broken promises. They study in chronically underfunded schools where electricity is rare before graduating into likely unemployment. Ruling politicians are a wealthy, distant elite. So when water stopped flowing during the day and power cuts stretched to 20 hours, patience snapped and Madagascar’s Generation Z took to the streets.

Things came to a head when three politicians in the capital, Antananarivo, marched carrying jerrycans in a symbolic protest. This initial protest was small, but it provided the spark. Mass demonstrations erupted, led by high school and university students and organised via social media. Protests, under the banner of the Gen Z Mada movement, started on 25 September, and by 14 October, President Andry Rajoelina had fled.

People protest at Independence Place in Antananarivo, Madagascar, 11 October 2025. Photo by Zo Andrianjafy/Reuters via Gallo Images

But by then, many had paid with their lives. Antananarivo’s head of police first tried to ban the protests and, when they went ahead regardless, deployed violence against peaceful marchers. In the early days, security forces fired rubber bullets and teargas and beat and arrested protesters. Inflamed, some protesters responded with violence of their own, setting fire to politicians’ homes and looting premises. Security forces escalated their brutality further, with reports of police firing live ammunition. Security forces also injured journalists.

On 29 September, United Nations (UN) human rights chief Volker Türk reported that 22 people had been killed and hundreds injured. The death toll included protesters and bystanders killed by police, among them people crushed under armoured vehicles and a one-month-old child who died after breathing teargas, while others were killed in related violence. State media reacted by denying the UN’s figures and broadcasting disinformation downplaying the problems and accusing protesters of being troublemakers. But the irrefutable evidence of violence brought more people to streets, determined to change the government.

Rajoelina tried to make concessions as power ebbed away, first sacking his energy minister, then his entire government, and convening a national dialogue. But protesters accused him of excluding critical voices and saw no purpose in dialogue amid state violence. Protests continued, with trade union network Solidarité syndicale de Madagascar joining the protests to demand Rajoelina’s resignation.

The tipping point came when the Army Corps of Personnel and Administrative and Technical Services (CAPSAT), an elite armed forces unit, backed the protesters and said it would no longer fire on them. CAPSAT took control of the army and quickly assumed power in Antananarivo. Rajoelina tried to shut down the National Assembly, but instead it impeached him. CAPSAT then dissolved numerous political bodies, including the Electoral Commission and the High Constitutional Court, while retaining the National Assembly.

Colonel Michael Randrianirina. CAPSAT’s leader, was sworn in as president on 17 October, promising a two-year transition. The new government has since appointed a business leader, Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, as prime minister and stripped Rajoelina of his citizenship, on the grounds that he previously and controversially obtained dual French nationality.

For Rajoelina, who once presented himself as the fresh face of change, events have come full circle: it had been a CAPSAT mutiny that first brought him to power in 2009 by sparking a coup following anti-government protests.

A global Gen Z uprising

Madagascar’s Gen Z protesters are far from alone. 2025 has been the year when, in numerous countries, a new generation has become aware of its power. Young people have taken to the streets in several Asian countries, including India, Indonesia, Philippines and Timor-Leste, with the highest-profile protests leading to the ousting of the government in Nepal.

Earlier in the year, young people mobilised to demand democracy in Turkey and call for an end to corruption and poor governance in Greece, North Macedonia and Serbia. More recently, events in Nepal have helped inspire protests as far afield as Morocco and Peru. In November, Gen Z-led protests erupted in response to an undemocratic election in Tanzania. Recent protests have explicitly cited Nepal’s Gen Z movement as an inspiration and shared common symbols, such as an anime skull and crossbones flag first flown at protests in Indonesia.

Gen Z-led protests share several features: they’ve come in countries with large youth populations, making extensive use of social media to organise, with gaming platform Discord a key tool in several. They’ve arisen from anger that’s both economic and political. Young people are struggling amid high living costs and widespread unemployment, and they blame governments they see as corrupt and out of touch. In most cases, authorities have responded with violent repression, exemplified in the lethal force that has claimed hundreds of lives in Tanzania

The big changes so far have come in Madagascar and Nepal. While some protests have struggled to make headway in the face of authoritarian governments, as in Serbia, Tanzania and Turkey, others have succeeded in winning concessions. In Indonesia, the government scrapped a pay rise for members of parliament, while in Timor-Leste it axed unpopular benefits for lawmakers.

Wherever there are large youth populations facing hopeless public services, high living costs, widespread unemployment and governments seen as corrupt and out of touch, further protests seem certain.

 

Gen Z protests: the 2024-2025 wave

Voices from the frontline

CIVICUS spoke to six members of the Youth Empowerment Madagascar association.

 

Anger is growing every day, and when people have nothing left to lose, they end up risking everything. Trust has already been broken. Without real change, Madagascar risks entering a cycle of mistrust and confrontation that could last for years.

We are already seeing the consequences: the economy is collapsing, small businesses are closing, young graduates are building their lives abroad and those who remain are just getting by. Poverty is increasing, injustice is taking root and corruption continues to destroy the country.

But the greatest danger is violence. If the authorities continue to respond with repression, there will be more deaths, more fear and more hatred.

Trust will only return if the government ends repression, acknowledges its mistakes and commits to addressing injustices.

First, we are calling for reform of the political system, including new electoral laws and a constitution that guarantees transparency, justice and youth participation. We want competent, honest and educated leaders who understand the reality of people’s situations, rather than corrupt or imposed figures.

Second, we want a sincere national dialogue open to civil society, students, workers and young people, where everyone can speak freely. The priorities of this dialogue must be clear: restoring essential services, fighting corruption and rebuilding the economy. Every commitment made must be followed by tangible action and made public.

We demand that young people be recognised as a force for positive change. We no longer want to be mere spectators. We want to participate in developing public policies, monitoring administrative transparency and contributing to Madagascar’s reconstruction.

If our leaders agree to govern with us instead of against us, trust will be restored.

This is an edited extract of our conversation with Youth Empowerment Madagascar. Read the full interview here.

Madagascar at a crossroads

The impacts of the Gen Z-led protests have left Madagascar at a fork in the road. Either the army will keep its promise to hold a fresh election within two years, or it will consolidate its power. Recent precedents from across Africa aren’t promising. A belt of countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Sudan – have fallen under military rule since 2020. In Chad and Gabon, coup leaders have gone on to retain power in carefully controlled transitions to civilian rule. In the others, supposedly temporary transitional administrations that promised to quickly correct governance failings before handing over to civilian governments have instead extended their grip on power. Transition deadlines have repeatedly been pushed back. Civil society groups, protesters and opposition parties have suffered as military governments have tightened laws to repress dissent.

In his inaugural speech, Randrianirina thanked Gen Z protesters, pledged to respect human rights and promised to launch an immediate investigation into the state-owned power and water company. But it’s also significant that CAPSAT and Rajoelina, former allies, had fallen out over his attempts to bring the unit more strongly under his control, leading to Randrianirina being detained for a spell in 2023. CAPSAT may have been motivated by opportunism and self-interest.

Crowds gathered to celebrate the army’s takeover. But already the Gen Z Mada movement’s leaders have made clear they aren’t happy with Randrianirina’s choice of prime minister, seeing him as too closely connected with the ousted government, and criticising the lack of consultation and transparency over his appointment. The African Union has meanwhile signalled its concern by suspending Madagascar’s membership.

This isn’t Madagascar’s first convulsive change of government, and high hopes of change have been disappointed before. But this time Madagascar’s young people have shown their power. They mobilised collectively, forcing out a failed leader. Now they face the challenge of ensuring their victory doesn’t end up mired in long-term military rule. If young people keep mobilising, demanding to be treated as full partners in the reconstruction of their country and holding the new government to account – and are prepared to return to the streets should those in power fail them again – then there’s hope. Madagascar’s Gen Z need to keep pushing to finish what they started.

OUR CALLS FOR ACTION

  • Authorities in Madagascar must investigate all instances of protest deaths and violence and hold the perpetrators responsible.
  • Madagascar’s interim government must fully involve Gen Z movements in economic and political reform processes.
  • Authorities in Madagascar must commit to fully respecting civic freedoms.

For interviews or more information, please contact research@civicus.org

Cover photo by Zo Andrianjafy/Reuters via Gallo Images