PROTESTS WITHOUT POLITICS: GEN Z’S ENDLESS CYCLE

In recent years, Gen Z has been at the forefront of political protests across the world — from climate change marches, to #EndSARS in Nigeria, to pro-democracy rallies in Asia, to cost-of-living protests in Europe and the Americas, and even back to the Arab Spring. They are visible, vocal, and mobilized largely through social media.

Yes, they use social media to organize, amplify, and mobilize faster than older generations.
Yes, they are passionate and emotional about issues like inequality, corruption, climate change, and unemployment, because these challenges directly affect their future.
But beyond the protests, they lack the knowledge, maturity, and frameworks for sustainable leadership.

Protests are reactive, but leadership requires strategic planning, negotiation, and compromise. Many Gen Z activists have never worked within government or political parties, so they underestimate the slow, complex, and often frustrating nature of reform. This leadership handicap explains why their movements often collapse once regimes fall or governments make promises. Without structured leadership or long-term political machinery, gains are easily lost.

Consider Sudan: Gen Z mobilized quickly and brought the Al-Bashir dictatorship to an end, but they created a leadership vacuum that plunged the country into perpetual chaos.
Look at Bangladesh: after sacking their government, Gen Z ended up installing an almost 90-year-old man as leader — a deep irony for a youth-driven struggle.
In Nigeria, the #EndSARS protesters declared they had no leaders. Yet, some within the movement enriched themselves under its name. Once the initial momentum waned, the movement lost direction and achieved little. Later, when Nigerian Gen Z decided to adopt a leader, they chose a 64-year-old man — part of the same establishment they were seeking to replace.

The truth is simple: the world is politics, and without politics, nothing survives.
Trying to topple politics is like trying to end life itself. Whatever Gen Z believes it is doing afresh has already been done before. The older men of today were once Gen X or Gen Y. They led protests, organized uprisings, and even fought wars or staged coups. I myself was part of the “IBB Must Go” protests. But with age comes the realization that everything eventually comes back to politics.

Most Gen Z hate politics and have zero knowledge of it. That is why, no matter how many countries they set ablaze with uprisings, politicians will eventually take charge — whether in khaki or in babariga. Without politics, their energy is wasted, and the cycle repeats itself.

In a few years, when they take the back seat for Gen Alpha or Gen Beta, many will look back and realize their folly. If some of us knew what we know today, we would have embraced politics since 1998.

• Leading a struggle without a clear leadership structure is foolish.
• Leading a struggle without understanding politics is foolish.
• Struggle without leadership organization is never sustainable.

Some young people proudly claim to hate politics and politicians. But that is ignorance. The moment you manage two or three people, politics is involved. Gen Z doesn’t understand this, and their elders who cheer them on failed to learn it when they were young. That is why we now have a generation of angry youths raised without responsibility.

Their fear of being labeled “politicians” is exactly what pushes them into destructive rage, burning down their countries only to leave them in crisis. Yet, they cannot do without politics — because in the end, someone must be elected, even if it is a soldier in uniform. That is where politics comes into play.

The wise ones among Gen Z are already learning from leaders like Tinubu and entrepreneurs like Dangote. These few will rise to lead, while the perpetually angry ones will remain spectators until old age.

Those who think leadership can be separated from politics are living in a fool’s paradise.

  

COPIED