Generation Z in Name Only
Mexico City’s “Gen Z” anti-government protest against President Claudia Sheinbaum bears all the hallmarks of an astroturf campaign.
A simultaneous “Gen Z” protest in Guadalajara, Jalisco, also turned out mostly affluent, middle-aged demonstrators. (Ulises Ruiz / AFP / Getty Images)
A youth march with the notable absence of youth. A march against violence that ended with deliberately provoked violence. A nonpartisan march with one of its key proponents in the pay of the nation’s conservative party. A march inspired by imagery from the hit left-wing comic One Piece descending into a maelstrom of far-right hate.
The contradictions surrounding Mexico’s “Generation Z” march on November 15, 2025, are abundant. Moreover, they provide an object lesson in the franchise model of international demonstration symbolism, in which a domes-tic event is appropriated to suit the agenda of the franchisees. But most important, they demonstrate the willing obtuseness of the inter-national corporate press in falling, again and again, for the ostensible story instead of the actual one.
The Hot Land
The event that sparked the march was certainly real enough. On November 1, Carlos Manzo, the outspoken mayor of the town of Uruapan, Michoacán, was gunned down at a public event during Day of the Dead festivities. After being subdued, the assassin, a seventeen-year-old from the nearby town of Paracho, was then killed by security forces in mysterious circumstances.
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