Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum is all-hands-on-deck trying to repay the faith of her voters and improve the safety in the country, and address the social issues. This still didn’t stop her right-wing opponents from trying to take a cheap shot at her earlier this month under the guise of a youth protest.
Fighting Violence with Violence?
The case that sparked the so-called youth protests in Mexico was the assassination of Carlos Manzo, mayor of Uruapan, Michoacán. This sparked a series of anti-government protests in which the central role was played by the group called Generación Z Mexico (Generation Z Mexico). Backed by a strong social media campaign, which included extensive use of imagery from the anime One Piece, the group organized “peaceful” demonstrations against crime and corruption across the country on November 15.
However, once those protests actually started, it became obvious that the “peaceful” part was just a loosely attached sticker. The large gathering at the Zócalo plaza in Mexico City saw a group of protesters attack the police with stones and hammers, causing an eruption of violence. According to Pablo Vázquez, the security chief for Mexico City, 100 police officers and 20 protesters ended up being hurt.
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Selling the “Gen Z” Lie
The group Generation Z Mexico ramped up its activities in October, seemingly drawing inspiration from similar youth-inspired initiatives from other parts of the world. It announced a nationwide march that demanded a recall referendum for Sheinbaum, among other things. However, after Manzo’s assassination, its focus shifted to seeking the government’s responsibility for issues of public security and the rise in crime.
Once the protests arrived, it became obvious to anyone who made an effort to look beyond the surface that they were, in fact, selling the “Gen Z” lie. As Jacobin’s Kurt Hackbarth points out, there was a glaring absence of youth protesters in Mexico City’s demonstrations. There were no speakers who took the floor and explained the purpose of the march. One of the “leaders” of the protests was found to be on the payroll of the right-wing National Action Party (PAN), while one of PAN’s regional delegates was among the violent protesters who were arrested. It was also discovered that eight million internet bots, which worked to shift the social media narrative against Sheinbaum, were financed by her political opponents.
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Failure to Launch
Instead of shaking up Sheinbaum’s position and launching a new revolution, these fake “Gen Z” protests did the opposite. Now, Sheinbaum at least knows to which lengths Mexico’s right-wing will go to get back the power it once dearly held and gladly abused.
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