The mainstream western media has unilaterally accepted the narrative that recent protests in Mexico are a continuation of this international youth-led rebellion. In reality, they are a brazen attempt by the right wing to co-opt the struggle.
The “Gen Z” banner has united struggles against inequality and corruption from Kenya to Nepal, Indonesia to Peru. First seen during demonstrations in Indonesia this year, the image of a pirate flag with a straw hat, taken from the TV series One Piece, has come to symbolize youth-led resistance against inequality, corruption and oppression internationally.
The mainstream western media has unilaterally accepted the narrative that recent protests in Mexico are a continuation of this international youth-led rebellion. In reality, they are a brazen attempt by the right wing to co-opt the struggle.
On November 15th, thousands took to the streets in cities across Mexico in a supposedly “youth-led” protest. But young people and the issues that animate them were suspiciously absent from these so-called “Gen Z” marches. The hallmarks of Mexico’s typical youthful protests were nowhere to be seen: Palestinian flags, feminist chants, calls for a 40-hour working week, or anti-gentrification slogans. Advertisers of this protest explicitly told demonstrators not to bring any Palestinian flags.
Those who joined came from predominantly older, wealthy, white, and conservative sections of Mexican society. Several right-wing opposition politicians were spotted at the demonstrations. A photo has even gone viral of what appears to be the conservative former president Vincente Fox donning a One Piece t-shirt. The protesters voiced their dissatisfaction with left-wing president Claudia Sheinbaum, with some stating in interviews that they would prefer Donald Trump as president. The far right felt emboldened in this environment: one marcher was photographed wearing a swastika, and many of the signs held and graffiti painted by the marchers directed anti-semitic and misogynistic vitriol at Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first woman and first Jewish president.
Who’s Behind the Protests?
This October, “Generation Z Mexico” accounts suddenly started appearing on social media sites like X and TikTok, producing AI-generated videos of Mexico City’s National Palace set ablaze with masked protesters waving One Piece flags. These were accompanied by calls for a nationwide march to demand a referendum to recall President Sheinbaum, and even to overthrow her government “like they did in Nepal.” One key difference with the situation in Nepal is that Mexico’s progressive ruling party, Morena, is remarkably popular.
One of the main promoters of the march was billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, owner of Mexico’s second-largest TV station and among the country’s top five richest people. Mexico’s Supreme Court (which has a new face since Morena’s judicial reform replaced the appointment system with popular elections), ruled on November 13th that Salinas Pliego must pay $2.6 billion USD in taxes which he evaded paying for decades. Extensively streaming the supposed “Gen Z” protests on his television station was a convenient distraction from his own court proceedings. Salinas Pliego has also openly stated his desire to run for president, presenting himself as the only man capable of uniting the opposition parties and discontented voters in a bid to remove Morena from power.
In the wake of November 15th, Sheinbaum’s administration presented research linking Mexico’s establishment parties to the supposed “grassroots” Gen Z social media campaign, and showing that nearly $5 million USD was spent on social media operations over the course of a month and a half. This includes the conservative National Action Party (PAN) signing a $114,800 USD contract with a “non-partisan” influencer who promoted the protests. Connections were also established between these accounts and Atlas Network, a U.S. based organization linked to a global network of over 500 right-wing think tanks, which has been accused of financing disinformation campaigns against progressive governments in Latin America. Atlas Network is directed by none other than the cousin of Salinas Pliego.
Right Wing Attempts to Gain Relevance
Mexico’s right wing was fractured by Morena’s stunning 2018 victory and has since struggled to piece itself back together and gain relevance, especially in light of Shienbaum’s continued popularity. Sheinbaum’s approval ratings have remained near or above 70% throughout her term thus far. Morena came into power off the back of a wave of class struggle which dealt a massive blow to the political establishment parties (the PRI and PAN) that had ruled Mexican politics for eight consecutive decades. Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), was elected by a landslide and remained popular throughout his term. Sheinbaum herself was then elected by an even greater number of votes.
Clawing for a shred of relevance, Mexico’s discredited right wing saw an opportunity to capitalize on the assassination of Uruapan mayor Carlos Manzo. Manzo called for a tougher stance from the government against organized crime, and was an outspoken critic of Morena’s handling of the country’s security. Following his assassination on November 1st, social media accounts organizing the November 15th protest shifted their demands toward security and claims that Sheinbaum’s administration was a “narco-government” that colluded with cartels.
While the homicide rate fell 37% during Sheinbaum’s first year in office, violence at the hands of organized crime remains a key issue in Mexican society. An October poll found that 85% of people disapproved of Sheinbaum’s handling of the issue of organized crime. The right cynically seized the opportunity to utilize the issue of political violence for their gain. Still, this angle failed to attract new life to the anti-Morena movement.
Though billed as “non-partisan,” the protests aimed their fire at Sheinbaum’s party, with the main chant being “out with Morena!” Far from a spontaneous youth uprising, the protests represent a continuation of the right-wing protests that backed Sheinbaum’s opponent in the 2024 presidential election, Xóchitl Gálvez, and that later opposed Mexico’s judicial reform. While the 17,000 that gathered in Mexico City for the largest of the November 15th protests is significant, this crowd was smaller compared to other recent right-wing protests. The right’s faltering momentum was evident during a second day of protest called in the capital on November 20th – only 150 people joined a demo in the center of Mexico City, and no one showed up to a rally called at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
Destabilization Attempt?
Despite claims that the November 15th protests opposed violence, the demonstration in the capital ended in clashes which left at least 100 police officers and 20 civilians injured. While the corporate media and Morena officials have claimed that the “black bloc” incited the violence, this confrontation more closely resembles that of paid provocateurs. They did not paint anti-capitalist graffiti or smash the windows of businesses and banks, as is typical of Mexico City’s anarchist black bloc. These provocateurs arrived on the scene with saws, chains, and other tools, moving in a highly coordinated manner to remove the barricades surrounding the National Palace, with leaders orchestrating these actions. As police responded, the provocateurs used these same tools to attack the police. Now, right-wing politicians from Mexico to the U.S. have attempted to portray those arrested for inciting violence as “political prisoners.”
A common feature of Mexican politics, particularly in student organizing, is the hiring (often by university authorities or political parties) of shock groups which use violence to disrupt and discredit genuine social movements. Indeed, Morena officials recently claimed to have evidence that this so-called “black bloc” received funding from a local political office controlled by a coalition of opposition parties. A recent national survey also found that 62% of Mexicans believe that the violence was incited by paid agitators.
One incentive Morena’s weakened right-wing opposition might have for manufacturing such widely-televised scenes of chaos is to lean on the international right wing for support. The narrative that the youth are fed up with a corrupt “narco-government” may ring hollow within Mexico, but it’s been taken up by U.S. far-right figures such as Steve Bannon and Alex Jones, who have called for military intervention into Mexico.
Immediately following the November 15th protests, Donald Trump said that he “wouldn’t rule out” an airstrike on Mexico. It’s revealing that the main “Generation Z Mexico” X account reposted videos from right-wing Venezuelan opposition leaders such as María Corina Machado, who supports military intervention in Venezuela and the United States’ bombings of Venezuelan boats in the Caribbean. Trump has sharply turned to focus U.S. foreign policy on Latin America to a degree not seen in decades, declaring war on Mexican cartels and stationing the world’s largest warship off the coast of Venezuela. Popularizing the idea that Sheinbaum’s administration is a “narco-government” helps to set the stage for U.S. military intervention down the line.
Mexico has bucked a trend currently playing out in Latin America. Across the continent we’ve seen mass struggles get channeled into elections by progressive parties, which later run into the limitations of their reformist strategies and become unpopular. This was reflected in the illegitimate ouster of leftist Pedro Castillo in Peru. Right-wing parties have swept many Latin American elections this year, a trend which is likely to continue next year.
Mexico has not seen this same political volatility. Morena, while leaving many promises unfulfilled, has managed to improve conditions for the working class in important ways. For example, real wages (accounting for inflation) have risen by about 33% since AMLO’s election. On the other hand, the opposition has not been able to rebrand itself or present an attractive alternative. Perhaps in the immediate-term, foreign intervention to destabilize the Morena government could be the right’s best hope for regaining power in Mexico.
To Fight the Right, Fight for Socialism
Young and working people across Mexico have largely taken to the streets not to oppose Morena’s political vision, but to take it further. Morena’s promises have repeatedly fallen short – whether to raise the minimum wage, reduce the length of the workweek, or nationalize the energy sector – due to the party’s strategy of brokering the interests of big business and ordinary people.
For example, Morena has dragged its feet on its promise to reduce the workweek from 48 to 40 hours, with officials stating they will implement it gradually, before the end of Sheinbaum’s term in 2030. Sheinbaum has recently said she will “seek consensus” between employers and unions on the matter. But the interests of working people and billionaires like Ricardo Salinas Pliego or Carlos Slim are diametrically opposed. There can be no “consensus” reached that serves both. Nor can struggling workers and youth simply wait for conditions to improve. That’s why they have mobilized to demand “40 hours now!”, most recently in a series of nationwide marches on November 23rd.
Sooner or later, Morena’s conciliation between the capitalist and working classes will run into insurmountable obstacles. As president, AMLO greatly increased spending on popular social programs, but he and Sheinbaum have refused to increase taxes on the rich. As a result Sheinbaum inherited Mexico’s largest fiscal deficit since the 1980s, which will complicate her ability to deliver on her campaign promises. In this context, Morena’s continued popularity is far from guaranteed.
Take, for example, the ongoing national struggle of the teachers union CNTE for the repeal of the 2007 pension law and for increased funding for education, healthcare, and social security. During her presidential campaign Sheinbaum promised to reverse the privatization of pensions, but she has so far failed to deliver. Sheinbaum has criticized CNTE’s protests and strikes, saying there is no need for such action when her administration is committed to ongoing “dialogue” with the union. Yet earlier this year she cancelled a meeting with CNTE while making time to talk with billionaire Carlos Slim, the owner of Inbursa, one of ten private companies which manages Mexican pension funds. Ahead of his meeting with Sheinbaum, Slim proposed totally scrapping the pension system along with the retirement age. Failing to meet workers’ demands, which can never be reconciled with the schemes of the billionaire class, is what paves the way for the right wing to return to power.
It’s clear that Mexico’s right wing is looking for any and every opportunity it can get to rebuild itself and gain the advantage. It also has the momentum of a regional conservative tide at its back, replete with a growing cast of Trumpian characters such as Argentina’s Javier Milei and Chilean presidential hopeful José Antonio Kast. Such figures have found some success in branding their anti-worker, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ crusades as “anti-establishment”, which may provide inspiration for Mexico’s opposition to shift even further to the right.
Morena’s current strategy cannot fend off the threat of a right-wing poll of attraction rising in Mexico. Narrowing the foothold for the forces of reaction to regroup will depend on the organized struggle of working and oppressed people, the true voice of the Gen Z protest wave, to advance the fight to actually win Morena’s program. Ultimately, the limitations of Morena’s strategy are rooted in its reformism, and its unwillingness to break with the capitalist system which by definition means that society is run by and for the billionaires at a global scale. Preventing the spread of the far right and securing a decent standard of living for all will require the fight for socialism, not just in Mexico, but worldwide.
