From Paris and Rome to Jakarta, Indonesia, and New York, a curious banner has gave the impression in protest squares. With hole cheeks, a extensive grin and a straw hat with a pink band, the determine is straight away recognizable and has been hoisted by means of younger demonstrators calling for trade. In Kathmandu, Nepal, the place anger on the govt boiled over in September 2025, the flag turned into the defining symbol as flames unfold throughout the gates of Singha Durbar, Nepal’s ornate palace complicated and seat of energy.
The Straw Hat Pirates’ Jolly Roger flies in entrance of the Singha Durbar after folks set fireplace to the seat of Nepal govt in Kathmandu.
Sunil Pradhan/Anadolu by the use of Getty Pictures
The picture, most often decorating a flag with a black background, comes from “One Piece,” a much-beloved Jap manga.
And what started as a fictional pirate workforce’s brand nearly 3 a long time in the past has develop into a formidable image of youth-led resistance, showing in demonstrations from Indonesia and Nepal to the Philippines and France.
As a student of media and democracy, I see the unfold of the Jolly Roger of the Straw Hats Pirates – which has long past from manga pages to protest squares – for instance of ways Gen Z is reshaping the cultural vocabulary of dissent.
Filipinos wave a ‘One Piece’ flag as they participate in a protest towards corruption at Rizal Park on Sept. 21, 2025, in Manila.
Ezra Acayan/Getty Pictures
Popular culture as political expression
“One Piece” arrived on the start of Gen-Z, created in 1997 by means of Jap manga artist Eiichiro Oda.
Since then, it has offered greater than 500 million copies and has a Guinness Global Document for its publishing luck.
It has spawned a long-running TV sequence, live-action movies and a more-than-US$20 billion trade, with products licensing on my own producing about $720 million each and every yr from Bandai Namco, the corporate perfect recognized for growing Pac-Guy and Tekken.
At its core, “One Piece” follows Monkey D. Luffy and his workforce, the Straw Hat Pirates, as they problem a corrupt global govt whilst searching for freedom and journey.
For enthusiasts, the “One Piece” flag isn’t an informal ornament however a logo of defiance and perseverance. Luffy’s talent to stretch past bodily limits after eating a mystical fruit has develop into a formidable metaphor for resilience, whilst his unwavering quest for freedom towards unattainable odds resonates with younger folks navigating political environments marked by means of corruption, inequality and authoritarian extra.
When protesters undertake this flag, they aren’t merely uploading a cultured from pop culture, however are drawing on a story already legible to thousands and thousands.
The flag started cropping up in protests during the last few years. It used to be being waved at a “Free Palestine” protest in 2023 in Indonesia and in the similar yr in New York all over a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
But it surely used to be in Indonesia in August 2025 that the flag’s political lifestyles actually took cling. There, protesters embraced it to voice frustration with govt insurance policies and mounting discontent over corruption and inequality. The timing coincided with govt requires patriotic shows all over independence celebrations, sprucing the distinction between legit nationalism and grassroots dissent.
One Piece’s Jolly Roger flag turned into synonymous with Indonesian protests in August 2025.
Dika/AFP by the use of Getty Pictures
The motion received momentum when government spoke back with robust grievance of the flag’s use, inadvertently drawing extra consideration to the emblem. Govt officers characterised the shows as threats to nationwide solidarity, whilst protesters seen them as professional expressions of political frustration.
Why the flag travels
The rate with which the “One Piece” Jolly Roger flag unfold throughout borders displays the virtual upbringing of Gen Z. That is the primary cohort to develop up absolutely on-line, immersed in memes, anime and world leisure franchises. Their political conversation will depend on what students name “networked publics” – communities that shape and act thru virtual platforms quite than formal organizations.
Harmony on this environment does no longer require birthday party club or ideology. As an alternative, it relies on shared cultural references. A meme, gesture or flag can straight away lift which means throughout divides of language, faith or geography. This type of connection is constructed on recognizable cultural codes that permit younger folks to spot with each and every different even if their political methods range.
Social media provides this unity achieve and pace. Movies of Indonesians waving the flag have been clipped and reshared on TikTok and Instagram, achieving audiences a long way past their unique context. By the point the emblem gave the impression in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital, in September, it already carried the air of mystery of younger defiance.
Crucially, this used to be no longer easy imitation. In Nepal, the flag used to be tied to anger at kids unemployment and on the ostentatious wealth of political dynasties displayed on-line. In Indonesia, it mirrored disillusionment with patriotic rituals that felt hole towards a backdrop of corruption. In each instances, the Jolly Roger flag labored like open-source code – adaptable in the neighborhood however straight away legible somewhere else.
A part of the flag’s effectiveness comes from its ambiguity. In contrast to a birthday party brand, the “One Piece” Jolly Roger flag originates in pop culture, which makes it tricky for governments to suppress with out showing authoritarian. Throughout the newest protests in Indonesia, government confiscated banners and categorised them treasonous. However such crackdowns handiest amplified public frustration.
The Jolly Roger flag flies amid protests within the Philippines on Sept. 21, 2025.
@rimurutempestuh/x
Fiction as truth
The “One Piece” flag isn’t on my own in being reimagined as a logo of resistance.
Throughout actions international, popular culture and virtual tradition have develop into a potent assets for activists. In Chile and Beirut, demonstrators wore Joker mask as a visible shorthand for anger at corruption and inequality. In Thailand, demonstrators became to “Hamtaro,” a youngsters’s anime a couple of hamster, parodying its theme music and waving plush toys to lampoon political leaders.
This mixing of politics, leisure and private identification displays a hybrid media setting during which symbols drawn from fandom achieve energy. They’re simple to acknowledge, adapt and shield towards state repression.
But cultural resonance on my own does no longer provide an explanation for the enchantment. The “One Piece” flag stuck on as it captured real-life grievances. In Nepal, the place kids unemployment exceeds 20% and migration for paintings is commonplace, protesters paired the brand with slogans reminiscent of “Gen Z won’t be silent” and “Our future is not for sale.”
In Indonesia, some protesters argued that the nationwide flag used to be “too sacred” to be flown in a corrupt gadget, the usage of the pirate banner as a commentary of disillusionment.
The unfold of the flag additionally displays a broader shift in how protest concepts transfer throughout borders. Previously, what tended to trip have been techniques reminiscent of sit-ins, marches or starvation moves. These days, what circulates quickest are symbols, visible references from world tradition that may be tailored to native struggles whilst ultimate straight away recognizable somewhere else.
A ‘One Piece’ flag caught in entrance of a highschool in France all over protests.
Pat Batard/Hans Lucas/AFP by the use of Getty Pictures
The flag is going world
The flag’s adventure from Asian streets to protests in France and Slovakia demonstrates how the grammar of dissent has long past world.
For lately’s younger activists, tradition and politics are inseparable. Virtual nativity has produced a technology that communicates grievances thru memes, symbols and cultural references that pass borders very easily.
When protesters in Jakarta, Kathmandu or Manila wave the “One Piece” Jolly Roger flag, they aren’t indulging in play-acting however remodeling a cultural icon right into a residing brand of defiance.
