115 - Youth Protests and Urban Imaginaries in South Asia

Across South Asia, young people have led powerful protests against economic insecurity, political exclusion, corruption, inequality, and the erosion of democratic possibilities. Often described as “Gen Z protests,” these movements have been enabled by digital networks, new political vocabularies, and experimental forms of organisation. Yet the generational label can also conceal important differences of class, caste, gender, geography, and political context. These mobilisations have been profoundly urban. Streets, squares, university campuses, and other public spaces have become sites of confrontation, collective care, political experimentation, communal joy, and the imagining of alternative futures. In this episode, we bring developments in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India into conversation. We ask what conditions precipitated recent youth-led movements, how protesters have occupied and transformed urban space, and what kinds of cities, public cultures, and political communities they seek to create. We also explore regional resonances and differences - including the role of digital mobilisation, social inequalities, political achievements, and the internal limits and contradictions of these movements.