If you keep up with news about popular movements and protests around the world, you may have noticed a Jolly Roger—the pirate flag—appearing in the streets of Nepal, Indonesia, France, and Madagascar. It is the Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates, the heroes of a fictional world called One Piece, created by Eiichiro Oda. The emergence and spread of such a symbol in popular protests not only signals the rise of a new mode of political practice, but it also reveals particular capacities inherent in this work.
When the young organizers of demonstrations raise the Straw Hats’ flag, they quite literally pull those characters off the manga’s pages and out of anime sequences to announce to everyone that they intend to turn the world upside down. A flag that, in Oda’s story, signifies a band of rebels against the world order now carries the same plotline in our own streets: a tale of insurrection against corrupt powers and a hope for a freer world.
In the world of One Piece, the Straw Hats are a “chosen family”: a small group that, with courage, perseverance, and audacity, rushes to the aid of the oppressed, standing against empires and repressive states through the power of friendship and solidarity. Oda’s heroes laugh and dance and admit neither defeat nor surrender. This is precisely why young people, wearied by injustice, corruption, and repression, find themselves reflected in One Piece. Where restrictive laws and political graft drive people into the streets, this flag is hoisted as a sign of resistance to the prevailing authoritarian order; through it, adolescents and young adults declare a desire to be free of ossified structures. From Indonesia to Madagascar, the Straw Hat flag operates as a metaphor of defiance against power.
Beyond local situations, however, the symbol points to something more global. As a transnational narrative, One Piece enables young people to voice their protest in a global idiom. As a modern mythic emblem, the Straw Hat flag makes possible a shared language through which, anywhere in the world, one can speak of revolt, freedom, and hope.
A new generation goes to battle against injustice—and to the aid of the marginalized and outcast—armed with its own myths. Where earlier generations took to the streets under national, party, or broadly ideological banners, today’s generation draws inspiration from anime and pop culture. They no longer wish to sacrifice themselves for leaders or for doctrines; instead, they imagine themselves in the guise of heroes like Luffy and his friends, who, empty-handed yet fearless and bold, stand together against great powers and bring them to their knees.
In the end, the choice to raise the Straw Hats’ flag in the streets of the world is no accident. One Piece is a story about the struggle for freedom, and adopting a symbol from this work as an emblem of protest marks the conjunction of imagination and politics—evidence of the power of contemporary narratives to shape real-world resistance. With this flag, protesters proclaim that they are part of a story that exceeds national borders: a global story whose heroes fight for freedom, a story in which anyone can join a worldwide adventure for liberty.