Is the One Piece flag the next international protest symbol?

That cliché has played out across Asia in recent weeks, as the skull-and-straw-hat flag from the hit anime One Piece — where a band of pirates defy a corrupt world government — has been hoisted from Jakarta to Kathmandu in protests that have shaken, if not toppled, governments.

The seemingly innocuous Jolly Roger has since become an anti-establishment symbol sweeping through countries like Nepal and France — both of which saw leadership changes after mass demonstrations — as well as Indonesia and the Philippines.

It began in early August, when the flag appeared across Indonesia as a sign of protest against President Prabowo Subianto. Authorities quickly warned that the One Piece flag must not be flown alongside the red-and-white Merah Putih national flag, with police seizing copies of the anime banner. 

Amnesty International Indonesia had questioned the legal basis for banning the flag.

“Has he incited hatred based on religion, ethnicity, race, intergroup relations, national origin or sexual orientation? Is he inciting discrimination on these grounds? Is he propagating a war? For example, of a state or an armed group? If not, then it cannot be banned,” Usman Hamid, the group’s executive director, told AFP. 

Hamid argued that the flag even reflects Indonesia’s own founding ideals.“If we connect it with Indonesia’s independence, on August 17, the spirit of One Piece is the same as that of the Merah Putih: fighting oppression, declaring independence and freedom, and striving for justice and the removal of all restraints,” he added.

Since then, the movement has grown quickly in the country of 280 million, reaching a tipping point in late August when thousands marched on Parliament to protest lawmakers’ housing allowances.

Protests turned violent after police in Jakarta fatally struck 21-year-old motorcycle-taxi driver Affan Kurniawan. At least 10 people have died since demonstrations began.

The unrest prompted the president to reshuffle his cabinet, replacing five ministers, including those for finance and security. Prabowo himself, however, remains in power. 

The same could not be said for Nepal, where a wave of “Gen Z” protests toppled the incumbent government and installed a new one, with its “nomination” of a new leader announced on the gaming chat app Discord.

Again, the skull-and-straw-hat flag has been a fixture in these anti-government demonstrations, which erupted after Nepal banned social media platforms like Facebook and X but also criticise widespread corruption and the lavish lifestyle of “nepo kids.”

Protesters torched Parliament, luxury hotels and residences, and the burning skyline became the backdrop for the flying One Piece flag. 

Interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki, Nepal’s first female premier, has taken over from K.P. Sharma Oli, who resigned amid the unrest. At least 72 people have died since the protests began.

On September 13, the flag flew again — this time in the Philippines. Thousands gathered at Manila’s EDSA Shrine, the historic site where millions once toppled a dictator, to protest alleged corruption in flood control projects. 

Demonstrators called for systemic reforms and warned that the misuse of public funds is only a symptom of deeper failures in governance.

More mass protests are planned in the country, prompting the government to place the armed forces on red alert. Though unsaid, it is apparent that there are lingering fear that, as in Nepal and Indonesia, simmering discontent could spill into something larger.

Though their causes and outcomes differ, demonstrations in Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines have united under a single banner: the skull-and-straw hat, co-opted into an emblem of defiance and protest.

Today, the One Piece flag flies not only over imaginary ships but over parliaments and city squares, from Jakarta to Kathmandu to Manila. It is no longer just the banner of a pirate crew, but the shorthand for a demand for justice and freedom.