ABSTRACT
Since 2016, youth-led social movements have emerged and confronted a predominantly authoritarian state in Zimbabwe. Although there is an increase in youth-led movements in Zimbabwe, there is very limited research on the lived experiences of youth in these movements. As such, little is known about social movements and the everyday realities of young people thereof. The movements played a role in the removal of Robert Mugabe from power, as they mounted protests and eventually supported the November 2017 coup which ousted him. Drawing on the ethnography of youth activists’ everyday lives and struggles in Zimbabwe, this chapter examines the ways in young people are mobilised and how they encounter the state. It particularly explores the risks encountered by youth activists and how they navigate them. The author argues that given the precariousness of activism in the social movement terrain in Zimbabwe, youth activists have developed creative and inventive ways of subverting the state and navigating state violence.
