Two continents, one demand: call time on extreme wealth, austerity

13 October 2025

Mexico City and Jakarta | 13 October 2025

From Latin America to Southeast Asia, people took to the streets on Saturday, 11 October, with one message for those in power: tax the ultra-rich, cancel unjust debt, and stop policies that make the many pay for the few.

In Mexico City, activists unfurled a giant banner at the National Palace before marching to the Palace of Mining. Their message to President Claudia Sheinbaum read: “Claudia, we don’t expect miracles, we expect a tax on billionaires.”

The protest fused art and activism. Hundreds of braided milagritos – small charms representing people’s hopes - were woven to turn a colonial symbol into a living mural demanding living mural of rights. Amid the sounds of banging pots and chants for equality, protesters called for extreme wealth to be taxed to fund public goods such as health, education, care, housing, water, culture, climate action, and gender equality.

In Jakarta, residents of Kampung Susun Bayam, joined by artists and young people, reclaimed the wall separating their community from the new Jakarta International Stadium. Their message to President Prabowo Subianto projected to the site, read: “Prabowo, Don’t Sell Our Sovereignty at the G20” – demanding that he champions the demands of the majority and not the super rich at the summit.  

Throughout the day, the community hosted cultural performances, read aloud a People’s Memorandum, and projected their demands across the skyline. Their call, end tax breaks for oligarchs, reverse regressive VAT hikes, end evictions, and cancel policies that push working people into deeper hardship.  

Thousands of kilometres apart, both actions carried the same demands for fairness and accountability. As G20 discussions fast approaches, movements representing the 99 percent are drawing the red line against austerity, insisting justice cannot be negotiated in closed rooms, but must rise from the streets.

Cornelius Gea, Fight Inequality Alliance Indonesia’s National Coordinator, says: “We are the 99%, victims of corporate greed. Across villages and towns our people’s land is being taken away by so-called investors, the elites, who in turn degrade it and pollute our water for their own profit. The actions in Jakarta and Mexico City are a clear message to the super rich and governments that we will not stop fighting inequality until we get a just economic system.”   

Joan Meris for Fight Inequality Alliance adds, “This is just the beginning. Our voices will grow louder at the People’s Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, this November where movements from across the Global South will come together to chart a path for a new global economy that works for the people and the planet.”

The simultaneous actions in Mexico City and Jakarta happened against a backdrop of deepening inequality and shrinking civic space, where governments continue to shield elites while cutting essential services. By transforming symbols of wealth and exclusion into canvases of defiance, people across continents reminded the world that the fight for economic justice transcends borders.

High-resolution photos and footage of the banners and protests are available upon request.

For media inquiries and interviews please write to:

Daud Kayisi, Communications & Media Officer, media@fightinequality.org I daud.kayisi@fightinequality.org