Tension is high in Madagascar one week before the presidential election. The collective of ten candidates who oppose the holding of the election under the conditions set by the government is prohibited from demonstrating freely. His attempts to gather on the Place du 13-Mai, the scene of all the protests, have so far failed. Again on Monday, November 6, the candidates were fired upon by tear gas and one of them, Jean-Jacques Ratsietison, was briefly arrested.
It is in this climate that the outgoing power intends to maintain the date of the first round of voting, November 16, despite warnings against the risks that this stubbornness poses for the stability of the country. The population will certainly not agree to recognize the winner of a massively fraudulent election. She took to the streets to denounce this. The authorities did not hear it and we must therefore ask ourselves the question: is this fundamental movement which would like to lead Madagascar towards democracy and healthier management of the country losing the game? We hope not.
The image of the ten candidates standing shoulder to shoulder, despite their political and economic differences, to demand a fair and fraud-free election, is strong. Attempts to demolish this union hurt. Because behind these steps appears a powerful humanist current. The peaceful demonstrations, attracting a crowd which continues to grow and which does not provoke any looting or destruction of public property, are impressive in their discipline despite the provocations of activists from the opposing camp. The sublimatory image is beautiful.
Failed Malagachization
Faced with repression, should we resolve to discouragement, resign ourselves to failure? There is a point in this movement that needs to be addressed: today’s “marchers” are from the generation of children and even grandchildren of those who led the 1972 revolt. They are the descendants.
Indeed, fifty years ago, tens of thousands of Malagasy students and pupils on strike denounced their education system, modeled on that of France, and demanded the revision of Franco-Malagasy cooperation agreements. It was both a strong nationalist movement and a back-to-basics cultural movement. On May 13, 1972, around forty young strikers were killed in the heart of the capital by the police, on what is now Place du 13-Mai.
The generation that walks in 2023 is deeply marked by the wounds of its parents. It is also suffering the after-effects of a long chaotic period marked by coups d’état, a deterioration of the economy, political and financial scandals, corruption and insecurity which continue to grow, alongside a collapse of the school system. All aggravated by the damage caused by a failed Malagasy process, an object of ideological propaganda, without the instruments to achieve it.
Locked away in the Big Island by closed borders and restrictive visa policies, the young generation dreams of “modernity”, of a different life, elsewhere, which must face galloping inflation, economic exclusion, to insecurity, to repressive violence. Social networks are her vehicle for “traveling”, her opening to the world, her instrument of education and exchange, her outlet, she who can no longer go from one city to another with difficulty. The roads are broken, it costs too much.
Old wounds
If we want to observe the real importance of the current movement, we should not forget this fact: there are two generations in this movement. If the elderly are demanding healthy elections and, ultimately, a society without corruption, young people are demanding in particular an improvement in the education system and access to better knowledge of modern technologies, allowing them greater openness to the world.
All the old wounds are coming back. Including those caused by an administrative and political structure inherited from colonization, which favored certain families, many of whose descendants are still in power.
The strong symbol of this revolt is the demand for the outgoing president, Andry Rajoelina, to step down from power. He obtained French nationality in 2014 by applying for naturalization. This is experienced by the Malagasy population as a true historical betrayal and great contempt for its long fight for dignity since the first uprisings at the end of the 19th century against the colonial invasion.
