Madagascar is no plain vanilla Gen Z successful protest
When Madagascar’s president Andry Rajoelina (pronounced Andr Rajwena) secretly left his East African island nation, he bowed to a force roiling Africa, Asia and South America: Gen Z.
Here’s what the young uns did with their anime activism, which has been flying the One Piece flag with its cartoon skull and bones in various locations around the world. They expressed anger at corruption, water and electricity cuts and the fat cats sleekly padding across the corridors of power. When nothing seemed to happen, they started to call for heads to metaphorically roll in a country of 32 million that’s regarded as one of the poorest on Earth. President Rajoelina pleaded for time and quickly appointed an army general as his prime minister. He claimed it was a move to restore order but cynics said it smacked of a desperate attempt to ensure the military remained on his side.
Well, it didn’t.
On October 14, Madagascar’s military said it was taking control of the government and promised to hold elections within two years. This came after soldiers from the elite and influential CAPSAT unit joined the demonstrators. That must’ve hurt the embattled president. The guys at CAPSAT, a French acronym for the Personnel Administration and Technical and Administrative Services Corps, were the ones who installed Mr Rajoelina as president in Madagascar’s last coup in 2009. At the time, Mr Rajoelina was the young mayor of the capital. He had gone from dynamic media mogul to becoming the nation’s hope. After the 2009 coup, he went on to win the 2018 presidential elections, but never forget, Mr Rajoelina’s time at his country’s helm started and ended with violent disruption of the status quo.
Reaction from the rest of the world has been interesting as International Intrigue has pointed out. First, because the Madagascar military has taken charge in what might be called a constitutional coup. i.e., Mr Rajoelina was technically relieved of his office by impeachment by parliament. The lower house remains extant.
The geopolitical influence game is such that everyone’s waiting to see who says what. Will the US condemn recent developments as a coup? How does France explain whisking Mr Rajoelina away, especially because he supposedly had secret French citizenship?
What’s India going to do about the whole thing considering it keeps jealous tabs on what’s happening in the Indian Ocean and sees Madagascar as critical? In 2015, the Indian navy identified the Mozambique Channel as a “primary area of maritime interest”.
Finally, there’s Madagascar’s value to the world. Roughly 30 per cent of global tanker traffic passes through the Mozambique Channel and the country produces 80 per cent of the vanilla in our ice creams and cakes. And it has some nickel and cobalt.
Events in Madagascar are anything but plain vanilla.
