spotlight madagascar

“It is my responsibility as president of the Transition is to give the Malagasy people a voice. Only a legitimate authority will be able to democratically put an end to this difficult period of trouble.”

Andry Rajoelina, Letter to the Wall Street Journal

Photo: Conor Byrne

Fine. Journalists are not OK though. That’s weird. So what you mean is that you want to give the Malagasy people a voice, but only if it’s the same as your voice.

Wycoff also noted U.S. concerns over an “atmosphere of intimidation” in Madagascar where he said media and journalists are being harassed. Opposition figures are unable to operate freely and the security services are continuing to “infringe” human rights, he said.

from Bloomberg.com

The Protestant Church is not OK either? Also weird. And not very democratic.

The beginning of the year in Madagascar has been marked with yet more protests where protesters have been fired upon and the harassment of those perceived as close to the former regime of Marc Ravalomanana, including several journalists and the protestant Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar.

read the whole article on Global Voices

allAfrica.com: Madagascar: Dismay At Fatal Shooting of TV Reporter Covering Anti-Government Demonstration

And the bloggers are off and running. And the UN is off and running. They are dismayed.

Global Voices Online » Madagascar: The mayor proclaims himself president.

Climate Progress (a blog)

i’ve set my google alerts to ‘daewoo madagascar’ to give me updates on their latest land deal, which will probably demolish the malagasy economy. so we can have more corn.

Daewoo plans to produce 4 million tons of corn and 500,000 tons of palm oil a year, most of which will be shipped out of impoverished Madagascar—where the World Food Program (WFP) still provides food relief.

“We will build everything from ports and railways to markets on a barren and untouched area,” said Shin Dong-Hyun of Daewoo.

read some of the articles below, i get about 10 per day.

Global trends may be spurring ‘land grab’ in poorer countries – The China Post

Another article

NY Times: Paradox of Plenty (a short interactive history of the pillaging of Africa)