spotlight madagascar

You can always tell when the media considers the crisis to be less of a crisis when you start seeing stories about Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa return to the mainstream. That’s today, apparently, though I’m sure for the good people of Madagascar, it’s still very much a calamity.

I haven’t posted in a few days. Truthfully, I haven’t had the energy to dissect everything that was coming at me. I was getting emails, forwards, texts, news from the internet, and even with this spate of diverse viewpoints and “facts”, I still feel like I’m not hearing the whole story. So I buried my head in my schoolwork, reading about globalization and the WTO (an organization I simply can’t believe the world allows to exist any longer), social entrepreneurship and innovation (Madagascar still on my mind, obviously), and participatory monitoring and evaluation. Even though I wasn’t posting, and was in fact avoiding reading most of the news beyond the headlines and summaries (most were repeating the same things over and over), I couldn’t get Madagascar out of my head. So I guess it’s time to buckle down and do some figuring out. Sorry for my absence. I kind of felt like I was banging my head against a wall in trying to figure out the truth.

Yesterday, a Malagasy author appeared in the New York Times Op-Ed section. Johary Ravaloson, Island of Instability:

Instead, I felt a sense of defeat, a hangover I didn’t understand. The next day, on my way to work, I didn’t see much joy in the streets. Despite the change in government, uncertainty persists.

And the fihavanana, you ask? How can we maintain the ancient ties when all the ancient values — respect for our elders, the spirit of moderation, the inclination for dialogue — have disappeared?

…

After Mr. Ravalomanana stepped down, a friend sent an e-mail message warning me to beware of crocodile feasts. Translated: now the victors will divide the spoils.

Yesterday, various sources reported that the police were firing on demonstrators. Concerned, I immediately started reading the articles — they weren’t firing on the demonstrators, they were firing in the air over the demonstrators; no one was injured, according to The Associated Press. Not that that’s any less frightening, but it’s a little less bad, I suppose. Andry really didn’t get a honeymoon period after his swearing-in. Seems like the protests started up right away. Ravalomanana is in Swaziland, doing who knows what, meeting with other African leaders including the King of Swaziland, and formulating his plan for his grand power grab-back. That should keep them in the news awhile longer.

A national conference that Rajoelina says will include all key groups — including Ravalomanana’s party — was to be convened next week to discuss the new constitution and electoral systems. Speakers at Thursday’s protest said Ravalomanana would only participate if he was recognized at the conference as the nation’s elected president and if it were organized by the Southern African Development Community or other another neutral, international body.

The April 2-3 conference has been organized by an independent body appointed by Rajoelina.

Ravalomanana, who is in Swaziland ahead of a regional summit on Madagascar, has vowed he will make a political comeback on the Indian Ocean island nation.

Leaders at the African regional gathering were expected to adopt sanctions or other measures to pressure Rajoelina to step down. The Southern African Development Community has accused him of making an unconstitutional power grab.

Last words on today, here are a couple of sources for the forest-pillaging issue:

National Geographic News: Lemur Forests Pillaged by “Gangs” as Madagascar Reels

New York Times: Madagascar’s Turmoil Spills Into Forests

And this caught my eye: “Loyalists Plan Madagascar Tax Boycott” – Financial Times. That’s getting creative. I’m not sure how much of Madagascar’s government revenue actually comes from taxes, but I can’t imagine it’s very much if 90% of the population is living on less than $2 per day. In fact, I’m pretty sure that a lot of the government revenue comes from those nasty structural adjustment loans from the IMF and World Bank. Here’s an excerpt from a very interesting country brief, which you can download HERE, done by the Financial Standards Foundation:

Foreign Aid and External Debt
Madagascar is very dependent upon foreign assistance as a source of government revenue and to finance its economic development. According to the UNDP, official development assistance totaled $929.2 million in 2005 and was equivalent to 18.4 percent of GDP. The IMF estimated that foreign grants accounted for 31.6 percent of government revenue in 2007.
On October 21, 2004, the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and the IMF announced that Madagascar had “taken the necessary steps to reach the completion point under the Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative.” The threshold for HIPC eligibility is an external debt that is more than 150 percent of the exports of goods and services or in some cases more than 250 percent of fiscal revenue. Madagascar was the 15th country to reach the completion point under the Initiative. The IMF and IDA estimated the debt relief granted to Madagascar was $836.6 million in net present value terms, which over time will translate into a reduction in debt servicing costs of $1.9 billion. The external public debt was about $1.9 billion at the end of 2007.

In theory, a bold move, evading taxes. But considering the above, I don’t think it’s going to make much of a difference.

ARMY MUTINY HEIGHTENS MADAGASCAR CRISIS

Barry Bearak, NYT

And so ended a turbulent week of Malagasy politics, as bizarre as some of the giant jumping rats and ring-eyed lemurs that inhabit this biological wonderland, and as brutal as the 100 or so bodies buried in the past few days, a toll taken after antigovernment demonstrations turned deadly.

The New York Times is stepping up to the plate and today’s article is one of the best so far.

That same sentiment — the dreary expectation of extended turmoil — seemed pervasive on Monday in the government ministries. “The Malagasy people are like riders aboard a rickety bus,” said a woman named Jocelyn. “This bus cannot find a driver.”

It does seem like the fracas ended on an eerily silent note this week. Last Monday, I was getting calls and texts from friends all over the United States, facebook was having a field-day with groups about updates on the Madagascar crisis. It’s about to be forgotten again, debris floating in the Indian Ocean.

BARRY BEARAK has written a very thoughtful piece on the Madagascar crisis for the New York Times:

Playing to the poor — something that both the president and the mayor excel at — usually goes over well in a country where most people get by on less than $1 a day. But the Malagasy have now lived under colonialism, socialism and democracy, with the masses remaining destitute.

“Politicians always use the poor people to get into power, and then they forget us,” said a woman who called in to Radio Mada, a station broadcasting from the capital. “I don’t believe them any more.”

The International Herald Tribune features a Malagasy columnist, Alain Iloniaina, this afternoon:

“We are here to request a return to democracy and better human rights,” said Tila Ralvaralarivo, waving a small orange flag, the colour that has come to symbolise the opposition movement.

And finally for now, from Al Jazeera English

The Associated Press: Opposition radio station back on air in Madagascar

This one is pretty comprehensive, but vague at the same time. Since most media has been cut off in Madagascar, things must not be getting out. People are hungry for news, especially my fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who are trying to get in touch with friends and loved ones. Unfortunately, the American media seems a little behind, though this country should be extremely worried about where it’s going to get its vanilla from now on, and what the film, Madagascar 3, might look like with cartoon flames and lemurs rioting.

The New York Times: Madagascar: Protesters Seek Government’s Resignation

Thanks NYT, a pretty disappointing “blurb”–I guess there are bigger fish to fry.

Reuters: Madagascar opposition calls more protests

And last but not least, Reuters, with at least one typo.

Those scenes revived memories of past political volatility on Madagascar, the world’s fourth largest island, and will not help the government’s efforts to present the nation as a tourist haven and sound destination for investment in mining and oil.

This quote jumped out at me–soooooo the political volatility will make it tough for tourists and foreigners that wish to rape and pillage the natural resources.  And let’s face it, a lot of tourists aren’t so kind to the earth either.  What they’re saying is that this is going to make it inconvenient for other people to go to Madagascar with the intention of extracting the good parts, whether that be oil or a lovely bungalow by a pristine beach.  I think we’re forgetting some key stakeholders here.  Perhaps the people of Madagascar are going to suffer a bit more now that the infrastructure that their economy and livelihoods rest on is being destroyed (some of it by them in a frenzy of lawlessness); maybe one should also consider the delicate ecosystems that will continue to be exploited until there’s nothing left but desert.  Will there be tourism then?  To witness a tattered, dirty and destroyed landscape–but oh, how much money some will have made…

During the last political crisis, prices skyrocketed for basics like cooking oil and rice (and pretty much everything), certain places were rife with violence, and it took a long time to recover from that.  Read about it here.  Just some food for thought.