Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina has sacked the entire government and promised to appoint a new one in the coming days in response to the worst protests affecting the Indian Ocean island country since 2009, as the death toll climbed to 22 this Monday.
The protests, dubbed “GenZ” as they take inspiration from similar recent protests in Indonesia, the Philippines and Nepal, started on Thursday, September 25, and were originally against the recurring rolling blackouts and water shortages before broadening to demand the ousting of President Rajoelina. Shops, public buildings and the offices of several politicians were looted and set ablaze amid a heavy-handed police response.
Andry Rajeolina entered politics as a young entrepreneur seeking to renew Madagascar’s rusting political establishment, and was elected mayor of the capital Antananarivo in 2007. In 2009, protests against then-President Marc Ravalomanana turned deadly and sparked a political crisis that saw Rajoelina be forcibly removed from office, until the Malagasy Army overthrew Ravalomanana and installed Rajoelina as an interim ruler. Rajoelina stepped down in 2014 but staged a political comeback in the 2018 presidential elections and was controversially re-elected in 2023 amid accusations of fraud and an opposition boycott.
Under Rajoelina’s tenure, Madagascar’s already precarious economic situation further deteriorated: poverty now affects between 75-80% of the population, blackouts and water shortages are the norm, and the GDP/capita (adjusted for PPP) remains below the levels of the 1970s. Food insecurity has grown, particularly in the dry south where the 2021-22 lean season saw the first “climate change-made” famine, although opposition leaders have also blamed government policies for the crisis. Rajoelina was also criticized for cracking down on individual freedoms following a short period of liberalization, notably by acquiring the Predator spyware to monitor dissidents.
One of the world’s most impoverished countries heavily relying on tourism, foreign aid, agricultural exports and remittances, Madagascar was deeply affected by the Covid pandemic, the inflation spike, the cuts to USAID, and the effects of climate change.
Deep-Painter-7121 on
a decade after the arab spring i guess we are seeing the Gen Z autumn
No_Aesthetic on
Please spread to America please spread to America please spread to America
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!ping AFRICA
Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina has sacked the entire government and promised to appoint a new one in the coming days in response to the worst protests affecting the Indian Ocean island country since 2009, as the death toll climbed to 22 this Monday.
The protests, dubbed “GenZ” as they take inspiration from similar recent protests in Indonesia, the Philippines and Nepal, started on Thursday, September 25, and were originally against the recurring rolling blackouts and water shortages before broadening to demand the ousting of President Rajoelina. Shops, public buildings and the offices of several politicians were looted and set ablaze amid a heavy-handed police response.
Andry Rajeolina entered politics as a young entrepreneur seeking to renew Madagascar’s rusting political establishment, and was elected mayor of the capital Antananarivo in 2007. In 2009, protests against then-President Marc Ravalomanana turned deadly and sparked a political crisis that saw Rajoelina be forcibly removed from office, until the Malagasy Army overthrew Ravalomanana and installed Rajoelina as an interim ruler. Rajoelina stepped down in 2014 but staged a political comeback in the 2018 presidential elections and was controversially re-elected in 2023 amid accusations of fraud and an opposition boycott.
Under Rajoelina’s tenure, Madagascar’s already precarious economic situation further deteriorated: poverty now affects between 75-80% of the population, blackouts and water shortages are the norm, and the GDP/capita (adjusted for PPP) remains below the levels of the 1970s. Food insecurity has grown, particularly in the dry south where the 2021-22 lean season saw the first “climate change-made” famine, although opposition leaders have also blamed government policies for the crisis. Rajoelina was also criticized for cracking down on individual freedoms following a short period of liberalization, notably by acquiring the Predator spyware to monitor dissidents.
One of the world’s most impoverished countries heavily relying on tourism, foreign aid, agricultural exports and remittances, Madagascar was deeply affected by the Covid pandemic, the inflation spike, the cuts to USAID, and the effects of climate change.
a decade after the arab spring i guess we are seeing the Gen Z autumn
Please spread to America please spread to America please spread to America