Opposition protesters in Madagascar. Photo: IRIN

On Tuesday, Marc Ravalomanana resigned as Madagascar’s president after troops loyal to opposition leader Andry Rajoelina entered his office by force. The resignation comes following weeks of political turmoil and protests, which have damaged tourism and investment prospects.

The armed forces assumed power and Rajoelina, who is favored by the military’s chief of staff, is expected to lead the transitional government.

Michael Keating is the senior fellow and associate director at the McCormack Graduate School’s Center for Democracy and Development at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He writes at World Politics Review to provide a background of Madagascar’s political upheaval.

Madagascar’s Real-Life Blood Feud

Most Americans know about Madagascar, located in the Indian ocean off the coast of Africa, from the eponymous Disney animal movie featuring the feuding lemurs and fossas. Indeed, the fauna of the world’s 4th-largest island is spectacular. The human side of Madagascar, on the other hand, is not such a fun place these days.

[...]By African standards, this is a pretty tame affair. But for Madagascar, a place of recent political instability but decent economic growth, the conflict is a disaster. Looming near the bottom of the world’s poverty tables, Madagascar has recently been benefiting from major investments from mining giant Rio Tinto and energy behemoth Exxon Mobil. In addition, in a move that has sparked some of the protests, the government of Ravalomanana has leased 3 million acres of prime farmland — about half the size of Belgium — to Korean super-conglomerate Daewoo.

The Rio Tinto Mineral Sands project is the largest foreign investment in the island’s history. It has, however, come under a withering attack by environmental group Friends of the Earth and London-based Panos. Exxon Mobil also came under some heat from Greenpeace last year for allegedly killing melon-headed whales with its advanced echo sounding equipment and will surely face more environmental challenges once it begins drilling in earnest.

The feud between the president and the upstart mayor seems to be more about personal egos and power needs than anything else. The basis for the criticism of the president seems to surround his lavish life style and “lack of caring” for the island’s almost 20 million poor. Depending upon which way the army swings, the mayor could find himself assuming power in the coming weeks or be forced into exile.

As in so many poor African countries, power is a zero-sum game about control of the country’s riches. No matter who comes out on top, it is not likely to affect the lives of Madagascar’s poor. The only real effect will be to slow down investments, and to drive away the tourists who would like to see the lemurs and fossas in person but who will now have to content themselves with the Disney version.

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Aftermath of protests in Madagascar. Photo: IRIN NEWS

Groups loyal to Madagascar opposition leader Andry Rajoelina briefly gained control of four government buildings on Thursday. About 50 people were arrested after security forces reportedly regained control.

Anti-government violence in Madagascar has killed more than 100 people as thousands of protesters voice their opposition to President Marc Ravalomanana and loot and burn buildings affiliated with the state. But news about the country’s political upheaval has been scarce.

Rajoelina called for Ravalomanana to step down and for demonstrations against the government, which shut down his radio station after it aired an interview with an exiled former leader.

Ethan Zuckerman is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and a co-founder of Global Voices Online. He writes at the “My Heart’s in Accra” blog to discuss the scarcity of media coverage of Madagascar, writing that the most complete coverage is coming from social media users.

Watching Madagascar, via Twitter

The nature of breaking news is changing. Recent breaking stories, like the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, have been simulcast on mainstream news sites and via social media like blogs and twitter. To stay up to date, I’ve increasingly found myself triangulating between traditional and new media, sometimes frustrated by the speed of rumor spread in new media, sometimes moved by the personal, direct and eyewitness perspectives I’ve gotten from individuals directly affected by attacks.

The (confusing, apparent, partial, incomplete) coup in Madagascar is the first event I’ve been able to watch only through social media.

Madagascar has had a political crisis for several weeks. The may of the capital city, Antananarivo, and opposition leader Andry Rajoelina has been urging supporters to occupy government buildings, allowing his TGV party to take control of the government. Rajoelina argues that he’s taking control from a corrupt and dictatorial president, Marc Ravalomanana, who he accuses of manipulating the Malagasy economy to benefit his own businesses. President Ravalomanana views Rajoelina’s actions as a coup, and has fired him as mayor of Antananarivo and is struggling to maintain control.

Over the past few weeks, there’s been tense standoffs between protesters and government forces. One of these standoffs descended into burning and looting, killing dozens. Another involved the government firing on protesters as they marched towards the President’s residence. I’ve detailed some of the events on my blog, and Global Voices has very thorough coverage of the events.

Today, Rajoelina’s supporters have apparently seized four ministries - the police, interior, education and “territory” ministries. According to my friend Lova Rakatomalala, “Consensus so far is that seizing of ministry buildings does not give TGV the control of the government.”

It would be hard to get a sense for that consensus by reading English-language media. Google News doesn’t have any breaking news from Madagascar - my last search turned up a 13-hour old story about the opposition’s threats to occupy buildings (and dozens of stories about the Dreamworks film.) While the New York Times’s Barry Bearak is one of the few US reporters to have meaningfully addressed the Madagascar story, the Times site doesn’t even have a newswire story about the current situation. And while my French sucks, my sense is that there’s not a ton of coverage there - a short piece just went up on Le Monde based on an AFP story.

So I’m doing what my Malagasy friends across the net are doing - religiously watching the #Madagascar tag on Twitter. That means I’m primarily reading Thierry Ratsizehena, a marketing and social media expert in Antananarivo, who is listening closely to news via television and radio, and sharing what he knows with his Twitter readers. Lova, who’s in the U.S., is translating his tweets into English and adding context and commentary. The two make a pretty effective news bureau, helping interested readers understand the few facts we’ve got from the ground and the numerous unanswered questions.

What we know:
- Four ministries are occupied by the opposition TGV. The party’s leader, Rajoelina, has asked his supporters to continue occupying the buildings, and some supportive crowds are surrounding buildings and chanting.

What we think we know:
- The President hasn’t been heard from, but his Prime Minister is evidently calling members of parliament to ensure they have support.
- The armed forces held TGV forces outside their building for some time today, and eventually let some TGV figures inside to negotiate, perhaps to avoid violence.
- The events today appear to be largely nonviolent.

What we don’t know:
- Whether TGV will continue seizing ministries, or whether the President will try to use the armed forces to oust TGV and arrest Rajoelina
- How much public support there is either for the existing government or for TGV.

Confused? Yeah, so’s everyone watching this story. Which is why I wish we had more reporters on the ground and more analysis coming out.

The population of Madagascar is more than 20 million - roughly that of Australia. I realize this isn’t a helpful comparison, but I can’t help returning to the idea that there are roughly twice as many people in Madagascar than in Israel and Palestine, a part of the world where even minor political developments are followed around the world with passionate interest. I understand that the future of Madagascar probably won’t affect the future of US/Middle East relationships and that the Malagasy diaspora tends to be a lot quieter than supporters of Israel and Palestine… but it seems crazy that there’s apparently a single AFP stringer bringing this conflict to the world’s attention.

My work over the years suggests that you’re lots less likely to get media attention if you’re poor, far away, speak languages other than English and not involved with global terror or American military operations. Madagascar loses on all fronts. I’m proud that Global Voices is doing a good job of covering this story, but really wish we had a bit more company.

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Buildings throughout Madagascar’s capital have been burnt and ransacked. Photo: Christina Corbett/IRINNEWS

Anti-government violence in Madagascar has killed nearly 40 as thousands of protesters voice their opposition to President Marc Ravalomanana and loot and burn buildings affiliated with the state.

Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina called for demonstrations against Ravalomanana’s government, which shut down his radio station after it aired an interview with an exiled former leader.

The political unrest follows a devastating cyclone that struck Madagascar last week.

Ethan Zuckerman is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and a co-founder of Global Voices Online. He writes at the “My Heart’s in Accra” blog to explain why the African nation deserves more world attention.

Paying attention to Madagascar

I’ve noted in the past that it’s hard to pay attention to news stories in other parts of the world when you don’t have a personal connection to them. If you don’t know any Moldovans and can’t find Moldova on a map, you’re likely to ignore news about that country. Joi Ito calls this “the caring problem”, and it’s one of the phenomena I’m most interested in understanding and overcoming.

There’s a parallel to this problem, of course, which is the tendency to pay close attention people and places we do care about. I paid far more attention to the election in Ghana than to other African elections, for understandable reasons. And the Global Voices community, right now, is paying very close attention to Madagascar. We’ve got a number of terrific Malagasy correspondents, a major project in Madagascar under the Rising Voices initiative, and a lively Malagasy-language version of the Global Voices site.

And, unfortunately, there’s a lot to pay attention to in Madagascar right now. On the heels of a cyclone that’s displaced thousands of people, the nation is facing a serious political showdown that’s descended into violence. The conflict pits President Marc Ravalomanana against Andry Rajoelina, mayor of the capital city of Antananarivo. Rajoelina is a media entrepreneur, and manages a television network that has been a thorn in the side of the president.

In December, Rajoelina’s network broadcast an interview with Madagascar’s former president, who is now in exile in France. President Ravalomanana responded by closing down Rajoelina’s station. The mayor accused the president of dictatorial behavior, and called on supporters to protest in Antananarivo. Unfortunately, protesters set fire to a complex including government buildings and a television station linked to the president. More than 35 people have been killed, primarily people trapped in the building as it caught fire. Protests continue today, but have been peaceful, with more than 40,000 opposition supporters in the streets.

There’s not a ton of news coming from Madagascar through official channels. Search on Google News and you’ll see a few hundred stories… which turn out to be roughly half a dozen wire stories, reprinted by various publications. There’s lots, lots more information on our site, with reports from Twitter with rumors that the president has fled, discussions of instability on a Malagasy-language Yahoo group, and photos from the ground.

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