Madagascar: GenZ protest movement develops towards a national uprising

Tuesday 30 September turned out to be a crucial day in the ongoing Madagascar uprising, which started on 25 September, in protest against electricity cut-offs.

As on the previous day, there were mass demonstrations in all major cities, led by the student youth, but this time with the masses joining in. In the capital, the movement had decided to converge on the city centre, Ambohijatovo, which the authorities wanted to prevent at all costs.

From early in the morning, students and the local population set off – some coming from far away neighbourhoods and educational institutions – marching for several hours. A column started as far away as Imerintsiatosika, a peasant town 30 kilometres away from the capital’s centre. On their way along the RN-1 road, they were joined by people from Ambatomirahavavy and then from the Fenoarivo neighbourhood. From the same direction came students from several educational institutions in Vontovorona.

At several points, riot police attempted to block the different columns or divert them to other points in the capital, far from the city centre. The masses were unfazed. Young students raised their hands and pushed their way through the police lines, the same police who had killed five of their comrades during the clashes on 25 September.

Finally, the massive demonstration – a convergence of several huge columns from all sides, some of them escorted by the same police which was supposed to stop them – arrived at the 13 May square in Ambohijatovo. It was here that riot police opened fire, using tear gas in a desperate attempt to disperse the crowd. The youth fought back, retreated and then advanced again.

The day ended with a clear victory for the movement: they had achieved their aim of marching to the city centre, despite prohibition by the ever-weakened authorities.

The masses now have the upper hand and the government is scared to use brutal repression against the movement.

On the evening of the 29th, President Rajoelina, in a televised address, dismissed the government and promised to listen to the movement’s demands. Too little, too late. This did not satisfy the protesters who demanded the removal of the prefect of the capital, Antananarivo, the removal of ‘general Bomba’ (Richard Ravalomanana, the powerful head of the Senate), justice for the victims, and increasingly for Rajoelina and his sidekick businessman Ravatomanga to be removed from power.

For the first time, the working class is entering the struggle in an organised way. As well as a threat to strike by an alliance of three health sector unions, on 30 September the workers’ union at JIMARA (the electricity and water company) issued a statement in full support of the movement, repudiating repression, rejecting privatisation and calling for strike action. At the end of the day, an official statement from the youth movement called for a civil servants’ strike starting on 1 October.

That same statement, for the first time, called for Maminiaina Ravatomanga to be detained, all of his properties seized and for him to be put on trial. This is very significant, as Ravatomanga is one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen, at the head of a corporation which spreads its tentacles over almost all sectors of the economy and is not only very close to president Rajoelina, but has been involved all sorts of corruption scandals in Madagascar and abroad. He is a symbol of everything the movement is against: corruption, the close ties between businesses and politicians, the obscene flaunting of wealth while the people suffer, etc.

Raising the question of the seizure of his properties is crucial and can lead to the movement drawing the conclusion that it should not limit itself to the demand for ‘clean politics’, but also that the question of property should be raised.

The statement also widens the scope of the movement, as it is no longer just demanding the dismissal of the president, but also the disbanding of the Senate, the High Constitutional Court and the National Electoral Council (CENI). In other words, the mass movement is positioning itself against all established powers.

The dynamic of the situation is one where power is passing from the institutions (increasingly suspended in mid-air) into the streets. There are rumours (false, so far) of the president fleeing the country.

Today, 1 October, demonstrations continue all over the country, with the police unable to do anything about it. One demand dominates: “Miala Rajoelina!” (Rajoelina out).

It is at this time when all sorts of opportunistic politicians, who have played no role whatsoever in the uprising, are coming out of the woodwork to attempt to position themselves as replacements for the collapsing government of Rajoelina. This includes former right-wing president Marc Ravalomanana, as well as the youthful mayor of Imerintsiatosika. The movement is rightly suspicious of these latecomers.

This is a most dangerous time for the Malagasy uprising. The regime is veering between concessions and repression. If the movement continues to push forward, Rajoelina will fall like a house of cards, as he has lost all popular support.

The regime will try to make sure that there is change from above, so that nothing really changes. As we have seen in Nepal, and earlier in Bangladesh, the army may play a role in such a controlled ‘transition’, with a ‘clean’ figure being brought in to front a new government, in which perhaps some of the student leaders may be included.

The masses should only trust their own strength. So far, the movement has had a largely spontaneous character and has been organised and coordinated through Discord and social media. This has served the movement well up until now, but as it is moving towards a national uprising, more organised structures are required. In reality, the movement has posed the question of who rules the country. It should give a clear answer.

Democratic committees of action should be set up everywhere, amongst the students, in the working-class and poor neighbourhoods, among workers and poor farmers in towns and villages. Such committees should be coordinated at a local, regional and national level through delegates elected, accountable and recallable at any time, by those who elected them. A mass national assembly of representatives elected in this way should be convened as soon as possible, to take all power in its hands.

The committees should also organise self-defence and guarantee public order. An appeal should be made to the ranks of the Gendarmerie and the Armed Forces, to join the movement and to refuse to obey orders of repression. Soldiers are drawn from the working and poor people and suffer similar conditions. They should be incorporated into the national mass movement through their own committees, and they should be called on to arrest any officers attempting to organise a coup.

The alternative to Rajoelina and his corrupt clique is not a ‘clean government’ within the limits of capitalism and bourgeois democracy. That would sooner or later end up back at square one. Let us not forget that Rajoelina himself came to power as a ‘clean’, youthful politician, promising a different way of doing things. The alternative is a government of the workers and peasants, based on these democratic mass committees.

In order to solve the pressing needs of the masses – of which load shedding and water cut-offs are only the most acute manifestation – all of the country’s wealth must be put in the hands of the organised working population. This means the repudiation of foreign debt, the expropriation of all imperialist property, the renationalisation of all privatised companies to be run under workers’ control, and the nationalisation of the key levers of the economy (textile factories, mines and vanilla export corporations, the tourist industry, etc.).