2023-09-14 07:40:17
If there is one spectacle that challenges observers of Malagasy social and political life, it is that of the “resilience” of the population of Madagascar.
Let it be windy, let it rain, let viruses and bacteria fly, let the swarms of locusts melt on the fields, let the cyclones blow and… let the profiteers plunder… The Malagasy is still there, standing, going about his business. daily, disarming in its ability to overcome these stresses.
We know of places in the so-called developed world where modern cities are in flames over a police blunder… Or where bouquets of yellow vests are flourishing on roundabouts, thrown there by an unwelcome increase of a few dozen cents in the price of diesel… There… NOTHING… social indicators are deteriorating. The price of fuel has increased by 43%… Inflation is more than 10%…. the Kg of rice which was at 1600ar in 2016 is now almost 4000ar… And faced with what seems to us to be the most absurd waste where cable car projects follow the bright projects of CVO and pharmaceutical factories or other coliseums … Flat calm… We hear here and there hints of exasperation being expressed… timidly… when social anger does not vent itself in the most violent way through lynching phenomena.
Inequalities have never been so blatant in Madagascar. In the West, these inequalities would be experienced in an unbearable manner by the masses who violently reject the idea that social differences can be justified solely because of meritocracy or entrepreneurship: “I am rich and you are poor, “is normal because I work more and I take more risks” some try to justify… And, already, that obviously doesn’t work.
But what is the basis of inequalities in our Red Island? Meritocracy and work??? Certainly not, unfortunately… Today, in Madagascar, there is little more than acquired rights, collusion, corruption, nepotism which make one individual better off than another… With a few exceptions… and what seems to us to be the most shocking of situations provokes nothing other than a form of resigned indifference.
What would have already set a Western country on fire does not seem to arouse the anger of the masses.
Is the Malagasy mentally exhausted? Anesthetized… Does he only have one thought in his mind: “Let’s move on but PLEASE don’t bother me.” I took to the streets in 72…I got shot…I did it again in 91…I got shot…Then in 2002…I got shot…Then in 2009…. I was shot again…To achieve what result? Always more misery, more poverty, more precariousness, more famine…??? Basta… Enough.. Ampy izay”… We could understand it unless…
Each society needs to justify its inequalities to avoid its collapse. Malagasy society does not even raise the problem of this justification. These inequalities seem to be part of an order accepted by everyone. Cynically assumed by the well-off who are not concerned about the symbolic violence experienced by the less well-off. Accepted with resignation by those. In the name of what ? Is this fihavanana?
These inequalities have been all the more accentuated throughout Malagasy history, and in particular since independence, as politicians have been content to seek to strengthen their power by concentrating it and ensuring the support of restricted groups of elites and influential actors. And he NEVER sought answers to popular aspirations that could have ensured him the support of the great masses.
It is the deep defect of Malagasy politics which makes the politician, and the last in particular, claim to respond to the needs of the people with discarded t-shirts, concerts and 5000ar notes and absolutely does not consider not the resorption of the hiatus that exists between his world and the people.
It seems that this profusion of means is necessary in the Big Island for the victory of politicians. Either. But what the hell are they going to do with this power once acquired? Will they finally be concerned about good and true governance and the consolidation of democracy and the well-being of the people? Or will they concern themselves with the means of eternally preserving the prebends that their position grants them… and of crushing by all means ever more the mass and the oppositions so as to never have to be held accountable.
Who spoke of humanity? Who talked about respect? Who talked about reducing inequalities? The launch of the presidential campaign is in itself symbolic of the disrespect expressed towards the Malagasy people… It is in itself an expression of a DEEP INEQUALITY in the very evaluation of the word citizenship: you, man of the people, you do not I’m only half a citizen and I don’t need to give you the slightest respect… to the point of putting on an election charade that I don’t even care to dress up with any semblance of dignity… And the word Fitiavana is particularly inappropriate in this environment.
It’s the sad truth. The discourse of leaders who, in a context of pseudo democracy, claim to be the defenders of the interests of the population, in fact only covers the sole concern of these elites to maintain a deeply unequal system always on the verge of breakdown.
However, it is the fight for equality and education that has enabled economic development and human progress. The dynamics are in these struggles and not in the acceptance and installation of stability and the perpetuation of inequalities.
The key word is there… There can be no progress in resignation.
Who will stand up and make these words their own: enough is enough, we need at least the desire to get out of these inequalities.
Patrick Rakotomalala (Lalatiana PitchBoule) – 13/09/2023
#Ragidro #Chronicles #Stop #Inequalities