Chris Planicka: You Say You Want a Revolution, Well, You Know...

We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out

Out of Madagascar, even. It's been a few weeks now since we were "evacuated" from Madagascar due to political unrest ("coup d'etat"). Evacuate is a strange verb to use, at least in the sense of bringing out people from a country. To say we were evacuated by the Peace Corps makes it sound like they gave us all enemas. Syntax aside, all Peace Corps volunteers were pulled out of Madagascar, along with the entire American mission (US Embassy, USAID staff, etc.). I was hanging out in South Africa, first in a Johannesburg hotel for a week and then on a brief safari, and am now in DC visiting friends. I am not sure of my next steps, aside from visiting my family in PA and Hilton Head, and attending my sister's graduation. But before moving on, I felt the need to recap the situation in Madagascar and try to bring people up-to-speed. So here goes:

The Main Players:
Marc Ravalomanana - Democratically elected President of Madagascar, in the midst of his second 5 year term. Mr. Ravalomanana came to power after a disputed election with former President Ratsiraka in 2002, also the last time Peace Corps was forced to suspend its operations in Madagascar and evacuate all personnel.
Andry Rajoelina - Mayor of Antananarivo ("Tana"), the capital of Madagascar, and now "President" after a military coup.
Old Player, but still a "presence":
Didier Ratsiraka - former President of Madagascar, first as pseudo-dictator under a socialist regime in the 70s and 80s, and then again in the late nineties. Currently exiled to France after 2002 crisis, which saw two governments in two capitals and major dissension in Madagascar.

Background:
Ravalomanana led a series of initiatives since originally taking office in 2002, increasing tourism to the island, raising agricultural productivity and opening the country to foreign investors. He created new programs of environmental protection and opened up new areas for natural resource utilization. Those last two may seem to be in conflict, and indeed they are. So it was not a perfect program he was running, but Mr. Ravalomanana was expanding the middle class in the capital and increasing the national economy. He was also the person profiting the most from this. The main loser was probably French companies that more or less controlled the Malagasy economy. Mr. Ravalomanana tried to strengthen ties with other countries, such as China, Canada and the US (he also made English one of 3 national languages, along with French and Malagasy).

Boiling Point:
A number of Mr. Ravalomanana's initiatives fueled anger amongst the populace, many of whom remained poor despite the country's slow economic advance. The major items that angered people were: buying a new presidential plane; trying to sell half of the arable land in Madagascar to South Korea; removing politicians who were not of his party; and, shutting down opposition radio and television stations. Mr. Rajoelina harnessed this anger to support his push for power. His television station was shut down by the government after airing an interview with former President Ratsiraka. My fellow Peace Corps Volunteer and friend Corey wrote an excellent recap of what led up to the crisis, at a time when we were still unsure of our future. Check it out:
One President, Two Presidents, We're Still Residents

The Crisis:
After his station was shut down, Mr. Rajoelina led a protest in Tana. He denounced Mr. Ravalomanana's government and policies, and demanded he step down. Riots ensued over the next week, including burning the President's radio station and looting major stores. Peace Corps decided to "consolidate" all volunteers in a safe place, and we were stuck watching the crisis unfold away from our villages and communities. The crisis progressed slowly, as protests would happen but then nothing would follow. Just as things were calming down, the President's troops opened fire on protestors and killed citizens. This led to more protests, and eventually peace talks led by the UN. All of this took place over at least 3 weeks, starting at the end of January. By the time March began, volunteers were returned to their sites. I was in Didy, my community, for about a week and a half before going back to the capital to prepare for the new volunteers, set to arrive in March. After preparing lesson plans for their training for a few days, we were informed they would not be arriving at all, mere days before they were set to hit Madagascar. In fact, the poor Volunteers-to-be had already arrived in Philadelphia for pre-departure meetings. Most of these people, I believe, have found new postings, but it must have been a very frustrating experience.
The reason they did not arrive is because peace talks broke down, and the military's allegiance was no longer firmly for Mr. Ravalomanana. As the week went on, at least some of the military changed sides to Mr. Rajoelina, and others simply refused to react to violence and protests. Eventually, tanks rolled through Tana and the military stormed the Presidential palace. Mr. Ravalomanana was not present there, but he handed over power to the military and eventually Mr. Rajoelina took over. Currently, Madagascar's new "President" is not recognized by the international community and sanctions are being imposed by the SADC. All international aid has been pulled from the country. Needless to say, this will greatly effect the local people I and other volunteers lived with, as well as the country as a whole. The entire experience, which had ups and downs but was wonderful over all, has been cut short and left with an awful aftermath. It may be a long time before the country sees a functioning government again, although I hope it somehow works out quickly.

So, that is my overview, which may not seem brief but believe me it is. I like to joke that this was the worst-executed coup ever, but of course there is nothing funny about this situation. I suppose a silver lining is that now I can post more pictures and tell a few of the stories I could only briefly touch upon before. Hopefully over the next few days I can post a bit more. For now, here are some news articles courtesy of BBC (links in the article to older coverage):
BBC
and a video of the trashed presidential palace:
Couldn't Take the Copier
There are other videos, including footage of the massacre of protestors, but I have no desire to see that terrible event so I won't post it here. Let's close on a good note, with some pictures of happier times...

Some of My Kids: