Summarizing Madagascar's Major Protest Events

A paper from last year collects data from over 800 worldwide protest events between 2006 and 2013. The sheer size of the data is stunning, and the paper gathers interesting conclusions about who the protest targets are, what the protests are about, and an overall increase in civil disruption demanding real democratic processes. Here's a link to the paper: World Protests: 2006-2013 (Sept 2013) - Ortiz, Burke, Berrada, and Cortés

The whole paper is worth a read - it's long, but good for skimming as you can jump around between sections. You can also see the individual protest events by date and country. Given my interest in Madagascar, I thought it would be interesting to pull out the summaries of the Malagasy protest events.

01/09-03/09 Madagascar 
Main Grievance/Demand: Demonstrations by political movements ("Young Malagasies Determined") demanding freedom of expression, the resignation of ministers and the departure of President Marc Ravalomanana
Methods of Protest: Marches, protest assemblies, civil disobedience / direct action, destruction of property, violence
Main Opponent: Government,political party / group
Reported Repression: 135 killed, police violence, new laws

03/09-05/09 Madagascar 
Main Grievance/Demand: Demonstrations of political movements asking for the return to a civilian rule and elections after Andry Rajoelina's coups d'état
Methods of Protest: Marches, protest assemblies, civil disobedience / direct action, destruction of property, violence
Main Opponent: Corrupt political / economic system, military / police
Reported Repression: 1 killed, 34 injured, police violence

05/12 Madagascar 
Main Grievance/Demand: Return to civilian rule and speeding up the transition process
Methods of Protest: Marches, protest assemblies, civil disobedience / direct action
Main Opponent: Government
Reported Repression: Arrests, police violence

01/13 Madagascar 
Main Grievance/Demand: Violent protests in Anosy due to land grabbing by the mining company "Rio Tinto"
Methods of Protest: Marches, protest assemblies, civil disobedience / direct action, destruction of property, violence
Main Opponent: Corporations / employers, government
Reported Repression: Police violence

Protests are growing in Madagascar and around the world, so as the newly elected Malagasy President takes office, let's hope he and every global leader pay attention to the conclusion from the paper:

"Leaders, policymakers and advisors will only invite further unrest if they fail to prioritize and act on the one demand raised in more of the world’s protests between 2006 and 2013 than any other — the demand for real democracy."