This will probably be my most boring post for most of my readers but I am an International Political Economy major, so it is interesting to me. Plus, nothing too eventful has happened this week since I returned from Vatomandry (editors note: “nothing too eventful” means I do not have any full stories to tell. In the scheme of an American day, there have been plenty of eventful days, but if I kept that frame of reference, I would ALWAYS be writing on here…). That being said, I wanted to give you guys a brief history of the politics here and the current situation as well. Not sure how much you already know, but I will assume it is nothing, sorry.
I would like to start off by saying that in Madagascar’s history – as a monarchy before colonization, as a French colony, and as an independent state – they have never experienced a transition of power via democratic election. Not once have the people in power giving said authority to the winner of a democratic election. I would also like to add as a general fact that since Madagascar gained its independence in 1960, every president has changed the constitution to benefit themselves and their party, therefore stripping it of its value as a political force. The leader of Madagascar, from royal monarch through current president, has traditionally enjoyed too much power with very weak systems of checks and balance in place. There is also a strong pattern of political parties losing all influence once their president is out of office and thus, no oppositional party is ever able to do anything.
This is just meant to be a brief history so I am going to skip most of the past, until 2002 when the last president, Mark Ravolamanana, took over. He was a very business oriented president and actually did quite a bit for development. He helped stimulate the agriculture here and decreased poverty by about 20-25% in his first 5 years in office. However, he had a lot of close personal ties to big business in Madagascar and began blurring the lines of politics and economics. He helped create monopolies and used his position as president for personal gain. A final straw was placed when he began negotiations with a Korean (I believe) company about selling land to them. It is currently illegal for any non-Malagasy people to own land here and that, among other things, started the protests.
He was eventually forced to handover power to the military and flee to South Africa. There are plenty of articles on the events that went on during the 2009 political crisis, for anyone interested, I’m sure a simple google search will yield more than you can read. The military then aligned with Andry Rajoelina and his newly formed TGV party. Rajoelina was appointed the president in 2009 and is still in power now, as the alleged “popular” choice. He was, and is, too young to be President according to the constitution so one of his first acts was lowering the minimum age to 35. From what I have gathered, from talking to my host family and an admittedly small section of Malgasy people, is that he is not too popular here. For one, crime and poverty have gone up in the last few years along with the price of most everything because of their need to import so much these days.
In his defense, about 80% of the economy is “informal” meaning that it is unregulated by the government and therefore untaxed. The informal economy includes subsidence farming and street vending, just to give a couple examples. Before Rajoelina took over, about 75% of the government budget came from foreign aid from the US, Europe and other countries. However, since the ’09 crisis, the givers fail to recognize this “popular” government and have cut off all non-humanitarian aid to Madagascar. I do not know enough to make judgments on his term but I cannot imagine any government would be effective if it lost ¾ of its budget instantly.
There are elections scheduled to take place early next year but it is almost certain that some controversy or opposition to the results will arise. In addition, the Malagasy people seem less and less interested in politics. Especially after their last political demonstrations in ’09 were met with bullets from the army – many were in disbelief that the government would shed Malagasy blood and the blame feel on Ravalomanana forcing him to flee.
So there is a very brief and very gap-filled history of Madagascar’s current political situation.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Beach Life
9/18 The kids on this trip and I have been referring to the USA as “real life” and the trip to Vatomandry confirmed that this was not real life. We stayed in bungalows literally ON the beach. It was unreal that our classroom had been replaced by a huge wall-less pavilion with banana leaf roof that gave us a view of the Indian Ocean and kept us cool when it got hot during the day. In the morning, we would have class for a couple hours to keep up on our French and Malagasy studies (with a break to lay in the sun for a bit) and we would then just explore the town of Vatomandry each afternoon. It was so nice to leave the pollution of Tana and finally get some fresh air!
SIT organized a visit to a government building there where we got to learn a little bit about local politics but the coolest part was that the people were so nice there. Always friendly and smiling and willing to “talk” (talk is in quotes because the language barrier usually mad it tough for both sides to truly understand). We got to go swimming in the Indian Ocean every day although the waves were always huge and the water was very strong; it was still fun to jump around for a bit until we became exhausted.
It wasn’t cyclone season but they are very common in the Vatomandry area later in the year and you could definitely see the effects on the community. Most of the buildings were made of just wood and sometimes cinderblocks with banana leaf ceilings, these structures are weaker but easier to repair than the cement counterparts that were sometimes used. My friends and I found a public school that was made of about 10 buildings until a cyclone 3 years ago destroyed 7-8 of them. Now they still use the 2-3 that are okay but the remains of 8 destroyed buildings still stand next to the school, mostly being used for extremely vulgar and graphic graffiti.
Yesterday, we drove back to Tana, but first, a couple of my friends and I woke up early to watch the sunrise since we were on the East Coast and got to watch it over the water. The drive usually takes about 8-ish hours but we stopped for lunch on the way as well. Plus, it was along a curvy road, similar to Highway 1 north of San Francisco for those who have that point of reference, and 3 of the students ended up getting sick on that drive back. Overall though, it was a really nice week, one that I am still kind of in disbelief that I experienced. Did I really spend the last week walking through rainforests, seeing wild lemurs, and living on the beach??
When I chose to study Madagascar, I did not put much though into the fact that it is a tropical island but I am learning that is more like that than it is like Africa. Not saying that is bad or good, just something I hadn’t really though about.
I am writing this on 9/18 as it says on the top and plan on posting it on 9/19, so I will say, GO NINERS!!!
SIT organized a visit to a government building there where we got to learn a little bit about local politics but the coolest part was that the people were so nice there. Always friendly and smiling and willing to “talk” (talk is in quotes because the language barrier usually mad it tough for both sides to truly understand). We got to go swimming in the Indian Ocean every day although the waves were always huge and the water was very strong; it was still fun to jump around for a bit until we became exhausted.
It wasn’t cyclone season but they are very common in the Vatomandry area later in the year and you could definitely see the effects on the community. Most of the buildings were made of just wood and sometimes cinderblocks with banana leaf ceilings, these structures are weaker but easier to repair than the cement counterparts that were sometimes used. My friends and I found a public school that was made of about 10 buildings until a cyclone 3 years ago destroyed 7-8 of them. Now they still use the 2-3 that are okay but the remains of 8 destroyed buildings still stand next to the school, mostly being used for extremely vulgar and graphic graffiti.
Yesterday, we drove back to Tana, but first, a couple of my friends and I woke up early to watch the sunrise since we were on the East Coast and got to watch it over the water. The drive usually takes about 8-ish hours but we stopped for lunch on the way as well. Plus, it was along a curvy road, similar to Highway 1 north of San Francisco for those who have that point of reference, and 3 of the students ended up getting sick on that drive back. Overall though, it was a really nice week, one that I am still kind of in disbelief that I experienced. Did I really spend the last week walking through rainforests, seeing wild lemurs, and living on the beach??
When I chose to study Madagascar, I did not put much though into the fact that it is a tropical island but I am learning that is more like that than it is like Africa. Not saying that is bad or good, just something I hadn’t really though about.
I am writing this on 9/18 as it says on the top and plan on posting it on 9/19, so I will say, GO NINERS!!!
Last Week's Excursion Part 1 - Rainforests & Lemurs
9/18 Back in Tana after an amazing week driving to the East coast of the island! Last Tuesday we made half to the journey and stopped in Andasibe for the night. In the morning we stopped at a memorial and got to visit a police museum. The museum was in memory of a massacre that the French committed on March 29th, 1947. They rounded up a lot of people, I do not remember the amount, who were believed to be rebels against the French and placed them on a train. When the train got to Andasibe/Moromanga, it was gunned down and the people were killed; their remains were not returned to any families and so they were unable to be buried in family tombs, which is terrible in traditional Malagasy culture. So a big tomb and memorial was constructed there.
Afterwards we went to a museum at the Police Academy and got to learn a little more about the history of Madagascar as well as see some of the training tools and confiscated materials. That night we stayed in Andasibe, which is a tiny town that shuts down by about 8:00 PM. Our hotel was made of three buildings that were not connected in any way nor did they look similar. The restaurant/offices were down the block and the two building that housed people were across a lot from one another. In general the Malagasy people go to sleep and wake up quite early but here particularly, the town passed out quickly. We went on a night hike in hopes of seeing some nocturnal animals but only saw a couple tiny lizards and it started raining pretty hard.
On Wednesday, we got to go to a national park and see wild lemurs for the first time! We walked through the rainforest that housed 11 kinds of lemurs, lots of reptiles, bugs, plants and so on for a few hours in the morning with a guide who was able to take us off trail a bit. We saw some cool bugs, chameleons, snakes and 3 types of lemurs (2 of which I got pictures of) and all types of plants. Pretty crazy that so many animals that live on Madagascar are ONLY found here. The most common lemur there is the Indry Indry, which is black and white, pretty big and very loud. I recorded a video as I was walking just so you guys could hear what those things sound like! Got some pictures I will post too.
After lunch we got back in the bus to finish our trek to the coast.
Afterwards we went to a museum at the Police Academy and got to learn a little more about the history of Madagascar as well as see some of the training tools and confiscated materials. That night we stayed in Andasibe, which is a tiny town that shuts down by about 8:00 PM. Our hotel was made of three buildings that were not connected in any way nor did they look similar. The restaurant/offices were down the block and the two building that housed people were across a lot from one another. In general the Malagasy people go to sleep and wake up quite early but here particularly, the town passed out quickly. We went on a night hike in hopes of seeing some nocturnal animals but only saw a couple tiny lizards and it started raining pretty hard.
On Wednesday, we got to go to a national park and see wild lemurs for the first time! We walked through the rainforest that housed 11 kinds of lemurs, lots of reptiles, bugs, plants and so on for a few hours in the morning with a guide who was able to take us off trail a bit. We saw some cool bugs, chameleons, snakes and 3 types of lemurs (2 of which I got pictures of) and all types of plants. Pretty crazy that so many animals that live on Madagascar are ONLY found here. The most common lemur there is the Indry Indry, which is black and white, pretty big and very loud. I recorded a video as I was walking just so you guys could hear what those things sound like! Got some pictures I will post too.
After lunch we got back in the bus to finish our trek to the coast.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Don't know how to only update the new pics
BenjaCohn's photostream on Flickr.
so here are all my pics with some new ones. if there is a link to my flickr, there arew descriptions up there. leave a comment for any clarification you ant and ill try and respond
Church + All That Jazz
9/11: Putting up a few posts because my group is about to go on our first extended excursion outside the capitol city of Tana! I am not anticipating having any type of computer access so I wanted to post a few pics and give y’all some more news before we leave. On Tuesday we are leaving for Andisibe and Vatomandry and will be returning the following Saturday but you will hear about that stuff when I get back.
Yesterday, I just hung around our house and did some homework, read, etc. But at night, I went to Church with my family which was very interesting. It was mostly in French, so I could kind of follow although my French Catholic vocab is not quite up to par. There were actually quite a few French people there including the ones leading the ceremony. I didn’t participate at all but it was yet another insight into Malagasy culture. About half of the people here are some form of Christian and a little under half still practice traditional “religion” relating to ancestors and spirits – like the Famidiahana that I attended last week. From there about 1-2% are Islam and a fraction of a percent fall under the “Other” category.
Today my family left for vacation to Majungha (where we will go at the end of the semester) leaving the house to the uncle, cousin, myself and our helper boys. I spent the afternoon in Anelakely because there was a free jazz concert there! One of the cultural centers set up a stage at the foot of a huge stone staircase and hundreds of people came and sat on the stairs and got a free afternoon of entertainment. It rained a bit and wasn’t the usual Tana perfect weather but wasn’t bad enough to ruin an enjoyable event. Afterwards, my friends and I went to a café for a bit and I caught the taxi-be back to my house.
As I write this, the 49er game is on in about 4 hours… We better beat the ‘Hawks! Hopefully someone can give me some insight into how the game goes because Alex Smith is generally really good at making us lose by 10 instead of 21, thus making the score a lot closer than the game was…
Yesterday, I just hung around our house and did some homework, read, etc. But at night, I went to Church with my family which was very interesting. It was mostly in French, so I could kind of follow although my French Catholic vocab is not quite up to par. There were actually quite a few French people there including the ones leading the ceremony. I didn’t participate at all but it was yet another insight into Malagasy culture. About half of the people here are some form of Christian and a little under half still practice traditional “religion” relating to ancestors and spirits – like the Famidiahana that I attended last week. From there about 1-2% are Islam and a fraction of a percent fall under the “Other” category.
Today my family left for vacation to Majungha (where we will go at the end of the semester) leaving the house to the uncle, cousin, myself and our helper boys. I spent the afternoon in Anelakely because there was a free jazz concert there! One of the cultural centers set up a stage at the foot of a huge stone staircase and hundreds of people came and sat on the stairs and got a free afternoon of entertainment. It rained a bit and wasn’t the usual Tana perfect weather but wasn’t bad enough to ruin an enjoyable event. Afterwards, my friends and I went to a café for a bit and I caught the taxi-be back to my house.
As I write this, the 49er game is on in about 4 hours… We better beat the ‘Hawks! Hopefully someone can give me some insight into how the game goes because Alex Smith is generally really good at making us lose by 10 instead of 21, thus making the score a lot closer than the game was…
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