'New face, same dictatorship' says Madagascar's Gen Z activist following protestor arrests

Just months after a youth-led protest forced Madagascar’s president to resign and flee the country, activists say the new regime is even worse than the one they toppled. 

Michael Randrianirina, the colonel whose army unit backed protesters, was installed on March 25. He gained support by promising to rebuild public trust and fight corruption. He even appointed an anti-corruption chief and subjected cabinet ministers to mandatory polygraph tests. 

But the arrest of activists has sparked concerns. Activist Arimamy Todisoa says a crackdown on freedom of speech goes against the spirit of October’s revolution.

“It’s just a new face but the same mafia, the same oligarchs,” he told As It Happens guest host Nora Young. 

Todisoa is a founding member of Gen Z 261, one of the Madagascar youth movements. He says six members of the group were arrested. They’ve been accused of charges related to undermining state security and criminal conspiracy. 

Todisoa says that radical and systemic change is necessary for the country to move forward. Here’s part of his conversation with Young.

When you heard these arrests were happening now, after the celebrations last October, how did you react?

I was aggrieved and disappointed because that was the practice that has been done by the previous administration. There was supposed to be a revolution, but we’ve got the dictatorship back. It’s just a new face.

The arrests came after a protester movement on April 10. How many people from your group have been arrested since then?

There’s been six people arrested. Five are still being held, two in hospital, three at the criminal brigade of the National Police, and one has been released.

What have those who’ve been arrested been accused of?

There’s accused of being threats to state security and criminal conspiracy. If a piece of evidence [is] in there, they are fabricated as a way to silence us, [so we do] not to criticize the practices of this new regime.

What is your movement asking for?

The dissolution of the institutions: the National Assembly, High Constitutional Court, and Independent Electoral Commission, everything that has caused a perpetual cyclic crisis in this country.

So what would you like to see happen?

We want a wholly systemic change — radical systemic change to the system — because it no longer serves the people. It serves the politicians and their families, and those who are corrupt are getting richer and richer and the majority of the population is getting poorer and poorer.

We don’t want to leave this country to get a greater future.

Why is it that younger people in particular are being drawn to these protests?

Because … we’ve been told that getting out of this country is the only option, as if we’re not native to this country, as if this country is not ours. So, we decided it has to stop at some point because we are Malagasy and Madagascar is our heritage.

Why do we have to leave our home country to get a brighter future? Why do our parents have to tell us to study hard, work hard so that you can leave your country?

That’s not normal. That’s why us young people have decided to take matters into our hands and drive out those corrupt politicians and all their colleagues.

A spokesperson for Madagascar’s president responded to the arrest saying: “In Madagascar, there’s what we call the separation of powers, so the presidency has nothing to do with cases dealt with by the National Police.” Is that your understanding, too, that the current presidency has nothing to do with these arrests?

Those people are so good at lying, because it’s an order from the president himself that got those people arrested. It’s a direct order.

So this is a crackdown against protests?

Exactly, against the leaders, not just any protesters, the leaders.

What makes you so sure?

What makes me so sure is actually that the spokesperson of the president has already spoken to me about it. He literally threatened us, like, “If you want to continue that way, then we’ll meet you there in the streets.” That’s a threat against freedom of speech.

During the protests in October, the same people we put in power that are not respecting freedom of speech, that’s a basic right.

How does the new regime compare to the one you and other activists sought to remove last year?

The previous regime was better. If the previous regime was bad, what these guys are doing is 10 times worse. We didn’t expect what they’re doing.

They’ve been in power for six months now, and they are already wearing expensive clothes. We’re all wondering how they even got rich so fast.

You’re currently hiding, as I understand it, and you face the threat of possible arrest yourself. How are you coping?

I’m coping by organizing the resistance. I’m not going to hide forever and those people [in power] are not going to remain for too long.

What do these arrests mean for your movement? Where do you go from here?

First of all, we want to let the world know what’s actually happening, real evidence of this regime’s corruption while letting the common folk know that this current regime is corrupt.

It has not followed the ideologies of the revolution, and it’s just a new face but the same mafia, the same oligarchs. The same people who held the economy down with the country are still there holding power and giving orders to those who are in power.

Do you think it’s likely there would be more protests?

There will be more protests but not in the streets for now. The public opinion is kind of anesthetized after the euphoria of the October stuff and we have to wake them up again.

People need to wake up, and when we’re strong enough to go back to the streets, we’ll go back to the streets. Until then, we’ll protest online but we should do everything to let people know about what is really happening.