MADAGASCAR CRISIS - Letter by Hanitra of Tarika

MADAGASCAR CRISIS - Letter by Hanitra of Tarika

Dear friend,

Maybe you all know by now that Madagascar is going through a political crisis at the moment. But if you have been following the news either on the papers or on the CNN, VOA, BBC, AFRICA 1, RFI or others, then I am not sure you really have been getting it all.

I, on the other hand have been following first hand witnesses on the net, on newsgroups, on the phone, on faxes, on emails, by meeting, talking, and especially getting my family to tell me what has been going on so far, apart from all the Malagasy around the world.

I was in Madagascar since the day the election of the 16th of December started. I followed everything from voting to counting it and the demonstrations on the streets of the capital everyday.
Meanwhile, I was struggling to continue to put the roof on the Arts Centre because it is the rainy season over there. I had to fight my
way out when things started to be blocked and nothing was normal any more. I finally got out and spent time both in England and France.

Right this minute, I am in Paris, awaiting Monday 18th to get on an Air France plane which hasn't been flying for a long time, ever since the situation has started in Madagascar. They have already changed my departure 6 times and I am still not sure that it is actually going on Monday! There is no more kerosene in Tana and Air Madagascar has stopped dead. When I was in London, I was a little bit more tolerant of the fact that there was virtually no news about Madagascar, but when I came here to France 2 weeks ago, I expected better.

I am utterly disgusted by the way the French media handles this situation in Madagascar. I am wondering if anyone here knows what is going on unless they know some Malagasy residents here in France at this point. 1 minute, 30seconds of burst of news is all I see on LCI, France 3, and some of the newspapers like Le Monde, Liberation, and le Courrier International. I'm told from England that there was just 30 seconds on the world news only on cable TV.

Today, I saw the name 'Mahazoarivo' on so many of the emails I got and I nearly fainted. Mahazoarivo is where the Prime Minister's office is situated. Since the 1960s when we first got our so-called independence from the French people, I honoured that place as a place of freedom. When I was a kid, I played there, I got prizes there, I know everybody around there. Our most famous marovany player Rakotozafy also played there during the time of our ever first president of Madagascar, Mr Tsiranana. Respecting old values, old traditions...

Today, as I write, Mahazoarivo is a place of war, blood spilling everywhere and 43 people injured with some numbers dead. Mahazoarivo, the office of the Prime Minister today, is about 400m looking across to the buiding construction of my Arts Centre, Antshow! My entire family lives there near rice paddies and some left-over of rainforest.

Today, I heard from my sister that if I come to Madagascar on Monday, I need to be prepared not only for no democracy but also for no bread, no rice, no gas, no petrol for cars, and to be prepared to not even get out of the house because apparently the rice paddies are mined now like in August 1991 and those who knows what that date means ... knows....

These are my wishes and questions, if any of you out there can do something about it, even in the smallest way.

Why is the international media not showing much interest in this? I know there are problems everywhere, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Algeria, Israel, Palestine, the world. And I with my group Tarika was in New York, USA witnessing the 11th of September's disaster too. But why does my country and the Malagasy people have been left isolated and not being heard ofNULL

Until recently, the demand for change in Madagascar was done peacefully, moramora, as we like it and I was quite proud of the
movement of these poor people who kept up hope and dignity and started to act in real 'Unity is power'. But now, bloodshed is just around the corner of my old streets, I cannot help but voice my worries. Unfortunately with more deaths, interest might now come!

If there is still anyone out there in this world interested in human rights, democracy, freedom, and peace, please write, report,
comments, talk, discuss about the Malagasy and Madagascar in an objective way. Please take into consideration as much as possible the Malagasy ways and values of the tradition and culture. Why does it have to have many more deaths before something is done in a big way.

The peaceful Madagascar road to democracy may become the one that the whole world should learn from.

Thank you for your support and your thoughts to help. Please send as it is, or translate into all the languages that you know in case someone out there may be able to help us to get out of this
bloodshed...

Very saddened..
Hanitra of Tarika
rasoanaivo@aol.com
http://www.frootsmag.com/tarika/

News agency reports in English
http://www.madagascarnews.com/
http://allafrica.com/madagascar/
http://talkingafrica.szs.net/news/madagascar-news.html

Local Madagascar newspapers/TV in French
http://www.dts.mg/midi/
http://www.madagascar-tribune.com/
http://www.matvonline.tv/

WOMEX NEWSservice / Source: Ian Anderson fROOTS mailto:ian@froots.com

article submitted by: WOMEX