Madagascar: Gen-Z Protesters Say Coup Hijacked Movement

Colonel Michael Randrianirina led a successful coup in Madagascar following weeks of countrywide anti-government protests. (Wikimedia Commons)

Madagascar’s National Assembly swore in Colonel Michael Randrianirina as head of state on October 17 after he led a successful coup against the government of President Andry Rajoelina amid nationwide protests demanding his resignation, reports the BBC. Now the youth groups that began the anti-Rajoelina movement are joining the African Union and the UN in voicing their concerns about Randrianirina’s leadership.

The coup came after weeks of popular discontent embodied by a countrywide youth protest movement calling for Rajoelina’s resignation. Frustration sparked around unemployment rates, as well as water and electricity shortages, under the management of the state-owned utility company, writes the BBC. But the movement did not coalesce until the September 19 arrest of politicians planning a peaceful protest of the shortages in the capital. The arrests fueled the creation of an online movement identifying itself on social media as Gen Z Mada.

Demands for Rajoelina’s resignation intensified when confrontations with government security forces turned violent, with the UN reporting at least 22 deaths and 100 injuries. Al Jazeera reports that the Corps d’Administration des Personnels et Services Administratifs et Techniques (CAPSAT), Madagascar’s elite army unit under Randrianirina’s leadership, announced on October 11 that it would “refuse orders to shoot” protesters and would instead join their ranks.

Rajoelina fled the country to an unknown location on October 13, per Al Jazeera. French President Emmanuel Macron has declined to comment on whether France was involved in Rajoelina’s evacuation. Though Rajoelina continues to claim his title as president, the National Assembly ignored his order for its dissolution, impeaching him and swearing in Randrianirina.

Upon taking power, Randrianirina dissolved all government structures except the National Assembly, according to AfricaNews. Although the High Constitutional Court suggested he hold elections within 60 days, Randrianirina promised them in two years, reports the Institute for Security Studies. He elevated businessman Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo as his prime minister on October 20, writes the BBC, another controversial decision that has already received international backlash.

The African Union suspended Madagascar after an emergency session on October 15 following the coup, committing to the country’s exclusion “until constitutional order is restored” and threatening targeted sanctions against the government unless CAPSAT and the rest of the armed forces “refrain from further interference in the political processes in Madagascar.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s spokesperson told the AP that the UN “condemns the unconstitutional change of government in Madagascar and calls for the return to constitutional order and the rule of law.”

Gen Z Mada is also expressing reservations about the new leadership, per the BBC, calling Rajaonarivelo’s appointment in particular “contrary to the desired structural change” the movement fought to bring. The group further stated: “Our revolution will not be hijacked. The Malagasy youth are watching and mobilizing.”

Gen Z Mada is the latest example of a growing wave of Gen Z anti-government protest movements that arguably began in Nepal and spread to Indonesia, and now to Madagascar. Gen Z and the internet movements associated with it have already transformed politics in these nations, reflecting the potential of social media use for enacting regime change and reform.