Madagascar – disclaimer: It Was Never a Coup

To the world watching, what you are seeing in Madagascar is not a coup d’état. It is the long-suppressed cry of people exhausted by decades of decay and demanding the most basic human dignities.

For 16 years, we have watched our nation be systematically impoverished by our President Andry Rajoelina along with some « elites ». We have seen our natural resources sold, our future mortgaged, and our people left with nothing. The rage you see today did not start on September 25th; it has been simmering for years, fueled by the daily struggle for clean water, security, electricity, and a chance to have a normal life and a proper education. Live not survive.

Protests began as a peaceful, collective plea for these fundamentals. Citizens, not soldiers, filled the streets bare handed or with our cardboard signs/ banners. We were not armed with weapons, but with frustration and a desperate hope for change.

In return for our peaceful assembly, we were met with tear gas and bullets. It is the gendarmes, along with certain police and militia units, who have been shooting at civilians since the very beginning. They were protecting a regime, not the people.

The narrative of a « coup » is a dangerous and false one, designed to discredit a legitimate popular uprising. It is the people reclaiming their voice.

For days, we called out for protection. The turning point came when the national military heard our cries and refused to turn their weapons against their own brothers and sisters, and children. Today, the military stood by our side.

This is not a military takeover. It is the institution tasked with national sovereignty, recognizing that the true threat to Madagascar comes from within the presidential palace, not from the citizens in the streets.

Our Demand: Justice, Not Vengeance

Let us be unequivocally clear: we don’t want to kill anybody. Enough blood and lives had been lost since.

We want Andry Nirina Rajoelina and all his partners who have profited from our nation’s impoverishment, to be brought to justice. We demand a full accounting for the injuries and deaths inflicted on our people. Furthermore, we demand that he ask for forgiveness from the families of the victims and all the Malagasy people. This is about accountability for 16 years of systematic failure and plunder.

The Path Forward: A Total Overhaul

We believe that in the coming days, as Andry Nirina Rajoelina is forced to resign, this will not simply be a change of personnel. It must be the beginning of a total overhaul of the system that allowed this corruption to flourish.

We are fighting for a Madagascar that works for all Malagasy people, not just a privileged few. We are fighting for the return to normal life that has been denied for a generation.

The world must understand: this is not a coup. This is Madagascar fighting for its soul, its REAL FREEDOM.

The Gen-Z movement opened the wound to expulse the puss which is the current regime. Leeching on the lives of its own people to enrich themselves. It if hadn’t been an act of bravery of the young generation, we would not be at this stage right now.

#Madagascar #NotACoup #freemadagascar #Justice