Independence Day Part III: Independence and Independence Day

If you’re just hopping into this, let me catch you up to speed.

Influence over Madagascar was fought over between Britain and France for a long time. But neither really took the competition seriously until Britain annexed Rhodesia in the late 19th century which prompted France to throw a tantrum until they were allowed to annex Madagascar. No one wanted Madagascar because it had no natural resources, luxury resources, or geographical value due to the new Suez Canal and its terrible coastline. France then invaded the island in 1895 because it felt obligated to actually take over the country it claimed to annex. After a short war that should have been a blowout for the Malagasy, France officially colonized the island and began beating the Malagasy out of the Malagasy to make them all French. It didn’t work.

Fast forward to WWII, Madagascar was under the control of the Vichy French, the part of the French government loyal to Hitler and the Nazis. Interesting fact, before the Nazis settled on eliminating all the Jews in death camps, the original plan was to ship them all to Madagascar. The idea was shot down in a meeting at some point. During WWII there was a naval battle off the coast where the Japanese lost. The British then used black South African troops to conquer the island. The island was returned to France who continued its francophone policies of making all the Malagasy French. It was like nothing had ever happened.

Then the year 1947 came around, only a few years after the end of WWII. At this point in the island’s history, there were a lot of strong nationalist movements calling for independence. Eventually, tensions boiled over and there were uprisings across several of the regions in Madagascar, most notably in the South-West (which has a history of rebelling) and the East (which does not). Conflict brewed for 2 years. The Malagasy “army” and “soldiers” which were nothing more than peasants and rebels hiding in the jungle and in the plains, numbered in the tens of thousands and were armed with bamboo spears or whatever they could find.

When France learned about what was happening, they got pissed and increased its military presence. The French army brutally suppressed the revolt such that attacks essentially stopped by 1948, only a year after they began, and dribbled until 1949. The French army allegedly burned and massacred villages who were suspected of supporting and hiding rebels, a type of collective punishment for the actions of rebels. Many Malagasy were rounded up executed publicly for nationalist sentiments. People disappeared and were never seen again. The French even began something called death flights, a form of execution where prisoners were put in planes and then thrown out over villages as a way intimidating possible dissenters. Unfortunately, not many people know what actually happened during the “war” because there are few records. The estimation of Malagasy casualties ranges from 11,000 to a staggering 100,000. Talk about a wide margin of error.

After these two years of brutal rule, things began to settle down and Malagasy politicians and nationalists began looking for ways of obtaining independence through legislative action. It took 11 years, and none of it really had to do with their efforts.

In 1960, colonial sentiments had reached a low point in France such that many French no longer believed in having overseas colonies. They realized that colonizing other places was hypocritical to their beliefs in egality, liberty, and fraternity, that these things had to be freely accepted and not forced on others. Well, that’s at least how the narrative went. So on March 26th, 1960, France offered all its colonies a choice, they could remain with France or vote to have independence. The only major colony that remained was French Guyana in South America. Madagascar declared its independence on June 26th, 1960, 11 years after the uprising. Since then, Madagascar has had 3-ish “republics”, two of which were communist and had no real political parties, which lasted until the recent coup and establishment of another republic in 2009 with official democratic elections being held for the first time in 2013 and again in 2019, although there is dispute about those results. During post-independence, there was a strong Malagasy movement to reestablish everything in Malagasy. It worked, but also meant that French, which remains the language of the upper class, has now become a limiting factor for many lower-class Malagasy who can’t always get jobs or study because they don’t speak French and because there is a lack of higher education resources in Malagasy. But let me tell you about how the Malagasy celebrate their indepdnence.

June 26th is Madagascar’s Independence Day. The weeks leading up to it were exciting. Slowly Malagasy flags started appearing on buildings. People were walking around selling flags and Malagasy colored lanterns. Banners popped up overnight. You could feel the energy building in the city and all over the country. The night of June 25th is their big fireworks show. The Chinese government actually pays for the fireworks. Someone told me its a leftover agreement during Madagascar's communist phase. They’re shot off right over L’Ange Noir (the black angel, which is now painted gold for some political reason that no one seems to know exactly what) which sits in the middle of Lake Ansoy, located right at the bottom of our hill. That night we had a little party here to watch the fireworks and celebrate the independence of our temporary home. We saw thousands of people walking around the lake with little banners and lanterns, a very traditional way to celebration the holiday.

The next morning, the stadium began filling with people around 5am. There was a military parade in the morning and shows played the entire day in the stadium. There were dances, military demonstrations, a soccer game at one point, anything you could imagine. I didn’t go in the stadium, but I took the opportunity to walk around it and take in some of the sights. It’s unusual to see a vazaha like me walking around so openly on Independence Day. But people were generally friendly, even wishing me a bonne fête, to which I replied in Malagasy, “ary ianao”, and you too!

I half watched some of the shows from our balcony that sort of overlooks the stadium. I did come out when I heard airplanes and helicopters. As you can imagine, the Malagasy air force is not very advanced. But when I came out and saw 5 little propeller planes fly over the stadium, you would have thought the Blue Angles had screamed over the crowds going Mach 5. The people in the stadium lost it with excitement. They had similar reactions to the two helicopters, which looked more like NYC news helicopters they use when there’s a car chase on the highway, that flew over not too long after.

The night of the 26th is a big night, too, with a much smaller fireworks show but many other things. We had dinner at a different restaurant that night, which was filled with vazaha like us. Actually, on my way there, the street was dead but filled with police. Suddenly, up the hill I was walking down came about a dozen police bikes with lights and sirens. Then two military vehicles followed them with a big, black SUV in tail. Would you believe that the president of Madagascar drove right past me on Independence Day? Pretty neat.

Anyways, that is the end of my long history of colonialism and Malagasy Independence. It should be no surprise, at this point, that speaking Malagasy is a very valuable thing for me here. Malagasy can’t stand French people. And the moment I speak Malagasy, they know I’m not French because the French never learn Malagasy. There is an expectation that everyone in Madagascar speaks French. So why bother? Speaking Malagasy gives me an immediate “out” with being identified as French, and it also makes people very curious about me, not always a good thing, but always better than being perceived as French. In fact, most people ask if I'm German. Apparently I give off a German vibe.

My point of this drawn-out story is not to change your mind about colonialism. But rather to see the intricacies that get lost when we want to oversimplify the history of things. Our human minds love a good story, mine sure does. And for most of our upbringings, stories have tended to follow a strict “good vs evil” pattern with clear lines and obvious moral decisions lacking any ambiguity. The problem is that the story of mankind is not a made-up story, it’s a real story with complex characters, uncontrollable environments, and a plethora of other factors. Not all colonists were evil. Not all natives were good. The less we train our brains to see things and perceive things in their true complexity, the less we are able to discern truth and grasp at the fundamental realities of the world. Did you know that both Catholic and Protestant missionaries tried to force people of different castes in Indian to go to church together? They tried to force equality on another culture and people. The natives liked their caste system and were fine having different masses and services for different castes. That changes the narrative quite a bit when you take that into consideration. It is almost as if you can’t force others to believe what you believe without violating the inherent laws of human freedom and dignity.

In a nutshell, don’t fall into the trap of wanting to see everything and every person as a false dichotomy between good and evil. Life doesn’t work that way. There is good and bad in each of us. It is part of our broken human nature that desires good but leans towards sin and evil. Ill-intentioned people use good institutions to get what they want. Sometimes an overzealousness leads one to do things that are contrary to their actual beliefs. It is all so very complicated, scary, and overwhelming. It really puts what we think we know upside down and on its head. But there is a value in the struggle of sorting it out and becoming emotionally detached from things that happened a long time ago. Should we be upset that evils like slavery, genocide, and the like have happened? Oh yes, for sure. But if we come to the point of anger, where shall we direct that anger? On whom do we release that negative energy? On people who weren’t there? On the ancestors of the perpetrators? As if they deserve the punishment for the sins of their fathers? As if they chose to be born to such and such a person or in such and such a place or at such and such a time? That seems like we’re going back to some pretty old ideas we decided to get rid of a long time ago.

The reality is that we all live lives that we didn’t essentially ask for. It is what we do with those lives, those privileges, those gifts, those talents, those resources, those personalities, those whatever they may be that really matters. We all have roles to play in the world. And those roles look different, both big and small. St. Francis de Sales was adamant that there is only one love of God, but that this love is manifested in infinite ways which is why we see so much variety in people, nature, and the universe. Our peace comes in finding that love in which we were created, and by embracing it freely. God always loves us, but we have the freedom to accept or reject that love. In doing so, we more fully partake in the role we were called to play. When we don’t, well that’s when people do bad things and make life worse for others. Our human history should prove that point by now.

As always, know that you are in my prayers each morning. All I ask is that you do the same for me.

May God be praised.