Speaking out against rape and incest on the public highway is the ambition of the feminist movement Nifin’akanga which organized, on Saturday February 17, in the center of Antananarivo, the first march to denounce this scourge in the capital. A first step, participants hope, to make the fight against rape a national issue.
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With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Pauline Le Troquier
Around fifty people burst into music around Lake Anosy. No spectacular crowds but in this very busy area of the capital, the signs are enough to attract the eye. “ Stop pedophilia “, ” silence kills », messages precisely designed to upset the general public, estimates Micke, one of the participants.
“ We’re really trying to destabilize and tell people: “Look, rape can happen to you, it can happen to your children. It’s time for all of us to stand up and not normalize it. Please shut up!” “, he emphasizes.
Walk to raise awareness, but also to push elected officials to review the texts on rape and incest. In early February, Parliament adopted a law establishing a penalty of chemical or surgical castration, depending on the case, for child rapists. But the priority, for Mbolatiana Raveloarimisa, one of the founders of Nifin’ankanga movement, remains to attack, upstream, the powerful culture of rape.
“ We need to look at the issue as a whole. If we really want to change something and provide a real solution, we must first have civil society and the government sit down at the same table. To break a rape culture, it will take four to five years. When a fight begins, you must first untie your tongues. We are still there: breaking taboos and getting the Malagasy government to lean towards something more global », explains Mbolatiana Raveloarimisa.
For two years, the movement has been working to authorize the therapeutic termination of pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. A bill to this effect was tabled in the National Assembly but has since been abandoned by legislators.
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