To commemorate the 50th anniversary of May 13, 1972, what many call the “ true independence “, where the “ may 68 malagasy “, artistic scenes, debates and testimonies of “seventy-douzards” were organized Place du 13 Mai. It is a pivotal date in the history of the country, during which the student strikes of this beginning of the year 1972 took on a national and popular dimension, after the republican security forces fired on the crowd.
With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Sarah Tetaud
Fists raised, they demand change in the education system. They are the students of 72, painted on a fresco by twenty high school students from the capital. Oni ny Aina, a 1st year student at the Jules Ferry high school, looks with admiration at these seventy-douzards, which she has painted: “ It’s really impressive because we, at our age, which was theirs at the time, we couldn’t do that. There are a lot of strikes here, but 72, it really made history. »
The young woman regrets that their claims have not been successful. “ In terms of education for all, Malgachisation, it has not really given visible results. Today, it’s hard to be proud of ourselves, because everything we do stems from education in French. To be really proud, we would have to manage to do something in Malagasy: that would come from us. We always have the impression that our independence is just a mask, and that in truth, we are still dependent on the French language and on the French, on their culture. We actually do just like them. Just look at us! »
“Malagachization is what allowed me to be myself”
A few minutes from going on stage to ignite the Ankatso esplanade, Bekoto, the flagship singer-guitarist of the Mahaleo groupthe “ Malagasy Beatles » as they are called, maintains that he owes his career as an artist to May 72:
“ It is malgachization that allowed me to be myself. By creating in Malagasy, speaking Malagasy, singing in Malagasy, reasoning in Malagasy, I had become myself. Because at the time, I loved French songs, English songs, and it’s here [en écrivant des « protest-songs » pour animer les grèves, NDLR] that I learned Malagasy. »
In the front row, at the foot of the podium, Armand Rasoamiaramanana, a convinced seventy-douzard, who was shot on May 13, 72, begins to dream in the midst of these hundreds of young people who have come to attend the day’s concerts.
” I would like them to take up the torch, not against the French, like us in 72, but against the policy exercised by the current regime. Let them fight for their future, for their education system. Seeing all these young people, who are thirsty for education, and seeing at the same time that there has been no positive change since my time, makes me very worried for them. »
Photo exhibitions retracing this pivotal period in Malagasy history are to be discovered in different places in the city until the end of the month.
►Also read: Report Africa – Madagascar : demonstrations of May 13, 1972, the leaders of the strikes remember