Anglo-Malagasy Society Newsletter 2: October 1977 |
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A few years ago, UFOs were reported to have been seen over Madagascar. There have been no more in the period from March to September since the last letter was written, although during the last weekend in July a much more solid visitor from outer space literally ‘dropped in’ – not for a quiet chat, but with a bang which is said to have been heard over a radius of some hundreds of kilometres. A huge meteorite broke in two over the island. The two pieces fell in the Fianarantsoa and Ankazobe areas. The larger crater is reported to be about 240 yards across. That is not quite in the Arizona class, but still one of the largest known and one which, perhaps, might take its place alongside Tritriva as a tourist attraction. A local ‘scientific mission’ went to investigate, but no details are to hand yet.
Politics have been of greater national interest than scientific wonders: a series of elections was held over a period of several weeks, beginning at the base of the hierarchy of institution: the fokontany or local community of the new pattern (not to be precisely identified with the traditional fokonolona) and ending with the National Assembly. Only candidates approved by the five parties of the ‘National Front for the Defence of the Revolution’ could stand. The Arema party, described at its formation as the chief popular militant force of the Revolution, swept the board, with very few places at any level for other parties. The Monima party has just split into two groups. Another major force of the Revolution is the People’s Army. Apart from its military activities, it provides much equipment and technical and manual aid for ‘civil purposes’. It is also officially said that it ‘should not be an excessively heavy charge on the State; it should finance itself by means of production units’ chiefly for agriculture.
Since the disturbances in Majunga last December, when many lost their lives, relations between the Malagasy Government and that of the Comoro Islands have been strained. It seems that the Comorians in the Majunga region have been repatriated at the request of their Government, but that in general other Comorians have remained. Each Government has made several conflicting statements about the facts of what happened and possible behind-the-scenes causes. The Comorians are reported to have presented a White Paper at the OAU meeting at Libreville. The third government directly involved on certain counts is that of France. In September the OAU held a conference at Moroni, attended by representatives from various nations, including Madagascar. One important matter discussed was the status of Mayotte, as the Mahorais wish to remain closely linked with France. President Ratsiraka in a speech in July said that Mayotte was one of the African areas still to be liberated. Some time ago the Comorians had a novel idea: they seemed to have sacked the entire administrative staff, then started again. There were some British forces in the Comoro Islands in World War Two (linked with the occupation of Madagascar). There are now some other British people there as a result of the circumstances since independence was gained and the consequent exodus of French personnel of all kinds. An international team from the Africa Inland Mission, including some British people, from Britain and East Africa, have provided staff urgently needed for, especially, medical work. There is a small Malagasy community in the Islands.
The Malagasy Government has felt an obligation to try to act as a peacemaker between Ethiopia and Somalia. M Andrianarahinjaka, now President of the Assembly, the new Foreign Minister and another visited the two countries to reconcile the two sides. This was regarded as an important step in Madagascar, though little, if any, reference seems to have been made to it in the British press, alongside reports of the fighting. The Malagasy peacemakers were immediately followed by others from Mozambique.
The orderly British-style bus queue is a rare sight in Tananarive: there are often more potential passengers than places in the bus. There may be a change for the better. A hundred large buses have arrived from Hungary and more buses are expected from Rumania and Japan. A Malagasy journalist says that it is hoped that in future ‘those sitting will outnumber those standing’. But what if the population of the capital continues to increase at its current rate?
There have been a number of exhibitions recently. The Chinese concentrated on showing agricultural produce, the achievements of ‘small industries’ and material for heavy industry. The North Koreans illustrated the various forms taken by the ‘struggle... to put the nation on its feet’. A Soviet Film Week was due to be held in September.
Help continues to come from various countries, too many to enumerate in full. Considerable financial assistance is to be given by Libya. There is also a plan to set up an ‘Arab-Muslim’ Cultural Centre ‘to spread Muslim culture among the Malagasy’ and a parallel scheme for a deeper study of Muslim culture in the University. Russia has made an agreement to provide 14 teachers to teach philosophy, mathematics, science, etc in the University and elsewhere. There is also a proposal for a flight from Moscow every Wednesday – in July a Soviet Tupolev flew to Madagascar and set off again for Moscow the same day, with many local ‘guests’. Admiration has been attracted to a lady broadcaster in Moscow who has learned Malagasy and produced a Russo-Malagasy Dictionary. Help from West Germany is to go to the southwest for a cement factory at Tulear. Years ago, there was much talk and many articles (and even some engineering works) about the Sakoa coal deposits, but in the end it appeared to be cheaper simply to import coal if it were needed. Now the German help is expected to make the Sakoa coalfield a viable project. Is this a ‘promise of spring’ which will lead to the resurrection of some other dormant plans, such as that of the Pangalanes, or east coast lagoons waterway? Or the very old Tananarive-Majunga railway, or the more recent Antsirabe-Fianarantsoa rail link? Perhaps not, for attention is being given rather to an island-wide road plan. The British Government are providing funds to cover 60 Malagasy teachers of English to study in the UK over a three-year period. They are considering the possibility of providing some assistance for rural development.
A joint organisation has been set up by Tanzania and Madagascar for the production and marketing of cloves: TAMCO (Tanzanian/Malagasy Clove Marketing Organisation) with headquarters in Tanzania.
Anyone with access to a copy of Ellis' History of Madagascar may well be surprised to find that 1638 information is of practical interest in 1977. He described the Malagasy method of smelting iron, using a hole in the ground with cylinders made of the trunks of hardwood trees as bellows: a system similar to methods in southeast Asia. He said that although the ‘attainments’ of the Malagasy with those methods were ‘exceedingly imperfect’, they ‘exhibit in a favourable light the ingenuity and perseverance of the people’. It was then on a small scale, but in the 1970s 200,000 tons of iron a year are needed and there are good deposits, especially near Soalala. Plans drawn up by Western and Russian exports are criticised as being based on their norms of capital investment, technical skill, personnel, commercial outlets and a minimum annual production of half-a-million tons. ‘Too big and too foreign’ might sum up the comments. The government is turning rather to something more like Schumacher’s ‘small is beautiful’ and intermediate technology. Since 1974 traditional methods have been studied and improved. A pilot project based on these updated traditional methods is to be started at Tsiazompaniry, southeast of Tananarive. A similar small-scale approach is being proposed for the Bemolanga bituminous shale deposits.
In the world of books, H Deschamps, author of the ‘standard’ Histoire de Madagascar (and of much else) has published his autobiography, in which two main chapters deal with Madagascar: Roi de la Brousse (Ed Berger-Levrault). Tananarive et l'Imerina by P Oberle is available From Presence Africaine, Paris. His scope is wider than Devic's book. In nearly 200 pages he gives an extended ‘historical and touristic description’ illustrated by 301 photos; but the book is too big for the pocket of any tourist less than eight feet tall.
In July the Society arranged a tea on the terrace of the House of Lords at the request of some members who find it difficult to attend evening meetings. Much else has happened and could be mentioned, but to show the general trend, the final paragraph may be a quotation from a recent speech by President Ratsiraka: ‘The bridging period is now ended and the hour has struck for the complete liberation of Madagascar. The interests of the many are to be protected, and all of us together are writing the history of this nation’.
Politics have been of greater national interest than scientific wonders: a series of elections was held over a period of several weeks, beginning at the base of the hierarchy of institution: the fokontany or local community of the new pattern (not to be precisely identified with the traditional fokonolona) and ending with the National Assembly. Only candidates approved by the five parties of the ‘National Front for the Defence of the Revolution’ could stand. The Arema party, described at its formation as the chief popular militant force of the Revolution, swept the board, with very few places at any level for other parties. The Monima party has just split into two groups. Another major force of the Revolution is the People’s Army. Apart from its military activities, it provides much equipment and technical and manual aid for ‘civil purposes’. It is also officially said that it ‘should not be an excessively heavy charge on the State; it should finance itself by means of production units’ chiefly for agriculture.
Since the disturbances in Majunga last December, when many lost their lives, relations between the Malagasy Government and that of the Comoro Islands have been strained. It seems that the Comorians in the Majunga region have been repatriated at the request of their Government, but that in general other Comorians have remained. Each Government has made several conflicting statements about the facts of what happened and possible behind-the-scenes causes. The Comorians are reported to have presented a White Paper at the OAU meeting at Libreville. The third government directly involved on certain counts is that of France. In September the OAU held a conference at Moroni, attended by representatives from various nations, including Madagascar. One important matter discussed was the status of Mayotte, as the Mahorais wish to remain closely linked with France. President Ratsiraka in a speech in July said that Mayotte was one of the African areas still to be liberated. Some time ago the Comorians had a novel idea: they seemed to have sacked the entire administrative staff, then started again. There were some British forces in the Comoro Islands in World War Two (linked with the occupation of Madagascar). There are now some other British people there as a result of the circumstances since independence was gained and the consequent exodus of French personnel of all kinds. An international team from the Africa Inland Mission, including some British people, from Britain and East Africa, have provided staff urgently needed for, especially, medical work. There is a small Malagasy community in the Islands.
The Malagasy Government has felt an obligation to try to act as a peacemaker between Ethiopia and Somalia. M Andrianarahinjaka, now President of the Assembly, the new Foreign Minister and another visited the two countries to reconcile the two sides. This was regarded as an important step in Madagascar, though little, if any, reference seems to have been made to it in the British press, alongside reports of the fighting. The Malagasy peacemakers were immediately followed by others from Mozambique.
The orderly British-style bus queue is a rare sight in Tananarive: there are often more potential passengers than places in the bus. There may be a change for the better. A hundred large buses have arrived from Hungary and more buses are expected from Rumania and Japan. A Malagasy journalist says that it is hoped that in future ‘those sitting will outnumber those standing’. But what if the population of the capital continues to increase at its current rate?
There have been a number of exhibitions recently. The Chinese concentrated on showing agricultural produce, the achievements of ‘small industries’ and material for heavy industry. The North Koreans illustrated the various forms taken by the ‘struggle... to put the nation on its feet’. A Soviet Film Week was due to be held in September.
Help continues to come from various countries, too many to enumerate in full. Considerable financial assistance is to be given by Libya. There is also a plan to set up an ‘Arab-Muslim’ Cultural Centre ‘to spread Muslim culture among the Malagasy’ and a parallel scheme for a deeper study of Muslim culture in the University. Russia has made an agreement to provide 14 teachers to teach philosophy, mathematics, science, etc in the University and elsewhere. There is also a proposal for a flight from Moscow every Wednesday – in July a Soviet Tupolev flew to Madagascar and set off again for Moscow the same day, with many local ‘guests’. Admiration has been attracted to a lady broadcaster in Moscow who has learned Malagasy and produced a Russo-Malagasy Dictionary. Help from West Germany is to go to the southwest for a cement factory at Tulear. Years ago, there was much talk and many articles (and even some engineering works) about the Sakoa coal deposits, but in the end it appeared to be cheaper simply to import coal if it were needed. Now the German help is expected to make the Sakoa coalfield a viable project. Is this a ‘promise of spring’ which will lead to the resurrection of some other dormant plans, such as that of the Pangalanes, or east coast lagoons waterway? Or the very old Tananarive-Majunga railway, or the more recent Antsirabe-Fianarantsoa rail link? Perhaps not, for attention is being given rather to an island-wide road plan. The British Government are providing funds to cover 60 Malagasy teachers of English to study in the UK over a three-year period. They are considering the possibility of providing some assistance for rural development.
A joint organisation has been set up by Tanzania and Madagascar for the production and marketing of cloves: TAMCO (Tanzanian/Malagasy Clove Marketing Organisation) with headquarters in Tanzania.
Anyone with access to a copy of Ellis' History of Madagascar may well be surprised to find that 1638 information is of practical interest in 1977. He described the Malagasy method of smelting iron, using a hole in the ground with cylinders made of the trunks of hardwood trees as bellows: a system similar to methods in southeast Asia. He said that although the ‘attainments’ of the Malagasy with those methods were ‘exceedingly imperfect’, they ‘exhibit in a favourable light the ingenuity and perseverance of the people’. It was then on a small scale, but in the 1970s 200,000 tons of iron a year are needed and there are good deposits, especially near Soalala. Plans drawn up by Western and Russian exports are criticised as being based on their norms of capital investment, technical skill, personnel, commercial outlets and a minimum annual production of half-a-million tons. ‘Too big and too foreign’ might sum up the comments. The government is turning rather to something more like Schumacher’s ‘small is beautiful’ and intermediate technology. Since 1974 traditional methods have been studied and improved. A pilot project based on these updated traditional methods is to be started at Tsiazompaniry, southeast of Tananarive. A similar small-scale approach is being proposed for the Bemolanga bituminous shale deposits.
In the world of books, H Deschamps, author of the ‘standard’ Histoire de Madagascar (and of much else) has published his autobiography, in which two main chapters deal with Madagascar: Roi de la Brousse (Ed Berger-Levrault). Tananarive et l'Imerina by P Oberle is available From Presence Africaine, Paris. His scope is wider than Devic's book. In nearly 200 pages he gives an extended ‘historical and touristic description’ illustrated by 301 photos; but the book is too big for the pocket of any tourist less than eight feet tall.
In July the Society arranged a tea on the terrace of the House of Lords at the request of some members who find it difficult to attend evening meetings. Much else has happened and could be mentioned, but to show the general trend, the final paragraph may be a quotation from a recent speech by President Ratsiraka: ‘The bridging period is now ended and the hour has struck for the complete liberation of Madagascar. The interests of the many are to be protected, and all of us together are writing the history of this nation’.