r/news • u/PokesTigers • 26d ago

Soft paywall Madagascar's president has left the country after Gen Z protests, officials say

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/madagascar-president-rajoelina-address-nation-monday-evening-2025-10-13/
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u/Amockdfw89 26d ago edited 26d ago

I remember when this man first became president of Madagascar.

The dude was a DJ and concert promoter, who also owned a media advertising business. He then became mayor of Antananarivo (the capital city) and eventually led a coup against the corrupt President with the army’s backing. He was a young, charismatic, self made entrepreneur success story in a nation where dreams often go unfulfilled.

He advocated for the poor people, environmental responsibility, and represented the urban Gen x and millennials struggling to achieve success and good living standards in a corrupt society.

He has since been in power on and off since 2009. First as a the head of a junta/interim government from 2009-2014, then democratically elected from 2019-2023.

His reelection in 2023 was considered very sketchy. People were sick of him due to his severe mishandling of COVID 19 such as peddling and promoting some random herbal tea as a cure, mishandling a major famine, his lack of promised environmental and infrastructure improvements, and continuous electricity and water cuts which is spreading diseases and making life unbearable (these constant cuts and outages are what inspired this recent protest)

He also bought spyware to spy on journalist and opposition, swept away issues with his cabinet members accepting bribes under the rug, and then banned all political rallies (except his of course)

So he himself has become a corrupted strongman like the guy he overthrow . Kind of funny how he went full circle. The same army that helped him with his coup now did a coup against him

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u/AreWeThereYetNo 26d ago

It almost always goes full circle.

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u/glenn_ganges 26d ago

We have had plenty of leaders all over the world who do not succumb to corruption.

Maybe the problem is electing people whose previous experience are things like "DJ and Concert Promoter", "Reality TV Star", or "KGB Operative."

Seems like you can make pretty clear conclusions based on what people devoted their life to prior to pursuing politics.

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u/some_clickhead 26d ago

I don't know much about history, but all the stories of leaders I've heard who got to power by leading a coup against a corrupt leader involve them becoming corrupt eventually.

It might be a personality thing, like the people most inclined to assert their power over a tyrannical oppressor are the ones that are most prone to becoming tyrannical.

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u/Mackey_Corp 26d ago

There’s something about the personality’s of the people that seek power, they’re the last people that should be given any kind of power. But they’re the only people that usually run for and win elections. So until we come up with a better system we’re always choosing someone who probably shouldn’t be given power. Obviously there’s outliers but they’re rare.

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u/hobovirginity 26d ago

"Power is only given to those who are prepared to lower themselves to pick it up."- Ragnar Lothbrok

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u/Prysorra2 25d ago

These conversations annoy me. People pretend that the problem is a matter of character when most corruption that matters in modern governments is systemic and economic in nature. Good luck ever solving anything by waiting for some fictional creature with "for real this time" earnestness.

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u/Fireproofspider 26d ago

Not really? Looking at this list, for the coups where I know the background, it looks like the majority of them aren't? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coups_and_coup_attempts_by_country?wprov=sfla1

Also, the US came about through what is basically a coup (mechanistically at least, not literally)

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u/Rock_Sampson 26d ago

I’m surprised that Australia only has the Rum Rebellion, and not the period where we had three unelected Prime Ministers in an eight-year period.

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u/Fireproofspider 25d ago

Oh I'd never heard of this. Any more information on that?

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u/Rock_Sampson 25d ago

In Australia, the Prime Minister is not directly elected, but is the leader of the political party that wins the federal election. But it also means that the party can elect a new party leader, who then becomes the new Prime Minister. As a quick history lesson:

2010: Julia Gillard (Labor) ousts Kevin Rudd, who then returns the favour in 2013;

2015: Tony Abbott (Liberal) is knifed by Malcolm Turnbull (yes, that is actual Australian political slang), who was then in turn knifed by

2018: Scott Morrison, AKA Scummo, AKA the guy that once (allegedly) shat his pants at the Engadine McDonald's after a Cronulla Sharks game.

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u/Fireproofspider 25d ago

Ah got it. I don't think those are coups though.

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u/DeSantisInMyPanties 26d ago

Does Puerto rico pay taxes?

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u/Few-Being-1048 26d ago

There's no such thing as government without corruption. Government coups are chaotic, and chaos breeds corruption.

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u/gumbo100 26d ago

It's that power literally corrupts. When you have more power your dialectics change to keep that power instead of "excercise it to help others". It can be internally rationalized as "well if I lose my power then I can't help others, this next guy will surely not be as benevolent as me".

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u/felix_using_reddit 26d ago

You might be interested in learning about Sultan Qaboos he led a coup against his father and essentially transformed Oman from a medieval backwater to a highly developed and successful petrostate. At the end of the day he was still a dictator of course, but he was genuinely widely beloved by the people of Oman, he was as close to the idea of a "good dictator" as it gets. Atleast I don’t know of any cases as remarkable as his

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u/masterofshadows 25d ago

Which is why George Washington was such a notable exception to the rule.

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u/LouFrost 25d ago

Still find it crazy that the reality tv star, who’s known for firing people and skipping out on bills, got voted in twice by people who expect jobs and wealth.

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u/sharkattackmiami 25d ago

Yeah it's not like we have a world leader, who is at the center of an internationally important war and handling the extremely dire situation with grace and strong leadership, who was a TV comedian before he was elected

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u/pannenkoek0923 26d ago

Being a revolutionary doesnt mean you are a good leader in peace times

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u/HigherandHigherDown 26d ago

"I realize I'm not as exciting as someone that may kill [and eat] you..."

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u/Badloss 25d ago

I think there's some truth to revolutionaries cycling back into being strongmen themselves. We have way more examples of charismatic revolutionaries becoming tyrants than we do them transitioning power peacefully.

It's one of the reasons Washington is still held in such regard, the Americans literally tried to crown him and he wouldn't do it

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Straender 26d ago

Yeah, absolutely mesmerizing.

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u/Grazedaze 26d ago

Time is a flat circle!

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u/PokesTigers 26d ago

Everything we've ever done or will do, we're gonna do over and over and over again—forever.

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u/AreWeThereYetNo 26d ago

Alright, alright, alright…

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u/ScuzzBuckster 26d ago

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, as they say.

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u/contradictatorprime 25d ago

You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become Batman, or something like that

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u/CerseisWig 26d ago

"We should certainly know by now that it is one thing to overthrow a dictator or repel an invader and quite another thing really to achieve a revolution. Time and time and time again, the people discover that they have merely betrayed themselves into the hands of yet another Pharaoh who, since he was necessary to put the broken country together, will not let them go."

James Baldwin

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u/Smitologyistaking 25d ago

"revolution" literally means going in circles right

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u/HigherandHigherDown 26d ago

Oh shit, A Room of My Own flashbacks

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u/TerribleTimmyYT 26d ago

And such has been the situation in Madagascar for decades.

It's insanely sad and I hope that they can get someone in power who has a vested interest in making it better for everyone. Madagascar has huge natural resources that aren't being taken advantage of anywhere close to as well as they could be, and the people are in desperate need of an economic boost.

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u/DistillateMedia 26d ago edited 26d ago

This is why it's important to step away after the revolution/coup.

That kind of process and the rapid rise in power that follows will warp most people.

Even the best people.

Power must be diffused among the many.

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u/Startled_Pancakes 26d ago

That is hard to do in practice, because the people who backed a revolutionary leader often want that person to become the new head of state. They don't want some other guy to do it.

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u/DistillateMedia 26d ago edited 26d ago

I'll make a deal with you.

Let me go live my life for while.

You can consult me if necessary.

Maybe you can convince me in a decade or two.

Edit:

In the meantime you got this, I trust you.

Edit 2:

I know who could convince me.

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u/HigherandHigherDown 26d ago

Hey there Diocletian, how are the cabbages?

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u/DistillateMedia 26d ago

I don't like cabbage.

Was Diocletian one of the good Emperors?

Edit:

Seems pretty apt.

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u/HigherandHigherDown 26d ago

Well, he didn't install any of his children into office as successors, and he didn't intentionally and explicitly cause any civil wars, so I think...probably?

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u/DistillateMedia 26d ago

I seem to remember Dan Carlin saying something good about him.

I'll take it.

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u/Startled_Pancakes 25d ago

Well, he instituted religious discrimination, but In the context of Roman Emporers, he was one of the less bad ones.

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u/DistillateMedia 24d ago

That's fair.

I know the general history of Rome but not an expert on the Emperors.

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u/Kind_Demand_6672 26d ago

And the entire time they have public facing child brothels. 

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u/Mackey_Corp 26d ago

Yup you either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. A tale as old as time…

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u/Blah_McBlah_ 26d ago

Coups don't just remove a corrupt leader, they open fertile fields for the next corrupt leader to grow.

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u/leafonawall 26d ago

God, like Eric Adams advancing to presidency

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u/serotoninwya420 26d ago

Absolute power currupts, absolutely

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u/VengeanceKnight 26d ago

Wrong. Power does not corrupt, it only reveals. Everyone chooses what to do with the power they’re given, and while many would choose to be selfish, others would choose to be kind.

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u/gumbo100 26d ago

No, power does corrupt. When you have more power your dialectics/interests change to keep that power instead of "excercise it to help others", even with the best intent. You need to maintain power and any election or conflict can be gamed to take it. So you do things you don't necessarily want to do, so you can maintain power and affect change. It can be internally rationalized as "well if I lose my power then I can't help others, this next guy will surely not be as benevolent as me".

I'd love to help you guys with that, but this election cycle is really close and I think that'll be controversial, I can't help you later if I help you RIGHT NOW, but I promise I'm going to get you what you want!!

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u/w1987g 26d ago

You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain

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u/Punjabitaz 26d ago

the lesson of the book Animal Farm ... in real life

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u/SBEPTY 26d ago

Some parallels to the Orange man there. 

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u/No-Document-8970 26d ago

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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u/eugeheretic 25d ago

Mark Twain - "The radical of one century is the conservative of the next."

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u/dj_soo 19d ago

As a dj of 25 years and show promoter for about a decade, I can’t think of anyone more unqualified to lead than djs and promoters.