How joyful were our ancestors on June 26, 1960, when the majority seemed indifferent to the Republic (October 14, 1958) and the first Constitution (April 29, 1959)? Whether spoken or written, few remember, or perhaps bitterly reflect on, that 19th-century State negotiating with great powers: Great Britain, France, USA, Deutschland? Two hundred years after the friendship treaty of October 23, 1817, the children of the English Queen visited us in 2017. Yet it has become mere commerce: buying up "national treasures" or selling the charming places of Anosy to better satisfy foreign appetites.
What independence, when the people live under oppression and suffering as on January 26, 2009 and September 25, 2025? What independence when the Vakoka is destroyed like the Palace of Antananarivo; when "things" are built that confuse Anatirova; when the Kolontsaina is attacked through distortion of ancestral words, written or spoken? What independence when leaders cannot respect even the smallest rules of honesty, reciprocity, or social respect?
What independence if the great devour stones and gold while the small steal scraps, break batteries, and rob tombs? Independence in name only if the nation's sovereignty, the people's democracy, is consumed by misery and shame.
Rainandriamampandry, whom Gallieni executed, was the father of Doctor Rajaonah, who wrote articles titled "Japan and the Japanese" in the newspaper "Mpanolo-tsaina" in October 1889, after studying in Edinburgh (Scotland) for eleven years (1871-1882). Pastor Ravelojaona published these articles twenty-five years later, during the Vy Vato Sakelika period.
From 1889 to 1914: we hoped to become Japan but became servants instead: masters demanding tribute, homeowners paying rent, stones supporting foreign masters. Independence through words, independence through lies, saying we are no longer enslaved when we have fallen even lower. May wisdom come, may orders be given, may we be convinced that we need not fear foreign appetites.
Nasolo-Valiavo Andriamihaja