Money Issues

Interesting point raised by one known only as 'le KGB': in the same vein as the wars, at what point might people start dubbing this "The Great Depression II"?

Also, from KGB - and tangentially related - came an excellent article from a few days ago about development strategies/patterns in Africa. Amongst other things, it argues:

Giving alms to Africa remains one of the biggest ideas of our time -- millions march for it, governments are judged by it, celebrities proselytize the need for it. Calls for more aid to Africa are growing louder, with advocates pushing for doubling the roughly $50 billion of international assistance that already goes to Africa each year.

Yet evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that aid to Africa has made the poor poorer, and the growth slower. The insidious aid culture has left African countries more debt-laden, more inflation-prone, more vulnerable to the vagaries of the currency markets and more unattractive to higher-quality investment. It's increased the risk of civil conflict and unrest (the fact that over 60% of sub-Saharan Africa's population is under the age of 24 with few economic prospects is a cause for worry). Aid is an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster.

Some shots from Guthrie Plantation

This photo comes from Guthrie Rubber Plantation, where I was recently described as 'one of the protesters.' Incidentally, I have been reminded many times - both by friends and unknowns around town - that it was me on the cover of the paper.

But back to the photo. On the side of the gate where this photo is taken, hundreds of protesters, a police station on fire, and three wounded protesters. On the other side, a truck of Nigerian UN soldiers, draped off their truck in boredom, well on the fringes.

A metaphor for the UN's involvement in peace making/keeping?

Below, two different bullet casings. The silver bullets - in the hand on the left, and in the palm in the background - are the standard issue for police. The gold bullet, according to protesters, came from the pistol of Senator Lahai Lansana, who had been talking with protesters about finding a resolution. They say he started shooting once police opened fire, and ran off with them.

He would later claim that workers held him hostage.

Workers have now been partially paid, and full investigations of all parties are allegedly underway.

Constitutional Racism Finds a Challenger

Liberia has a very interesting clause in its constitution. Article 27 b) states that in order to be a citizen of Liberia, you must be “of negro descent.” Beyond the moral issues of the racial aspect of this, or the fact that Liberia may be the last nation with such a clause, it also presents another issue.

The constitution also demands that in order to hold land, one must be a citizen. So, you have to be black to hold land.

The law is rooted in the unique history of Liberia. Founded by freed slaves from the US in 1822, when Liberia became an official nation in 1847, it created a clause that would protect them from ‘white masters’ taking up all the land, and colonizing it as in the rest of Africa.

This, says Darius Dillion, a senior legal aide to Jewel Taylor (estranged wife of Charles, and the current Senior Senator of Bong county), needs to change.

“We Liberians leave from here, and want to become citizens and enjoy the comforts of the white man’s land. Then why isn’t it good vice-a-versa? We think that in this day in age, it is time to cohabitate,” he insists.

The fact that lingering fears keeps this law active. And some of them are valid.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, the Lebanese dominate West Africa. They control the supply chain, own most of the big businesses, hotels, grocery stores and restaurants that cater to expats. Indians and Chinese own most of the rest, with some American and South African owners also edging out local Liberians.

Some fear that changing the law – which has been attempted two or three times since the end of the war in 2003 – will only facilitate this problem, that land, as well as businesses will fall into the hands of foreign owners, and Liberians will never get the chance to prosper.

Looking at other countries in the region, with laws that do permit foreign land rights, Dillion does not see this problem happening.

Plus, with no right to citizenship, foreign nationals send all of the money they make out of the country, avoiding taxes, and not investing at home. This ‘capital flight’, says Dillion, is killing Liberia, robbing it of money it desperately needs.

He encourages that writing laws in tune with the interests of Liberian people will get the best of both worlds, and erase what he calls a ‘primitive law.’

“The best thing to do is to open our Liberian citizenship, but before we do that, we put in the proper laws, so that one citizen will not use advantage over another citizen unduly.”

Workers et al Protest at Guthrie

Here are the two most awesome things about this picture. (Guthrie is a rubber plantation in Liberia, fyi)

1) It ran on the cover of one of Monrovia's leading papers with the title: "Riots at Guthrie - Police Station Set Ablaze"

2) The photo caption read: some of the workers protesting at Guthrie

If you are just noticing the lanky, bearded white man amongst the crowd, you may be starting to understand why I find it particularly awesome.

Not so awesome is that the workers - who make about $ 4/day, and are typically the breadwinners for several family members - have not been paid since December. And, on this particular day, they showed up with promises to receive pay, but instead got notice of massive layoffs: 1200 of the 2000 workers. Oh, and that would be without receiving pay for the three months of work.

But, while they have not been paid, one of the managers showed up to work in a brand new $ 20 000 white pickup truck. And actually, the managers have not been on the farm since the end of February.

Pretty stupid overall, as its gotten to the point where these guys are not getting food to eat, and most of them are ex-fighters.

"We are hungry, and when we get hungry, we get vexed," shouted Flomo, one of the protesters.

"Can you imagine, three months, no pay?", asked Taylor, a general labourer. "We hungry."

Unfortunately, this is characteristic of the massive problems of corruption and incompetence of management throughout the country, and the lack of respect for workers.

Equally unfortunate is that the protest and roadblocks ended in three people shot by police, with one reported dead, and reports late yesterday of arrests of many of the workers.

Oh that pope

Always count on devout religious leaders to deliver amazing commentaries on the world. Most recent of these comes out of the Vatican camp, with Pope Benedict XVI declaring condoms to not be the answer in fighting HIV/Aids.

Not surprising, considering Catholicism's hell-bent stance on abstinence. But, when 22 million people have the HIV virus in sub-Saharan Africa, and hundreds of new cases pop up every day, well, maybe there is a role to play, even if it is 'ungodly.'

Prostitutes aren't going to find new jobs over night, and those who frequent them aren't going to lose their libidos overnight. More commonly, are you really expecting that 17 year-olds (or 'any-year olds, really) the world over are willing to rapidly embrace a belief system based on guilt, shame and retribution over the relatively easy task of putting a condom on before doing 'it'?

C'mon, man. Seriously.

It almost makes me regret glorifying his predecessor a few days ago. But not really, cuz that picture is still awesome.

Killing in the Name Of

Killing has been a played a major role in Liberia's recent history. War, of course, being a pretty intense contributor. But long before the war, ritual killings were practiced in different areas of society, and for different reasons. During the war, this rose to a fevered pitch; members of almost all of the warring factions claimed to have undergone such killings, especially to gain power prior to battle. Even today, as reported cases slow to a trickle, the practice remains.

My friend Rebecca Murray, who writes for IPS, wrote a really great article about this topic.

The article starts from the town of Harper. Sleepy, remote and characterized by majestically broken buildings, it becomes deliciously eerie at sunset when about 1 million bats fly out of a massive cotton tree, and swarm around the dilapidated shells of once regal churches. It feels like a ritual killing.

She claims to not be happy with that article, but I know she was happy with this article about Arcelor Mittal's (major international steel company) treatment of local workers in their $ 1.6 billion contract in Liberia (hint: they might be making the most of out a developing country with no mechanisms for enforcing labour regulation).

Our friend Grant Fuller has an excellent audio piece on the same topic embedded in her written piece, if you are more into aurality.

Mad Monkeys Miss Mama?

Once upon a time, though no one seems to know when, there was a medical research facility here. Primates got injected and otherwise given drugs to learn about HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. Then, they ran out of funding. So, the primates got taken to one of three islands at the mouth of a river south of Monrovia. They live there today, and continue to receive food drops from unclear funds.

What drugs were they given? What state are they in? How has this impacted their health? Are they a risk to the human population? Are there any regulations a) that are being followed or, b) to be followed?

No one has answered any of this clearly yet. Also interesting to think about how many other places this may be happening, both in Liberia and elsewhere.

Due to a mix of bad communication, greed and general dick-headedness, the boat drivers we hired only took us to one island out of the three, and made the whole thing a massive ordeal. And due to a mix of territorial aggression, the absence of the regular feeder, and their superior strength and agility, I opted to heed the warnings not to go ashore. Making for a trip lacking in great info, but piquing my curiosity.

Proper future story to come. Currently trying to find people who know more.

Apparently, a book exists touching on this matter: The Darling, by Russell Banks. Those who have read it seem to think it is similar to, but not quite the same as, this leper colony style sequestration of medical monkeys.

fyi Russell Banks is the dude who wrote that fairly poppular book "Rule of the Bone" about the kid - "Bone" - and iMan the rasta, who end up living in an abandoned schoolbus, after other adventures. I loved it when I was 16/17, so ups to The Brycester for lending it to me then.

Banks is not high literature or anything, but Darling is meant to be a cool book, and set against real historical events, if you be interested in learning more about Liberia's past without a history book. Which you should be...

El Papa on the papa

The hand on his right shoulder is god's.

Courting Criminals on the World Stage

There's not much reason for me to chime in about Bashir's arrest warrant and its implications. This article articulates an excellent perspective on the matter, and is worth reading if you have interest in the matter.

My powerful segue here is that even if all the hooplah and cashishe needed to get him to trial, what then, if years into it, 'someone' realized that there may not be enough funds to finish the trial? What if all the people who put themselves at risk, all those who traveled to Europe to testify, all those months of research, monitoring, security etc, amounts to nothing without the actual goal being accomplished? (note: the goal being a fair, just and complete trial, not a guilty verdict) What if they never even finish the job?

I know that seems pessimistic and an impossible potential conclusion, but, it is happening. Poor planning and lacking foresight appears to be facilitating this conclusion for Mr. Charles Taylor, the star of the last portion of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. Lacking $ 5 million to finish the reported multi-hundred million dollar trial, the court is currently seeking donors. The consequence being that if they don't, prosecution will have little option but to set Taylor free.


That's what I keep thinking of when I hear about ICC arrest warrants on Bashir.

Also, just as a side bar, Taylor's party (the NPP) reformed in December, and Taylor still enjoys an uncanny amount of popularity here, and allows commercials such as this to air:

"you down with NPP?!?
(yeah you know me!!!")

What's in the News / Update

Amidst problematic international news such as Omar Bashir being handed an arrest warrant, and the assination of Equatorial Guinea's president, Joao Vieria, it is great to know that stories about some Floridian chicken nugget lover can still grab top spot on such lightly trafficked sites as Yahoo and MSNBC. Amongst others, I'm sure.

Had some internet access issues over the past little while, so that's why no updates. To greatly summarize, Gbarnga smoothed over after pretty heavy protests. Guthrie Rubber Plantation road blocks also pacified, but thousands of people there remain unpaid and super frustrated about mismanagement of funds. Read: angry.

Visiting the plantation, management generally said all was normal, while workers claimed (yelled) they were ready to protest again if they didn't at least get their December/January wages, and were not working until they were paid.

Question though: If you were a manager put in charge of running a plantation that has a few thousand, healthy, young, easily-riled-up ex-rebels, is it not a little naive to buy yourself a brand new white Dodge pickup truck before you pay your workers? Especially when the truck is 20 grand and the workers hope to receive about $200/mo each? Just curious.