Backpacker: i'm curious why are you here, further what is the point of this thread.. and lastly why would you imagine that anyone of us here would be dumb enough to follow the questionable principles that led a flock of misguided ex slaves to believe they could go back to Africa to help their 'heathen' 'backward'brothers..

Ps; i'm curious as to how after but a mere few minutes you can arrive at the conclusion that there is a 'fundermentalist' and 'racist' views here...on what pray tell was this discovery based on?

Kunjufu wrote: [quote]Good advice. I don't even know why I bothered to type my previous post.

Forumers: its my view that we ought not to waste any more time on this fool...Its fairly obvious that like Gemini, he is here merely to divert and distract our energies let the fool finish playing with himself..This is our forum and if he don't like it we let him go scratch!!!

Ps: the only that surprises me is that Gemini aint here yet to blindly agree with this fool..

backpacker wrote:[quote]

backpacker wrote: [quote]Sorry, can't resist, this is like shooting fish in a barrel, pretty sad actually:

"YOU (by that i mean this white person or the european community in general,) do not matter and nothing you think or say holds any sway here..."

So, somebody's ethnicity determines whether what they say is important or not on this forum, as stated by a moderator. What a wonderful message you are sendingto Britain's multicultural society.Oh dear. Black racists.



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Ok are you happy now you've got one over on us poor stuuupid black racist, i have to say i feel really told now..thank you..

Liberia, the oldest republic in Africa, was once regarded by the West as the continent's most stable, prosperous, and peaceful country. One of only two African countries never colonized by a European power (Ethiopia is the other), Liberia's modern political foundation was built by free blacks who sailed there from the United States in the early 19th century. Since then, relations between Liberia's indigenous peoples and the African American settlers have rarely been easy. After more than 130 years of Americo-Liberian — dominated single-party rule, the First Republic was ended by a military coup in 1980, after which an unstable government faced a series of insurrections. Following a second revolt in 1989, throughout the early 1990s Liberia suffered from political chaos, civil unrest, famine, and violence. Some experts estimate that about 10 percent of Liberia's population died during that period, while another 80 percent was dislocated.

EARLY HISTORY
Anthropologists now believe that Liberia's first inhabitants were hunter-gatherers, and ancestors of the Gola and Kissi peoples, both of whom are part of the Mel language group. They were joined by the Kruan people (the Kru, Kuwaa, Bassa, Kran, and Dei ethnic groups) who were migrating from the north and east, and later, around the 15th century, by people of the Mande language group, among them the Gio, Mano, Loma, Bandi, Mende, and Kpelle.

Traders from the savanna kingdoms of West Africa visited Liberia's early communities, seeking spices, gold, and ivory. In the 15th century, trade began to turn toward the coast, as European merchants came seeking Malaguetta peppers, gold, and, later, slaves. The chiefdoms of the Mande- and Mel-speaking groups in what is now northern Liberia met demand for slaves by forging alliances and conducting raids on neighboring peoples. Other exports included rice, palm oil, and textiles. In return, the indigenous peoples received European firearms, knives, jewelry, and liquor.

AMERICAN SETTLEMENT AND THE COMMONWEALTH

In addition to soliciting funds from the U.S. government, the ACS began selling memberships to free American blacks, many of whom were farmers, professionals, or small businessmen. Memberships (which were lifelong, and did not necessarily mean that the holder planned to go to Africa) cost $30; one ACS agent estimated that by 1825 they had raised "not less than $50,000" through membership sales. In claiming that this money went into "the treasury of the Lord," the agent revealed the religious basis for much of the ACS's work; many colonizationists, black and white, were motivated at least in part by the desire to spread Christianity.

In 1820 the group launched its first ship, the Elizabeth, which sailed with more than 80 African American emigrants. After landing on the coast of what would become northwestern Liberia, many of the first arrivals died of tropical diseases to which they lacked immunity, and the group retreated to Freetown, Sierra Leone. In 1821 more settlers arrived and founded a town at Mesurado Bay. Controlled by ACS governors (all white until 1842) and supported by the U.S. military, in 1824 the Americans named their first settlement Monrovia, after U.S. President James Monroe, and the colony itself Liberia, from the Latin liber, meaning 'free.' They adopted a Plan of Civil Government and began negotiating treaties with indigenous chiefs to expand their territory and ensure the settlers' safety.

Over the next decade, state colonization societies continued to sponsor the emigration of free blacks to Liberia, and the population of Americo-Liberians grew to around 3000. In 1838 they formed the Commonwealth of Liberia, and in 1839 adopted a constitution based on that of the United States.

Relationships between the settlers and the indigenous population were often strained. Liberian law excluded "tribal" people from most jobs and schools, and attempted to impose Christian practices upon them through such means as outlawing work on Sundays. In addition, the settlers (most of whom were artisans or semi-skilled workers) had begun to establish a caste-like system, in which the most wealthy and well educated formed an elegant and sheltered elite. But unlike Africa's European colonies, Liberia had no color bar that divided long-time inhabitants from newcomers, and thus it was possible (though difficult) for Africans to enter settler society. Moreover, intermarriage and informal multiple-marriage arrangements — as well as the children born to such unions — helped swell the Americo-Liberian population.

THE FIRSTREPUBLIC
Compared to other African nations, independence came early for Liberia. Partly because of Americo-Liberian resistance to ACS authority, and partly because of the complexity of the colony's status in regard to European traders (who refused to recognize Liberia's power to regulate their activities), on July 26, 1847, the Americo-Liberians declared their independence from the ACS. They elected Joseph J. Roberts, the first nonwhite ACS governor, as president. Roberts, who served for eight years, oversaw the founding of Liberia University, in Monrovia, and helped expand the boundaries of the new country, most often through treaties with local ethnic groups.

In the second half of the 19th century, Liberia began to receive diplomatic recognition from other nations, including the United States, Haiti, and Germany. Divisions between various factions of the Americo-Liberian community led to the establishment of two political parties, the Republicans and the True Whigs (both based on American parties of that era). Starting with the 1870 election of Edward James Roye, the True Whig Party (TWP), which was almost exclusively Americo-Liberian, became the dominant force it would remain for 110 years.

The early years of Liberian independence saw continued tensions between Americo-Liberians and indigenous peoples, who still held lower-class citizenship rights. These tensions resulted in rebellions by a number of groups, including the Kru Confederation in 1856, and the G'debo Kingdom in 1875. In 1873 the Liberian government extended some legislative representation to the indigenous peoples, thus somewhat calming the political waters. Historians estimate that the interior regions of Liberia, the areas most dominated by indigenous Liberians, were not truly under the central government's control until the 1920s. But the new nation also faced external threats from British and French colonizing powers at the end of the century.

Following the economic model of the American South, the settlers opted for plantation-style agriculture to produce sugarcane and coffee, often employing Africans liberated from slave ships. But they faced stiff competition from other producers of these commodities, and persistent economic shortfalls forced the new nation to seek foreign loans. Support from the United States and Great Britain was reciprocated by Liberia's acting as an African base for Allied armies during World War I, after Liberia declared war on Germany in 1917. After the war, foreign industries began arriving; the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, which began operations in 1926, eventually became the country's largest private employer. In 1929 the American-led League of Nations investigated allegations of government-tolerated forced labor at the Firestone plant, a charge that led to the resignation of Liberian President Charles D. B. King.

The 1944 inauguration of William V. S. Tubman continued the unbroken chain of True Whig presidents. His 27-year-long tenure was characterized by openness to foreign investment, close ties with Western powers, and a gradual opening of political (though not economic) opportunities to previously disfranchised people. Under Tubman, the administration of the interior regions was finally brought under the control of the central government. In addition, Tubman extended the vote to women in 1945 and to indigenous people in 1946, though Americo-Liberians continued to enjoy a representative advantage in the legislature.

Upon Tubman's death in 1971, his vice president of 19 years, William R. Tolbert Jr., assumed the presidency. In what some historians see as an effort to distinguish himself from Tubman, Tolbert attempted to reach out to the growing populist movement while maintaining support of the old-line establishment. Not surprisingly, both sides soon expressed distrust. Tolbert's foreign policy mixed the familiar dependence upon the United States with new aims, such as establishing relations with the People's Republic of China and helping raise money for the antiapartheid movement in South Africa. For most Liberians, however, the more immediate concern was the domestic economy, which in the late 1970s was squeezed between declining world prices for Liberia's primary exports (rubber and iron ore) and rising import costs. Popular discontent over increasing food prices culminated in the 1979 Rice Riots, led by the Progressive Alliance of Liberians (PAL) and the Movement for Justice in Africa (MOJA).

SAMUEL K. DOE, CHARLES TAYLOR, AND CIVIL WAR
On April 12, 1980, Samuel K. Doe, a master sergeant in the Liberian army, led 17 men to Tolbert's home and assassinated him. The men, former members of the People's Progressive Party, called themselves the People's Redemption Council (PRC) and declared themselves in charge of the government. Doe staffed his administration with fellow members of the Krahn ethnic group, and pledged that his military rule would last only temporarily. A new constitution (written by Dr. Amos Sawyer, a University of Liberia professor who had been involved with MOJA) was approved by voters in 1984, and Doe promised that elections would be held the following year. But from the beginning Doe faced challenges from former PRC accomplices — who led at least two failed coup attempts — and when he and his newly formed National Democratic Party of Liberia (NDPL) won the 1985 elections, they were suspected of widespread vote fraud. Doe invited increasing charges of tribalism when he took revenge on the coup plotters by burning and sacking the towns of his rivals' ethnic groups.

A pattern of quick turnover and unexplained deaths in Doe's administration, coupled with heavy restrictions on press freedoms, prompted the United States to send in advisers in 1987 as a condition for continued foreign aid. Liberia's economic woes had heightened tensions throughout the country, and these had in turn strained relations with neighbors such as Sierra Leone and Guinea, which feared an influx of refugees. These fears, in fact, were justified. In late 1989 a group called the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), led by Charles Taylor, a former government official facing arrest for corruption charges, launched an insurrection in Nimba County, on the border of the Côte d'Ivoire. Liberians fleeing the NPFL spilled into neighboring countries, while shipments of smuggled arms crossed the borders in the opposite direction. Facing a threat to regional stability, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) intervened in 1990, sending its multinational peacekeeping force (ECOMOG) to secure control of Monrovia. Much of the rest of the country, however, was controlled by Taylor's NPFL.

Peace talks were held in The Gambia in August 1990, but Taylor, who shortly thereafter declared himself the true president of Liberia, did not attend. Dr. Amos Sawyer was chosen as president of the so-called Interim Government of National Unity (IGNU). Meanwhile, a breakaway rebel group led by Prince Yormie Johnson had made surprising inroads into Monrovia, and in September assassinated Doe. ECOMOG ultimately secured the capital again, but the hinterlands were still controlled by Taylor.

The next opposition force to enter the fray, the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO), led by Johnson, included some of Doe's former supporters. It crossed the border from Sierra Leone in 1991, and clashed repeatedly with Taylor's NPFL troops. Fighting continued and intensified as ECOMOG, attempting to subdue NPFL in the interior, retreated to Monrovia in 1992. Reports began appearing of NPFL's numerous human rights abuses, including the drafting of preteenaged boys as soldiers and the wholesale execution of civilians. The first half of 1993 was characterized by repeated skirmishes among ULIMO, the NPFL, and ECOMOG, which by then had abandoned its peacekeeping role and become an active combatant. After the breakdown of a July 1993 cease-fire, the United Nations established an observer mission in Liberia; at the same time, several new factions emerged, many of them based on ethnic affiliations, and most of them armed.

THE COUNCIL OF STATE, 1997 ELECTIONS, AND BEYOND
Throughout the mid-1990s the major factions met in various configurations, their attempts at peacemaking prompted by the threatened removal of ECOMOG troops (which now included soldiers from Nigeria, Ghana, the Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, and Togo) and the implication that even more widespread war would result. As the UN Security Council increased its number of observers, each attempt to build coalitions failed. At an ECOWAS-sponsored meeting in Nigeria in August 1995, the combatants signed a peace accord, agreeing on plans for a council of state that would last until free elections could be held. Professor Wilton Sankawulo was pronounced chairman, with the main factional leaders, including Taylor, also serving.

Further hostilities plagued the council of state, including fighting between Taylor's forces and the predominantly Krahn defenders of the Doe regime, who had thrown their support behind Johnson's ULIMO. In August 1996, Ruth Perry, a 57-year-old former senator, was chosen to replace Sankawulo as council chair, becoming the first African woman head of state in modern times. Following the reorganization of the council, elections were scheduled for July of 1997. In a field of 13 political parties, Taylor's National Patriotic Party prevailed, awarding Taylor the presidency he had sought for nearly eight years. Within months of the election, several of Taylor's political rivals were found dead under suspicious circumstances.

Fifteen years of civil strife and warfare weakened Liberia's economy, which had been in decline even before Doe's 1980 coup. Before the war, about half of Liberia's population lived in the countryside; subsistence farming and the export of iron ore, wood, and rubber were the dominant economic activities. Liberia had also long maintained a large shipping fleet due to its "open registry" policies for foreign ships. But the war, in addition to creating a huge refugee population and destroying the homes and businesses of hundreds of thousands of Liberians, disrupted rural food production. By 1997 the country was heavily dependent on food aid, and many regions faced a severe food shortage. The only people to benefit from the years of turmoil were the leaders of the armed factions who took advantage of the opportunity to make deals with foreign firms for diamond mining in the country's interior.







Contributed By: Kate Tuttle