09-12-2014, 08:04 PM
A good article. I was in Liberia during this time frame, working at the Holy Cross Mission associated with the Episcopal Church. I visited the Firestone plantation and met Donald Ensminger. It would not be surprising to me to learn that Firestone paid "bribes" or "taxes" to people either before or after the revolution began. Bribery was just an accepted and endemic part of working in Liberia with any person with authority, from government paper clerks, to police, to Doe himself.
It is quite true that Doe was a bad leader, looting Liberia for his personal gain. He owned the casino(s) and apparently all the diamond mining and transportation had to go through him personally, although I met Americans that were smuggling "conflict diamonds" (term not yet invented) from Sierra Leone through Liberia. It was also widely rumored that he ate the babies of his enemies to gain magical powers, and his personal troops had reportedly engaged in "ethnic cleansing" (though that term too had yet to be invented) of his tribal enemies. There were serious economic issues during Doe's government. There was an American economic team (from State perhaps) advising Doe prior to the civil war. There was an "official" fixed exchange rate of Liberian dollars into American dollars, but the price on the street outside the government bank was very different (I don't know from who or where that policy originated). That situation would naturally (eventually) have led the Liberian government into increasing dependence on foreign aid.
There was nothing quite like the Firestone plantation in all the rest of Liberia. The place was orderly and clean, and the Liberians who worked there well fed and dressed, and apparently happy to be there. There was electricity and running water. There was a school for the kids. It was quaint and beautiful in kind of a "colonial" way, like some European (or pre-Civil War) pipe-dream encompassing both good business, and the "white man's burden" of bringing civilization to Africa. It would obviously have been a prize of strategic and economic value for any would-be ruler of Liberia.
The part of Liberia that I was in ("the bush") bore little resemblance to the Firestone plantation. We dug wells for water, were growing rice and farming fish to feed the folks in the community. We had no running water, electricity one or two hours a week (to use the Ham radio). We had a leprosy clinic, a maternity ward, and a school with open air classrooms. And my community was much better off than other places I visited.
I left Liberia in May, before Taylor sacked the Firestone Plantation. Upon hearing the news of the attack, it was apparent to me that Taylor, despite his talk of democracy, reform, and peace, was just another brutal thug.
It is quite true that Doe was a bad leader, looting Liberia for his personal gain. He owned the casino(s) and apparently all the diamond mining and transportation had to go through him personally, although I met Americans that were smuggling "conflict diamonds" (term not yet invented) from Sierra Leone through Liberia. It was also widely rumored that he ate the babies of his enemies to gain magical powers, and his personal troops had reportedly engaged in "ethnic cleansing" (though that term too had yet to be invented) of his tribal enemies. There were serious economic issues during Doe's government. There was an American economic team (from State perhaps) advising Doe prior to the civil war. There was an "official" fixed exchange rate of Liberian dollars into American dollars, but the price on the street outside the government bank was very different (I don't know from who or where that policy originated). That situation would naturally (eventually) have led the Liberian government into increasing dependence on foreign aid.
There was nothing quite like the Firestone plantation in all the rest of Liberia. The place was orderly and clean, and the Liberians who worked there well fed and dressed, and apparently happy to be there. There was electricity and running water. There was a school for the kids. It was quaint and beautiful in kind of a "colonial" way, like some European (or pre-Civil War) pipe-dream encompassing both good business, and the "white man's burden" of bringing civilization to Africa. It would obviously have been a prize of strategic and economic value for any would-be ruler of Liberia.
The part of Liberia that I was in ("the bush") bore little resemblance to the Firestone plantation. We dug wells for water, were growing rice and farming fish to feed the folks in the community. We had no running water, electricity one or two hours a week (to use the Ham radio). We had a leprosy clinic, a maternity ward, and a school with open air classrooms. And my community was much better off than other places I visited.
I left Liberia in May, before Taylor sacked the Firestone Plantation. Upon hearing the news of the attack, it was apparent to me that Taylor, despite his talk of democracy, reform, and peace, was just another brutal thug.
"All that is necessary for tyranny to succeed is for good men to do nothing." (unknown)
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."