All the Madmen:
Why Africans continue to support sadistic leaders I thought
it strange coincidence that Liberian President Charles Taylor left a week before
the death of another despot who trashed his own nation, former Ugandan dictator
Idi Amin. Over the decades it seems that most African leaders feel that they
are the only ones in their country who enjoy food, water, gas, electricity,
and peace. If it seems that certain parts of Africa resemble DC Comics’
backward “Bizarro World,” then rest assured its more by design, than
by destiny.
Most reporters and columnists have written on the west African nation’s ties to America through its turn of the 20th Century era repatriated African Americans, while shying away from Taylor’s bloodthirsty nature. Liberia is reportedly granted an influx of guns during the same time the US supplied arms to the Afghan Mujahadeen during the cold war. Of course our cold war was a hot war for them because they actually fought the Soviets. During this period it was Charles Taylor who ushered in most of these weapons, while at the same time cutting utilities, looting funds for himself and his associates, and installing corrupt security forces. Of course the fact that the US can quietly slip arms into small nations like Liberia and come back years later after the damage, under the ‘guise of a “peacekeeping force” is far from new. What is not being explored is the thought pattern of Black men like Taylor, Amin, the late Joseph Mobutu of the Congo, and countless others. Its not that their love of money and power is so unusual, it’s the severe disregard that they have for the well-being and survival of their own citizens; Black Africans, and the inability of those very people to effectively form coalitions to take these leaders to task.
Instead the story remains the same, one more potentially powerful and prosperous African nation left in ruins, one more ousted African leader vowing to return, and replaced by a guy whose last name should be the last name of most politicians; Blah. After all, their rhetoric pretty much amounts to just that, blah, blah, blah, and this guy actually carries the name. Sure it’s probably an abbreviation of a much longer unpronounceable African name to us here in America, but Blah pretty much fits. Particularly galling to me is Taylor’s attitude, the pictures of him pumping the Black power fist-as if he is Huey Newton or Malcolm X-make no mistake about it Larry, Taylor stood for anything but Black power. Most oppressive Black African despots follow all their destructive ways with “game;” in other words they verbally cast themselves as misunderstood underdogs. Taylor’s ‘they’re out to get me,’ speeches during the weeks preceding the arrival of US forces will always be just enough to fool citizens into errantly longing for his return in spite of seeing the results of his regime around them. And why not, many Blacks feel mediocrity is an inevitable part of their life, and Taylor more than filled the bill.
Taylor can truthfully be considered a Libyan-trained terrorist responsible for 14 years of chaos in Liberia. According to NPR, Taylor replaced public utilities with guns, and introduced a vicious regime based on murder. Any Black romanticizing regarding the perceived plight of Taylor due to his exile in Nigeria should be dismissed once you see how he is regarded by the international community. The Special Court for Sierra Leone Human Rights Watch, who is indicting him for rape, murder, sexual slavery, use of child soldiers and mutilations of countless children and civilians handed down these charges on 6/4/03. The need for African citizens to assert their true value on the world scene, and say thanks-but-no-thanks to incompetent rule is the key toward moving into a new African era.