admin2

To sum it all, we must consolidate forces and revolt through the ballot or the bullet? This will be our own struggle not others. United front or no progress - there should be no such thing as middle ground or negotiation with reactionary forces. Thank about it. Onward to victory!

George Weah who has absolutely no ideological orientation

September 18, 2020 admin2Revolution, Robert Kpadeh0 comment

The Editor, How can anyone claim to be a “Revolutionary Party” when such person thrive on no ideological inkling, have no depth of the dialectics, no genuine people-centred cause and run by a man in George Weah who has absolutely no ideological orientation and zero insight of the dialectics? How, my friends? Chanting Battle Cry aloud and fluently doesn’t make you a Revolutionary Party. Donning colourful berets, batches and boots don’t make you a Revolutionary Party? Referring to each other as “Comrades and Bos” doesn’t make you a Revolutionary…

Nvasekie N. Konneh is a writer, and nine year veteran of the United States Navy. He is the author of two books of poetry, Going To War for America, The Love of Liberty Brought Us Together and The Land of My Father’s Birth, memoir of the Liberian civil wars. Nvasekie Konneh can be reached at 267 826 3952 or through email @ nvaskon1@gmail.com

Artists & Reviews

The Land of My Father’s Birth, a review

September 18, 2020September 18, 2020 admin20 comment

By Hawa Donzo My name is Hawa and I currently reside in Western Australia with my family. Originally, my family and I are of Liberian decent, although my older sister and I were both born in Guinea, Conakry. Having spent the last few years tracing my family’s Mandingo history and asking uncomfortable questions, Nvasekie’s novel The Land of My Father’s Birth has shed a beaming light on my findings. The first and second parts of this book really helped to round-up my understanding and overall knowledge of life in Liberia as a…

“The Grebo of the Ivory Coast and Liberia carve masks with round eyes to represent alertness and anger, with the straight nose to represent unwillingness to retreat. The Senoufo people of the Ivory Coast represent tranquility by making masks with eyes half-shut and lines drawn near the mouth. The Temne of Sierra Leone use masks with small eyes and mouths to represent humility and humbleness. They represent wisdom by making bulging forehead. Other masks that have exaggerated long faces and broad foreheads symbolize the soberness of one's duty that comes with power.”.4.

Op-ed

The Masks of the PORO

September 13, 2020September 13, 2020 admin2Liberia, Mask, Poro, Society0 comment

By Dag Walker Poro Societies (males) and Sande Society (females) and other secret societies are so central to most Liberian history that one must have some understanding to grasp the nation and its people. There is the person, and there is the persona, “the role that one assumes or displays in public or society; one’s public image or personality, as distinguished from the inner self.”1. We all take on rôles during the course of the day. You might be a man, a father, a husband, a friend, a…

If we ever thought the war was going to be over and Liberia would become a paradise when he was elected, we were surely day dreaming. We constantly heard the song, “he was popularly elected” but popularly elected my black African ass. The nightmare was not over when he was elected. He became a popularly elected despot, chasing all his “enemies” into exile. Those who lived in his Liberia had to put their tails between their legs like scared dogs and those brave enough to criticize had to flee or risk going to jail or being killed. I was moved by this development to write this poem, “Taylor’s Democracy” in 2002.

Op-ed

Poetic Tribute to Charles “Gangster” Taylor—-By Nvasekie N. Konneh

September 10, 2020 admin2Liberia, Taylor, Violence0 comment

Time does fly as they say. It’s unbelievable that it’s been 10 years since the former Liberian Dictator, Kleptocrat, Murderer in Chief, Rebel Kingpin Charles “Gangster” Taylor disgracefully abdicated his throne under the combined pressure from the international community, the rebel forces of LURD and MODEL. As Liberia celebrates a decade of peace in August 2013, there is no sign of Charles Taylor fulfilling his promise of “God willing I shall be back.” Instead the Rebel Kingpin is spending 50 long years in European prison after his conviction…

And this latest outburst from Monrovia City Mayor Jefferson Koijee against journalist Rodney Sieh, appears to signal what some have described as growing intolerance on the part of this government in regard to freedom of expression

Op-ed

The Economic Reform Alliance—ERA calls for justice, condemns Koigee

September 10, 2020 admin2Jefferson Koigee, Liberia, Violence0 comment

Press Statement for Immediate Release The Economic Reform Alliance—ERA condemns the brutal attacks on two young men by MCC guards posted at Mayor Jefferson Koigee’s residence; calls for an impartial and expeditious investigation to bring all those involved before the the Law: Fellow Liberians, ERA extends unwavering greetings and reaffirmed its commitment to the cause, welfare, and dignity of the Liberian people. ERA believes such merciless attack on peaceful and harmless Liberians at the hands of mayor Koigee’s thugs is a clear demonstration of the nature of the City…

Music

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

September 7, 2020 admin2Jubilee Choir, Music0 comment

Dag W. Walker The world famous and much loved Earl Ronald founded the red sandstone Norman-style cathedral of St Magnus back in 1137 in memory of his uncle Jarl Magnus who was assassinated in the island of Egilsay in 1115.1. That was back in what my grandparents called “The Old Country.” The cathedral is still there, beyond the northern shores of Scotland, in the middle of the island it shares with Skara Brae, a Stone Age settlement of five or six families. Maes Howe is nearby, and…

Although he noted that this was not a sufficient reason for pulling down the building, he expressed satisfaction that the Ghanaian government had taken responsibility for the demolition by promising to rebuild the structure to its pre-demolition state. The Minister further noted that the Nigerian High Commission also failed to obtain legal title to the land even though it had paid for it as far back as the year 2000 and also failed to obtain the necessary approvals before erecting the building. In other words, the Nigerian High Commission was equally culpable. A fair and frank admission I suppose.

Public Policy

Reliving the Spirit of Pan Africanism

September 5, 2020 admin2Africa, Pan Africa, Spirit0 comment

The saying “all for one and one for all” is a familiar slogan all over the world but it doesn’t resonate that well amongst Africans. It is viewed as more of an ideal than a principle and it is fair to say that Pan-Africanism was seen from that same perspective. Pan-Africanism is the principle or advocacy for the political union of all indigenous inhabitants of Africa. It has since become a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous and diaspora ethnic…

She denied accusations her son Robert Sirleaf was in any way implicated in the collapse of Liberia's National Oil Company, and said her other son, Charles Sirleaf who was arrested in March, was "illegally charged" over allegations he unlawfully printed local currency worth tens of millions of dollars.

Editor's Desk

Rape Activists shunned former President Ellen Johnson in Monrovia

September 5, 2020September 5, 2020 admin2Ellen Sirleaf, Rape, Sexual Violence0 comment

EDITORIAL __ Last week, Ellen Johnson the first female President in Africa was shunned by demonstrators and rape activists as she attempted to speak to the gathering. According to reports, Sirleaf is too close to the George Weah administration that has done nothing to solve the escalating rape crisis and gender based violence and sexual assaults against Liberian women. Compounding this, sources suggest the former president failed women and girls when she was in power, on so many fronts. Under her administration, for example, Liberia was the rape capital in…

Dr. Nyan is winner of the 2017 African Innovation Prize for Social Impact and also awarded a Patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for his invention of the rapid multiplex pathogens diagnostic test, which can simultaneously detect and identify multiple infections, including Coronaviruses (COVID-19). He has been providing COVID-19 pandemic preparedness advice to the Liberian government and awareness in Africa and laboratory diagnostic training webinar to West African laboratory personnel.

Public Policy

“Persecute and Castrate Convicted Rapists Molesting our Mothers, Daughters, Sisters” — says Dr. Dougbeh Chris Nyan to GoL

September 4, 2020 admin2Covid19, Liberia, Policy0 comment

Contributed By Maron Gullid WASHINGTON, DC August 18, 2020 – In a recent interview by Monrovia’s Power9 TV-FM, infectious disease scientist, Dr. Dougbeh Chris Nyan has said that Liberia’s Justice Minister, Cllr. Musa Dean, should “concentrate on persecuting the high number of rape cases in the country.” Dr. Nyan later told reporters that “laws should be enacted so that if convicted with scientific and other convincing evidence, the convicted rapists should be punished by castration, long jail time and counseling to deter rape and the prolific child molestation…

Contemporary South African poet Koleka Putuma lovingly recounts memories of happiness and childhood innocence in her poem Black Joy, published in the Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Anthology (Vol.6) in 2017. The refreshing text makes a point to change the narrative of an African childhood, which is too often associated with pain, struggle and suffering as Putuma focuses on describing a time of peace, playfulness and family. “Isn’t it funny? / that when they ask about black childhood / all they are interested in is our pain / as if the joy-parts were accidental,” she writes. There is a common tendency to erase positivity when discussing the black experience, particularly in Africa. This poem acts as a symbol of all the good that simply never makes the literary cut.

Artists & Reviews

7 Poems That Perfectly Depict The Beauty Of The Black Experience

August 31, 2020 admin2Black Voices, Literature, poetry0 comment

BY SAGAL MOHAMMED From literary giants such as Audre Lorde to emerging Sudanese-American poet Dalia Elhassan, we travel the diaspora to discover poetry that shows the strength, resilience and poise of the black experience. Beauty, resilience, pain and identity are just a few common themes used to articulate the black experience in literature. For centuries, poetry has acted as an artistic release for the black community to express our authentic take on the world. Felicitously put by American writer Audre Lorde, “Poetry is the way we help give name to the…