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New Liberia: At What Cost?
Saturday,
June 13, 2009
By
Elizabeth Vinton
Nostalgia
is the good feeling you get when you remember things from your past.
Nostalgic:
a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life,
to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental
yearning for the happiness of a former place or time. (WikiAnswers).
According
to Abdoulaye Dukule's "Kendejah, Symbol of a New Liberia," he writes:
“As the new
Liberia
takes shape, nostalgia will have to give way to progress. The old Kendeja will
become a multi-million dollar resort. The old UL would become the old campus,
the old
Executive
Mansion
a museum of presidential history. Nostalgia and progress don’t always go
hand-in-hand. To embrace progress, Liberians will have to be less nostalgic.”
I
really beg to differ. Liberians have already been thrust into being less
nostalgic as they watch landmarks burn down, old buildings decimated and symbols
of their culture defaced. They
tossed nostalgia aside and abandoned treasured mementos as they fled the bombs,
and as they dodged bullets.
War
is no time for nostalgia. But the
war is over now. Mr. Dukule is in
error if he suggests that nostalgia and progress do not go hand in hand.
Chinua Achebe once said that “a man who can’t tell where the rain
began to beat him cannot know where he dried his body.”
Liberian must retain these artifacts, monuments and national treasures
that give meaning to our national heritage and identity.
That
is why although the Jews have progressed very far, they pay homage to the
monuments that remind them of the suffering they have come through.
That is why the
US
(the one that Dukule seems to admire so much) maintains their historical sites
as places where their citizens can visit and be renewed in their patriotism and
identity. And that is why
these Liberian national monuments are vital to our identity and our national
soul
Forgive
me. I do not want to sound like a disappointed suitor but I believe that some
caution is called for here. Lest we
forget, do we really need our historical sites disappearing after the war? Do we
need ocean front luxury villas that few Liberians can afford?
When
asked about his experience doing business in
Liberia
, Mr. Johnson replied, "Great. I haven't had any problems. Like President
said,
Liberia
is open for business". I bet! Johnson,
of course, had no problems because he is not the average Liberian who has to be
bled dry by government officials before starting a business in their own
country. Doors open to Johnson that
slammed shut, locked, to ordinary Liberians.
Is this what the president meant when she says “
Liberia
is open for business?” I find it very ironically sad that our cultural center
was bought by a man whose ‘cultural’ business is synonymous with decadence
and immorality.
As
founder of BET (the Black entertainment television station which has greatly
helped the degradation of the American culture by showcasing young men with
their underwear hanging and young girls dancing sexually and suggestively to
music) is Johnson really the one that should be engaging in business here? Does
he view
Liberia
as a gateway to amassing more wealth, to bringing the decadent life style of
the urban culture? I have no doubt that we will very soon see hordes of
African-American “business” men arrive in Liberia to do what they do best,
“business,” engaging our
youths in a lifestyle that is alien to our traditions.
The
reality here is that Liberians who cannot afford a plate of rice will not now
somehow miraculously appear at the Kendeja spa for a manicure.
In her book, Madame President asks
"Why are some countries able, despite
their very real and serious problems, to press ahead along the road to
reconciliation, recovery, and redevelopment while others cannot? “
My
answer is simple. They engage the
civil society in discussion about what the country needs and they look a gift
horse in the mouth when he offers them gifts.
Yes, these countries need business to develop, but in
Liberia
, business at what
price?
Abdoulaye
Dukule’s piece calls the resort a symbol of a new
Liberia
. Really?
A national symbol by an outsider intent only on making money? Dukule
continues “Soon, maybe, Bob Johnson will bring his friends and brothers of the
African-American middle class on our shores, to spend some quality time and some
money, and showcase this piece of American culture in
Africa
. . . . And maybe, we could make that one historical movie that tells the story
of
Liberia
, an American Enterprise on the African continent.” Yes, and maybe pigs would
fly! Dream on! Really, what movie
is that, that of the new colonial masters, only this time with the same color
skin? Do Liberians, or
Africans for that matter, really think that African-Americans have anything in
common with us or with our values? We
honor ourselves by honoring our true past not imitating another culture.
Remember, “he who walks in another person’s footsteps leaves no
footprints of his own.”
Additionally,
Kendeja is the national resource center of culture?
How did Johnson acquire the name and where is Kendejah now? Are we to
assume that culture now lives at the Johnson resort?
There
is no doubt that development is crucial to
Liberia
’s development. However, it is not only
infrastructure that is needed but a building of the social and moral fabric of
the society. A preservation of what made us a people lest we forget what holds
us together, legacies forged in the creation of our nation to pass to our
children. The Liberian government needs to have the foresight to merge
development with what is morally good for the country.
Or is that too nostalgic?
Elizabeth Vinton, a graduate of the University of Liberia, lives in
Syracuse, New York.
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