The Liberian Echo

By Moco McCaulay

In a nation that boasts Africa’s first democratically-elected female president, it probably wouldn’t be such a stretch if one were to assume that women had already traversed the pinnacle of every profession, and that the Presidency was after all, that final prize that had eluded them until Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President of Liberia in 2005.

But that apparently is not the case. At least, not in the fledgling Liberian movie landscape that is emerging as Liberians now try to make an imprint in the pulsating African movie kaleidoscope that is beaming across the continent and the world, after their country’s devastating 14-year civil war.

With Nollywood, as the Nigerian film industry is known, now the second largest film industry in the world in terms of number of films produced annually, filmmaking has evolved as a viable medium for Africans to tell their own stories and share them with the world.

Sadly, during Nollywood’s exponential growth in the 1990s, for the most part, the only portrayal of Liberia on film was consigned to mesmeric war documentaries and newsreels showing drugged up child soldiers with AK-47’s almost the length of their bodies, decaying bodies littered on the streets for dogs to feast on, and clips of rebel fighters boasting about their sadistic acts of cannibalism.

But the tragic story of the Liberian Civil War is most certainly not the only one that Liberians want to be known for enacting on film. Therefore, notwithstanding being left behind as Nigerian and other African filmmakers made headways in the film industry, up-and-coming Liberian film producers are determined to carve a place for themselves on Africa’s pulsating film stage.

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By Moco McCaulay

On April 26, 2012, the former leader of a small African nation and a feared ex-rebel leader who spread terror in his country and across West Africa—but seemed above-the-law—was finally cut to size by the swashbuckling sword of Lady Justice. It was a day that international news media heralded as: “the end of impunity!” 

A fairy tale-like ending you could say, especially for the people of Sierra Leone, to the atrocious story of death and destruction that had plagued West Africa during the 1990s. And the concluding narrative of the verdict that was told to the world paralleled a Mosaic redemption: a people, long subjugated to the appalling brutalities of war, had finally found respite at the Oasis of Justice after a brutal trek through the Wilderness of Injustice.

Who could therefore be sacrilegious enough as to want to sour such a narrative?

Well, one man is trying to ruin that happy ending. And, if you were Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia, who was found guilty on that day for “aiding and abetting” the commission of war crimes in Sierra Leone and later sentenced to 50 years in prison, you too would probably be doing everything within your power to ruin the fairy tale-like ending of this narrative.

So Taylor and his team of lawyers, headed by Morris Anyah, have appealed the verdict, calling it “a miscarriage of justice.” The appeal judges are now deliberating the case and are expected to make a decision whether to uphold the verdict or overturn it at some point before the year’s end.

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By Moco McCaulay

Authority stealing pass armed robbery
(Yes, yes, yes, yes)
We Africans we must do something about this nonsense
(Yes, yes, yes, yes)
We say, we must do something about this nonsense
(Yes, yes, yes, yes)
I repeat, we Africans, we must do something about this nonsense
(Yes, yes, yes, yes)
Because authority stealing pass armed robbery

So bellowed Fela Anikulapo-Kuti in Authority Stealing, a poignantly veracious song depicting corruption in Africa by a few self-important reprobates hiding under the guise of officialdom—while majority of the people wallow under the weight of crippling poverty—as a crime that is worse than armed robbery.

And, if you agree with Fela, don’t hesitate to shout: Yes, yes, yes!

Not only did Fela use his music to vilify such loutish rogues masquerading as African officials who had manifested themselves as leaders in Nigeria, but in 1979, he even sought to raise a political movement and run as a presidential candidate to usurp them from power. But, of course, Fela’s political quest to wrest power from those parasitic elites ruling his nation was stifled by their machinations.

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By Moco McCaulay

REVOLUTION is a word that has been bandied about by more than its fair share of malevolent interlopers so much so that nowadays, besides provoking a dismissive shrug of the eyebrows, it stirs nary an attention when it is mentioned.

And, in Africa especially, revolution has meant nothing more than the violent usurping of one corrupt regime for another without any improvement in the lives of the continent’s poverty-stricken masses.

That notwithstanding – and whether you’re ready or not – Rokenzy G. Smith is bent on inciting another African revolution!

But, before you be tempted to also give him an eyebrow shrug, his is a different kind of revolution. It is an African Music Revolution channeling the struggles and aspirations, and joys and pains of a generation of disenfranchised young Africans who have literally been caught between a rock and a hard place: war on the one hand and peace reeking with the vile stench of pervasively corrupt governments on the other.

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By Moco McCaulay

It was sometime in 2008, in New York City, at Lava Gina, a divvy international bar I used to frequent in Manhattan’s Lower East Side when I met Ishmael Beah, the New York Times bestselling author of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of A Boy Soldier. Beah’s book about his years as a child soldier during Sierra Leone’s atrocious civil war had just been published and he was touring to promote it.

As I sat listening to Beah talk about his experiences as a child solider and how he had been given the chance and support to overcome the trauma of those turbulent years and turn his life around, I found it inspiring to see how far removed from his brutal past Beah had obviously come.

And, having almost being forcefully conscripted into a rebel army as a child soldier during Liberia’s civil war, but was only spared the fiendish deflowering of my childhood innocence by the unwavering intervention of my Aunt, I was extremely interested in Beah’s story. So I asked him a few questions and talked to him briefly after the event.

Beah came across as quite an intelligent young man and there was nothing about him that stood out as someone with the heinous past which he writes about in his riveting book.

But, if ever I harbored any lingering doubts about the possibility for complete transformation in the life of someone like Beah who’s childhood had been so grotesquely desecrated by the coarse brutalities of war, that all evaporated when I met Morlee Gugu Zawoo, Sr.

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By Moco McCaulay

If the saying: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” is one that always holds constant, then it may only be a matter of time before Dieze  Ivan Sahn, a 20-year-old up and coming Liberian-born hip hop artist, strikes his luck in the hip hop game.

Because, according to Diezie who is based in Atlanta, Georgia, he’s been honing his musical skills since the age of 5, which would mean he’s spent quite a bit of time preparing to shine as a musician.

“As far back as I can remember music has always been a big part of my life. I remember singing in churches since I was the age of 5 until now. So, all my time being on this planet, I’ve been involved in music,” said Diezie, of his years of preparation to share his music with the world.

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By Moco McCaulay

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a relative novice to the world of professional combat sports, but that notwithstanding, with a high-powered arsenal stacked with dexterous knockout and submission moves, it has been grappling its way into the hearts of sports fans around the world as the crème de la crème of combat sports, leaving its closest rivals, boxing and wrestling, looking like they have been wielding a knife in a gun fight.

Under the promotional aegis of the Ultimate Fighting Competition (UFC), MMA has emerged as the most exciting professional combat sport in the USA, garnering record pay-per-view (PPV) ratings that dwarf that of boxing and wrestling. And, as the UFC expands its tentacles globally, along with the emergence of other rival promotional MMA companies around the world, MMA certainly seems poised to win the battle for the hearts and minds of fans of professional combat sports.

And Africa is no exception. With the trailblazing continental MMA promotional company like Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) based in South Africa, which bills itself as “Africa’s Biggest Mixed Martial Arts Championship” and is broadcast in over 107 countries, EFC Africa has also experienced phenomena growth across Africa with viewership reported in the millions.

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By Moco McCaulay

As the debate over nepotism rages in Liberia regarding President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s appointment of her 3 sons to key posts in the Liberian government, fermenting simmering disaffection with her leadership, not only has Africa’s first woman president’s commitment to reconciliation in her post-war nation come into question, but her recent utterances in praise of nepotism must certainly leave readers of her memoir, This Child Will Be Great, rather befuddled whether she is one and the same person who authored that book.

Granted, there is a book out there called In Praise of Nepotism: A Natural History by Adam Bellow, which from the look of things, President Sirleaf, a 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate, would now not only gushingly endorse, but with her unabashed display of nepotism in her war-addled nation despite her people’s outcry, she may probably also want to consider authoring a book extolling nepotism.

But, until such a time, to have read President Sirleaf’s book and now hear her defend nepotism, one has to be flabbergasted at the disturbing contradictions in the voice of the author of This Child Will Be Great who, on the one hand, cast aspersions on past leaders for nepotism, now using her voice to staunchly defend nepotism on the other.

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By Moco McCaulay

Stephanie Horton is a Liberian editor and writer par excellence and for many, the name probably rings a bell because of her contributions to the promotion of Liberian literary culture as the managing editor of Sea Breeze Journal of Contemporary Liberian Writings (SBJ), an online publication of writings by Liberian writers.

But, if you haven’t heard of her before, you may definitely want to take a few minutes to read the following interview where she offers her thought-provoking views on Liberian culture, reconciliation, economic empowerment, and gay rights in post-war Liberia.

“I’m interested in our history, our collective beauty, our strengths, how and why we’ve been broken, those wisdom epics, myths and imaginative folktales from the past ever evolving that tell and show us what blood runs in our veins, our extraordinary music, dance and drama, the ancient philosophies running through our days, the stories buried within us, the struggles we now face,” says Stephanie in her no holds barred interview with Ralph Geeplay.

To read the full interview, go here.

Related articles

• Liberians launch campaign against gay marriage (sfgate.com)

By Moco McCaulay

Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia, who led a rebel invasion into the country on December 24, 1989, plummeting the West African nation into a 14-year civil war, categorically denied that he had “escaped” from a US prison in November 1985, during his testimony at his war crimes trial in the Hague.

But is there another side to the story?

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By Moco McCaulay

When Liberia’s youthful Nobel Peace Laureate, Leymah Gbowee, publicly criticized her co-Nobel Peace Laureate, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the septuagenarian President of Liberia, over corruption and nepotism, President Sirleaf responded by derisively dismissing Ms. Gbowee as “too young to know…”

Described by one writer as a “verbal slapping down,” President Sirleaf’s condescending rebuke of Ms. Gbowee, her 40-year-old co-Nobel laureate, was not unlike an adult chastising a child for inappropriately interjecting in an adult conversation.

“My fellow Nobel laureate is too young to know what we’ve gone through to achieve peace and security in my country, to reach the level of democracy that we all are experiencing today,”  Pres. Sirleaf reportedly said of Ms. Gbowee.

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By Moco McCaulay

With so much information flashing across our social media space (Facebook, Twitter, etc) daily, it is all too easy to miss and/or overlook some posts/comments that would probably do us good to spend a little more time reflecting on.

I’ve therefore started a new column on my blog called “Liberian Voices” where, from time to time, I will curate and repost comments from Liberians at home and in the Diaspora, after obtaining their consent to do so.

And with the prevailing conversation around corruption and nepotism in our beloved Liberia, here below is David Cheeks’ take on the issue which was posted on Facebook on Monday, December 3. 

Related articles

• Analysis: It’s time to reassess Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (dailymaverick.co.za)
• Liberia’s Johnson Sirleaf defiant over nepotism and corruption claims (guardian.co.uk)
• A Nobel Smackdown in Liberia (thedailybeast.com)

By Moco McCaulay

In response to recent article I wrote about the tragic death of Tecumsay Roberts during Liberia’s brutal civil war, among the many responses I received, one by Morris Sekou Kanneh stood out to me.

He shared his memories about Tecumsay Roberts and other Liberian musicians from the good ol’ days of Liberian music. I thought his comment was a nice tribute to Tecumsay Roberts and other Liberian musicians who have either been forgotten and/or don’t receive enough recognition and appreciation for their contributions to Liberian music and culture.

I therefore obtained his permission to publish his comment. Please see his comment below:

By Moco McCaulay

In most African countries, there always seems to come along that rare national star who, buoyed by a transcendental musical genius, shines ever so brightly from the obscurity of his/her village, town or city, to illuminate the world with the vibrant sounds of the country’s rich cultural heritage.

Think Yousou N’Dour, from Senegal; Miriam Makeba, South Africa; Fela Kuti, Nigeria; Alpha Blondy, Ivory Coast; Angelique Kidjo, Benin; Salif Keita, Mali; Koffi Olomide, Democratic Republic of Congo; to name a few.

In Liberia, there was just such a star getting ready to woo the world with his transcendental musical genius, but he was tragically cut down at the prime of his life and musical evolution, accused of being gay.

His name is Tecumsay Roberts.

The story of Tecumsay’s murder at the hands of a ruthless rebel general during Liberia’s barbaric civil war in 1990 is not a new one. But, following a recent article I wrote about how Liberian musicians have “fallen under the global music radar,” I began to wonder why that was so, and that led me to look into the pre-war Liberian musical scene.

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By Moco McCaulay

After years of struggle as an unwavering activist for democracy in Liberia, during which time she vehemently castigated past Liberian leaders for human rights abuses, corruption and nepotism, today, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has also become a nepotistic leader, appointing her sons to key posts in the government.

One son is head of the National Oil Company, another is deputy governor of the Central Bank and yet another is head of the National Security Agency.

Liberians, including her co-Nobel Peace Laureate, Leymah Gbowee, has urged President Sirleaf to fire her sons and end this troubling spectacle of nepotism in Liberia, especially in light of the dire need to foster reconciliation in her post-war nation of Liberia.

But President Sirleaf has forthrightly dismissed calls for her to fire her sons, inflaming simmering dissension among Liberians, which is certainly not what Liberians need as they work to consolidate the nation’s fragile peace after 14-years of a bloody civil war.

Therefore, in the interest of peace, reconciliation and good governance, President Sirleaf, Africa’s first woman president and a winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, must heed the voices of her people and end the crass display of nepotism in her government.

Go here to sign petition urging President Sirleaf to fire her sons immediately.

Related articles

• Analysis: It’s time to reassess Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (dailymaverick.co.za)
• Liberia’s Johnson Sirleaf defiant over nepotism and corruption claims (guardian.co.uk)
• A Nobel Smackdown in Liberia (thedailybeast.com)

By Moco McCaulay

As a 21-year-old journalist working for the Daily Observer Newspaper in the Gambia, I experienced one of the most defining moments of my life when I went through a month-long ordeal of off and on detention, during which time I was put on a show trial only to have the case later dropped, before being extra-judicially arrested, locked up for several days and finally deported to my country, Liberia.

And, I vividly remember one night, as I sat on the hard concrete slab that ran along the wall of the dingy mosquito-infested cell, being overcome with a debilitating feeling despondency and powerlessness at the injustice I was enduring, all because I chose to be use my writing to speak truth to power.

But, even in that “darkest of the night” experience, I pledged to myself that I would always seek to stand up for what I believe to be right even if it was unpopular and there was a high price to pay. That was more than a decade ago and now, I feel it’s time for me to live up to the pledge I made to myself. 

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By Moco McCaulay

For a long time now, US hip hop music has found fertile breeding ground in Africa, especially among the continent’s youth. And, it was not uncommon for African youth to know more about Jay Z than the local artist around the corner ingeniously amalgamating the staccato beats of hip hop and the pulsating sounds of Africa into a succulent urban African-flavored musical brew.

But that seems to be changing. Over the last decade or so, urban African music has been steadily gaining popularity across the African continent, especially among young Africans. Now, while young Africans will still bust a move to “In Da Club” by 50 Cents, they’ll also gyrate their bodies into even crazier contortions when “Oleku” by Ice Prince, a Nigerian-born hip hop artist, blares over the speakers.

And with a population of over a billion people, of which about 65% are under the age of 35, the world seems to be taking notice. Major US record labels and artists are now scouring the continent and the Diaspora for talented African musicians to sign them to record deals, something which was almost inconceivable only a few years ago.

Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music has signed D’banj and Don Jazzy, both from Nigeria, while Akon’s Konvict Muzik inked a deal with P-Square, Nigeria’s twin record producers, and more recently, Nicki Minaj reportedly signed Parker Ighile, a London-based Nigerian artist, as the first artist on her record label.

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By Moco McCaulay

Joshua Milton Blahyi, a former Liberian warlord known as “General Butt Naked,” has been called many names – a mass murderer, an occult priest, a cannibal and the list goes on – but could his new life as an evangelist and the director of a program helping to rebuild the lives of former child soldiers and outcast street youth make him a champion of reconciliation in his war-ravaged nation?

The Liberian Civil War, which lasted for 14 years and resulted in the deaths of over 250,000 people, was described by Stephen Ellis in his book, The Mask of Anarchy, as a war which “…topped and surpassed [all other wars] in form and character, in intensity, in depravity, in savagery, in barbarism and in horror.” And if all the superlatives of the grotesque brutality that was on display during Liberia’s Civil War could be personified in one person, that person would have been General Butt Naked.

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