Monday, August 22, 2016

Liberia




During and after the abolition of slavery, there was the question of whether the free wanted to 'return' from where they had come. Although we are tied emotionally to land, we have always been wanderers. Sometimes moving by force, sometimes by choice. Liberia, Africa's oldest republic, began as a settlement of the American Colonization Society. Repatriating freed slaves. Sending the problem away? Many Europeans came to America as refugees from Europe's conflicts. Ireland's great famine, the Nordic famines and European Wars of Religion a few examples. Today's Syrians of yesterday would have headed elsewhere if it weren't for Global Apartheid. 'Repatriation' is a weird idea if we are all Global Citizens. Like Ethiopia, Liberia maintained it's independence during the European Colonial era in Africa. It didn't manage to avoid the Independence and Civil Wars that plagued the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia. The last war ended in 2003 and 85% of the population live below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day.


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