I’m Glenna Gordon, an American photographer and journalist, presently commuting between West Africa and Brooklyn. Previously, I lived in Liberia. And before that, I lived in Uganda. I’ve traveled and worked in over a dozen countries in Africa.
Very little has been said about this week’s New York Times Magazine story about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in the blog world because frankly, there’s very little worth saying. Journalist Daniel Bergner takes twelve paragraphs to even hint at the fact that many Liberians are unhappy with EJS, though he doesn’t bother talking to any Liberians who are not the president or running for presidency. He mentions candidate Prince Johnson, but doesn’t mention that his candidacy isn’t the real threat and that George Weah’s is, especially with the backing of many of Charles Taylor’s people, who are still much more popular than EJS ever was or will be.
And for the record: many many many Liberians don’t like EJS and are unhappy with her. The electrical grid is not being rebuilt (though the article says that it is), corrupt ministers are shuffled from one ministry to another, and the police are paid so little and infrequently that extortion is the norm, not the exception.
Though the international community is rewriting the African-leader-hagiography with EJS as the newest star now that Museveni Kagame is falling out of favor, that doesn’t mean that her candidacy is a sure thing. She’s still, despite these things, Liberia’s best option, but that no one is doing her, Liberia, or African leaders in general any favors by creating such over simplified political narratives. Acknowledging her weaknesses as a candidate and leader and then endorsing her anyway is a much stronger position to take than pretending she has no weaknesses.
One last very serious qualm with this article:
Because of her early and enthusiastic backing for Taylor, the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, charged with helping the nation to heal, recommended last year that she be barred from public office for 30 years. The proposal, which holds no legal power, seems to be viewed by Liberians and Westerners, and by Sirleaf herself, as almost precious.
Besides the fact that Bergner didn’t bother, you know, talking to any Liberians besides EJS about the TRC, he also doesn’t for a second consider that perhaps EJS has a reason to discount the report and that’s why she thinks its “precious.” The TRC report had many problems, but discounting it and any chance for a truth commission is not just throwing out the baby with the bath water, it’s also allowing for widespread impunity.
Bergner also wrote a book about Sierra Leone. Here’s the description of it from his website:
in sierra leone, rampaging soldiers have made a custom of hacking off the hands of their victims, then letting them live as the ultimate emblem of terror. the country is so desperate that, forty years after independence, its people long to be recolonized. in this book, the acclaimed author follows a set of western would-be saviors and a set of sierra leoneans, who take us into a land of beauty, horror,
resilience and redemption. from mercenaries to missionaries, child soldiers to priests who can deflect bullets and cure AIDS, bergner tells this racially charged story with sensitivity and precision, creating an unforgettable work of literary reportage.
‘Nuff said.
For a great article about what reconciliation might actually mean to Liberia, with much more nuanced political commentary, read Johnny Steingberg’s great article.
