Discussion HighlightsA timely HRW photo exhibit in New York: Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold (based on the work of a photographer who lived with the LURD) there is a short trailer video that is very interesting
We had a good discussion, with some interesting questions that came up from reading Ellen Johonson Sirleaf's book. One question was about the tone of the book, specifically the lack of any discussion of Sirleaf's emotional and personal life- a few readers found it remarkable that the author could write so matter-of-factly about her decision to leave her children behind in Liberia when she and her husband went to the USA to pursue higher education. The reserved tone and muted emotion continues throughout the book- so that we feel that we learned a lot about the contemporary political history of Liberia from Sirleaf- but very little about Sirleaf as a person. However, this stoic, fearless character is also a highly cultivated and personally valued aspect of the President's image and personality. And certainly it can be understood as a useful quality for a female politician to have.
Another very interesting set of questions was about policies dealing with child soldiers' rehabilitation in Libera, the demographics of Liberia and the effects of war on the makeup of the population, and policies dealing with women's rights and domestic violence under Sirleaf's administration. According to the CIA Factbook, the demographics of Libera for 2009 do show more women than men in the voting age groups:
0-14 years: 44.1% (male 760,989/female 758,554) 15-64 years: 53% (male 904,770/female 920,704) 65 years and over: 2.8% (male 47,013/female 49,760) (2009 est.) | |
Please check out this Council of Foreign Relations backgrounder for an introduction to the issue of child soldiers. In fact, many of the groups of women we learned about in the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell appear to still be active- a group of women's NGOs in Liberia (WONGOSOL) participated in a Truth and Reconciliation Commission's dialogue- they recommended amnesty for all child soldiers. There are also United Nations and foreign NGO programs for rehabilitation.
UPDATE: Check out this speech by President Sirleaf on Gender and Poverty. Also, courtesy of Ellen check out this book for your reading list (if you are interested in the subject) Russell Banks’ The Darling which is also women in the Liberian civil war, from the viewpoint of a US woman activist.
Please join us, as we discuss the recent memoir, "This Child Will Be Great", by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the President of Liberia.
We were inspired to read this book because of the movie, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which was screened in Los Angeles for the spring fundraiser of the Womens Rights Committee of Human Rights Watch. It is a wonderful amazing film, and everyone should see it!
President Sirleaf is the first woman to be elected president of an African country. She has had an unusual path to power for a leading politician: she was married at the age of 17 and followed her husband to the United States when he got a scholarship to study. She took the chance to pursue her own education, however, and her biography includes jobs in international finance, and a UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund For Women) investigator.
She has appeared on The Daily Show, where she talks about her political experiences during the upheavals in Liberia. Her book has been very well reviewed by the Washington Post, as well as the Economist, and she has been interviewed by Time Magazine and NPR amond many others.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff argues, she is a sign of Africa as a "Bright Continent", full of hope.
For more information about Sierra Leone, please check out HRW reports where you can read the latest about Charles Taylor's trial in The Hague, and more.
For a quick introduction to Liberia, check out this wonderful PDF of a short lecture, created by Ghislaine Lydon, Associate Professor at UCLA's Department of History. Thanks, Ghislaine, for sharing this!GLydon on Liberia
