Charles Taylor was deeply involved with al-Qaeda, and his deepening interest in Sierra Leone most likely had to do with obtaining control over its diamond mines in order better serve his customers. Diamonds can move across international borders easily without detection, since they are small and easily concealed on the bodies and in the body cavities of human beings, are easily converted into cash, can’t be traced, and don’t trigger metal detectors. Taylor’s control over the Sierra Leonean diamond mines meant he could trade diamonds for weapons and use those weapons to control West Africa. Al-Qaeda and other international terrorist organizations wanted those diamonds because they were an untraceable way to move money around the world and fund its war against the West.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone was financed by voluntary contributions from individual countries, mainly the U.S. and Britain.
On March 3, 2003, Charles Taylor was indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone, sitting in Freetown. The indictment was unsealed on June 4, 2003, when Taylor was in Ghana for peace negotiations with LURD and MODEL. John Kufuor, president of Ghana, declined to extradite Taylor to Sierra Leone, and Taylor fled home to Liberia.
On August 11, 2003, Charles Taylor, his troops surrounded and his international support gone, resigned and was immediately placed on the personal jet of Olusẹgun Obasanjo, president of Nigeria, with his family and President John Kufuor of Ghana. He had been granted asylum by Obasanjo and would live in luxury in Nigeria for three years.
On the same day, on August 11, 2003, three U.S. warships showed themselves off the coast of Liberia, where they had had been lurking out of sight for over a month, and the Liberian people lined the shores and cheered. “Feed us!! Save us!!” people cried, for those warships were the first hope people had that the long nightmare of Charles Taylor’s reign might finally be over.
The U.S. landed an expeditionary force of 150 marines at Robertsfield Airport, and about 30 marines at the port at Monrovia. Nigeria brought in 6,000 men under the UN flag as peacekeepers. That was all it took to end 14 years of devastation, which followed on 8 years of dictatorship, which followed on 140 of oligarchy and rule of one people over another—an oligarchy that itself started as a way to end slavery in the U.S.
The story of Charles Taylor in Liberia appears to be the story of the havoc, murder, and mayhem one man can wreak on a people, a nation, and a region. Taylor was associated with at least three civil wars (two in Liberia and one in Sierra Leone), political instability in at least three countries (Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea), the deaths of at least 350 thousand people (in Liberia and Sierra Leone) and the displacement of more than one million.
But Taylor did not act alone. Many people profited from Taylor’s reign of terror. Many people helped or supported him. Too few resisted. Taylor inserted himself into a culture that was already lawless and divided, into a place where people had already let big men, big money, and big countries have their way. Liberia already had a culture of obeisance to power before Taylor built himself an army, instead of a culture that valued each person and each community and encouraged each person and community to stand up for themselves and work together in mutual defense.
There is no science that tells us how to balance the needs of the individual, the ability of people to collaborate and cooperate under the rule of law, and the importance of domestic tranquility against the desires of a few greedy men or the actions of a few greedy people, acting together. But there can never be enough vigilance, never enough engagement, and never enough emphasis on what we have built together. Never enough mutual defense. Never enough democracy. Never enough peace. Never enough justice. And never enough resolve to protect the bounty that our ability to be and work together has created for us.
An injury to one is an injury to all. We can only survive as individuals if we stand together and act together as a people. Democracy works but only if we make it work to create justice, and by creating justice, create and sustain peace.
Glossary
ATU—Antiterrorism Unit. A paramilitary Force of the Liberian Government established by President Charles Taylor in 1997 to guard government buildings. It was made up of foreign mercenaries from Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and other nations and was implicated in murder, rape, and theft and looting in Monrovia in 2002.
Congo—A sometimes pejorative way to describe Americo-Liberians, used by other Liberians.
Congoman—A man of Americo-Liberian descent.
Congotown—A community in southeast Monrovia.
Copper—Small amounts of money. Often used to mean money or payment in any amount.
Dash—A small payment, a tip, or a gift. Does not imply anything like the word bribe, but rather indicates reciprocity, recognition of a favor or service done, or the worth of the person.
ECOMIL—Economic Community of West African States Military Command, formed in 2003 by ECOWAS, with the support of the U.S., to halt the occupation of Monrovia. It was succeeded by UNMIL.
ECOMOG—Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group. A multilateral armed force established by ECOWAS in 1990 to intervene in the first civil war in Liberia (1990–1996). It included armed forces from Nigeria, Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone, the Gambia, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and others.
ECOWAS—Economic Community of West African States. A regional group of fifteen countries founded in 1975 to promote economic development and integration, which has at times functioned as a political and military entity.
Goods Lorry—A truck, usually with side walls but an open top and back, used to transport people and materials in rural Liberia.
Grand Bassa County—The Liberian county in which the town of Buchanan is located.
Jitney—A shared taxi, usually a minivan able to carry six to twelve people, widely used in West Africa in place of public transportation.
LAC—Liberian Agricultural Corporation, the second largest producer of rubber in Liberia, which employed as many as three thousand workers.
Lapa—A large bolt of brightly color cloth used to make dresses and other clothing in West Africa. Often used to refer to a dress made from that cloth.
LD—Liberian Dollars. Worth about 0.012 U.S. dollars, or about 1.2 U.S. cents.
LURD—Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy. A rebel group active in north and west Liberia from 1999 until 2003.
Merlin—A British NGO that has provided public health support for Liberia since 1997.
Mittal—Now, Acelor-Mittal. A steel and mining company that once operated a large iron smelter in Buchanan, Liberia. Mittal’s smelter was said to have been stripped of all its operating equipment when Buchanan was occupied by ECOMIL in 2003.
MODEL—Movement for Democracy in Liberia. A rebel group active in south and east Liberia in 2003.
Montserrado County—The Liberian county where Monrovia is located.
MSF—Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), an international medical aid nonprofit that brings clinicians to care for populations suffering from the consequences of war and natural disasters.
Night Soil—Feces. A description used in places without latrines.
NGO—Nongovernmental organizations, usually private aid organizations like MSF and Merlin.
RPG—Rocket-propelled grenade.
Small Boy Units (SBUs)—Units of forcibly conscripted child soldiers as young as seven. Known for their brutality, the Small Boy Units were used extensively by the Revolutionary United Front during the 1991–2002 civil war in Sierra Leone and were closely linked to Charles Taylor and occasionally used by his forces in Liberia.
SSS—Special Security Service of the Armed Forces of Liberia was a military unit modeled on the U.S. Secret Service. Created by President Tubman and responsible for protecting the president of Liberia, the SSS was blamed for many human rights abuses during the Doe and Taylor presidencies.
UNMIL—United Nations Mission in Liberia was established by Security Council resolution
1509 (2003) of September 19, 2003, to support the implementation of the cease-fire agreement and the peace process; protect United Nations staff, facilities, and civilians; support humanitarian and human rights activities; and assist in national security reform, including national police training and formation of a new, restructured military.
USAID—United States Agency for International Development.
Acknowledgments
MANY PEOPLE HELPED IN THE WRITING OF THIS NOVEL, OFTEN MUCH MORE THAN THEY might suspect.
I had the honor of meeting and knowing many Liberians, Ghanaians, Malians, Nigerians, and other African-born Rhode Islanders when I practiced family medicine in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Abundance was written for them.
Julius Kolawole, Syrulwa Somah, PhD, and Henrietta White-Holder, friends and teachers, provided an early introduction to Africa and African culture. Robert Pierce, Jr. and the Liberian Health Care Initiative funded and David Joseph of Mediators Beyond Borders helped arrange a medical mission to Liberia in 2009 that formed the basis of the descriptions in this book. Gabriel Fine joined me on that trip and provided a thoughtful critique and analysis of the situation in Africa and helped put that situation in the context of international relations. He was also an early reader of the novel and provided a helpful critique of some of the ideas and attitudes in the writing. Torwon Bunnah helped us understand the situation in and around Buchanan. Merlin and its entire Buchanan staff were great hosts. James Tomarken, MD, hosted us in Monrovia, provided useful insight into the government and politics of Liberia, was a helpful reader, and has become a good friend. Jason Montecalvo told me that it was impossible to buy a cheap used four-wheel drive car in Rhode Island, because they were being bought up and shipped to Africa, something that seemed totally improbable but turned out to be true and sparked the construction of the plot. The Open Society Institute webcast the trial of Charles Taylor, so I was able to watch it from my home in Rhode Island.
Kathy Laska, Paul Stekler, Lindsey Lane, and Jane Murphy, and the sorely missed Richard Walton were helpful early readers. Ellen Bar-Zemer, Penney Stein, Sally Rotenberg, Katherine Brown, and Sarah Zacks convened their book group to critique the novel and provided very useful feedback. Ann Hood and Gail Hochman were patient and realistic with me as an amateur and encouraged this unlikely project in spite of its many shortcomings.
Special thanks to Alexandra Shelley and to Tamara Trudeau for their editing and proofreading of early versions. Special thanks as well to Kim McHale for advice and encouragement all along the way, to Celia Ehrenpreis for her support and steady hand, and to Molly Hubbard for her creative approach to reckless abandon.
Terry Bisson provided editing, advice, encouragement, and wisdom. There is more to his quiet heroism that most people will ever know. Michael Ryan is the best copy editor a writer could hope for—precise and objective but also able to see and feel the story while trying to salvage the language and the punctuation. There is no better publisher than PM Press—Ramsey Kanaan, Stephanie Pasvankias, Steven Stothard, and many others—who make books for the right reason, which is protecting our freedom by strengthening our democracy.
I’ve been supported in every way by Carol Levitt for forty years and by Gabriel Fine and Rosie Fine for twenty-eight and twenty-seven years, respectively, which makes me the world’s luckiest man.
About the Author
MICHAEL FINE, MD, IS A WRITER, COMMUNITY ORGANIZER, AND FAMILY PHYSICIAN. HE IS the chief health strategist for the City of Central Falls, RI, and Senior Clinical and Population Health Services Officer for Blackstone Valley Community Health Care, Inc., and recipient of many awards and prizes for his pioneering work bringing together public health and primary medical care. He was director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, 2011–2015.
Also by Michael Fine
HEALTH CARE REVOLT
How to Organize, Build a Health Care System, and Resuscitate Democracy—All at the Same Time
Foreword by Bernard Lown MD and Ariel Lown Lewiton
ISBN: 978-1-62963-581-1
5.5x8.5 • 192 pages
The U.S. does not have a health system. Instead we have market for health-related goods and services, a market in which the few profit from the public’s ill-health.
Health Care Revolt looks around the world for examples of health care systems that are effective and affordable, pictures such a system for the U.S., and creates a practical playbook for a political revolution in health care that will allow the nation to protect health while strengthening democracy.
Dr. Fine’s writes with the wisdom of a clinician, the savvy of a state public health commissioner, the precision of a scholar, and the energy and commitment of a community organizer.
“This is a revolutionary book. The author incites readers to embark on an audacious revolution to convert the American medical market into the American health care system.”
—T.P. Gariepy, Stonehill College/CHOICE connect
“Michael Fine is one of the true heroes of primary care over several decades.”
—Dr. Doug Henley, CEO and executive vice president of the American Academy of Family Physicians
“As Rhode Island’s director of health, Dr. Fine brought a vision of a humane, local, integrated health care system that focused as much on health as on disease and treatment.”
—U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
“Michael Fine has given us an extraordinary biopic on health care in America based on the authority of his forty-year career as writer, community organizer, family physician, and public health official.”
—Fitzhugh Mullan, MD
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Damnificados
JJ Amaworo Wilson
ISBN: 978-1-62963-117-2
5x8 • 288 pages
Damnificados is loosely based on the real-life occupation of a half-completed skyscraper in Caracas, Venezuela, the Tower of David. In this fictional version, six hundred “damnificados”—vagabonds and misfits—take over an abandoned urban tower and set up a community complete with schools, stores, beauty salons, bakeries, and a rag-tag defensive militia. Their always heroic (and often hilarious) struggle for survival and dignity pits them against corrupt police, the brutal military, and the tyrannical “owners.”
Taking place in an unnamed country at an unspecified time, the novel has elements of magical realism: avenging wolves, biblical floods, massacres involving multilingual ghosts, arrow showers falling to the tune of Beethoven’s Ninth, and a trash truck acting as a Trojan horse. The ghosts and miracles woven into the narrative are part of a richly imagined world in which the laws of nature are constantly stretched and the past is always present.
Abundance Page 34
