In far away Africa, there is a country that can be called a low-end version of the United States, and the flag is the Star-Spangled Banner, but there is only one star. Not only that, but the Constitution, the separation of powers, culture, taxation, economy, and other systems are directly copied and copied from the United States, but in the end, most of them are "unsatisfied with the soil and water", and they do not get the country out of poverty, but because of frequent political turmoil, they are poor and weak. This country is Liberia, known as the "Gateway to Africa" and the "Rubber Kingdom".
Comparison of the flag of Liberia (above) and the flag of the United States (below).
I. Neocolonial Methods Created the "Little America of Africa"
With the advent of the Era of Western Navigation in the fourteenth century, Europeans set foot on the pure land of West Africa in Liberia and set up a stronghold in this land, plundering resources and colonizing it.
Oil paintings from the Age of Discovery
In the nineteenth century, when the United States, far away on the other side of the ocean, had just been established, and everything was in ruins, and the slavery system in the South severely restricted the development of capitalist industry and commerce, a "abolition movement" came in a mighty way. More and more black slaves were liberated into free people, and the placement of these free blacks became a headache for the U.S. government. In order to solve this problem, American politicians came up with a two-pronged solution, that is, to send these free blacks back to Africa, which not only solved the black settlement, but also established overseas colonies.
American slaves pick cotton in the 19th century
Since then, the United States has begun a series of "riot operations", first on December 28, 1816, the Establishment of the American Colonial Association; in March 1819, the United States Congress passed the "Law on the Repatriation of Free Blacks to Africa to Establish Colonies"; in 1821, the first free blacks were sent back to Cape Messurado in Liberia, through the threat of force to force local natives to sell coastal land to establish a Black American settlement area, and the colony was named Liberia, which means "free land". However, due to the great differences between these Black Americans and the local indigenous Blacks in terms of social class and cultural customs, the contradictions between the two sides have become increasingly fierce, and the local indigenous blacks have been fighting against each other continuously, which has laid an untime bomb for the subsequent turmoil.
American Colonial Society Registry In 1867
After more than twenty years of colonial rule, the U.S. government found that the colonization funds in this place were too high, which was a loss-making transaction, and Liberia wanted to generate income independently, so the United States made a smoothwill and agreed to Liberia's request for independence. On July 26, 1847, the Commonwealth of Liberia followed the example of the United States in issuing the Declaration of Independence, officially declared its independence, and established the Republic of Liberia. The post-independence Liberian regime was held for a hundred years by the Black-American Political Party, the True Independence Party, which was nominally an independent country but in fact a puppet of the United States.
Photo of a black-American immigrant area established by the United States in Liberia
After the 1970s, due to the deteriorating economic situation in Liberia, high prices, and the intensification of the contradictions between the upper black American ruling group and the local indigenous black people, the anti-government organization developed rapidly until April 14, 1979, when a large-scale mass demonstration campaign of "opposing the price increase of rice" broke out, but it was bloodily suppressed by the Black American puppet government, and more than 500 demonstrators were killed.
Photographs of the unrest in Liberia in the 1970s
The century-old hope of the natives became a dictatorial tyrant
By March 1980, the mass demonstration movement was once again at its climax. A young aboriginal black man named Doe seized the moment and led a dozen men in National Guard uniforms into the Liberian presidential palace on the night of April 12. After a fierce gunfight, Doe rushed into the president's bedroom, and the sleepy-eyed President Tolbert was shot before he could react, and the black-American puppet regime that had ruled for more than a hundred years collapsed and the coup was successful.
Doe coup d'état success photo
After the success of the coup, Doe appointed himself a five-star general and formed the People's Salvation Committee (PRC), which was composed of himself and 14 other low-ranking officials, becoming liberia's first-ever national leader of indigenous black origin, and was embraced by indigenous blacks. The native blacks had thought that the good old days they had been looking forward to for a hundred years had finally arrived, but it wasn't long before Doy's brutal nature was revealed.
Photo of former Liberian President Doe
Doe installed cronies in government posts after the coup, liquidated and publicly executed former government officials and opposition officials, and even massacred innocent people. For example, a news editor of Liberian national television went to the presidential palace to interview Doe, and although the news editor was very careful during the interview, he let his subordinates beat the news editor to death just because of his bad mood. Since then, Doy has intensified his greed and cruelty, plundering the people's fat and slaughtering opponents. So what made Doe so brutal when he came to power? I personally relate it to his cultural education and the environment in which he grew up. As a low-level black native who has been discriminated against, Doe has not been able to receive a good cultural education since childhood, coupled with living in a turbulent environment since childhood, so that he has the idea of power, and after taking power, he will surely become a tyrant with a military and dictatorial rule.
Doe ordered public shootings of former government officials
Doe's brutal rule chilled the hearts of the Liberian people, and resistance movements rose and fell. Under the pressure of strong political opinion, in 1986, Doe was forced to restore the domestic electoral system and promised to "return the government to the people" and not to run for president. But in the presidential election shortly after, Doe broke his promise to use bribery to obtain 25% of the vote, but failed to meet the demand for presidential votes. In order to be successfully elected, he actually dissolved the vote counting committee, and then arranged for his subordinates to count the votes, and Doe's vote rate suddenly became 51%, "successfully" elected president.
Early photos of Doy
Countering violence with violence has led to a vicious circle
Doe's brutal and greedy rule led to rebellion and aroused opposition from all strata of Liberians, especially many of his former friends, but Doe was never merciful to all those who opposed him, and all were tortured and slaughtered. Former Defense Minister Queonba, who fled abroad, returned to China to plan a failed coup and was tortured to death by Doe and dismembered and thrown to the public. Just when Doy was sitting back, in 1989 his most trusted confidant, Taylor, staged a coup d'état in the capital Monrovia, which was immediately supported by the general public, and the rebel army marched all the way to capture a number of important cities, and Doy's defeat was decided.
Early photos of Doy
On September 9, 1990, Doy was arrested on his way to escape. Rebel general Prince Jensen interrogated Doe and had the soldiers strip off Doe's clothes and beat him. But Doe may know that his end is not to recognize all the crimes he has committed before, and the helpless Prince Jensen has doe's fingers chopped off one by one, and cut off his ears and genitals, so that a generation of Liberian tyrants died in pain. After Doe's death, Taylor still did not spare his body, chopped him up into broth and distributed it to people, which can be described as "treating his body the way he treats people".
Photo of Liberian President Doe being captured
Countering violence against violence did not bring peace to Liberia, but rather more than a decade of civil strife, until the armed conflict was brought under control in 2003, when Liberia was taken over by a United Nations peacekeeping force. Democratic elections were reinstated on 11 October 2005 under the supervision of the United Nations.
Chinese Peacekeeping Force in Liberia
Liberian children and the Liberian flag
Current situation in liberia's capital