TRC: Liberia's only Hope to Bring to Justice Those Criminals That Destroyed Our Country.

Dear Brothers , Sisters, fellow citizens and countrymen and women it is great pleasure that I write this letter from Boston, Massachusetts to respond to current issues in Liberia most especially the recent report of the TRC. Liberians worldwide have been waiting to see if we can follow the footsteps of great nations like Ghana, South Africa and the like in promoting peace, stability, justice and unity. It is only through the legal process that those responsible for these acts can be brought to the rule of Law to face the consequences of their selfish acts which are perpetuated by their love for power, money and wealth. Those who promoted, facilitated and provided leadership in all its kind in the process of creating the 14 years civil upheavals that left about 300,000 people dead are now called upon by the Liberian people to resign from their current leadership function in the government and face justice.

I know this is going to be a very difficult task to accomplish, because most of these former warlords and their alleged promoters are power-center and they concern about themselves and no one else.

Let it be known to those who names were mentioned few months ago in the TRC’s final report that they wouldn’t go free until they are legally found not guilty for the crime(s) that was or were alleged against them. We are all Liberians and we have to make this system work together for the betterment of our country.

Let it also be known that no one can stand and threaten our legal system from running its course of legal activities. Not even a former warlord has that audacity to threaten the constitution of the Republic of Liberia. The legal system as time permits will be carried out its function to bring to light all those that assisted in any form in making the Liberia people suffered throughout the 14 years that we were at war.

Liberia will never experience total peace when we leave those responsible for committing crimes against humanity and world crimes go free. Each individual most face the consequences of his or her actions.

I understand that most of us feel that letting bygone be bygone will leave the country at peace. If we keep stuffing hatred, wickedness and injustices in our bag what will come later in our country’s history will be worst than what we experienced these past years. We should remember that Liberia does not belong to a single individual, family, tribe, organization or political enterprise. If everyone in Liberia pass out today, Liberia will still survive. Likewise, the earth doesn’t rely on people to survive. The earth lives without people. Liberians must take care of the land they have, because we are stewards to those lands. So, bringing to justice people who mismanages or promoted atrocities on the land is a natural and biblical process.
The current leadership of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf needs to follow in the direction of former President Charles Taylor. He was president and yet had to resign even though it was a difficult decision to consider. However, he did and is now on trial for his involvement in supporting the Sierra Leone civil war. Current government officials of Liberia are no excuse to this process. They too need to put their “big hearts” under their feet and submit to the constitution of the Republic of Liberia. We are all equal in front of the Law and before the law we all have equal representation. They are accountable for their support and involvement during the civil war. They now need to stand up and promote justice, peace, unity and transparency, because only through this means can Liberia truly be at peace.

President Sirleaf, women all over the world are watching the decision you will take in the midst of all these allegations. It will do you more good than harm to bring yourself to justice as oppose to staying in power and prolong the process for justice to take her course. If you continue to stay in power without respecting the rule of law which you also preach will portray a negative image of Africans leaderships to the world and also the leaderships and roles of African women. It is unconstitutional to remain in public office when you previously supported a rebellion that left 300,000 Liberians killed and thousands more spread throughout the world in refugee camps. Your support and verbal authorization of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) under the military leadership of Mr. Charles G.T. Taylor and other rebel factions after you denounced him cannot be underestimated in the process of cultivating national unity, peace and stability. I am so sorry that you have to go, but every true Christian, traditionalist, and Islamist know this fact. Liberia can become a better nation without you.

If you resist stepping down from your current leadership function remember that you are only showing to the world how wicked and evil you are. Because from the dawn of time your egocentric plight to become president of Liberia cannot be overlook as well. You have played your cards well, but it is also time that you go down.

Thanks,

Jenkins Macedo

Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa

Jenkins Macedo
Prof. Osama Abdelgadir
Framingham State University
Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa (GEOG 255 COA)
24 June 2009

Write a short essay (2-3 pages) to compare and contrast cultural value systems in the West with those in Sub-Saharan Africa. Focus on family ties, marriage and polygamy, fertility, and the role of women.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a region that is diversely significant in the world of geography. “Understanding the cultural geography of Sub-Saharan Africa is, thus, fundamental to understanding the geography of the region which include its political situation, its medical geography, its population dilemma, and the current development crisis” (Aryeeteh-Attoh et al, 2003). We cannot fully discuss the cultural value systems which include the family organizational patterns, the institution of marriage and fertility as well as the role of women without briefly discussing the effects of colonialism and western influences in the region.Also, this paper shall seek to address the similarities and differences between cultural value systems in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as cultural values systems in the West precisely Europe and North America. This paper shall also seek to compare and contrast cultures in the West and Sub-Saharan Africa in relations to family ties, marriage and polygamy.

The colonization of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa helped in the process of shaping the region politically, socially, culturally, educationally, economically and religiously. The colonization period disintegrated the social, cultural, political, religious and educational landscape of the region shaping it to what we have today. Poverty, diseases, hunger, ethnic tensions and political upheavals are widespread throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, partly because of the negative influences and ideologies that Western powers instituted in the region. These ideologies were rooted in extreme hatred and evil the fundamental cause of Africa’s problems today. Now, let us compare and contrast cultural value systems in Sub-Saharan Africa to that of the West (Europe and North America).Studying the culture of Sub-Saharan Africa is not only limited to the geographic landscape of the region in which people interact, but it is also “studying the culture of a group of people which involves evaluating their way of life-how they live; what clothes they wear; what food they eat; their customary habits, belief systems, speech patterns, and value systems” (Aryeeteh-Attoh et al, 2003).

The family is an important aspect of the culture in most African countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, people practice the extended family system in which the family is composed of the father, mother, children plus other relatives. Unlike to western countries, family ties are limited to the nuclear family system in which the immediate family is center on the father, mother and children. There are social reasons why family ties in each of these regions vary. The culture, economy, education, and social value systems of these regions play an important role in shaping how their family is composed. For example, the United States and most West European nations where the nuclear family system is widely practice are more developed economically. As a result, people tend to have smaller families as possible. Generally, children in more developed or industrialized nations are considered as liabilities as oppose to Sub-Saharan Africa where children are consider assets. Even though some Christian denominations do promote polygamy in the United States and elsewhere in Europe (Mormonism), monogamy is widely practiced. Europeans and North Americans tend to have fewer children (2.5 TFR) than those in Sub-Saharan Africa where the Total Fertility Rate is higher (TFR 5+). However, this varies on country to country bases in the region which is highly rooted in culture, belief systems, and economy.

Notwithstanding, in some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, having more children is a symbolic representation of wealth, power and socioeconomic status. Children assist their parents with farm work and get involved in activities that bring about wealth. Children in Sub-Saharan Africa serves as the labor force in the means of production; whereas, in the US and Europe children are widely considered liability to their parents and the economy until they turn eighteen years old when they can legally live by themselves (18 yrs).In Africa, children tend to take care of their parents when they are older, because that is what their culture requires of them; whereas, in the United States and some Europe countries there is a separation between parents and children. Parents in their old ages tend to rely on the government’s social service programs such as their Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to replace the protection and care they should have gotten from their children. This can lead to wider gaps in family cohesiveness and love. In Africa, people feel cooperative and together because they always see each other. In the West precisely the United States and other European countries, people are more individualistic and competitive and this account for the high rate of suicide cases and crimes.

Education is also a factor that account for both the role of women in the family as well as at the national levels. Over the past fifty-nine years (59), when most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa became independent the role of women were limited to household work, farming, gathering firewood, fetching water as well as preparing food for the family. Women were not encouraged to seek education as the men were pursuing. As a result, the illiteracy rate amongst women and girls became higher. On the other hand, in the United States and European countries women sought education just as men did and became to work on jobs that men did. The roles of women were not limited to parenting as in the case of women in Africa. This was highly due to their culture, government policies, and active civil rights organizations that protested for gender equality and social justice. Today, Africa and precisely Sub-Saharan Africa is also undergoing drastic transformation on the issue of women role on local, national and global matters.To conclude, Sub-Saharan Africa is doing her best in transitioning from an agrarian economic system to an industrial system; however, this is going to take centuries for most countries in the region to attain. 

The development of international partnerships, effective government policies and programs to meet the needs of the common people, good governance and reduce corruption, widespread education and empowerment initiatives for women and girl and an effective health care programs and policies, the region will experience widespread geographic transformation in its total fertility rate and the role of women.

Work Cited

Aryeeteh-Attoh, S. et al, (2003), “Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa.” 3rd Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003.

A Classical Theory Paper on The Movie "Brazil" by Jenkins Macedo

Source: URL: http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2013/02/the-terry-gilliam-retrospective-part-3.html

The Criterion Edition of the 1985 movie known as ‘Brazil’ detailed significant classical theoretical concepts of Max Weber. The paper discussed how specific scenes and dialogues in the movie are related to Weber’s view of the world from a theoretical perspective.

Source:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wh2b1eZFUM

Weber (1864-1920) was a pessimistic classical theorist unlike Karl Marx (1818-1883) who was more optimistic about events occurring in society. He believes that society will gradually become difficult and there is nothing that we can do to fix it. His theory was based on two ultimate themes which are reflected in his entire theoretical thesis: firstly, “the emergence of capitalism as the dominant form of organization in the West and secondly, the relationship between ideas and actions” (McQuaid, summer 1 Lecture, 09). These two components of Weber’s theoretical works were reflective in various scenes and dialogue in Brazil. Also, the idea of McDonaldization that Weber proposed would continue and subsequently lead to the “Iron Cage” of rationality was also highly visible throughout the movie.

Television was an influential component of the society. It serves as a central part of the daily lives of the people as well as an instrument of entertainment, social status and a medium of social cohesion. However, the use of television at the Ministry of Information where Sam Lieway was initially working served a significant barrier to the efficiencies of the division of labor in that department, because occasionally government employees turned on their television sets to watch movies. This attitude placed a huge burden on the department and also led to waste of resources in the form of money, time, electricity and human labor.

Technological advancement was also a key element in the movie. What was significant about technology was how it was used to systematically replace human labor. An example of this was how the key character’s Sam home was organized. His air conditioning system, telephone network as well as bathroom and kitchen were all automated to respond to specific instructions based on time. Weber considered this as ‘McDonaldization’. According to Weber, rationalization is a significant aspect of McDonaldization which is an “on-going process in which social organizations and institutions are increasingly governed by methodical rules and procedures” (McQuaid, Summer 1 Lecture). As a result, scientific advancement leads to the extension of rationalization.

Bureaucracy is one of those “social structures which are the hardest to destroy” (Weber, 1920). It is “the means of carrying community actions over into rationally ordered societal action” (Weber, 1920). It is an instrument for those in power to control the bureaucratic system.

The rule of bureaucracy which is an aspect of modern capitalistic societies was also a central part in various scenes and dialogue in the movie. From his work as an agent with the Ministry of Information (MOI) under Kurtzmann as his immediate manager, to his unprofessional, mothered influenced and oriented promotion as an agent of Information Retrieval known as (DZ-015) was all played and planned according to the rule of modern bureaucratic processes.

In a bureaucracy, there is a formal set of “hierarchical order, a strict sense of division of labor, management systems are based on written documents known as the filing system, and positions require formal training which is based on merit as well as each job is governed by rules which are stable, exhaustive and can be learned” (McQuaid, Summer 1 Lecture). Sam was brainwashed by the bureaucratic system and he failed to play by the rules. He failed to separate his personal or private interest from the public affairs of the job. Weber stated in his article about ‘Bureaucracy’, that “the modern organization of the civil service separates the bureau from the private domicile of the official, and, in general, bureaucracy segregates official activity as something distinct from the sphere of private life” (Weber, 1920). Public monies and equipments are to be used for the intended purpose only. In the movie, Sam used the agency’s materials to accomplish his own interest and that led to his downfall in the system. We are expected to divorce our personal interests from the public interests. In the bureaucratic system, the executives are constantly monitoring the activities of their subordinates to make sure that they are doing their job rightfully. This was the situation with Sam and his former boss Kurtzmann and this led to him being tortured by the system.

According to Weber’s article on bureaucracy, it is stated that “when the office is fully developed, official activity demands the full working capacity of the official, irrespective of the fact that his obligatory time in the bureau may be firmly delimited” (Weber, 1920). However, in the case of Sam as agent of Information Retrieval in “Brazil,” he used his official time and resources to do his personal business and as a result official issues became a secondary factor of his job.

Huffman, Sam’s boss at the Information Retrieval during his visit in the prison told him that “rules of the game are set and everyone is expected to play by it” (Brazil, 1985). Sam used his position to mismanage the agency’s resources and time and also leaked classified information out to unintended recipients.

Some important aspects of the bureaucratic system that is worth considering in this paper are the disadvantages associated with the system as mentioned by Weber. The management of time and resources in bureaucracy is wasteful. In the movie, Jill wanted to file a report concerning an arrest that she considered ‘incorrect,’ because she wasn’t guilty of those charges. She went to Information Retrieval to file the necessary papers, but just to be told that her initial application had to be stamped by the Department of Information Adjustment.

However, getting the appropriate authorities to stamp and file the paperwork (27B-6) as it was commonly known became a problem for her and she had to walk from departments to departments without getting the right person to solve her problem. The system also dehumanized people by allowing robots and specialized computers to do human’s work, thus reducing interaction between public officials and citizens. The rules and regulations governing the system also serve as hindrances for implementing programs or projects.

The inaccurate calculations or mistakes of one person in the system can lead to detrimental effects in the lives of others. An example of this scenario was the issue surrounding the arrest of Mr. Buttle by the Information Retrieval (IR) for not paying his bills. He was arrested like a criminal in front of his wife and son on the eve of Christmas. It was later noted by the Ministry of Information (MOI) that Mr. Buttle was over charged by IR and that his money needed to be refunded. However, Information Retrieval had already executed Mr. Buttle for crimes against the state. The government realizing their mistakes at this time can never do any good for Mrs. Buttle, because her husband had already been killed by the system.

While Karl Marx sociological theory encouraged us that society will gradually become better; Weber on the other hand discouraged us that society will eventually become difficult and everything that is promoted by scientific thoughts as oppose to traditional thoughts will become meaningless, because science is dynamic; that is, scientific thoughts are changing every day. Marx proposed that in order to create social change an individual must be able to understand the economy of a particular region, because to him the economy shapes the way the people think and act. It is through conducting social research that conflicts in society are meant to be addressed. Notwithstanding, this idea was rejected by Weber who suggested that the “essence of sociological thoughts or social sciences is to be able to perceive the world in the own eyes of others. According to Weber, an individual must take a holistic approach in achieving the end results are not meant to create social change, because society will gradually become difficult. In the movie this view of Weber was to perceive the world from a broader perspective was mentioned by Jill when she and Sam went to pick up a cargo (house) from her workplace. On one occasion, she did ask Sam if he had ever met a terrorist in his life before. She did ask him this question because of his suspicion that she had linkage with the terrorist moments. This is because our world view shapes our perception and our perception shapes our behavior and subsequently our behaviors shape our character.

In the movie, people consumed lot of products and services ranging from food, body care, parties, surgery, military, et cetera. In an economic rationalist society we are always in the process of demanding more at the expense of others. In the movie, the government and industries were always refining products and services as a result they produce quality products.

Everyone working with government was able to demonstrate to some degree the relationship between idea and action. The employees at the Information Adjustment, Information Retrieval and Central Services were able to put their ideas to work. In several parts of the movie, people became disconnected with each other because of their commitment to their job and the consequences.

To conclude, Brazil is an excellent movie that needs to be watched, because it provides information as to how bureaucracy works and how disadvantage it is to employees making their lives miserable and discouraging.

Writing a Book About My Plight to Refuge and My Experiences as a Refugee

I am Jenkins Macedo a senior student at Worcester State College with double major in Sociology and Geography with concentration in Environmental Studies. I am a Liberian refugee seeking refuge in the US as a result of the 14 years civil wars in Liberia. Throughout the war and my experiences seeking refuge throughout Western Africa I experienced hardships of every kind leading from discrimination, stereotypes, denial of basic human rights, etc.
I would love to write a book about my plight to the US as well as how my country's history shapes the way to the 14 years civil wars.
I love Professor's Zinn approach in writing the history of the United States that most historians don't consider. Looking at the past, present and future in the eyes of the victims. I would like to write my story using this prospective and wish if anyone can direct me along the way. I am open to discussions, suggestions, and recommendations as to what to do to get started.
Thanks,
Jenkins Macedo