Blame Liberian progressives, not “coup makers” for declining political stature
By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh
I believe I am a fairly consistent progressive.
I speak and write about progressive issues. I run one of the most politically significant and relevant Liberian websites (The Liberian Dialogue) in modern times since 2002, and I am a lifelong advocate of freedom, multiparty democracy and individual liberties in Liberia.
When our pro-democracy brothers and sisters were jailed in Liberia by dictatorial regimes for advocating democratic change in the late 1970s, the 1980s and 1990s, I joined like-minded Liberians at rallies before state houses in my hometown of Atlanta, in various American cities, and on the national level to pressure legislators to intervene in having our colleagues released from prison.
Together with my late colleague Bodioh Wesseh Siapoe, we organized and led in the 1990s one of the largest protest rallies in Atlanta, Georgia, to shine light on the brutal and criminal Charles Taylor regime.
Even as President of the then-Liberian Community Association of Georgia (LCAG) in the late 1980s, part of my administration was focused on advocating democratic change in Liberia.
My involvement in other progressive political organizations and activities gave me compelling reasons and the moral authority to say without fear that I am not only consistent in my beliefs, but am also dedicated and committed to the political causes I put my money and time into to make Liberia a free, democratic and prosperous nation.
I never claimed to be a University of Liberia student activist, because I wasn’t there during the uprisings, and I don’t have to shout freedom and democracy and go to jail in Liberia to be a progressive.
A misguided Liberian who has been relatively irrelevant – a vacuum since he came to this country through the tireless letter-writing campaigns and marches I led with other Liberians in the streets of these United States, (whose name I will not reveal so as not to give him prominence), arrogantly thinks I am not in his league.
The guy, a breathing idiot went on and on in his attempt to minimize my political contributions to the Liberian struggle in his little mind because I challenged his hero, Conmany Wesseh, whom I thought was wrong again in the way he tried to rewrite history.
My critic did not join me to discuss the issues at stake that confronts our nation and progressivism in general, but engaged in a name-calling campaign that defined his backwardness and obvious lacked of intellectual depth to even rationalize and discuss the lies he told, and his disdain of me.
Instead, I was wrongfully painted as a ‘pseudo progressive,’ a ‘tribalist,’ a ‘semi-literate’ who engaged Conmany Wesseh to gain the attention I always wanted.
During a recent post-surgery reflection on political activities in Liberia, former University of Liberia student leader Conmany Wesseh, who is now a key member in the current Ellen Johnson Sirleaf government, reportedly opined that the movement known as progressivism in Liberia is on the decline due to tyranny and corruption of the “coup makers” in the 1980s.
“The coup masters, who rode on the high tide of what they called rampant corruption, suppression of free speech, abuse of public office and misused of political power, later became tyrants and less tolerant to alternative ideas for national progress than those they had previously removed from power.”
“These events negatively eroded or affected the movement that was growing to lead the transformation process in Liberia,” Wesseh said.
I did not only disagree with Mr. Wesseh’s reactionary assertion, but I also challenged his analysis that “those events negatively affected the movement.”
“How can the ‘coup makers” be blamed today for events that occurred over three decades ago, when some of the progressives worked in the government of the “coup makers,” and also were involved in successive governments over the years since the coup makers left political power?” I asked during a listserv interaction on the Internet.
Why blame the coup makers now when many of the progressives (Conmany Wesseh and others included) are no longer interested in political advocacy work, but joined previous dictatorial governments and the current government to work and make a living? To this guy’s small mind, I was trying to seek attention.
OK, let’s say I was seeking attention at the expense of Conmany Wesseh when I challenged his intellectual assertion, which is untrue, because I don’t need any attention from him to be relevant.
Because as far as I am concerned, relevance and credibility in my book are intertwined and means a lot to me, so, I rather have both in my corner than being on the wrong side of history, at this crucial time in the history of our country.
However, does it take away from the fact that Conmany Wesseh is dead wrong and way in left field with his fuzzy analysis that “rampant corruption, suppression of free speech, abuse of public office and misused of political power” by the coup makers “negatively affected and eroded the movement?”
How and why?
So where has the movement – the progressives been over these decades since the so-called “coup makers” left the political scene?
Did the progressives play any role in successive governments, as is the case with Mr. Conmany Wesseh, Mr. Amos Sawyer, and others?
I expected Mr. Wesseh to blame the progressives for political self-flagellation, their obvious lack of loyalty to their political ideas, and lack of convictions and values, which are at the top of their ineffectiveness.
The problem with today’s progressives cannot be blamed on the coup makers, but themselves. It is called greed, shameless maneuvering for political power, government jobs, and naked political opportunism.
Seriously, I also expected Mr. Wesseh to dissect and infiltrate the spines and mindsets of individual progressive or the progressive movement, to ascertain why they turned out the way they currently are since the 1980s to the 2000s, and even now.
I expected Mr. Wesseh to ask himself why he, presumably an influential progressive with tremendous national name recognition, lost two consecutive countywide legislative races in his native RiverGee, and is reportedly trying for the third time.
Did the political excesses of the coup makers in the 1980s deprive this progressive, Conmany Wesseh, the chance to represent his people in RiverGee in the 1990s?
No!
Mr. Wesseh’s RiverGee people rejected him because he had no constructive ideas, vision and genuine programs to help reform his county and improve his people’s lives. It is the same with the other progressives of the past. They lacked the message and the credibility to speak with resonance to be heard and taken seriously.
Like Conmany Wesseh, perhaps other progressives from his University of Liberia days are still stuck (as a colleague rightfully pointed out) in the “student companion” mode.
This makes it difficult for these individuals to get away from the UL protests and idolized-follower-servant mode, to face the reality of real life issues in the real world.
The progressives in Liberia and abroad, in their glorious heydays stood firmly and with convictions demanded political change in Liberia. That noble effort cannot be taken from the progressives at home and abroad. They are to be applauded for their efforts.
However, I don’t think progressives are a monolithic bunch who must act uniformly, walk in lockstep, and say “yes sir, I agree” to the political and intellectual elites – even when they are wrong. When they are right, applaud them or the individual for being on the right side of the issues.
I have been an independent thinker, a reliable fighter and a consistent political activist all my life. One man’s aimless crazy talk about me cannot shape my values and my drive.
Again, without any fear, I will say that Conmany Wesseh is dead wrong on this issue. If you think I am wrong, challenge me with intellectual vigor, not insults.
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