by Mar°a B. Del R°o
Daily Lobo
UNM's student organization, Africa's Friends Reaching the International Community for Africa is dispelling myths about Africa by showing movies every other Friday that focus on social, political, cultural and economical affairs.
Kwame Rugunda, member of A.F.R.I.C.A., also plans on holding a free lecture on campus next Friday with the American Ambassador to Zambia, who will speak about AIDS.
Rugunda said he hopes to educate UNM about what really goes on in Africa.
"A lot of people's opinions are formed by what's shown on the Discovery Channel and we run into all sorts of questions which we find really strange," he said. "If we have lions running around and things like that."
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One movie featured so far is a documentary on Liberia. In "Liberia: America's Stepchild," the producer of the film, Nancee Oku Bright, describes the emergence of Liberia as a country. Two centuries ago, a society called the American Colonization Society hoped to accomplish two things: suppress the possibility of revolt against slave owners in America by slaves and spread civilization and Christianity.
American slaves headed to the western coast of Africa to establish a colony. Liberia's political system was modeled after the United States. It had a bill of rights and a constitution. Former American slaves or their descendants were elected each time as president of Liberia.
The film shows that nearly 150 years later, Liberians were divided into two groups - American descendants, known as Americo-Liberians and the indigenous population. Clashes between these two groups were frequent, leading to political unrest and ultimately to a civil war in 1989.
Rugunda said this film is important to UNM.
"I think it's important that people know about the struggles in the world and we can give an African perspective," he said.
"Liberia: America's Stepchild" also highlights forms of exploitation in Liberia. Newly arrived American slaves set up colonies in Africa modeled after the United States. Americo-Liberians helped the slave trade along and even reverted to using the indigenous population as slaves. The documentary also points out U.S. companies invested in commerce with Liberia.
In the 1920s, the Firestone Company imported Liberia's "white gold" or rubber by leasing acres at a mere 6 cents apiece.
The most striking aspect of the film is the rise and fall of Liberia's leaders. Each president made a promise to bring prosperity and fairness to the people of Liberia and instead brought corruption and degeneration to Liberia's economy. Liberia elected its first indigenous president, Samuel K. Doe, with a similar promise, but a military coup overthrew him.
The National Patriotic Front of Liberia, headed by Charles Taylor, cut off the ears and genitals of Doe in 1990. The film depicts similar bloody executions took place when tribal wars - wars between local populations of African people and the former Americo-Liberians - escalated. Children also participated in these wars. The film notes these children were often unrestrained and caused massive killings on drug-induced highs.
This film is available by contacting A.F.R.I.C.A. For more information about the film series or guest lectures, e-mail Afrika@unm.edu.
