Fighting for the Rain Forest: War, Youth & Resources in Sierra LeonePaul Richards argues that the war in Sierra Leone and other small wars in Africa do not manifest a new barbarism. What appears as random, anarchic violence is no such thing. The terrifying military methods of Sierra Leone's soldiers may not fit Western models of warfare, but they are rational and effective. The war must be understood partly as performance, in which techniques of terror compensate for lack of equipment.Richards points out that Sierra Leone's war is a crisis of modernity. Sierra Leone's youth belongs to a modern, trans-Atlantic culture. In remote diamond-digging camps, young people watch Rambo videos and listen to BBC news. These are part of the cultural resources with which the war is fought. The frustrations of these young people underlie the crisis. Not only the soldiers but most of the commanders are teenagers. Their aspirations are for schools and jobs. Financial stringency and the decay of the patrimonial state led directly to the government's surrender of much of the countryside.The rain forest is also central to the war. The war is fought in the rain forest and can only be understood in the context of old traditions of social and technical management of the forest. There is no evidence that a crisis of deforestation or overpopulation has contributed to the war.Rebuilding the state -- and giving young Sierra Leoneans confidence in it -- is essential for peace. But in the meantime, many people are learning to live with war and building limited peace locally. Richards argues that aid agencies must learn from these initiatives to avoid becoming part of the economy of conflict. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 43
Page 37
... ideas and social influences from up and down the western African coast , greatly boosting a process of African ' cultural creoliz- ation ' already several centuries old at this western end of the Upper Guinean forest . This is how ideas ...
... ideas and social influences from up and down the western African coast , greatly boosting a process of African ' cultural creoliz- ation ' already several centuries old at this western end of the Upper Guinean forest . This is how ideas ...
Page 53
... ideas : the writings of Nkrumah and other Pan - Africanists , the Libyan leader's Green Book , and the work of American ' futurologist ' Alvin Toffler . PANAFU is the Pan - African Union of Sierra Leone , launched at Fourah Bay College ...
... ideas : the writings of Nkrumah and other Pan - Africanists , the Libyan leader's Green Book , and the work of American ' futurologist ' Alvin Toffler . PANAFU is the Pan - African Union of Sierra Leone , launched at Fourah Bay College ...
Page 86
... ideas are explored at the expense of bush communities . The quintessential African demons proposed by the New Barbarism thesis are beside the point . The phenomenon of frontier sectarianism in Sierra Leone is an exile appropriation of ideas ...
... ideas are explored at the expense of bush communities . The quintessential African demons proposed by the New Barbarism thesis are beside the point . The phenomenon of frontier sectarianism in Sierra Leone is an exile appropriation of ideas ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
African agriculture areas army attack Barbarism Bopolu bush camp Cape Mount cent Chapter chiefdom civil civilians coast conflict Côte d'Ivoire creolization cultural diamond mining ECOMOG economic elephant elite environmental Executive Outcomes farmers farming fighters fighting films Foday Sankoh forest conversion Forest Reserve forest society Freetown global Gola Forest Gola North government troops Guinea hostages ideas initiation insurgency intellectual interviewees Kailahun District Kambia Kenema Kono Krio Lalehun language leader Liberia Liberia and Sierra Liberian border London Mende military modern Momoh Monrovia movement NPFL NPRC Pandebu patrimonial peace Pendembu perhaps political population Pujehun District radio rain forest Rambo rebels recruited refugees regime rice Richards RSLMF RUF leadership RUF/SL rural savanna Shining Path Siaka Stevens Sierra Leonean slaves strangers Taylor Toffler town trade tributors ULIMO Upper Guinean forest villages violence West Africa women young Sierra Leoneans youth zone