горячие либерийские парни
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avvaIn order to preserve, foster and maintain the positive Liberian culture, values and character, only persons who are Negroes or of Negro descent shall qualify by birth or by naturalization to be citizens of Liberia.Это отрывок из конституции Либерии (спасибо
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bbb за ссылку). Круто, ничего не скажешь.Ещё там последняя, 97-я, статья тоже примечательна:
a) No executive, legislative, judicial or administrative action taken by the People's Redemption Council or by any persons, whether military or civilian, in the name of that Council pursuant to any of its decrees shall be questioned in any proceedings whatsoever; and, accordingly, it shall not be lawful for any court or other tribunal to make any order or grant any remedy or relief in respect of any such act.Я не смог найти в сети текст конституции 1847-го года, которую эта сменила. Вот, правда, есть THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF LIBERIA (1839); но это ещё конституция колонии, а не суверенного государства.
b) No court or other tribunal shall entertain any action whatsoever instituted against the Government of Liberia, whether before or after the coming into force of this Constitution or against any person or persons who assisted in any manner whatsoever in bringing about the change of Government of Liberia on the 12th day of April, 1980, [...]
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-29 01:07 am (UTC)(eb.com):
officially Republic of Liberia republic of western Africa. It has an area of about 38,250 square miles (99,067 square kilometres). Liberia is bounded by Sierra Leone to the northwest, Guinea to the north, Cote d'Ivoire to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south and west. Monrovia, a port, is the capital.
Liberia is the only black state in Africa never subjected to colonial rule, and it is the oldest republic on the continent. In 1973 Liberia and Sierra Leone organized the Mano River Union for economic cooperation; Guinea joined in 1980.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-29 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-29 01:14 am (UTC)Liberia
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
History
Outsiders' knowledge of the west of Africa began with a Portuguese sailor, Pedro de Sintra, who reached the Liberian coast in 1461. Subsequent Portuguese explorers named Grand Cape Mount, Cape Mesurado (Montserrado), and Cape Palmas, all prominent coastal features. The area became known as the Grain Coast because grains of Melegueta pepper, then as valuable as gold, were the principal item of trade.
In the beginning of the 19th century the tide started to rise in favour of the abolition of slavery, and the Grain Coast was suggested as a suitable home for freed American slaves. In 1818 two U.S. government agents and two officers of the American Colonization Society (founded 1816) visited the Grain Coast. After abortive attempts to establish settlements there, an agreement was signed in 1821 between the officers of the society and local African chiefs granting the society possession of Cape Mesurado. The first American freed slaves landed in 1822 on Providence Island at the mouth of the Mesurado River. They were followed shortly by Jehudi Ashmun, a white American, who became the real founder of Liberia. By the time Ashmun left in 1828 the territory had a government, a digest of laws for the settlers, and the beginnings of profitable foreign commerce. Other settlements were started along the St. John River, at Greenville, and at Harper. In 1839 Thomas Buchanan was appointed the first governor. On his death in 1841 he was succeeded by Joseph Jenkins Roberts, a black man born free in Virginia in 1809; Roberts enlarged the boundaries of the territory and improved economic conditions.
(cont)
no subject
Date: 2003-07-29 01:15 am (UTC)The early republic
When the American Colonization Society intimated that Liberia should cease to be dependent upon it, Roberts proclaimed it an independent republic in 1847. Independence was recognized in 1848–56 by most of the Great Powers, though formal recognition by the United States did not come until 1862.
At the time independence was declared, a constitution based on that of the United States was drawn up. Roberts, who had been elected the first president of the republic, retained that office until 1856. During this period the slave trade, theretofore illicitly carried on from various nominally Liberian ports, was ended by the activity of the British and U.S. navies.
In 1871 the first foreign loan was raised, being negotiated in London nominally for £100,000. The loan was unpopular, and still more unpopular was the new president, Edward J. Roye, who was deposed and imprisoned at Monrovia. Roberts was called back to office. He served until 1876.
During the early days of Liberia there were constant frontier troubles with the French on the Ivory Coast and the British at Sierra Leone. The Liberians tried to extend their authority inland, although they were still unable to control all the coastal area they claimed. Efforts to end the frontier disputes resulted in treaties with Great Britain in 1885 and with France in 1892. In 1904 President Arthur Barclay, who was born in Barbados, initiated a policy of direct cooperation with the tribes. Having obtained a loan from London in 1907, he made real efforts at reform. The foreign debt, however, was a burden, and the government was unable to exert effective authority over the interior for more than 20 miles (32 km) inland. In 1919 an agreement was signed transferring to France 2,000 square miles (5,180 square km) of hinterland that Liberia had claimed but could not control.
Outside intervention
In 1909 a commission appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt of the United States investigated political and economic conditions in Liberia and recommended financial reorganization. A loan of $1.7 million, secured by customs revenue, was raised by an international consortium of bankers in 1912, and a receivership of customs was set up, administered by appointees of the British, French, and German governments and a U.S. receiver-general. A frontier police force was organized by officers of the U.S. Army, with the result that Liberian authority was better maintained. However, this promising new regime was upset by World War I. Revenues dropped to one-fourth of normal, and the financial situation steadily deteriorated.
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company obtained a concession of 1,000,000 acres (400,000 hectares) for a rubber plantation in 1926. At the same time, a loan was arranged through the Finance Corporation of America, a Firestone subsidiary. Using this private loan, the Liberian government consolidated and bonded all its external and internal debts and placed the country's finances on a relatively stable basis. Administration of the customs and internal revenue was placed in the hands of a U.S. financial adviser. In 1952 the government was able to liquidate its foreign debt for the first time since accepting the English loan of 1871.
An investigation by the League of Nations of forced labour and slavery in Liberia, involving the shipment of Africans to the Spanish plantations in Fernando Po, brought about the resignations of President Charles King and Vice President Allen Yancy and the election of Edwin Barclay to the presidency in 1931. Liberia appealed to the Council of the League of Nations for financial aid, and a commission of inquiry was established. The next three years were marked by unsuccessful attempts to work out a plan of assistance involving the appointment of foreign administrators, the declaration of a moratorium on the Firestone loan, and the suspension of diplomatic relations with Great Britain and the United States. After the League Council had finally withdrawn its plan of assistance, the Liberian government reached an agreement with Firestone along lines similar to the League's recommendations.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-29 01:15 am (UTC)World War II and after
The new significance of Liberia became apparent after the outbreak of World War II. During the war Liberia's rubber plantation was the only source of natural latex rubber available to the Allies, apart from plantations in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). In 1942 Liberia signed a defense agreement with the United States. This resulted in the undertaking of a program of strategic road building and the construction of an international airport and a deepwater harbour at Monrovia. U.S. money was declared legal tender in Liberia in 1943, replacing British West African currency. In 1943 William V.S. Tubman was elected to his first term as president. Liberia declared war against Germany and Japan in January 1944 and in April signed the declaration of the United Nations. In December 1960 Liberia became a member of the UN Security Council and from that time took an active part in African and international affairs. In 1963 Liberia became a member of the Organization of African Unity at its inception.
In 1963 Tubman was elected to serve his fifth term as president. In May 1964 the United States and Liberia signed an agreement to transfer the free port of Monrovia to the government of Liberia. Tubman was again elected president in 1967, the only candidate for the office. Tubman died in London on July 23, 1971, shortly after his election to a seventh term as president. He was immediately succeeded by Vice President William R. Tolbert.
A decline in world prices for Liberia's chief exports, iron ore and natural rubber, brought financial hardship to the country during the 1960s and early 1970s. Foreign loans helped sustain the economy during that period.
On April 12, 1980, Tolbert was killed in a coup led by Master Sergeant (later General) Samuel K. Doe, who became head of state and chairman of the People's Redemption Council (PRC). The PRC promised a new constitution, which became effective in 1986, and a return to civilian rule. Elections were held in 1985 with the participation of several parties but were widely criticized as fraudulent. Doe was inaugurated as the first president of the Second Republic in January 1986. His rule ended in 1990 after civil war—primarily between the Krahn and the Gio and Mano peoples—erupted. A multinational West African force, the ECOWAS Monitoring Group, attempted to restore order, but the leaders of two rebel groups, Charles Taylor and Prince Johnson, contended for power after Doe's downfall and execution. The war dragged on for seven years as new factions arose and neighbouring countries became enmeshed in the strife. The toll on the civilian population and the economy was devastating. After a series of abortive attempts, a truce was achieved in 1996. In elections held the following year, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia Party, led by Charles Taylor, achieved a clear majority. As Liberia's 21st president, Taylor faced the daunting task of rebuilding and reuniting the nation and restoring its credibility abroad.
Donald Rahl Petterson
Svend E. Holsoe
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-29 02:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-29 03:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-29 01:08 am (UTC)отчего же?
Они, значит, хотели, а вот Вы не хотите.
Зря, зря...
Re: отчего же?
Date: 2003-07-29 01:17 am (UTC)И какое это имеет отношение ко мне :)
Re: отчего же?
Date: 2003-07-29 01:23 am (UTC)Правда. не уверен я, что тогдашних афроамериканцев можно считать "гражданами США" - м.б. и нельзя.
А к Вам это отношение имеет постольку поскольку - Вы отчего-то зареклись от принятия либерийского гражданства.
Re: отчего же?
Date: 2003-07-29 01:25 am (UTC)А в Либерию я правда не очепнь хочу :) Да и не возьмут меня в Либерию :)
Re: Возьмут-возьмут, Вы, главное, не тушуйтесь
Date: 2003-07-29 01:28 am (UTC)Подозреваю, что и Конституция изменится.
Re: Возьмут-возьмут, Вы, главное, не тушуйтесь
Date: 2003-07-29 01:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-29 01:21 am (UTC)Undeniably, 'positive Liberian culture, values and character' are defined mainly by skin colour, eh?
Cool!