The Complicated Legacy of Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf | NowThis World
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- čas přidán 8. 12. 2018
- Liberia. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Bright-eyed, full of optimism, but also widely viewed as unflinching, and hailed Liberia’s “Iron Lady,” Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf shouldered the responsibility of a nation racked by years of brutal Liberian civil war.
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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was born in the nation’s capital Monrovia, Liberia in 1938. And politics ran her blood. She was the daughter of the first indigenous Liberian to serve in the country’s legislature.
It’s important to mention that during this time there was divide between the indigenous population of Liberia and former slaves, called “Americo-Liberians” who had settled in Monrovia. The Americo-Liberians created a hierarchical society that suppressed the indigenous population, denying them basic rights. Sirleaf was thrust into the middle of this divide.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf studied in the United States before returning to Liberia to begin her government career at the Treasury Department. In the early ‘70s, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf worked as Assistant Finance Minister for then-president William Tolbert.
Throughout the ‘70s, and despite her critiques of Tolbert’s policies, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf rose through the ranks to become the first woman Finance Minister in Liberia. But shortly after, violence would decimate the government.
In 1980, President Tolbert and 27 other government officials were murdered in a coup, staged by military leader Samuel Doe, who would go on to become the first indigenous leader of Liberia.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was one of four ministers who were spared. She later fled the country.
And there’s a lot more to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s story than the traditionally rosy Western media narrative. Watch this piece to find out more about her legacy.
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Love to Liberia from Somalia we have both struggled enough is enough we must fix our own countries and unite as africans against the enemies
@@nadlax5920 lol no its foreign nations ruining our countries economic potential
Thanks brother.
It's a journey and it will take years for Liberia to realize development since by the time Ellen was elected President, almost 75% of the population was illiterate. With her international connections having worked with international organizations, she helped Liberia greatly. Despite the shortcomings we should give credit where it's due.
Poo
There's been a great deal of criticism ( mostly internal ) lodged at Mme Sirleaf. Some of it may be justified. But i think much of it is unjustified. One important accomplishment of her tenure was that she secured $5 billion in debt relief for Liberia. She brought about conditions that made FDI in Liberia once again potentially attractive.
my best 10 minutes of 9th december!!
Thanks. (:
she is an amazing child of Africa
Omg thank you for this.
She was indeed a trailblazer, but I have to say that it was rash to render her a laureate of Nobel Peace Prize.
next time try to get more information from the local people.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th President of Liberia from 2006 to 2018.
Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa.
Born in Monrovia to a Gola father and Kru-German mother, Sirleaf was educated at the College of West Africa before moving to the United States, where she studied at Madison Business College and Harvard University.
She returned to Liberia to work in William Tolbert's government as Deputy Minister of Finance from 1971 to 1974, and later went to work for the World Bank in the Caribbean and Latin America.
She returned to work for the late president Tolbert's government again as deputy minister of Finance before being promoted to the post of Minister of Finance from 1979 to 1980.
After Samuel Doe seized power in a coup d'état and executed Tolbert, Sirleaf fled to the United States.
She worked for Citibank and then the Equator Bank before returning to Liberia to contest a senatorial seat for Montserrado county in the disputed 1985 elections.
After returning to Liberia, Sirleaf ran for office, and finished in second place at the 1997 presidential election won by Charles Taylor.
She won the 2005 presidential election and took office on 16th January 2006.
She was re-elected in 2011.
In June 2016, she was elected as the Chair of the Economic Community of West African States, making her the first woman to hold the position since it was created.
In 2011, Sirleaf was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen.
The three women were recognized "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."
Sirleaf was conferred the Indira Gandhi Prize by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on 12 September 2013.
In 2016, she was listed as the 83rd-most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine.
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This is so sad and disappointing on so many levels! Just leaves me crying.
My wife is from Liberia and she said Sirleaf did nothing for the country. My opinion is that a lot of the criticism for her was held back because she’s a woman. When a person is elected to a leadership position in a country like Liberia, their main priority should be in repairing the infrastructure: roads, hospitals, and schools. Of course, things aren’t going to happen overnight, but progress should be seen in advancements in those areas.
Most of us thought she would've been the one to make the difference. Her government was the most corrupt government in the history of Liberia up to this day. She did more harm than good in her twelve years in power.
Peter Wallace just out of curiosity are you Liberian
@@zak.886 yes, I'm a Liberian, hailed from lofa county. Is there any questions more to ask?
Peter Wallace nothing i can think of
Peter Wallace love ur comments. Yes indeed her government was the most corrupt in the History of Liberia.
You realize she brought in more funding than the GDP of Liberia please state your facts with her presidency compared to Doe or Taylor of how it was more corrupt because none of my family had to seek refuge in Ghana while she was president
I think she did an amazing job considering what she faced.
0.59s - bring stability to the country?? Please Liberians stop fighting each other. The world is sick of it.
Well, while you can't deny the nepotism and corruption that she could be part of easily we can't deny the success and improvement that she has given the country. Putting it simply she moved a country that was down in the lowest level to a more breathable one. They're not even half the way, but they're better. They need more presidents like her, cause in this world of corruption the only thing you can vote for is a less corrupt person that will help some
Well said - I think those blaming her for corruption have not lived in countries were it is endemic like Liberia. In countries such as these you cannot vote for a corruption free government, you cannot be a president who has a government free of corruption, you can only simply be less corrupt and like a virus slowly recover, heal, and restore your health
How powerful is Romania🇷🇴?
Fluffy Unicorn At least that _____ much.
Not much, I think by the sheer amount of questions asking but no response. Whereas naturally countries like United States, Russia, India and China will be mentioned out of no volition.
btw is this a meme that I'm not getting?
Can somebody said to me who is YC johnson is in liberia and what position it holds?
Its like mixed up
She appointed her son to run as Chairman the National oil Company of Liberia. The company netted $120m in deals with the majors. He subsequently collapsed. Not one $ of that money was found. Has this college done it's research on this person. If not why not.
She came to my school to speak to us
Mars Nefario she is a devil, Mars. I live all my years in Liberia 🇱🇷 during her regime. All those international news you heard about her, she paid for them!! She was the chief architect of the wars in Liberia 🇱🇷 that killed more than 250K persons
Damn... Weah ( who I like ) might be worse . He has no experience
How powerful is Antarctica 🇦🇶???
Love Me Please!!! Lol Antarctica is not powerful at all no one can live there permanently
@@zak.886 penguins can🐧
Her father was not the first. Her father was the ward of one of the Presidents of Liberia.
"She represented hope for a better Future".
There is no perfect government but Ellen's government was the perfect and best government at the right time for our dear country. She renewed our dignity and kept our country stable allowing us and other individuals to expand our scope. "It was not easy, I had my failures", this is patriotic honesty.
I love this women she represent the future of the minority.
Sad most Liberian would say we had it better b4 Ellen's government. That makes me sick.
I'm not most Liberian, I'm a Liberian who sees the leader as a leader and not parent. Better life from a leader perspective is providing the peaceful and equal wider scope for people to explore. In her government where I didn't work but witness, women and young people who smartly realize how sweet it is to get up every morning in a peaceful atmosphere explored the opportunity individual to better their lives. Liberia was better, I know we will always find some way to say the negatives and the truth is you will find negatives because leaders are humans. Like our African Pride admitted humanly "there were failures", but for once let's get out of that negative shield and see the bright side of life. Life gets so much better when you think such and do such.. think bright
She could've done better. Liberia needs a nationalistic leader. Someone who will part Liberia and the people first.
What is better, giving you job or doing what exactly?
Because I know us Liberian it's never better when it's not us. Please for heaven sake, let's give this lady a shoulder up, something that will inspired our sisters and daughters.
You see na....
What do you mean best? How will you think I can grade the best? I pointed out what is positive about her and what we can learn from her life as a person, a woman, a mother and a leader. Being negative is a very regressive way to approach life and I'm not that kind in thoughts about life and the things I can learn from it. You don't have to like her, but her legacy is brand for world today and the world to come. Her name and legacy will forever be sung in history of the world and leadership, so accept this heroin your nation has created like any other heroin or hero of Liberia and be proud of her.
Like she said, she had her failures and that's a mark of good leadership and a great person.
Who are the native tribes of Liberia? NowThisWorld didn't mention that.
They're 16 total tribes of Liberia
@@thegigadykid1 I shouldn't have asked
Flaming Basketball Club the natives are the africans who didnt get enslaved and then returned
@@zak.886 nope. exact opposite. the natives were those who were never enslaved at all. those who returned were called Americo Liberians
@@fakeapplestore4710 i meant to write didn't see the t disconnected
How powerful is CZcams?
How powerful is Angola ,Uganda,Sudan,Ghana,Ivory Coast
Reincarnation of Kurt Cobain how powerful is the democratic republic of the Congo?
Reincarnation of Kurt Cobain that series doesn't exist anymore
How utterly ironic
You know your Legacy will be complicated when your compared to Maggie Thatcher.
What role did the Tony Blair Foundation (Global initiative) play in Liberia?
Help a foreign company to build a rubber plant?
If Liberia is going to succeed they will have to build up there own industry ala South Korea or Taiwan.
She said only a woman could do it
Therefore, in her own terms, by her very definition, she failed miserably
Ok
for those who preach equities should come with clean hands, but for her speak against corruption, n nepotism but she became the Queen of corruption and nepotism, to the extent that she openly said to us that the corruption in her regime have become a vampire,
Doe's Liberia
Only thing I tell God almighty thank is the peace but she was supposed to build the country but she failed
Please go back to the old TestTube/Seeker Format this sucks
*would love to see more liberians covering stories about liberians! we should be telling the world the stories not them...i dont find this video well done.*
What's this annoying music in the background. Just makes it seem like sensationalised news
The US killed Tolbert and put puppet leader Doe in charge
thegigadykid1 and then taylor came along
@anger & rage its the U.S. amd the americo liberiana fault. Taylor should've brought war to liberia no should he havw destroyed our antiin look at ivory coast war barly effected ivory coast.
thegigadykid1
Except that it was not in the US interest to do so, destabilizing Liberia was not in anyone’s interest even in US businesses that operated in Liberia like Firestone who found themselves shut out of the country and unable to access their production facilities, and Tolbert’s government had after 8 years loss popular support especially after his human rights abuses and the killing of protestors during the Rice Riots that drove popular working class support against him.
You couldn't be more wrong. Liberia was America's most loyal ally in Africa under Tolbert and his predecessors while the Liberian populace in the main was rabidly pro- American. What possibly was to be gained by the U.S. to stupidly mastermind a status quo change and thereby jeopardize its vital interests? The coup was purely an internal calculation undertaken by soldiers overwhelmingly reflecting the underpinnings of long-standing pent-up discontent society-wide.
Bean
Yes she left a legacy, by putting Liberia back into mess by forcing weah into power, totally clueless.
You failed. Nepotism and favoritism got hold of you.
Well good job..... That woman doesn't seem like a good person though..
joel jo she isn't 😬
@@gussneh ...The thing is she isn't the worst...Also she did a lot of good things....ahh...She is more like a normal person...Good as well as bad...🙂
joel jo she not a good person