Thanks for the questions, Mr. Eugene Johnson. My reponse to your
questions exceeded the African listserv "500 line" restriction,
however, I have sent my response directly at your personal email
account. Hope you read it with delight.
Regards,
Alex Redd
----- Original Message -----
From: "Johnson, Eugene" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 10:21 am
Subject: Re: THE LONDON EXPERIENCE
> Welcome black to America, my friend Lagia. Tell me, what role does
> Americanand other G-7 nations' investments: $, technology,
> political, military, and
> cultural play in helping nations, such as China, Russia, and other
> formerSoviet bloc nations, peacefully transform in the modern era?
> What Black
> African nations have been afforded full scale comprehensive
> assistance by
> them? Can the British and French transformation models of the 17
> and 18
> hundreds work in today global, fast paced community.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ALEX LAGIA REDD [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 7:16 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: THE LONDON EXPERIENCE
>
>
> THE LONDON EXPERIENCE---by Alex Redd
> August 13, 2002
>
> It is good to be back in the U.S. following a rewarding summer
> experience of study in London. I was intrigued by advanced
> political
> ideologies from British liberal theorists who pushed for social
> reform
> through their writings. I thought to share with you my analysis
> deduced
> from some of these political philosophers specifically Edmund
> Burke, a
> political author and incrementalist on social reform.
> The crux of my argument will focus on whether the method of
> rapid
> social reform without preserving traditional values and
> institutions is
> necessary or is gradual (slow) social reform with respect to hold
> in
> place traditional institutions and values would be the best
> solution to
> social change? Great Britain, France, Liberia, Nigeria, Iran and
> Latin
> America have been victimized (except Britain) by rapid social
> reform
> through attempts to implement modernity, which undermines the
> traditional political foundations of these countries.
> I would argue that the method of rapid social reform without
> regard
> for established political norms is detrimental in any form. Up to
> date,
> Great Britain maintains its national character by preserving its
> traditional norms---the monarchy, representative of a family. In
> keeping with the conservative approach, the preservation of
> traditional
> institutions and values in society is as sacred with its
> historical
> importance that directs the course of individuals and society at
> large
> for peaceful co-existence. What intrinsic values do these
> traditional
> institutions have that Burke wants preserved, even if a change is
> to
> come? For example, in England the monarchy is perceived as an
> intrinsic
> value or institution representative of a family, which is the
> basic
> unit of society. The monarchy therefore should preserve and
> sustain its
> core values for societal ordinance. An attack to despise the
> monarchy
> would seem like disruption of the fundamental societal ethos,
> which
> both informs and provides bedrock values that underwrite society
> at
> large.
> Despite the short-lived revolution by Oliver Cromwell in the
> 1850s
> coupled with religious strife, the monarchy was restored in 1860
> with
> historical respect to Britain's traditional norms. Though there
> was
> sporadic agitation for the establishment of democracy in Britain,
> but
> the capacity of British forces to accommodate each other over the
> centuries without going for each other's throat is what I admire
> about
> their politics. This is not to say that British history lacked
> violence
> or conflict. Northern Ireland today stands as witness to the
> British
> capacity for violence. But at no point did a foreign conqueror or
> domestic opposition with a dramatically new plan for politics
> prevail;
> so British politics, unlike the politics of virtually every other
> state
> of the world, never was formally redesigned. However, to welcome
> social
> change gradually with respect to preserve traditional norms can
> suffice
> for national stability, but this was not the case with France in
> its
> 1789 revolution.
> French Revolutionists, products of the enlightenment period,
> ignored historical traditions and values to effect social change.
> In an
> attempt to experience rapid social reform, the French
> revolutionists
> had a rational thought to model their society on absolute truths
> equivalent in certainty to mathematical axioms. Their model had no
> basis in historical contingency---they violently ousted the
> traditional
> system of monarchy. Thereafter came difficulties to create a
> viable and
> stable political state with three changes in governmental form.
> Such
> rapid social change has its historical effect on developing
> countries
> across the continents.
> In contemporary Africa and other developing countries, rapid
> social reforms have caused devastating effect that result in chaos
> and
> prolong civil wars. For example, in Nigeria, Liberia and Iran, an
> attempt for rapid social, economic and political change through
> modernization was met with bloody conflict that sparked divisions
> of
> ethnic hatred, mistrust and unlawful accountability. The Iranian
> 1979
> revolution blamed America for eroding its Islamic traditional
> values
> with modernity. In Nigeria, fragmented ethnic groups cling to
> their
> local resources by clashing with the federal system because
> modernity
> undermined their traditional belief system. An effort to impose
> modernity in Latin America ushered in bitter class conflict and
> political upheavals that introduced military dictatorships. In
> Liberia,
> eagerness for rapid social reform notably 1979 by the People's
> Progressive Party (PPP), a political party, without a well-defined
> political agenda or ideology called for a national strike against
> the
> William R. Tolbert government for ˙the government's inability to
> institutionally integrate indigenous Liberians. The rice riot
> followed
> thereafter. Civil disobedience and violence, a way to express
> dissent
> became prevalent as a doctrine that manifested itself into the
> butchering of Liberia's 19th president. Since then Liberia has
> been
> abnormal among world states.
> The current mess the country faces today traces back to such
> rapid
> social change with regard to preserve its political tradition.
> Couldn't
> we have compromise our political differences into a more civilized
> method without violence and disrespect for existing laws? Tolbert
> was a
> reformist. He had welcomed political diversity by declaring the
> symbolic ˙Total Involvement for Higher Heights˙ with the intention
> to
> gradually transform the system. The old guard from the Tubman
> administration was fading away. Imbued by modern technological
> ideas,
> Tolbert was an industrialists and encourager of new ideas from
> university ˙jump starts˙ for social reform. My point is that
> microeconomic management for political stability was to some
> extent,
> ethically sound unlike other regimes that followed thereafter.
> During
> the Tolbert era, at least my dad received his paycheck on time
> unlike
> today's Liberia. Should have itchy advocates for rapid social
> change
> found an amicable and passive approach toward reform?
> In any case, the danger and consequences of rapid social
> reform
> have unravel with devastating effect---- ethnic hatred, mistrust,
> the
> breakdown of rule and law and abject poverty. The need for social
> reform is necessary but such change must not tend to undermine our
> traditional political foundation and belief systems. Democracy, a
> case
> in point should be encouraged with the hope of gradually absorbing
> into
> any nation's political system with caution and respect for the
> original
> traditional norms.
> Incremental social reform method might be applied to
> contemporary
> Africa and other developing countries with the hope of keeping
> their
> original culture alive. In any event, social reform is inevitable
> depending on the belief system that establishes the traditional
> bedrock
> of a country and its people. Social change in exemplified
> countries
> across the continents would require an incremental social reform
> with
> the accommodation of modernity and the preservation of some
> traditional
> institutions and values.
>
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