Global Voices Online

Emmanuel at Liberia Journal celebrates the 161st anniversary of the Liberian Declaration of Independence, which was signed on the 26th of July 1847. He also adds a very informative overview of Liberia's history since its birth as a country.

Liberia Stories blogs about what she calls, “one giant leap“: As I drove past the Temple of Justice today, I saw something that made me gasp, shout, screech to a halt, and make a quick U-turn. I had to see it again. Could it be true? It was! The phrase I have detested ever since I could read was being hacked off the face of the building, letter by letter. LET JUSTICE BE DONE TO ALL MEN is, at long last, being rearranged to say LET JUSTICE BE DONE TO ALL.

Liberia Ledger reports: “The NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health presents: The New National Health Plan & Policy in Liberia: Opportunities and Challenges in the Reconstruction of a Post-Conflict State featuring Minister Tornorlah Varpilah, Liberian Deputy Minister of Health for Planning, Research, and Human Resource Development.”

“I have it from an unimpeachable source that the controversial Millennium Villages project is coming soon to Liberia, probably first to Kokoya District, Bong County, and later to somewhere in the Southeast, per the president's request. The proposal is still in draft form,” writes Liberia Ledger.

A documentary about Liberia, Iron Ladies of Liberia, has made into the Toronto Film Festival: “Did you hear that the film “Iron Ladies of Liberia” made it into the Toronto Film Festival? Heard there is a big screening at the opening of the UN General Counsel this fall as well…will be good PR for Liberia and Ellen.”

You might have missed the story about pro-Charles Taylor signs in Monrovia: “As previously mentioned here, and often mentioned in articles by visiting international reporters, for about six months now there's been a pro-Charles Taylor billboard posted at the corner of 20th Street and Tubman Blvd, behind a high wall with razor wire on top.”

Liberia Ledger finds Time Magazine coverage of Liberia crappy: “This story is annoying. It's supposed to be a scary warning about the West African country of Guinea-Bissau as the newest narco-state.
Interesting premise, but even as it mentions Liberia only once in a list of countries, somehow more than half of the pictures they used (I'm talking about the print version) were taken in Monrovia. Are they suggesting that Liberia is some kind of narco-state as well? Or were they just too lazy to find a photographer in Guinea-Bissau?”

Read the latest post from Charles Taylor's trial in the Hague: Taylor entered the courtroom in a dark blue suit with a bright yellow tie, nodded to the judges and sat, flanked by two uniformed guards. After being informed that the delay was due to the fact that the route from Taylor’s detention facilities had to be adjusted for security reasons, Judge Sebutinde stated that “the reason is noted but it is not satisfactory.” She therefore directed the Registry to communicate with security personnel to ”ensure that court time is not wasted because we are waiting for someone to transport Mr. Taylor to court.”