Progressive Alliance of Liberia

The Progressive Alliance of Liberia, PAL, was a political movement, an opposition political movement formed in 1975 in Liberia led by group of Liberians from the United States and those of students in the Country, males and females, young and old. 

 The Political Education Team of the organization was organized, prepared, and awarded certificates by and under the signature of the founding Chairman of PAL, Mr. Gabriel Baccus Matthews. Members of the Political Education Team of six young Liberian students were:

1.Mr. Nathaniel O. Beh 2.Mr. Thomas Z. Deyagbo 3.Mr. Michael George 4.Mr. Saywalah Kesselly 5.Mr. Jesus Swaray 6. His yet to be identified. 

 This Monrovia based organization, PAL, at the time was responsible for the door- to-door campaign, and organizing opened meetings in the Nation on the voluntary basis,for the organization’s political awareness programs in boroughs including, New Kru Towns, Bozy’s Quarter, Slipway, Westpoints, Airfield, Lakpahsu Sinkor and as well as other areas within the entire Monrovia metropolitans. The organization also had a General Cordinator in the Metro-areas by the name of Mr. D. Kahn Carlor. 
  The Progressive Alliance Of Liberia, PAL, was not a political party as mentioned in some quarters. The Organization was rather, the founding organization of the Pregressive People’s Party, PPP, that birth and bridged fierce and  aggressive opposition movement in Liberia against the dangerous grand old True Whig Party, in Liberian politics. 
   Prior to PAL and subsequently the PPP, the True Whig Party, TWP, had eliminated many previous opposition members through false accusations of sedition that in most cases, gradually lead to deaths and or, brutal daily torturing, including lashes of imprisonments of the individual(s) accused; who in instances would be given life imprisonments as penalty.   
  
    The progressive Alliance of Liberia was not a Marxist organization, and had no desire to be one. The organization used provisions and Articles in the Constitution of the Republic of Liberia in all of its activities of formulation of local branches, in other parts of the Country. It had it’s Secretary General, Mr.Oscar J. Quah, in Nimba County, organizing similarly as were done in the boroughs of Monrovia. 
  Mr. Quah frequently visited the Central Monrovia Office even while he believed the processes of mobilization for PAL would be more secured from the hinterland of the Republic. Unlike Chairman Matthews who believed Monrovia would be a better and aggressive starting point for the initiative, Secretary General Quah’s point was well understood since indeed, the GOP(the True Whig Party) at the time, would not tolerate opposition members, had not done so in the pasts, and was not indicating it would.
   Opposition parties that did not agree with the TWP and or, did not believe in the wrongful philosophies and practices of the TWP; especially those that did not believe in the “so says one, so say all” concepts and the massive corruption in governance to add, were considered enemies of the Republic, falsely accused of sedition, arrested and imprisoned.
  PAL was initially formed among the Liberian diaspora in the United States; it was again led in Liberia by Gabriel Baccus Matthews.

Rice Riots

In early April 1979, the minister of agriculture, Florence Chenoweth, proposed an increase in the subsidized price of rice from $22 per 100-pound bag to $26. Chenoweth asserted that the increase would serve as an added inducement for rice farmers to stay on the land and produce rice as both a subsistence crop and a cash crop, instead of abandoning their farms for jobs in the cities or on the rubber plantations. However, political opponents criticized the proposal as self-aggrandizement, pointing out that Chenoweth and the Tolbert family of the president operated large rice farms and would therefore realize a tidy profit from the proposed price increase.

The Progressive Alliance of Liberia called for a peaceful demonstration in Monrovia to protest the proposed price increase. On April 14 about 2,000 activists began what was planned as a peaceful march on the Executive Mansion. The protest march swelled dramatically when the protesters were joined en route by more than 10,000 "back street boys," causing the march to quickly degenerate into a disorderly mob of riot and destruction.[1]

Widespread looting of retail stores and rice warehouses ensued with damage to private property estimated to have exceeded $40 million. The government called in troops to reinforce police units in the capital, who were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the rioters. In 12 hours of violence in the city's streets, at least 40 civilians were killed, and more than 500 were injured. Hundreds more were arrested.[1]

Tolbert's credibility was severely damaged by the Rice Riots.[2]

Aftermath

In January 1980 Tolbert permitted the Progressive Alliance of Liberia to become the officially registered Progressive People's Party (PPP). Following an April 1980 military coup, Master Sergeant Samuel Doe ordered the release of about 50 leaders of the PPP who had been jailed. He appointed Gabriel Baccus Matthews as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chea Cheapoo as Attorney General. But 1981 the PPP had fallen out of favour with Doe, who became increasingly dictatorial.

The banned PPP was reorganised as the United People's Party (UPP). During the 1980s, Baccus Matthews had the role as the main opposition politician in Liberia. In 1990 under Amos Sawyer as Interim President after Doe's death, he was again appointed as Foreign Minister.

Both Matthews (for the United People's Party) and Cheapoo (for a reconstituted Progressive People's Party) contested the 1997 presidential election. Former PAL/PPP and UPP member Sekou Conneh became leader of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group in 1999, which also included some former Doe supporters, and fought a civil war against Taylor until 2003. Conneh ran as the candidate of the Progressive Democratic Party (PRODEM) in the 2005 presidential election.

References
  1. "The Rice Riots". Global Security. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
  2. Peter Dennis (May 2006). "A Brief History of Liberia" (PDF). The International Center for Transitional Justice. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-12. Retrieved July 2007. Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.