The_Open_Door_deel1

-370-
other, had to be "punished". Three examples illustrate this
statement:
1. In 1966, when workers on the Firestone plantations and with
LAMCO had gone on strike and refused to obey a Presidential
back to work order, Tubman had them forcibly expulsed,
thereby ending these strikes (25).
2. In 1973 President Tolbert personally intervened during a
strike at B.M.Cissuing an ultimatum threatening those workers
who would refuse to go back to work with (instant) dismissal
(26).
3. In 1974 Dr. Togba-Nah Tipoteh lost both his job at the
Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs and at the
University of Liberia, where he taught economics, as a result
of his conflict with members of the Tolbert-clan. In 1976,
during an interview which the present author had with him,
in Monrovia, he complained that he could not find another
job as the President had forbidden the country's major
foreign investors to employ him (27). As the Government and
foreign investors are virtually the only employers in the
country such a "bar" effectively "punishes" those opposing
the Government. Generally, in Liberia the intervention of the
President rather than of the trade union is sought by the
(foreign) company-owners when trying to solve labour
disputes and/or strikes. The absence of a well organized and
powerful trade union understandably facilitates this. The
ruling class' needs to safeguard its (political) interests
combined with the economic-financial interests of the
(Liberian) plantation owners explain very well why the
Liberian Government never allowed the creation and
development of a strong and independent labour movement. Such
a trade union would automatically have a strong tribal base
and this is rightly seen by nearly all Americo-Liberians as
a threat to their social, economic as well as political
dominance (see Chapter 13).
The remaining section of this chapter will deal with the
establishment of an educational system throughout the country.
EDUCATION : HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Before the arrival of (European and American) foreigners who
came to the Pepper Coast to settle, trade or invest, the tribal
societies of this region already had vested traditional
institutions which (i) preserved valuable acquisitions of the
past, and (ii) acted at the same time as a relatively effective
means to transfer knowledge from one generation to the next.
The most widespread of these institutions were the (secret)
Poro and Sande Societies. They periodically held sessions during
which the boys and the girls of the tribes were prepared for
adult life, instructed in practical skills, and taught the