The Concerned Women of Buduburam: Refugee Activists and Humanitarian Dilemmas by Elizabeth Holzer

Author:Elizabeth Holzer [Holzer, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Africa, Social Science, Political Science, NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), West, History, Sociology, General, Human Rights
ISBN: 9780801454080
Google: BA2GrgEACAAJ
Goodreads: 26598022
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2015-01-15T07:37:53+00:00

On February 25, a Ghanaian television crew came to Buduburam to cover the protests, creating a seminal event in the protest’s trajectory. I learned what happened when I ran into an acquaintance on the protest field shortly after. She told me, “We were on the TV last night! They interviewed the camp manager, the Welfare Council chairman, and he spoke against us, his own people! You hearing people in small groups talking about it around camp—that’s what they are talking about. His own tribe, the Via, they spoke against him. He is a betrayer of his own people. A white person sees one with black skin speak about people with black skin, he believes him. Because he thinks we are the same people” (field notes, February 26, 2008).

A group of male community leaders, seeing an opening in the internal refugee power struggles made by the chairman’s public misstep as well as supporting the protesters’ demands, rallied behind the Concerned Women. Calling themselves the “Stakeholders,” the group included the head of Heads of County, the Ministerial Council chairman, the Elders Council chairman, the Muslim Council chairman, and members of Hatai, the prominent intellectual club in the camp. They positioned themselves as community leaders who represented the true Liberian community. 1

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