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THE VICE GUIDE TO LIBERIA - PART 1

The first video in the eight part series about our trip to Liberia! In Part 1, Vice’s own Shane Smith provides a brief history lesson and some essential context for understanding what caused Liberia’s civil war and how things got so bad. Liberia was originally planned and founded as a homeland for former slaves back in 1821. But fast forward a bunch of years and a military coup and you find the First Liberian Civil War in 1989: yet another third-world regime change in which the US-backed opposition, led by Charles Taylor, overthrows a government unfriendly to US interests. Once in power, Taylor’s corrupt, dysfunctional government quickly finds itself under attack by local warlords, leading to the Second Liberian Civil War ten years later. From there things go from bad to total shit.

Check out VBS each week as we release more videos from the series.

This is a must watch. I watched Vice’s Shane Smith explore North Korea and was blown away by his coverage. You can also watch that series here.

Source: vicemag