SUP urges intensification of struggle

Student militants commemorate Martyrs’ Day with firing speech.

By Lincoln G. Peters 

Monrovia, Liberia, April 16, 2024 -Dozens of Progressive devotees, particularly veterans and non-veterans, of the University of Liberia campus-based Student Unification Party (SUP) are calling on Liberians to intensify the struggle for economic democracy and freedom in celebration of what they describe as Martyrs Day and Month 2024. 

Reading a press statement at Palm Grove Cemetery in Central Monrovia, where they laid a wreath in memory of fallen veterans on Sunday, April 14, 2024, former Student Leader Mustapha Kanneh said it’s time for Liberians to rise to address the economic situation affecting them and the nation. 

“We contend that the time has come to intensify the struggle for economic democracy and social justice, as political freedom without economic justice is nothing but a mockery of the masses,” he urged. 

Martyrs Day is an appreciation and celebration of the infamous April 14, 1979, Rice Riot, which became a turning point in a new dawn in Liberia’s political, economic, and social history. 

Kanneh noted that after close to five decades of painstaking efforts, gains of the progressive struggles for democratic change in Liberia have become irreversible. 

According to the former SUP chairman, political democracy without economic democracy amounts to deceiving the people that they are participants in the democratic process when, in actual fact, they are not beneficiaries of the gains in the process. 

“Thus, the progressive community welcomes and urges the ‘Rescue’ government to implement the people-centered content of the ARREST Agenda. In that spirit, we celebrate the progressive martyrs, bearing in mind that in the struggle for political freedom and economic justice in Liberia, the greatest price has been paid by the progressives,” he stated. 

He noted that as newer forms of struggle are taking shape, 2024 is a year in which the conservatives are getting into formation while the liberal opportunists are designing new plans of deception to cajole the suffering masses.

The former student activist added that unity and more cooperation in the progressive community have become urgent calls and matters of national obligation. 

“We, the progressives, remain committed to the struggle for Liberia’s political, economic, cultural, and social betterment and to the struggle for environmental protection and effective natural resource governance.” 

He reminded Liberians that they remain committed to the struggle for equality, social justice, and fair play for all men and women under the rule of law.

“We remain committed to the promotion of Pan-African solidarity. Basically, these sum up the ideological blueprint or plan of our struggle for national transformation and the redemption of our people from poverty, illiteracy, disease, marginalization, and mass suffering”, he said. 

Speaking on the celebration of the Martyrs Day, Mr. Kanneh stated that be it known to all, however, that the declaration of Progressive Martyrs Day by the leadership of the Liberian progressive community was not meant to be a mere anti-government activity.

He argued that it was intended to remember and appreciate progressive martyrs’ commendable contribution to democratic struggles and continually build a platform for educating, informing, directing, and guiding progressive struggles for democratic change in Liberia. 

He also pointed out that it is meant to organize activities for building awareness so that the Liberian society could no longer witness the massacre of well-meaning fighters for progressive social change, and it’s also meant to encourage governments to perform in accordance with the wishes of the masses. 

“So, as we carry the historical scars of struggle on our backs and bear the pains of struggle in our hearts, we will never get unnecessarily angry. Yet, we memorialize and celebrate the progressive martyrs because we want Liberia and the world to know our struggle’s singular most important position. That is, our vow is strongly pillared in the unwavering commitment that, in prosecuting our people’s struggle for genuine and authentic democracy, we shall remain unapologetically uncompromising”, he concluded. Editing by Jonathan Browne