The Coming Anarchy
Shattering the Dreams of the Post Cold War
Excerpt
THE COMING ANARCHY
(February 1994)
THE MINISTER'S EYES were like egg yolks, an after-effect of some of the many
illnesses, malaria especially, endemic in his country. There was also an
irrefutable sadness in his eyes. He spoke in a slow and creaking voice, the
voice of hope about to expire. Flame trees, coconut palms, and a ballpoint-blue
Atlantic composed the background. None of it seemed beautiful, though. "In
forty-five years I have never seen things so bad. We did not manage ourselves
well after the British departed. But what we have now is something worse—the
revenge of the poor, of the social failures, of the people least able to bring
up children in a modem society." Then he referred to the recent coup in the West
African country Sierra Leone. "The boys who took power in Sierra Leone come from
houses like this." The Minister jabbed his finger at a corrugated metal shack
teeming with children. "In three months these boys confiscated all the official
Mercedes, Volvos, and BMWs and w ... read full excerpt from: The Coming Anarchy ebook
