EP37: Charles Taylor

Warlord-turned-politician Charles Taylor served as President of Liberia from 1997 until his resignation in 2003. While on trial for war crimes in the Hague, the court heard of Taylor forcing his soldiers to practice cannibalism on their enemies, among other heinous crimes- an attitude towards violence encapsulated in his 1997 campaign slogan, “he killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I’ll vote for him.”Taylor’s story tells us a lot about the mechanics of violence and coercion during both w...