NMUN DC

Somewhat confused and several hours before dawn I catch my bus, standing amid other travelers and their luggage strewn about like errant children. We board, and I sink into a half sleep in the glimmering hints of a future dawn. Settlement of freed slaves from the US in what is today Liberia began in 1822; by 1847, the Americo-Liberians were able to establish a republic. William TUBMAN, president from 1944-71, did much to promote foreign investment and to bridge the economic, social, and political gaps between the descendents of the original settlers and the inhabitants of the interior.

Driving through the long night
Trying to figure who's right and who's wrong
...
When you're driving with the brakes on
When you're swimming with your boots on,
It's hard to say you love someone
And it's hard to say you don't...
--Del Amitri, "Driving with the brakes on"

Scan my passport to check in. Place briefcase on conveyor belt; remove watch, belt, and shoes; place all liquids in the provided clear, quart-sized resealable plastic bag. In 1980, a military coup led by Samuel DOE ushered in a decade of authoritarian rule. In December 1989, Charles TAYLOR launched a rebellion against DOE's regime that led to a prolonged civil war in which DOE himself was killed. They confiscate my toothpaste, but they don't find the tube of Swiss Apricot Facial Cleanser buried in my suitcase, which I am also carrying on. The TSA is apparently not omniscient, thought they would like you to think so. My revenge, I suppose, for the Marmite they confiscated in London ("I'll have it on me toast in the mornin', luv". Cheeky bastard).

You said you'd marry me if I was 23
But I'm one that you can't see if I'm only 18
Tell me who made these rules
Obviously not you
Who are you answering to?
Oh, Jenny don't be hasty
No, don't treat me like a baby
Let me take you where you'll let me
Because leaving just upsets me...
--P. Nutini, "Jenny Don't be Hasty"

I have time to kill. I do homework, I read. I listen to music. I have a soundtrack wherever I go, I am better able to ignore awkward bluetooth-conversations which appear to the uninitiated to be early-onset multiple personality disorder. "Proconsul africanus is the first species of the Miocene-era fossil genus of primate to be discovered and was named by Arthur Hopwood, an associate of Louis Leakey, in 1933."

A period of relative peace in 1997 allowed for elections that brought TAYLOR to power, but major fighting resumed in 2000. An August 2003, peace agreement ended the war and prompted the resignation of former president Charles TAYLOR, who was exiled to Nigeria. Landing in Baltimore, several things immediately become clear to me. The atmosphere is heavier, laden with moisture and somehow more oppressive, smells earhier even at the airport. The people are different, with an average diameter perhaps twice that of your average Coloradan, and the people come in a variety of skin colors, rather than the gradients ranging between "white-as-snow" to "solarium orange" to which I am ordinarily accustomed. GDP - per capita (PPP): $900 (2006 est.)

Und ich weiß, dass irgendwann / And I know that sometime
Aus Böse auch mal Gut werden kann / even bad can turn to good
Und wenn gar nichts mehr geht / and when nothing else will work
Fang ich einfach wieder von vorne an / I'll simply start again at the beginning
Vielleicht muss ich nur die Tage zählen / Perhaps I only have to count the days
Mich durch nervig lange Stunden quälen / And torture myself with long hours
Es ist ganz egal wie lang das noch geht / It doesn't matter how much longer
Weil ich weiß wer am Ende noch steht / Because I know at the end who'll still be standing
Ich werd aufhör’n immer zu verlieren / I'm going to stop losing all the time
Werde alles alte ausrangieren / I'll just scrap all the old
Ich werd mich nur noch selber kopieren / I'll only copy myself
Ich werd die Welt verändern / I will change the world
Werd endlich alles besser machen / Will finally make everything better
Werd anfangen wieder klarzukommen / Will begin to make do again
und mal über mich selber lachen / And be able to laugh at myself
--Revolverheld, "Ich werde die Welt verändern"

"So, you have to cross here." "Why?" "Because there's a segue, a perfect opportunity to cross. If you cross anywhere else, you have to step up." Er....
My brother lives in a house on the north side of town, close to where he works and somewhat farther from the rest of town, and twenty minutes off the metro. After two years of rule by a transitional government, democratic elections in late 2005 brought President Ellen JOHNSON SIRLEAF to power. The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), which maintains a strong presence throughout the country, completed a disarmament program for former combatants in late 2004, but the security situation is still volatile and the process of rebuilding the social and economic structure of this war-torn country remains sluggish. Gives you time to walk, time to think, or call your mother. He has several other roommates, with an amicable but perhaps not so close relationship among them. The place has hardwood floors and art on the walls, marble countertops and nice furnishings. It's a nice place to be, and costs twice my rent.

Being in committee is always a somewhat surreal experience, a fake reality ruled by a single dictator with obscure and sometimes complicated rules. There is no absolute freedom of speech; the choices of things you may say are limited either by form or time, or both. Natural resources: iron ore, timber, diamonds, gold, hydropower.There is no rendition, however (although delegates occasionally get appropriated to suffer questioning in another committee). Relative power is determined via negotiation and soundbytes, restricted to discussions of docket and, eventually, supposedly substantive issues.

We only want what's best for you
That's why we tell you what to do
And nevermind if nothing makes sense
'Cause it all works out in the end
You're just like us without a friend
But you can build a privacy fence....
Sooner or later
We'll be lookin' back on everything
And we'll laugh about it like we knew what all was happening
And someday you might listen to what people have to say
Now you learn the hard way...
--Michael Tolcher, "Sooner or later"

Our committee quickly quagmires, restricts itself to pro-free-trade south-side initiatives under the aegis of the topic "Globalization and Free Trade: Challenges for Development". Population: 3,195,931 (July 2007 est.) One delegation, in a well-intentioned but entirely misguided attempt to contribute effectively, came up with a proposal for implementing price floors and price ceilings, whereupon my partner and I through a 20-minute crash-course in free trade-based international econ quickly disabuse them of the notion. Life expectancy at birth: total population: 40.39 years; male: 38.93 years; female: 41.89 years (2007 est.) In the waning hours of the topic, as we seek to desperately convince several particularly intractable delegations (and some delegations remaining true to their country's positions) through explanation of our apparently unclear subsidy-lowering initiative, other groups pull through with some interesting proposals about bridging the digital gap (irrelevant for a country such as Liberia that has electricity perhaps once a week in the capital) or a confusing and unholy merger of microfinance and FDI. Most creative was the proposal for the creation of a scholarship program for outstanding students of developing countries which, except for being a) without funding, b) outside the purview of our body, which is Trade and Development and not UNESCO, and c) not particularly effective for doing anything except furthering inequality by over-educating the elite, at least broke the mold of the hitherto economics-heavy initiatives. Literacy: (definition: age 15 and over can read and write) total population: 57.5%; male: 73.3%; female: 41.6% (2003 est.)

WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and

to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and

to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and

to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

AND FOR THESE ENDS

to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and

to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and

to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and

to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,

HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS

Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.
--Preamble, Charter of the United Nations