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War's aftermath a classroom for democracy
By RYAN DAVIS © St. Petersburg Times, published August 21, 2000 Professors often mark progress with grades. Not Saint Leo University Professor William Wagner. Not last school year. Wagner, who returned to the classroom this summer after spending a year in Liberia, judged his teaching there by the expressions of the onlookers. "The neat thing for a professor was to see hope in the eyes of 50- and 60-year-old gentlemen," said Wagner, a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice in Gainesville who teaches at Saint Leo's Ocala campus. "They still have hope they can have their freedom." From June 1999 until May 2000, Wagner served as the chief U.S. diplomat to the west African nation. But he saw most of his duties through the prism of a professor. He was there to teach a seemingly simple message: "If you want freedom, you have to demand justice. You can't just expect freedom is going to automatically come to you." For seven years, Liberia's palm trees and ocean sunsets served as the backdrop to a bloody civil war. The Abuja Peace Accords officially ended that war in 1995 and free elections were held in 1997, but democracy is still in the stages of a slow and painful birth. Wagner came to assist in the delivery. He talked about the bribery riddling the justice system, forcing the nation's judges and lawyers to address the taboo subject. He also educated Liberians about their constitutional privileges so they won't stand by as their rights are violated. As he tells it, his trip across the Atlantic was also a trip back in time. Kids, for example, rolled wooden wheels with sticks for fun. Sometimes, he envisioned himself as a lawyer during the United States' Civil War or the civil rights movement. He will share those experiences in his criminal law, criminal procedure and prosecution and adjudication classes this fall. "You can drive it home even better when you can point to friends of yours who were arrested for giving a speech," Wagner said. In Liberia, Wagner's classes were much bigger. Upon arriving in a Liberian village, he would seek out "the least bombed-out building" where he could give a speech. He has documentation of speaking to more than 10,000 people. He discussed ethics with every lawyer and judge in the 2.9-million person country, which is about the size of Tennessee. "It was one big classroom," White said. "They were sponges." Wagner gave them plenty to absorb. Sometimes professors author text books. Wagner edited the five-volume "Liberian Codes Revised," the law of the land. He also wrote a 91-page book, which was illustrated by Liberian artists, to inform Liberians of their constitutional rights. He hopes word of mouth will spread the news. "After all this civil war and government by the bullet," Wagner said, "to learn that the law gave them power over everything, when they would learn that and grasp that, their faces would brighten. You could see they were going to go home and tell somebody else." Much news must be spread by mouth across the hot, tropical country, where it is reported that about two-thirds of the population is illiterate and 80 percent live in poverty. One number stuck in Wagner's mind: "100 percent have been through a devastating, horrible war," he said. The poverty has led highly educated men to live in houses without running water or electricity. It has also led judges to commonly accept bribes. And in one orphanage, which Wagner's family took on as a personal cause, it led to malaria, leaky roofs and atrocious sleeping conditions. With the aid of Gainesville churches, Wagner's family here raised $4,000 to improve the orphanage. That was in his free time. His job consisted of working with the National Bar Association, the Association of Female Lawyers of Liberia, University of Liberia, Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court to help plant the seeds for three-branch democracy to flourish in the model of the United States. "It's yet to be seen whether these seeds were planted in rocky ground or fertile soil," Wagner said. Liberia, where the motto "The love of liberty brought us here" adorns the state seal, already has a democracy on paper. Now it needs to work in practice, Wagner said. "I don't have real high expectations," he said, "but I still have high hopes. You can see it in their eyes." - Ryan Davis covers higher education and social services in Pasco. He can be reached at 800-333-7505 ext. 3452 or by e-mail at rdavis@sptimes.com.
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