VICE: West African Truckers (Documentary)

April 9, 2013

Damn! Vice has always delivered compelling video content. Which is why we feature episodes here (and likely why HBO and Bill Maher are banking on it now). But this… this is off the chain!

‘Trade in West Africa is perennially f*cked,’ according to Vice.com, due to the oppressive colonization; and to the corrupt post-colonial governments that took over once the White man left (unfortunately, they learned the lessons of awful government well). Given those traditions’ influence on modern transportation regulation (or lack thereof), we have the realities of West Africa road delivery today: from internal checkpoints manned by local police and customs agents on the lookout for smugglers intimidating everyone they can for bribes… ‘Then there’s just f*ckers who’ll pull you over and straight-up rob you,’ Vibe.com reports. Then there are poorly maintained roads. All of this makes it hard on West African truckers… who more often than not, turn to booze and roadside prostitution. Which is where the AIDS comes in. Yeah, getting it and spreading it on the road.

‘Intrigued by the African long-haul trucker’s dual reputation as the foundational building block of West Africa’s would-be robust economy and lotharious Johnny AIDS-leseed, we hitched a ride with a trailer full of soap to see just how hard it is to get from point A to point basically A and a half.’

Again… Damn! Watch the vid.