OdaySomali;746537 wrote: The way I have [recently] understood to be correct is that: 1) ' Somali ' refers to ethnicity (as well as language) and can be used for all ethnic Somalis in the Somali peninsula and beyond. 2) ' Somalian ' refers to nationality and is used exclusively for the citizens of Somalia whether of Somali, Bantu or Arab heritage. Thanks for the feedback everyone. OdaySomali's take above makes sense to me because as far as politics are concerned, there are two distinct entities i.e. Somaliland and Somalia, hence it logical that "Somalian" refers to a political identity while Somali refers to an ethnic one e.g. (Somali-Kenyans, Somali-Ethiopians, Somali-Americans, Somali-Canadians etc.) as well as a political one. As for "Somalian", it's been in use at least since the late 1960s and early 1970's when The Somalian panorama and The Somalian Revolution were published. In the end, I suppose they are indeed interchangeable.

What's your take? Media outlets seem to be confused as to which one to use and often use both terms interchangeably (e.g. here and here). I prefer the demonym "Somali", not only is it what we refer ourselves as, but it's also been what identified us an ethnic unit, e.g. The Somali People. While I have seen online articles and blog posts referring to "Somalian", and have met people (usually of the younger generation) referring to themselves as "Somalian", I usually cringe every time I hear that word. I'd love to read what the online Somali community thinks about this :-)

DADAAB, 16 September 2011 (PlusNews) - At Ifo trading centre, a short distance from northeastern Kenya's Dadaab refugee complex, Hawa*, a teenage girl, sits in a dark room on an old jerry can holding a small bunch of fresh khat, a mild stimulant, ostensibly for sale. But Hawa is not selling khat; she is selling sex. The kiosk is a convenient way for her to meet clients. "I don't live here and I don't sell miraa [a local name for khat]. This is where my friends and I meet men. We sell them sex and they give us some little money to survive," the 17-year-old told IRIN/PlusNews. Like most of the residents of Dadaab, Hawa is a refugee who escaped conflict in her native Somalia two years ago. Her sex work is kept very secret; only the girls she works with and a few local pimps know how she earns a living. "If anybody knew that we were [selling sex], they would scald us with hot water. In our culture, that is punishable by death," she said. "When a customer comes, we take him in as if he is going to choose the best miraa, then we negotiate and have sex. We charge them about 200 Kenya shillings [uS$2.15]." With close to 470,000 residents, Dadaab is bursting at the seams. The local trading centres are busy hubs for small business owners and truck drivers delivering trade goods, food and other humanitarian commodities. "Many of our customers are people who drive these trucks that bring goods here from the other urban centres. We also get clients from the villages around here," Hawa said. "When they arrive, our [pimps], who mostly work as loaders, ask them if they are interested in sex and they bring them here." Hawa says she usually leaves the decision on condom use to her clients, and has never been for an HIV test. The HIV prevalence in Kenya's North Eastern Province, where Dadaab is located, is about 1 percent, much lower than the national average of 7.4 percent. Nevertheless, experts say interventions to reduce the population's vulnerability to HIV are important. "Low risk", not "no risk" "Knowledge about HIV and AIDS is high here - about 90 percent - but the use of prevention methods like condoms is low and not many people turn up for tests. So we encourage them to turn up for tests and promote prevention methods like condoms to ensure they are safe," said Mohamed Ibrahim, a peer counsellor working at a youth centre in the camp. "The fact that HIV prevalence is low doesn't mean you say let us rest and forget about HIV." A 2010 HIV Behavioural Surveillance Survey conducted by the UN Refugee Agency and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Dadaab found that 7 percent of male respondents and 3 percent of female respondents reported symptoms of a sexually transmitted infection - which increases susceptibility to acquiring and transmitting HIV - in the past year. The BSS found that 3 percent of sexually active respondents reported transactional sex for money, gifts or favours. Just 12 percent of sexually active survey participants reported ever using a condom, dropping to 5 percent for the female condom, and only 22 percent of respondents had comprehensive knowledge about HIV. "HIV programmes should focus on increasing awareness and consistent condom use," the authors noted. "Interventions focusing on condom negotiation skills may help individuals convince reluctant partners." Initiatives to help sensitize the youth on HIV exist in Dadaab; at one youth centre within the trading centre, young men and girls read materials and watch educational videos on the subject. Liban Rashid, a young Somali man working with the NGO Film Aid International in Dadaab, has become convinced of the value of condom use in protecting sex workers and the general population from HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. "Sex work is a business here for many young girls and women because they have to get a little money," he said. "But they need to be put on the safe side by being given education on the need to use condoms if they can't leave the practice." *not her real name Source : http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=93741

I can't remember the last time a foreign head of state set foot in Mogadishu. This is encouraging. I hope Turkey can assist Somalia turn into its equivalent in the Horn.

Alpha Blondy;718024 wrote: they cant have it both ways. they either leave or integrate. very simple. I would think some young people in the demos were born in the UK, and hence are Brits, where would they go? Integration is a two-way street... you cannot just snap your fingers and tell people "integrate"... "the people in their own country" must be accepting of immigrants as well... if not then you have a recipe for ghettos. Don't just fall in line with what right-wingers tell you.

Mad_Mullah;727957 wrote: You're the same person that says 'I hate Arabs' and 'Israel is a fantastic country'. Sometimes I even think you're not Somali. LOL

^^^ LOL, you asked for "a link between human released Co2 and the temperature variations and my man, I will sit down after that." To quote Thankful: "Look, all the evidence in the world will not convince a conspiracy theorist; because they do not think rationally. " It's like an Atheist saying prove your God to me and I will sit down after that, you will not be convinced no matter how much common sense evidence you are shown. It does not take a genius to see the changes humans have brought about on this planet, just look at the levels of industrial pollution, land and air traffic emissions, overgrazing, and deforestation... we're fast approaching the 7 billion mark and we'll be 9 billion a few years on from now. Correlation does not equal causation, and the earth warms and cools in a cyclical pattern, however it has never undergone such a forceful impact to it's climate and resources as we have seen in the last 150 years.

Indeed. I think the article meant to say Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, commonly known as The University of Munich, one of the premier institutions in the country and indeed in the world.

a bit of a one-sided post Layzie, it's not just the 'mourners' who are causing a ruckus, but also the English Defence League and their supporters, it's mutual hatred... not just one-sided.

hey CH... seems like I've been away forever

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/us/24gang.html MINNEAPOLIS — When the girl now identified as Jane Doe 2 came under their control in 2006, at age 12, the Somali Outlaws and the Somali Mafia gangs set a firm rule: Their members could have sex with her free; others must pay with money or drugs. Repeatedly over the next three years, in apartments, motel rooms and shopping center bathrooms in Minnesota and Tennessee, the girl performed sexual acts for gang members and paying customers in succession, according to a federal indictment that charged 29 Somali immigrants with drawing many young girls into prostitution over the last decade, using abuse and threats to keep them in line. The authorities say the crimes were committed by men and a few women, some in their late teens at the time, who sported nicknames like Hollywood, Cash Money and Forehead. The allegations of organized trafficking, unsealed this month, were a deep shock for the tens of thousands of Somalis in the Minneapolis area, who fled civil war and famine to build new lives in the United States and now wonder how some of their youths could have strayed so far. Last week, in quiet murmurings over tea and in an emergency public meeting, parents and elders expressed bewilderment and sometimes outrage — anger with the authorities for not acting sooner to stop the criminals, and with themselves for not saving their young. The indictment was the latest in a series of jolting revelations starting around 2007, when a spate of deadly shootings in the Twin Cities made it impossible to ignore the emergence of Somali gangs. Then came the discovery that more than 20 men had returned to Somalia to fight for Islamic extremists, bringing what many Somalis feel has been harsh and unfair scrutiny from law enforcement and the news media. “And now it’s this sex ring,” said Zuhur Ahmed, 25, who discusses Somali family issues on her weekly program on Minnesota Public Radio. “Everybody is wondering what’s going to be the next thing.” Cawo Abdi, a Somali sociologist at the University of Minnesota, said that past surges in concern about troubled youths had not been followed up with money and programs to help them. “This is viewed as such a huge scandal and outrage,” she said of the new charges, “that it has to lead to some kind of action.” Many Somali immigrants are adapting well to the United States, as demonstrated on a major Islamic holiday last week when, in what has become an annual ritual, thousands streamed from morning prayers to enjoy the giant indoor amusement park at the Mall of America. Girls in traditional head scarves and boys in their best white shirts lined up for wild rides like the Splat-O-Sphere and the Log Chute. Yet poverty remains common, and their wrenching history creates some special obstacles for Somali families. “The migrant youth are more at risk than other kids,” said Dahir Jibreel, a former teacher who is the executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, a small nonprofit group that hopes to develop community programs. Typically, the parents grew up in Somalia while their children have grown up in America, and they inhabit different cultural worlds. The parents, some of whom have not mastered English, expect obedience and modesty and closely follow politics back in East Africa; the children are focused not on the homeland but on the money, clothes and excitement dangled by American culture. Compounding the challenges, some young Somalis arrived in the United States after traumatic early years in refugee camps, and without their parents. A significant minority have dropped out of school, only to spend time lurking in the streets around Riverside Plaza, a low-income high-rise complex in the neighborhood some call Little Mogadishu, or around one of the city’s Somali shopping centers. The indictment that set off the current soul-searching accuses the members of three interlinked gangs — the Somali Outlaws, the Somali Mafia and the Lady Outlaws — of involvement with the sex trafficking as well as thefts and large-scale credit card fraud. One girl, identified as Jane Doe 1, was not yet 14 in 2005 when gang members first drove her to Tennessee and Ohio to trade sex for money and drugs. Another girl, Jane Doe 3, was 15 in 2008 when she argued with her mother and fled to a female gang member known as Boss Lady, only 18 herself, who put her up while managing her prostitution. Some Somali leaders, including relatives of some of those charged this month, insisted that federal agencies were exaggerating both the crimes and the reach of any gangs. The authorities have identified “a couple of hundred” Somalis who are members or associates of several different gangs, said Jeanine Brudenell, a community liaison with the Minneapolis police. The groups tend to be loosely structured, and while they are known for robberies and occasional marijuana dealing, they are not large-scale hard-drug syndicates like some American gangs. Mr. Jibreel, the former teacher, said he had heard other examples of teenage girls who ended up as sex slaves. He said he had recently helped one girl who ran off at 12 and turned to prostitution and drugs under the aegis of gangs. She had a baby at 16 that was taken away by child protective services and continued her underworld life — under threat of death if she tried to leave it — until she recently gave birth to a second child that she is determined to keep. In a community that shies away from public discussion of sex and crime, some religious leaders and social workers have tried in the past to warn about the perils facing Somali youths. “I see these indictments as a wake-up call for parents,” said Hassan Mohamud, a lawyer and imam of the Da’wah Islamic center in St. Paul. Imam Mohamud visits Somalis in prison, trying to lure them to the fold, and his mosque offers after-school Koran classes to scores of young people, but he added that the community needed money for things like soccer coaches as well as stronger religious training. One former gang leader he helped is Abdulkadir Sharif, 31, whose tale, though many details cannot be independently confirmed, seems to encapsulate the strains and temptations of many Somali youths. Mr. Sharif said he fled Somalia for Kenya after seeing two sisters raped and murdered. He ended up in Minneapolis in 1996 with a sister and her husband, at the age of 17. They moved into the forbidding towers of Riverside Plaza, and he was kicked out of high school within a month after getting into fights. (To this day, he cannot read or write.) Mr. Sharif said he helped form Somali gangs for protection and self-esteem. “The only way to survive is to be somebody,” he said. He admitted carrying guns and selling drugs, spent a year in prison for car theft and beat a murder rap, but he insists that he was not involved in prostitution. In 2007, as Mr. Sharif emerged from a bar near the apartment towers, a rival stabbed him in the neck and left him for dead. His recovery, he said, “was a sign from God,” and his conversion was cemented by a visit from Imam Mohamud. Now Mr. Sharif, who speaks with a raspy voice because of damage to his vocal cords, works as security chief at the Da’wah center and leads an Islamic 12-step program to help others stop drinking. When he sees his surgical scars in the mirror, Mr. Sharif said, “This reminds me that I’ve got a second chance.” “There won’t be another one,” he said.

Ramadan Kareem to all my virtual brothers and sisters over here ... may God's blessings be upon you...

that should be a sock in the mouth of the so-called "patriots" who are nothing but self-righteous hypocrites...

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said today that music is "not compatible" with the values of the Islamic republic, and should not be practised or taught in the country. In some of the most extreme comments by a senior regime figure since the 1979 revolution, Khamenei said: "Although music is halal, promoting and teaching it is not compatible with the highest values of the sacred regime of the Islamic Republic." Khamenei's comments came in response to a request for a ruling by a 21-year-old follower of his, who was thinking of starting music lessons, but wanted to know if they were acceptable according to Islam, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. "It's better that our dear youth spend their valuable time in learning science and essential and useful skills and fill their time with sport and healthy recreations instead of music," he said. Unlike other clerics in Iran, whose religious rulings are practised by their own followers, Khamenei's views are interpreted as administrative orders for the whole country, which must be obeyed by the government. Last month Khamenei issued a controversial fatwa in which he likened his leadership to that of the Prophet Muhammad and obliged all Iranians to obey his orders. Khamenei has rarely expressed his views on music publicly, but he is believed have played a key role in the crackdown on Iran's music scene following the revolution. When Khamenei was president, he banned western-style music, forcing many stars to go into exile. Houshang Asadi, a former cellmate of Khamenei before the Islamic Revolution said: "He hated the music from the beginning." "There were times I sang a song by Banan (a popular vocalist) for him and he told me to avoid music and instead pray to God", said Asadi, who shared a cell with Khamenei for four months in Moshtarak prison in Tehran in 1976 and stayed friend with him for several years after the revolution. "The only music he liked was revolutionary and religious anthems," said Asadi. After the reformist President Khatami took office in 1997, official attitudes towards music and especially pop began to thaw. After his election in 2005, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cracked down on music. His ministry of culture and Islamic guidance has refused permission for the distribution of thousands of albums. Since last year's disputed elections the authorities have given even fewer permits for public concerts, fearing they could be used by the opposition. Iran has rarely given permission to concerts, as it fears that the opposition might use it as an opportunity to express itself, said Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Iran's most prolific and popular classical vocalist. "They are afraid of my concerts because of those moments before the concert is begun, when the whole hall is in silence and darkness when someone suddenly shouts 'death to dictator' and everybody accompanies and they are unable to identify that person," Shajarian said. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/02/iran-supreme-leader-music-islam

Good news indeed....

^ what she said! good stuff... thanks Arch!

The UN refugee agency has urged Saudi Arabia to stop deporting Somalis, saying 2,000 people have recently been sent to Mogadishu. The UNHCR says those forced back to the Somali capital are at risk. There is almost daily fighting there between Islamist militants and government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers. The UNHCR has asked all countries not to deport people to south and central Somalia. Most of this region is under the control of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group and its allies. The government only runs a few parts of the capital. "Given the deadly violence in Mogadishu, UNHCR is urging the Saudi authorities to refrain from future deportations on humanitarian grounds," said the agency's spokeswoman Melissa Fleming. Many Somalis escape the conflict at home by paying people-smugglers to take them across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. Some then carry on to Saudi Arabia. Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia has been wracked by violence for almost two decades. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10816830

any black person who has had a white person as an ancestor somewhere in their family line could have the possibility of a dormant white gene in them which can come out as the dominant gene in their children... The reverse is true for white people.

Not sure if this was posted here before, but it's a great piece by JS... http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-july-7-2010/wish-you-weren-t-here

The list of longest ruling non-royal leaders of all time lots of Africans on that list

Originally posted by Norfsky: This man is not Somali. No way! Not because of his actions but look at that photo! No way! is that so Norf? We're a nation of many faces, enough with the narrowing down.

my cousin was able to reproduce the graphic (he's a whiz at photoshop unlike me) so I ended up getting two for $10

http://www.zazzle.com/peace_in_somalia_tshirt-235636323799027950 very nice, I thought to myself apparently he was inspired by K'naan... and was nice enough to point me to the website where he got it.

i hope this SSC is a joke

Thanks Blessed, that was a good read...