Slash-and-burn; a new politico-Islamic strategy!

[xiinfaniin]

What happens when a country collapses politically and socially, reaches the apex of anarchy, and ceases to grow? The answer to that question may vary but most reasonable people would agree some type of armed insurgency is needed to reverse misfortunes exacted by the said collapse. But what about if the revolution itself turns out to be quite violent to the extent that its yesterday supporters seem to increasingly doubt if it could indeed deliver the promised remedy to the political ills it has sat out to cure? If the medicine prescribed is so bitter, so to speak, that the patient refuses to take it, how then could the disease ever be treated and uprooted?

 

To find a way out of such a moral quandary, a new strategy seems to be taking shape. I can’t quite put a name to it but I would call it slash-and-burn; something akin to the famous farming procedure where a plot of land was used to be burnt to restore its lost fertility! This time the intent is to cultivate Somalia’s died religious consciousness and to forcefully inject some sanity into its political thinking. That’s to say Somalia has hit the bottom of a dark sea from which it could not go any deeper, and thusly have two choices before it; languish in its current stagnation; or go through painful yet promising method of regeneration where some destruction is warranted in order to construct it! It’s ironic, I admit, for one to destroy what he claims to have the intent to build it, but mindless tribalism is sadly Somalia’s current social state. Mindless to the degree that people have indulged to a new level of a chosen self-demotion. Where right can’t be discerned from the obvious wrong. To correct these unnatural deviations, this new strategy need be adopted I say. Lets hope though it doesn’t cause too much erosion for its intended purpose to be achieved!

 

Do you think slash-and-burn is the way to go for now?

[General Duke]

^^^ Yeah untill they get slashed and burned then ot will be wrong and tragic..

 

If you get power through the gun, expect bigger to lose through it.

[xiinfaniin]

^^^That’s certainly a possibility yaa Generale but not trying it with the scale they have done it now has been the grave sin these wadaads have committed before. Lets see if the old man and his convert cousin (Barre) could deliver it to you this time around.

[NGONGE]

Lets hope it's not all just a shooting star

[xiinfaniin]

LOL@Intellectual Crime!

 

Waryee Oodweyne lets agree some basics first before we discuss my slash-n-burn thing. Do you first agree that Somalia has sunk deep into the abyss of anarchy? If your answer is affirmative as I expect it would be, then we have somewhere to start, and our discussion can go forward.

 

In the meantime let me remind you that I am not suggesting to destroy the very fabric of our society as you put it, what I am daring to do is however to put an intellectual argument for the Court’s coming wars with all the entities in the south. That which will inevitably seem to some as a nothing less than a sheer military vandalism has indeed deeper meaning to it is the gist of my thesis adeer. In fact, as I hinted in my brief, I am willing to take it even further and assert that given Somalia’s total collapse and its apparently destined territorial disintegration, Courts revolution, though painful as it is, is the only hope for Somalia’s rebirth. Take slash-n-burn as destroying our current political sand dunes and erecting more solid and perhaps comprehensive institutions anew. Don’t interpret it however as a nihilistic manifestation of extremism and radicalism that would spare no soul.

 

I know it would cause emotional discomfort for some and present political quandary for others but those who would like to preserve the status qua and want to stay the course (Somalia’s socio-political course that is) will be hit hard. In that vain you could be forgiven with your hasty charge saaxiib !

[General Duke]

the clan courts is the final chapter of the claim of certain clans on southern somalia..

[NASSIR]

Let me share with you this illuminating piece by Said Samatar. His last two paragraphs from his most recent article.

 

'Curiously, the segmentary law makes success lethal to any Somali group that rises to power and prominence because it works in both centripetal and centrifugal ways. The segments, that is, unify as easily against an interfering foreign force as they splinter when left alone. This is the lesson that recent Somali experience teaches. When the U.S. and other forces of the international community intervened to save Somalia in Operation Restore Hope in the early 1990s, the U.S. appeared to Somalis to be the new Big Boy on the block. Predictably, the segments banded together behind the late Gen. M. F. Aydiid against America. The result was the disastrous U.S. military reversal on bloody Sunday, October 3, 1993. And when Aydiid in his turn appeared to be the next Big Boy, warlords Muuse Suudi Yalahaw, Muhammad F. Qanyare and others banded together against him. He was duly fatally wounded. Then when in January, 2000, Mr. Abdiqaasim Salad became president of the TNG (Transitional National Government) before the current TFG (Transitional Federal Government) in the ‘Arta process in Djibouti, Yalahaw, Qanyare and others brought him down. And now the president of the current TFG, Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf, is two years into his term trying to placate opposing factions of his own government. His decrepit outfit becomes, even as I write this, more and more weakened by the day through wholesale desertions and resignations. Would-be foreign force deployed to Somalia in future, take note.

 

Accordingly, as the strength and influence of the ICU expand, the segmentary law is certain to sabotage them by inspiring a counter-coalition of clans to form against them. Conversely, any intrusion, for the time being, of a foreign force into Somalia against the ICU would only serve to legitimize them as a nationalist movement and thus galvanize patriotic fervor of support for them from the Somali mass. On this point, the alleged massing of Ethiopian troops on the Ethio-Somali border to bolster the beleaguered Mr. Yusuf’s TFG in the temporary capital of Baidoa would particularly be tragically counter-productive; for such an Ethiopian move would surely strengthen the hand of the ICU and possibly unleash a general conflagration in the region. On the other hand absent a foreign intervention, the ICU despite its current success, is in the long run likely to turn out to be a Somali version of “an old wine in a new bottle.†Meantime, a piece of unbidden advice to the U.S.: “Don’t worry, Be happy;†you have nothing to fear from the plague of Islamic terrorism from Somali quarters; for you have a formidable ally in Somali lineage segmentation working for you more effectively than any amount of money that CIA screwball personalities can squander on useless warlords.

 

By:Prof. Said S. Samatar

Rutgers University

[xiinfaniin]

^^^ Caamir , although the good Professor always misses the point when it comes to Islamic movements in Somalia, the part you quoted from his piece nevertheless has some germane points in it that Courts could hardly ignore. Tribal politics is well and alive in anything that remotely has something to do with Somali affairs and the good Professor’s suggestion that it might have a negative impact on the Courts is not far from the mark.

I don’t believe however that it’s likely that clan will ultimately be the cause of Court’s demise--- if it ever happens that is. If any thing I share brother Sophist’s concern that Ideological difference between different players in this movement could potentially impede them to achieve what they set out to attain.

 

As for the charges that they are based on clan now that I would say is the net yields of a misinformed mind. What Hasan Turk and Sh. Aweys have in common is not clan rather it’s their ideology that bounds them together. Afghani is from Somaliland region and would have no business in being in Ceel-Buur had it not been that same ideology he shares with the Court’s leaders. So as you can see this claim that these guys represent a different front of the same clan does not hold water when subjected to scrutiny. In fact, those who are making such claims are doing so to appeal and stir clannish sentiments for their advantage. It worked for them before. Lets see if it effectively works for these folks again. Today I would agree a critical war is brewing out of the southern horizon. Both sides are drawing plans for the battles to come. Both sides are trying to appeal to their core supporters and are using different slogans to maximize their core’s support. Courts are using religious slogans. The old man is employing his old tactics again for painting these Courts as an old, and enemy one at that, clan garbed with a religious gown. I think he’s just being too slow to understand political dynamics that have quickly developed.

[me]

Bunch of mad men, Ilaahayow kuwan naga qabo. Go back to the drawing board and come back with a better plan.

 

This whole slash-and-burn is gambeling and it can go both ways, it might regenarate the nation but it might also destroy what little that is left of it.

 

The outcome might be the end of the Somalis.

[xiinfaniin]

^^Think of it as a controled fire in a dying forest, adeer. Do you see some irony in there yaa ME? Burn some trees to allow other vegitations to grow and blossom..

[me]

Hmmmm, I am still not convinced there are better alternatives. Many better alternatives. How can there be a controlled fire? Explain please.

 

Ta labaadna, who will inherit the burned land? which seeds will repopulate the new forrest? There should be people ready that will take over and rebuild the Nation. Those people are not ready, so there should be a plan. You cannot just set a forrest on fire and hope everything will work out. And nature can take its course.

 

We want the weeds rooted out, we do not want to kill the whole forrest. We should not throw away the baby with the bath water.... etc etc

[xiinfaniin]

You see good ME, as I requested from bro Oodweyne you need first to agree or disagree with the premise of my argument which is Somalia is already dead, hence my dead forest analogy. Ok.

 

And one more thing, slash-n-burn does not mean you destroyed everything; it's a controled destruction just like a controled fire!

[me]

I agree Somalia needs drastic measures. I am with you on that. But I am asking you, what will replace the dead forrest? If you say lets kill 3 million Somalis to save the rest and teh rest will trully survive and get better lives and will become a united strong nation. They I would volunteer. But lets start a fire, without knowing what we want is dangerous.

 

Whats the plan, lets freestyle on it.

[xiinfaniin]

The plan is simple; replicate what happened in Mogadishu and Kismayo throughout the south and if it succeeds take it to the north (Puntland and Somaliland)! What do you say good ME?

[me]

Its a good plan, but the revolution should not turn into a qabiil war. The ICU should avoid being a qabiil force. Thety should stop this Ethiopia this Ethiopia that rethoric but speak directly to teh Somali people and make their intentions clear. They should present their vision.