Whispering Nationalists: Breathing Life into the Dying Somali Nationalism

[SOO MAAL]

Whispering Nationalists: Breathing Life into the Dying Somali Nationalism

Ali Bahar

June 6, 2005

 

In today's world, even with the seemingly universal cooperation and free trade among most civilized world, nationalism is finding its way back into the hearts and minds of people in every conscious society and is getting stronger than ever. All over Europe, Asia, and the Americas as well as the Oceania, people are reclaiming their countries and recommitting their loyalties to their nation----- Nationalism is in the rise more than ever, a new social movements of some sort, where people of the same origin are regrouping, realigning or uniting again to claim their oneness and their shared common cultural heritage.

 

The full impact of these tendencies of renewed nationalistic sentiments are felt in all over the world, unless of course the country in question is Somalia, where the Somalis are relentlessly trying to bring back the colonial state structures to re-divide and redefine their nation into fiefdoms and tribal enclaves--- the pre-historic tribal groups, asserting that they have always been some sort of de facto federations of different peoples that have barely anything in common, ethnically, religiously, linguistically or otherwise. In short, No common bond!!

 

Perennialism is I belief that nations exist throughout long periods of history either continuously or recurrently and focus on ethnic ties, myths of origin, and symbols as the source of nationalism's vitality throughout the ages.

 

Well, I don't intend to teach history in this short article and I rather not to challenge that claim of superiority of certain clans to the others in Somalia, however, one wonders whether a failed political arrangement was the only thing the Somalis ever had in common or whether there are apparent perennial ties that we share. A government, was that all? The extent to which our social order or life is harmonious or whether we share a common heritage; and to the extent that we share common moral and social values; or conflict-ridden social order that underscores our tribal difference, the prevalent degree of grievances that we have today focuses more not on what we share but what possibly disunite us.

 

Granted that governing different peoples with different interests and localities, with necessary local concerns and or regional goals and triumph of many interest, as is the case in every country, will require careful arrangements that lead to sense of being part of nation and the feeling of pride and nationalism where all constituents, big and small, should have the same basic rights and privileges. Ironically, nonetheless, that is the basic agreeable components of federalism, and it was the responsibilities of us all, as all other creatures do, to make it work towards that goal. Under federalism and under one national umbrella, each region in Somalia could have worked towards developments and achievements to reach their individual potential and capacity without sacrificing, sabotaging or fostering into the death of our nation and national pride that we lost today, and at the same time would have remained a viable nation with dignity in the eyes of the rest of the world society.

 

What we have today are disgraceful tribal enclaves constantly on the throat of each other, where all of them miserably failed to take care of the welfare of their individual regions. More than two decades of observing this tragedy in today's society in our country should be considered as a convincing reason to believe that our nation has nothing to expect from today's political elites, the warlords and alike, who all failed to sway the political squander that they have themselves created. Their unwillingness to yield is a testimony that their greed and competition for the control of our national resources are pushing the whole country into destruction.

 

The genuine Somali nationalists, the whispering few that are consciously active today, is a small fraction of what once was the main core of our national treasure. The absence of a vocal, organized, strong movement with vision to save this nation opened the doors for warlords, regional chauvinists, tribal segregationists and opportunistic inept politicians that sucked the life out of our once vibrant nation and its beautiful people. Tragically, the most discouraging reality in all this is the inescapable fact that these new waves of problems that beset the Somali nation are just the beginning of unfortunately dismal future that has already destroyed the precious lives and the hopes of our youth, and the beginning of the end of the nationalistic sentiments among the Somali youth that was once the dream of every proud Somali family to raise their children to become the defenders of this nation tomorrow.

 

The few surviving nationalists are mostly in their 50's or older and may or may not be around for another decade or so. However, had they been forthcoming in organizing themselves in order to breathe life into the dying nationalism in this country, it could have helped today's youth to have a sense of nationalism and a clear understanding of what it means to pass it on to the next generations. What we have today is a situation where, after 15 years of rampant destruction and tribal chauvinism in our country, the surviving youth are either a confused bunch, some of whom are either the least educated or blinded by non rational, Godless religious belief in void of convincing and solid tradition, which itself constitutes an impediment to understanding a good society's history and social values.

 

Most of today's young generation has no nationalistic connection to their country, and many, not a fault of their own but because of the predicament they found themselves growing under, lack the required social consciousness. Others either loath today's existing conditions and are distrust with the coercive ruling warlords or have otherwise become the propellant of this besieging warlordism and regional segregation that have replaced yesterday's society and its cultural values. This latter group is the most dangerous and the most antinationalism group, who is not willing to partake in any national discourse that proposes peace and reconciliation, flexibility, cooperation, rationality or shifting of their loyalty in this political quandary, materialistic and moral flawed situation that currently prevail in our country, which they have been part of throughout their lives.

 

Thick walls of illiteracy, tribalism, cycle of wars and lack of leadership that shattered their lives and obscured their vision to escape from this grip of helplessness currently surround them. Battered by rampant regional wars, and local civil strive, they grew up in today's Somalia where nationalism is nonexistent or remains something of the past. With declined social values; unabashed suppressions of certain groups and the silencing of public opinions, their acquired experience in governing and social responsibilities are the misguided social destruction orchestrated by ignorant remnants of yesterday's army officers, unintelligent bureaucrats, and likeminded warlords attempting to change the course of history by fostering into a social disarray driven by a highly propagated clannish mindset of their own and greed for power, a fatal combination that put the whole country into coma.

 

In the absence of true and functioning democratic political parties that could help them shape their future dreams, enlighten their public opinion and national responsibilities, our youth of today lack the acquired experiences of healthy public and political discourse and the necessary critical evaluation of their required collective contribution towards building a nation for their children and generations yet to come, as their grandfathers did for today's passing generation. It is a national tragedy that today's few whispering nationalists should take a note of, if at all they are willing to help this lost generation before this older generation passes away;….., one by one, few here and there, without much of note taken by the rest; leaving behind a nation whose future is in the hands of this confused and lost generation themselves. For Somalia to reenter back into the peace-loving countries in the world, today's generation should think very seriously about their responsibilities and their role in becoming the guarantor of peaceful society that is respectful of individual governmental and human rights, and above all to build and protect a viable Somali nation with fully protected sovereignty and an earned respect among the nations in the world that we should be in it and of it.

 

The role that the whispering few nationalists should play, and urgently I may add, is to change the course of Somali politics before it is too late. We should transform our conscious young generations from an orally debating tribal society, controlled by warlords, to a society with political ideals and political independence that could be hammered into the minds of today's young generations and the generations to come. This, as I see it, is a way to help our society to escape from this seemingly inescapable grip, if not today possibly tomorrow, and become a strong nation that could succeed in its political mission to join the free world and gain the dignity it so deserves. Only such movement with national fervor and enthusiasm, with unique political creed of nationalism, could liberate our people and could guarantee pride in accomplishing one's motherland. Such movement, should have the courage not only to defend our culture against abuses and destruction, but should have the wisdom to correct what is wrong with it. We should revisit our traditional models, critically study all its strength and weaknesses, and develop a strategy to recommend the required changes.

 

Our problems, I believe, are not our regional differences, as that is common in all mankind, but I believe it is the destruction of what we once had, oneness in nationalism. What we need is not an empty self-glorification of regional enclaves, but a real country and its people, a unity within and with the rest of the mankind.

[SOO MAAL]

Changing the way we think!

Mohamed Jibrell

 

June 6, 2005

 

It is hardly news that the issue tormenting Somali people is the struggle to overcome sub clan divisiveness that could lead to building a nation state. The shock is after a decade and half of wrestling with this enigma, the obvious answer is that no one has been able to explore- changing the way we think. There's only one problem- getting out of our mess and establishing a nation state requires influencing how people actually think. Yet when the habits of persuasion have been buried, the possibilities of developing relationships across the lines of division become far removed.

 

Is it possible for Somalis today to convince anyone of anything he doesn't already believe? If so, are there enough places where mingling of minds occurs to raise questions and influence one another?

 

The signs are not good. Ninety percent of political conversation among Somalis amounts to dueling sub clan points. The purpose of most political debates is not to persuade but to win as our reactive sub clan dynamics spark fear and sharply increases the level of polarization.

 

Like Sisyphus, we continue to keep rolling the rock uphill. To escape the crisis in which we are trapped, people must imagine and articulate the kind of community they desire. We must establish a new of way of thinking. We must not envision the future as a final destination that is mechanistically planned, bust instead engage one another not as hostile clans, but communities, in the process of looking toward a horizon of reconciliation, toward the place where we can envision living in an interdependent and commonly defined future.

 

As it is now, marshaling a case to persuade those who start from a different position is a lost art. Huddling with like-minded sub clan souls, it is inconceivable to honor what's right in the other side's argument which often seems a superfluous thing that can only cause trouble. But the embarrassing truth is that the self appointed clan politicians are impervious to facts and often get it wrong. Beyond this, the gap between the sub clan leadership political ambitions and the pragmatic yearning of the average Somali person for sound , secular, and democratic government explains why so many people are feeling despair and hopelessness.

 

We can only change how we think if we can create a commonly shared future and to develop a clear understanding of, and practical response to, the existing realities and crises. The resurrection of persuasion will not be easy. Sub clan demagogues who've learned to exploit divisiveness to perpetuate their survival, may not feel safe with creatively engaging on substance. But if you believe that meeting our collective challenges requires greater collective understanding, we've got to change how we think. We need a cultural breakthrough that creates new possibilities.

 

Mohamed Jibrell

 

Minneapolis, Minnesota

[SOO MAAL]

Whispering Nationalists? What Whispering Nationalists?

 

 

One article of profound ineptness and common humour was “Whispering Nationalists: Breathing Life into the Dying Somali Nationalismâ€. This article and its writer failed to highlight were in Asia, Europe or North America the rise of nationalism was happening. To take Europe as an example, countries within the European Union have begun to understand that as the European Union expands their unique identity is threatened. In the last few weeks not only France, but Netherlands rejected closer integration of the European peoples. This is due to wanting and protecting their separate sovereign identity. In Asian were more then 50% of the worlds inhabitants reside countries are also mistrustful of each other. The Arabs in particular more then a dozen different nations, all speaking the same language, have a similar origin and share the same religion yet view one another with mistrust and some even holding deep resentment for one another. According to the writer of the above article supposedly not only is “nationalism†taking root here but these countries who all speak the same language and have a similar origin and share the same faith want to be one country. I don’t know which fairy tale the writer is living in but this is not true. Syria and Egypt are similar yet they are different. They have a different history from Ancient Egypt to Syria’s Assyrian civilisation.The Arab league has shown the world what arabs can achieve when they get together, nothing !The Arabs quest for pan-arabizim failed to materialise and both Eygpt and Syria returned to their colonial bounderies.

 

What the writer shares in common with some section of Somali society is the belief that because you speak a similar language that you should be one country. Germany and Austria speak a similar language yet are different nations, U.S.A and Canada, most of latin America speak spanish and more yet all these nations are seperate. The Writer also failed to declare that Somali nationalism was an export which Somaliland exported south, Somali nationalisms birthplace was in Somaliland and before Somaliland initiated and taught other Somali’s little did they know about nationalism, a common identity or a common cause on a national level. It was fed to them like all things.When the writer refers to the old failed state is he referring to the very state which supported, created and backed the qabilist cause which the writer is claiming to appose. Does the writer secretly want the return of the qabilist state which fed a section of Somali people the revenue and wealth of the old state? A state which supports one group of individuals over the rest is not a nationalist state. Can the writer name me one major nationalistic objective the old former Somali republic succeeded in accomplishing in its entirety? If there are any Somali’s who knows about Somali nationalism it is the Somalilanders. Not only were we the initiators of the failed and now collapse union. Somalilanders were the architects behind the dream of a greater Somali state. Somalilanders were the creators of the national anthem which the baboons in Kenya sing on a daily bases as they swear to serve their nation. The belief that federalism can hold Somaliland is a great misconception. Nor federalism nor federation can hold Somaliland back from its destiny. Just because the nationalism of the past has been transformed doesn’t mean nationalism is none existent. Nationalism exists today more then ever, but as before mothers and fathers who once taught their children about Somalia are now teaching their children the love of Somaliland. Somalia in its old form does no longer exist. Somali’s in Somalia should open their eyes, wake up to the reality. Take their future into their own hands. Be the commanders of their own destinies. Stop waiting around for a government which exists only in name, which controls nothing and like all the rest is doomed to fail.

 

The vast majority of Somaliland’s young generation are articulate, and embody a nationalistic ideal stronger then any other. Their only requirements are better facilities and more opportunities and god willing these will be provided in the near future. Your problems include the failure to adapt to changing times. A failure on the Somali’s to take control of their own destinies and criticise those who do. Your problems include the fabrication of history and politics to meet your interests instead of declaring the truth. Your problems include the failure to bring about order and justice to your country and a desire to drag in all elements regardless of their rights. Your failures are numerous and if their was anything such thing as southern Somali nationalism it wouldn’t be in the mess that it is in now. Nationalism isn’t just a word it is present in the society and it shapes it. A people’s nationalism is determined by the strength of their nation. The infrastructure of their nation and the values it adheres to.

 

Abdulkadir Idan

London, England

abdulidan@hotmail.com

[SOO MAAL]

Whispering nationalists: a rejoinder

By Mohsin Mahad

 

Abdulkair Idan's reaction to Ali Bahar's article in Awdalnews.com , entitled “Whispering Nationalists: Breathing Life into the Dying Somali Nationalism†was pompous and in some places downright insulting (his reference to Somali parliamentarians appointed in Kenya as “baboonsâ€!!). What Mr. Ali Bahar lucidly stated was merely to underscore the fact: that our common bonds as Somalis, such as our race, religion, language, culture and shared territorial homeland in the Horn of Africa, had been in the past at the heart of our nationalism and were the driving forces that brought about the liberation and unity of the former British and Italian Somalilands in July 1960. The undeniable trend towards integration, both economic and political, that has been sweeping many regions of the world was given by Mr. Ali Bahar merely as a reminder of our own tragic disunity and collective self-destruction when most other people in the world were moving in the opposite direction.

 

Mr. Abdulkair Idan, in contrast to Ali Bahar, sees the world through the distorting glasses of a secessionist for whom unity and integration among the Somalis or any where else in the world are an anathema. Thus, for him, the world reality is dominated by the absence of nationalism or unity, even among regions that otherwise speak the same language such as North America (speaking English) and the Arab world (speaking Arabic).As he sees it, these regions are going their different ways despite sharing common heritages. For a proof, he cites the recent rejection of the constitution of the European Union (EU) by French and Dutch voters which he presents as a rejection of the EU treaty itself. That is not the case. The rejections of the constitution in both countries were not against the European integration per se, contrary to Abdulkadi's assertion, but rather an _expression of discontent with their governments on other issues such as unemployment, immigration to the EU (especially Muslim immigrants) and the possible enlargement of the EU to include Muslim Turkey.

 

As for the Arabs, it is true that they have not succeeded to create a union of their member states. But all the same, there are many cooperative arrangements among them in the economic, political, social, and cultural fields. In South East Asia , ASEAN is a successful regional economic and political grouping and it is not the only one among Asian countries. North America has its own economic grouping as do a number of Latin American countries. So what Ali Bahar has said is basically true even if nationalism is not every where the main driving engine towards economic and political integration in these regions of the world.

 

Even if some regions or countries unfettered by nationalism and common heritage were going their different ways, as Abdulkadir would have us believe, what has this got to do with the case of Somalia ?. Nothing. Somalia is not a region but a single independent country, which is a member of the United Nations, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference and the African Union. What Abdulkadeir and other secessionists would like is simply Somalia 's disintegration so that what he calls Somaliland can then go its own way and be recognized as the only functioning entity. For all secessionists, our common shared heritage is irrelevant. What counts most for him is the fact that we were once upon a time two distinct colonial countries prior to the union. As they see it, the history of the land he calls “Somaliland†begins from the date of British colonisation and ends on the date of its independence on the 26 of June Its history before colonisation as part and parcel of the overall Somali homeland with no borders is conveniently forgotten. The inviolable act of union is now unilaterally considered by the secessionists as null and void.

 

Needless to say, there was no such a land called Somaliland before colonisation. Like everywhere else in the overall Somali homeland, the clans now inhabiting the N.W region had no separate identity different from other Somali clans in the Horn. Loyalty was not to a non-existent Somaliland but to the clan and related wider clans beyond their traditional grazing areas.

 

Our common bonds are indivisible. They cannot hold for Somaliland and not for the whole of Somalia . We are either one people or nothing. For the secessionists, it is the British connection which counts and nothing else. How can the mere common experience of having been former British subjects in the last century serve as the basis for national identity and outweigh our common heritage of shared religion, language, race and culture?. And if you reject our common heritage, then you automatically reject the basis of a nation state. And without the attributes of a nation state, we will simply remain scattered clans- Isaak, ****** , ****** , Digil, ********** , Issa, etc,-just as we had been before and during colonisation.

 

A better example of disintegrated countries is not those given by Abdulkadir but rather the former Soviet Union , the former Yugoslavia and Ethiopia . When the Soviet Union collapsed, the former satellite nationalities become independent. Yugoslavia was similarly composed of various nationalities having different languages and religions. They too fell apart after the death of President Tito and the subsequent bloody civil war is now a matter of history. Ethiopia is an empire that had swallowed other territories and nationalities including our own. Eritrea has succeeded to liberate itself through armed struggle. As for the ****** liberation movement, it had admittedly its ups and downs but is all the same alive and kicking, and it is only a matter of time before they too liberate themselves. Only the pessimists, defeatists or downright secessionists can doubt this

 

The Somali case, now as it is, or as it was during its colonisation, cannot be compared to those regions or countries that are either integrating or disintegrated. A good comparison for Somalia would be the case of the former East and West Germany . Following the end of the Second World , Germany was divided by the victorious powers into two parts: West and East Germany . When the Soviet Union collapsed, East Germany , which was nothing more than a Soviet colony, immediately reunited with West Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Somali homeland had gone through more or less similar experience. The European powers together with Ethiopia had partitioned the Somali territory into five parts. When two powers, Italy and Great Britain , gave independence to their respective parts, their former colonies immediately reunited thereby ending a century -old artificial colonial division. Just as East Germany , or parts of it, cannot today secede from the rest of Germany , so is the case with Somalia . The former British Somaliland or parts of it cannot break away from the union despite their declared secession. That is why no single country has recognized the secessionists' self-declared independence.

 

Mr. Abdulkadirs article is full of animus towards the Somalis in general other than his Somalilanders (a camouflage for his secessionist clan). His condescending sermon is particularly directed at the Southern Somalis who he sees as good for nothing. This arrogant, chauvinistic attitude is common among certain clans in the North West . Apart from his objectionable attitude, he claims that it was the Somalilanders who culturally civilized the Southerners (gave them the national anthem) or brought nationalism to them. Bravo! Such is the distorted view of our history - a mixture of sheer ignorance and clan chauvinism. Every one should read the brilliant article by Ismail Ali Ismail which appeared in Wardheernews few days ago.

 

Needless to say, it was the South, through the S.Y.L movement, which has spawned and spread Somali nationalism throughout the Somali homeland in the Horn Africa. And it was Sayed Mohamed Hassan before them who fought the British for over 20 years but was finally defeated by overwhelming superior forces and technology. Mr. Abdulkadir's heroes in British Somaliland , were at that time mercenaries for the British. He should listen to the Sayid's poems and what he had to say about what he considered as traitors. Those of us who come from the cradle of the Darwish movement have much to be proud of as true nationalists. As Ali Bahar advocated, let us breathe life into our dormant nationalism.

 

Mohsin Mahad