Amin Amir has a Point

[SayidSomal]

^and the casiir drinking splendid one to behold - has become the proverbial laughing cow - forget about clan is everything - he now chants - "caricature is everything" with permanent smile

[Chimera]

-Serenity-;693692 wrote:

I really would like to know where you got that figure of 2 billion. Please, source and reference. Thanks!

I'm not a fabricator:

 

Remittances to family members inside the country are a well-established practice and according to UNDP report 2009 remittance flows were estimated at up to US$ 2 billion in 2004 but could be higher. Remittances represent 23% of household income with up to 40% of households receiving some assistance. - Source

 

Secondly, you again seem to miss the point of this particular picture at this particular time. There is a time and place to discuss putting Somalia on the right tract long term and all the political maneuvering and who should do what, however there is a crisis in Somalia at the moment where an estimated 2.4 million Somalis require emergency humanitarian assistance, some literally dying of starvation as we type while others are pretty close. This is no time to discuss how the fire started, this is a time to put out the fire, and thats what he wants people to do. Reach out and help, put the extravagance on hold for a month or two, your people need your donation.

This is where you are wrong, for as long as I have been following the conflict there have always been several million people in crisis, 10-15 million in the wider region. The current figure used to be above 3 million, but Somalis in Somalia took matters into their own hands and started cultivating their own lands resulting in a bumper harvest, Somalis could feed half of Africa if they continued in such ways. No amount of fundraisers could ever come close to the agricultural wealth that is in Somalia, and these same fundraisers could never result in a million Somalis suddenly dropping off the food-insecurity list the way one bumper harvest has done. The food-aid dependence is a disease that Somalis in Somalia must shake off, otherwise Amin Amir will continue making the same drawings over and over again, and I will repeat the point that this out of the hands of those living in the diaspora, they cannot change the situation on the ground, to state so, is basic deflection from the real core issue.

 

The solution is with Somalis in Somalia, not Somalis in the diaspora. The latter groups already send back more than they should, for they are barely established communities struggling with their own issues, and if Hamdi, Hanan and Ruqia want to dress up nicely once in while after labouring around the house for months and raising five ungrateful kids, they have every right to do so. This is not being "lavish", not by a long shot.

[Taleexi]

Qof walba gar leh miyaa sheekadu, Allow Alle anigu waa ka dhaqaajiyey.

[Che -Guevara]

^LoooooooooooL...Haa dee:p

 

Norf....I guess we will have to disagree.

[Polanyi]

 

:p:p

[Che -Guevara]

^Norf doesn't definately agree with that, maybe even NGONGE will reverse course:D

[-Serenity-]

Chimera;693707 wrote:

The current figure used to be above 3 million, but Somalis in Somalia took matters into their own hands and started cultivating their own lands resulting in a bumper harvest, Somalis could feed half of Africa if they continued in such ways. No amount of fundraisers could ever come close to the agricultural wealth that is in Somalia, and these same fundraisers could never result in a million Somalis suddenly dropping off the food-insecurity list the way one bumper harvest has done.

I know you're a nifty googler, so go ahead and google the latest news coming out of Somalia. You will notice that this very harvesting and cultivating the lands that can feed them is the very thing thats at risk here and the cause of the food shortage crisis at the moment because of the failure of the rains in the last 3months of 2010.

[NGONGE]

Che -Guevara;693727 wrote:

^Norf doesn't definately agree with that, maybe even NGONGE will reverse course:D

Heh. I'm disappointed in you, saaxib.

Amin will not miss the chance to make fun of SSC whenever the opportunity presents itself. That's the nature of his job (coining an entire situation in a comic picture). Though, of course, here his political presuasion also reveals itself.

[Malika]

Chimera as usual is arguing for the sake of arguing..lol., you have heard the saying "Charity begins at home" - for every Hamdi, Hana iyo tii kale aad shegysee, twenty of their direct cousins are thirsty, hungry and under siege back home - so extravagant dressing for a night to a ****** extravagant wedding is trully a waste of money.

 

Daqaankii baa dadkii kaa tageen wallahi - to give has been the fundamental thing to do of Somalis, let alone it being an obligation of a Muslim to help his brothers - actually to be lucky enough to be here and not there is something one should be grateful for by giving to those less fortunate.

[puntnomads]

Chimera is right. the problem is that Somalis in Somalia are useless people. apart from the livestock in the north and farming in the south the country doesn't do much real production. all the nice businesses in Bosasso and elsewhere in Somalia is built on the remittance and investment of the diaspora. the diaspora is too generous to begin with because imagine that all that remittance stops because food and energy inflation worldwide causes the diaspora to have no extra income to send home, then what. There is no point in giving a man a fish without teaching him to fish because are you always going to give him fish. Somalis where every they are like to get something for nothing such as those Somalis on welfare and remittance. i have no interest in helping starving Somalis because there is no point in helping somebody who is not willing to help themselves because they just want to get past this hard moment without anything changing. that is what is wrong with aid to Africa. people became dependent on the aid. i was willing to send aid to the people of Pakistan because their problems were from God and they are my Muslim brothers. all these Somalis who are starving let them pray to the clan because in reality a lot of the starving people have more observed faith in the clan than Allah. let us imagine that Allah removes this problem then will they remember and change out of gratitude. if Somalis don't start the path of change then maybe Allah will forget them all together.

[Tuujiye]

Waraa norf! who toldyou that AA is in Ottawa? lool War ninka lives in Edmonton.

 

I know Amin very well and spend many times with him in my days when I lived in Edmonton. I have never met seen anyone who knows Somalia and its people so well. The man is a walking living and breathing history!

 

I learned so much about him and walaahi everything he does and says is from his heart. He loves somalia and he for unity for all.

 

BoB duqa ninkaan waad jeclaan leheed hadii aad aqoon fiican u lahaan leheed sxb. wax yaalaha uu yaqaan about history waa cajiib sxb. He also helps new comers to Canada gaar ahaan Alberta.

 

 

I totaly agree with his art and we should look at this as a reminder and nothing more because really thats what it is.

 

 

 

Wareer Badanaa!!!

[Chimera]

-Serenity-;693741 wrote:

I know you're a nifty googler,

What's that supposed to mean? You asked for a source, I gave it to you, no need to get frustrated when it coroborrates my point.

 

so go ahead and google the latest news coming out of Somalia. You will notice that this very harvesting and cultivating the lands that can feed them is the very thing thats at risk here and the cause of the food shortage crisis at the moment because of the failure of the rains in the last 3months of 2010.

Failure of rains? Please spare me! Somalia has two large rivers, plenty of water there. Create a fund that will revive the Bardera Dam project and in less than two years that fund will be filled, build grain storage facilities costing less than a million dollars and more than 80 000 tons of food will be saved from waste each year, which would neutralize a bad harvest. Your solution is myopic and will see us having this same conversation in 2012, 2013, 2014 etc.

 

Malika, God gave me a brain, how boring life would be if everybody knod their heads in agreement for fear of creating and defending an argument. Secondly there are hundreds of thousands of homeless in the host countries Somalis live in, should they now split their spare money and spend it on those back in Somalia, and the "have nots" in these new countries, and not live a social life at all? Aren't they Americans, Brits, Australians, Canadians too today?

 

Amin Amir's point is lame, trying to shift responsibility on a exiled people who do not have the power to change the situation on the ground, and despite that still spend billions on that country.

[Malika]

^huh@thousands of homeless in host countries?? - What has that got to do with anything we are discussing? There is significant difference between our host countries which are wealthy/developed to our poor, war torn country yakhii. There is no comparison between the homeless in London to the thirsty, hungry, under siege Somali in Somalia.

 

I still think your missing the point with this cartoon and pysche behind it - let me try to explain again - Somalis have never been about individualism, especially in times of need. I pray this positive cultural-social norm stays on despite all the changes that will come with time and circumstances Somalis find themselve in. I have a feeling you have no back ground knowledge of how Somalis operate, if you did you would have understood AA's dig in this cartoon.

 

puntland: yes, give man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish - you set him free..indeed. Now how to do you propose that happens without a goverment [stability], whilst thristy due to natural circumstance, or even whilst dodging bullets?

 

Ngonge, your arrogancy is noted - kulaha SSC is a joke..:rolleyes:

[NGONGE]

^^ Morning, Malika. (read what I wrote again).

[Chimera]

Malika;693845 wrote:

^huh@thousands of homeless in host countries?? - What has that got to do with anything we are discussing? There is significant difference between our host countries which are wealthy/developed to our poor, war torn country yakhii. There is no comparison between the homeless in London to the thirsty, hungry, under siege Somali in Somalia.

They are both desperate, they both go to bed hungry, they both are neglected by their countries' governments, why can't I shift responsibility of these poor & desperate in the aforementioned host countries on diasporic Somalis too?

 

I still think your missing the point with this cartoon and pysche behind it - let me try to explain again - Somalis have never been about individualism, especially in times of need. I pray this positive cultural-social norm stays on despite all the changes that will come with time and circumstances Somalis find themselve in.

This cartoon is spitting on the hundreds of thousands of hardworking Somalis in the diaspora that are literally sustaining an entire country back home. This collective guilt to do something for those who have nothing is very much evident in the UNDP figure of $2 billion being remitted anually, and this is a diaspora where the majority are children, so that figure will easily reach the $5-7 billion region in 5-10 years time.

 

I have a feeling you have no back ground knowledge of how Somalis operate, if you did you would have understood AA's dig in this cartoon.

No disrespect Malika, but you don't know me, you have no clue who I am outside this forum, what I do, and what I'm part off, so lets not speculate or get personal.

 

I said what I wanted to say, no need for further debate on my part.