The ABCs of Xenophobia and the imminent danger to Somalis in Kenya

[Abtigiis]

"If the head of the snake is here in Eastligh, why go to Somalia?” asks Macharia Gaitho, a popular columnist on the Daily Nation, the leading Kenyan newspaper. “To kill a snake, goes the popular truism, you cut off its head. You don't go for the tail”. He was reacting to remarks made by Kenya’s internal security assistant Minister Joshua Orwa Ojodeh who said Alshabab is like a snake with the head in Kenya and the tail in Somalia. The remarks were irresponsible, the silence from ethnic Somali members of Parliament (MPs) in Kenya bewildering. In response to the article, Kenyan readers were equally combative about what to do to the source of the evil. “Exactly my sentiments. Let's start right here in Eastleigh, South B,wherever a large concentration of Somali live.Let's face it, though not all Somali's are Al Shabaab, all Al Shabaab are Somali's.” One retorted.

 

You don’t need capital letters from me to see what is mutating. You can see the tentative walks of xenophobia. The TVs, Radios, and all other media outlets are portraying the war on Alshabab as a war on Somalis, by failing to give adequate background on who the group is and the pain they are inflicting on the Somali people inside Somalia. The elites may know what they are saying and the nuances to their statements. The masses won’t split hairs when they hear Minister Ojodeh’s vitriol. If the recent grenade attacks continue, and the security forces fail to prevent it, the masses know where to march to get vengeance: it is Eastligh, it is South B. It is Jamia mosque. Who will blame them?

 

Somalis must protest, lobby their representatives in the government and above all start putting contingency plans in place should it get to a point where criminals and confused masses try to have a go at their properties and homes. I for one will buy a gun and with the seven kids and the two cousins in the house, I am sure I will claim numerous negroid skulls before they do a Gaddafi on me. :D I won’t make it easy for the them, I promise a pitched battle. I will die on my fadhi-carbeed, not running. I am already planning to send the women and daughters away.

 

The other bizarre thing in Nairobi these days is the elaborate patriotic chest-beating the media is doing about this invasion. The media is fawning and you can’t miss the relish in feeling superior to Somalis for once. Sheikh Sharif’s duplicitous denunciations are not taken seriously by the Kenyan media. No one is discussing bringing the soldiers back.

 

P.s. I will send a sanitized and objective version of this article with a different title to the Daily Nation. I will share when it is published.

[Carafaat]

It's about time Kenya becomes xenophobic towards Somali's. Any country with such an influx of foreigners would try to oust them.

 

Somali's have been so comfortable in Kenya they forgat their own country.

[GoldCoast]

I seriously doubt the Kenyan authorities would allow a massive pogrom that would target the entire Somali community/properties. It seems as usual those who have the least protection/resources will bear the brunt of this reaction. If I am wrong and it becomes something on a massive scale this will be disastrous for the Kenyan economy in general. It is definitely not in Kenyan interest to get rid of Somalis, however things can change on a dime in such environments. The media campaign has been especially xenophobic and your average joe certainly has been riled up.

[Abtigiis]

GoldCoast,

 

Your analysis is correct. I don't think the authorities will allow such thing. But it may start spontaneously and we have lots of historical precedences where this has been the case.

[GoldCoast]

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/One+dead+13+injured+in+second+city+blast+/-/1056/1261260/-/140nfwf/-/index.html

 

Read the comment section, lol the Kenyans have lost the plot.

[Polanyi]

I hope they whoop your ***. Amen.