Mahiga’s Woman, Art and SNM’s Pimp politics

[Abtigiis]

These multitude we call ‘Somali women’ has nothing in common. They have different preferences, judgments, political proclivities, and social sensibilities. Let us say it straight! They have different breast shapes, buttock sizes and different uters colours (Excuse the foul language). They don’t even get impregnated in the same position let alone share common values. So, it is most infuriating when false sensitivities about these non-existent multitude vitiates against art not least of it witty poems that ought to have been lauded and celebrated. Instead of analyzing the poetic competence of Abwaan Suusle’s “guur xumaaday” poem, we talked about Somali women, as if the artist prosecuted all of these mortals for bending for Mahiga. This is a big shame and great disservice to Somali art.

 

The artist talked about a specific woman, one whom many before him alleged to be the diplomat’s multi-purpose concubine. The story of Mahiga, and the Somalilander girl alleged to be putting her sharp teeth against Mahiga’s soft tissue (not to castrate him for the offenses he is committing against Somalia, but rather to gently scrub the Bantu-man’s loins for a firm erection that will only be released when recognition comes down to Somaliland) was all over the Somali media; well before Suusle summed it up with an enjoyable poem.

 

It is not difficult to understand why the secessionists in SOL would cry foul and characteristically turn the discussion to one about the integrity of Somali women, in consanguineous defense of a wayward girl from their homestead. But, it is not easy to comprehend why sensible Solers allowed the secessionists stifle the beauty and class of the poem, with irrelevant interruption about insults against Somaliland women. I would have loved to let this blameworthy brawl pass without me. But the sheer mendacity of the secessionist clique in SOL which seemed to have carried the day against the gullibility of other SOLers was too excruciating to watch from afar.

 

That SNM is indiscriminate in its tactics when in fighting mode is beyond question. Colonel Geta-masay Temesgen was a peasant army officer in the town of Degahbour in late 1980s, with mild expectations about who he can bed. That was so, until SNM military commanders offered Fardowsa as a human dowry in exchange for ammunition and fuel one fateful night. I saw the girl about a decade later in highland Ethiopia, wearing white ‘netela’ (scarf) and attending a mourning among many other Ethiopian women. She greeted me in Somali, although she was dressed in full Ethiopian costumes. I still recall her quintessential Somali face, visibly sad. If she married the colonel out of her free-will and choice, I am fine with it. But she could not have made an informed choice at the tender age of 15 or 16, when her uncles pawned her for political career.

 

This is not an isolated case, and I can give names of five to six women from the SNM clan who were given to Ethiopian military commanders in Hart-sheikh, Jigjiga, Harar and Diri-Dhabe at the height of the SNM resistance. These statistics does not include those presented on a temporarily basis, often on a one-nightly stand. This is a fact the SNM clan need to look into, and either accept culpability for or defend on the basis of the expediency of the times. They cannot deny it; they cannot seek protection by invoking Somali cultural codes exempting insult against women. No one is insulting the girls who are clearly victims in this high-stake game of clan statehood ambition. Poet Suusle is insulting SNM’s filthy political culture of fighting with every tool available to them, including the cervix of their womenfolk.

 

The presumption of innocence until found guilty applies to the woman linked to Mahiga and it will be wrong to vilify her without any evidence. To that extent, the poet’s verdict may be erroneous given that no proof has been presented for the girl’s double-task with the man she formally serves as assistant. However, passing a criminal verdict is not the role of a poet. That is for judges and courts. A poet’s duty is to express opinions on contemporary social, political, cultural and moral paradigms, events and storylines. A poet is allowed to ridicule alleged obscenities and perceived inclinations of some social groups. ‘Guur xumaaday’ falls into this category. While the poet could be wrong about the woman involved in his poem, he has skillfully exposed the indiscriminate modus-operandi of the SNM.

 

In many ways, Sillanyo and the SNM horde suffer from Okonkwo’s malady. Dying to be seen as a warrior in a milieu that worshipped soldierly heroism, Okonkwo felt small and unfit. Not because he was not man enough, but because Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, was an aesthete who cherished flutes and not rifles. Okonkwo’s obsession to be taken as a man of iron, a man of unwavering bravery and firmness, led to him killing his own son who fled to him to protection. In so doing, he offended the foundational value of his own village which prohibited killing one’s own son. The fear of not being equal to the other men in the village, a fear incarnated by oknkwo’s mischaracterization of his own father, had compelled him into committing the repulsive sin for which a humiliating suicide would be the only cure.

 

Equally, ingrained clan worship, which has no bounds and horizons, and the urge to outfox political adversaries drove the SNM to commit the dishonorable act of donating innocent Somali girls to outsiders, for the sole purpose of attaining political mileage over perceived enemies – ironically, fellow Somalis. And they did so with the restraint of the archetypal SNM decadence, in the process offending against more conclusive cultural sensitivities, such as the cleanliness and preciousness of the Somali women, upon which our collective pride as people stands on.

 

The Sheikh Sirros of SNM peninsula, who pass edicts for the enslavement of Sool and Sanaag girls, doesn’t have time to speak against SNM’s long-standing pimp politics, as evidenced by the Mahiga story and many similar stories before it. Cry beloved country! Cry Somalia. Two decades ago, Abwaan Surwaal, a man I call an uncle and from my dusty village, composed the following lines for an internal nuptial matter that involved two sub-clans of the same clan in my land. Surwaal was wrong on that occasion, but I am sure he will allow me to attribute his famous lines to Mahiga’s victim, posthumously. For it fits this tale!

 

Geenyada Bureeqa ah, markuu baqalku fuulaayey

Way baadiyootee, sharcigu uma baneeyeene

 

As for Suusle, 21 gun salutes wouldn’t adequately honour him for his top-notch sonnet.

[Yunis]

Aside from vulgarity in the first few sentences. Its Abtigiis being as provocateur as usual

 

It will be interesting to see the other camp's Retort peom to Suusle's "Guur xumaaday..." to analyze that comeback poem - that I saw recently, which equally conjured indignity as Suusle's,,,,

[burahadeer]

Even prof.Abtigiis,the presidential candidate is thrown off balance by reality on ground..that they have no hope whatsoeva & somaliland is gone.

Nothing more desperate than insulting women.....cheap shot after anotha!your Avatar:D & english gave me a false sense that you'r a big man upto something great..way kaa hoostay! Wackooooo

waxane waa yaabe ma dhaqan bay idiin tay!!

[Wiil Cusub]

Waxa jira mashruuc aan la galin, lagana maansoone

Dibnahaa maroorsama ninkii mawqifkaa gala,e

Ma macaasho kii ceeb hablaha ugu maciinaaye

 

Maansha Allee dumarku waa mahurtadeeniiye

Waa midho inoo wada dhexoon cidi ka maarmayn

Mida aad qabtiyo hooyadaa laga misaalaaye

Maxaa cayda mooskaaga taal magane kuu geeyay

Macdantii xishoodkiyo maxaa sharaftii kaa maydhay

[Qandalawi]

^Abtigis is blaming the men. What he calls the 'PIMP'

[uchi]

I have said it before, he just spouts nonsense, maybe he should get himself registered and start a blog.

[Abtigiis]

They use to say 'where there is a klinsmann, there is a goal'. Where there is pimp politicians who dare the mother of all abominations to advance mundane political ambitions, there will be men who will talk about the pimped women. Burahadeer is repeating the same allegations I have tried to debunk in the post above. The issue is not about the woman, the issue is about SNM and its age-old tradition of pawning women for miasmic poilitical gains. It is dehumanizing women, and the best way to respect the dignity of somali woman is not to insult Suusle and Abtigiis, but to write petitions to the SNM leaders in Hargeisa and pressure them to cancel pimping as official SNM political strategy.

 

There are many somali woman who are married or sleep with non-somali men without being married to them. This is normal. The one's married are married to humans, not to animals. The others sleeping around, are like the rest of womanhood selling their bodies and dignity for a livelihood or addiction. To state this may be painful for some people's ego, but it is a fact. The talk of presenting somali woman as something unique and different from other races is equally false as well. They are not better than the rest of women in the world, they are not worse than them too. Among them, there are the good ones, the bad ones, the clean, the unclean, the successful, the failures, the pretty, the ugly. To talk about one or two is in no way to talk about the others. That is the point I wanted to hammer home. But Suusle's poem was actually targeting the men who allowed and sponsored this abomination, not the woman herself. So, people who are talking about 'insult against somali women' are disingenious and are trying to hide the shames of their political elites under these sensitivties.

[burahadeer]

Bitter man:o

[Abtigiis]

Burhadeer, bitterness is a charge I accept. Of course, i should be bitter when my women are devalued and traded for futile secession project. In the bigger picture, the shame is mine too. Afterall, these are somali women.

[burahadeer]

.

[Qandalawi]

It is dehumanizing women, and the best way to respect the dignity of somali woman is not to insult Suusle and Abtigiis, but to write petitions to the SNM leaders in Hargeisa and pressure them to cancel pimping as official SNM political strategy.

:D

[Jacaylbaro]

1. Dacartuba marbay malab dhashaa ood muudsataa dhabaqe

2. Waxan ahay macaan iyo qadhaadh meel ku wada yaalle

3. Midigtayda iyo bidixdu waa laba mataanoode

 

4. Midi waa martida soora iyo maata daadihise

5. Midina waa mindiyo xiirayiyo mur iyo deebaaqe

6. Masalooyin talantaalliyaan maandhow leeyahaye

 

7. Nin majiira keliyuun qabsada hay malayninae

8. Marbaan ahay muddeex camal san oon maagista aqoone

9. Marna macangag laayaanahoo miiggan baan ahaye

 

10. Marbaan ahay muftiga saahidnimo mawlacaw gala'e

11. Marna Mukhawi waashoo xumaha miista baan ahaye

12. Marbaan ahay nin xaaraan maqdaxa aan marin jidiinkise

 

13. Marna tuug mu'diya baan ahoon maal Rasuul bixinne

14. Marbaan ahay maqaam awliyaad maqaddinkoodiiye

15. Marna mudanka shaydaanka iyo maal jinbaan ahaye

 

16. Marbaan ahay murtiyo baanisaba madaxda reeraaye

17. Oo ay weliba muuniyo dulqaad igu ******taane

18. Marna reer magaal Loofaroon muuqan baan ahaye

 

19. Waxan ahay nin midabbeeya oo maalinbays rogae

20. Muuqaygu gelinkiiba waa muunad goonniyahe

21. Miisaanna ima saari karo nin i maleeyaaye

 

22. Muslinka iyo gaalada dirkaba waan micna aqaane

23. Malaa'iigta naartiyo jannadu waygu murantaaye

24. Ninkii maalmo badan soo jiree madaxu boosaystay

 

25. Ee inan rag maamuli yiqiin waa i maan garanne

26. ninkasta halkii kuula mudan ee ay muhato laabtaadu

27. Ee aanad madadaaladeed ugala maarmaynin

28. Iska soo mar waa kuu bannaan marinkad doontaaye

 

 

 

 

...................................................... Allah Yarxamah Abwaan Qaasim

[Coofle]

Just when the graph shifts to the right, Abtigiis pushes it with his mighty keyboard.

 

Being a silent reader of his posts for many years, I find it intriguing and yet mind boggling how he can make something so derogatory sound nice, If I was Hitler he would have been my Propaganda manager.

[Malika]

In a nutshell - You saw or heard Mahinga has got himself a 'Somali' girl/woman - right?...

[NGONGE]

In the spirit of Somalnimo and Unity, let me join you all in rejoicing at the supposed seductive abilities of our women. If she be a "piece of meat", she's not just an SL piece of meat; she's a SOMALI piece of meat. Mise waad na ictiraafteen ya A&T?

 

p.s.

Is that what you were talking about?