Constitution USA -- PBS Program

[Baashi]

I enjoyed watching this civic education program and thought I share it with SOL crowd.

 

http://video.pbs.org/program/constitution-usa-peter-sagal/

[Illyria]

Excellent programme. I will add to my summer watching list.

[Baashi]

This is not about Somalia’s Provisional Constitution. However by watching it one might come away with the understanding that any contract drawn by men is inherently incomplete and unbounded. As good as the American social contract is it is full of grey areas and has its share of loopholes that are open for number of interpretations.

 

We nomads are going through all sorts of crisis including social upheavals. Couple that with the fact that the leading figures in our politics are informed by their recent experiences and hence one might argue that they are motivated by the defining events in this dark era of Somali history.

 

Are they up for the task and truly represent their constituents and by extension improve the social contract? We shall see

 

Next time you read or hear about constitutional disputes remember it is necessary political arguments over the details of the constitution that folks need to have NOW so we won’t have another painful and costly correction down the road.

[Baashi]

Illyria, I am sure you would loved it. It's extremely informative program. The NPR radio persoanlity Peter takes current issues and superimposes on the historical narratives founders adavanced. He adds tidbits in a teasing way about the conflict between the federal vs. states...

[Illyria]

Thanks Baashi,

The beauty of the American constitution is that, while it is based on the Magna Carta and derives impetus from religion, it is a model for modern institutions in the new world. Any one who wants to participate in political conversations must read before forming opinions in vacuum, but then that might be too much to ask for some.

[Mintid Farayar]

Gentlemen,

 

The whole U.S. system was set up, in its fundamentals, by a landed(wealthy) elite with a high degree of education. The 'education' helped in learning from and avoiding the mistakes of the European past. The 'wealth' played a factor regarding the unique emphasis on 'property rights' in the U.S. Constitution. The 'Confederal States'(before they became the United States) were extremely wealthy even by European standards.

 

It's simply unfair to compare most countries' experiences in constitution-making with America's, let alone illiterate, destitute Somalis with the leadership they've been blessed/cursed with since independence.

 

Somali politics in its current form is driven by a different kind of elite......

[Baashi]

Illyria,

 

Share your take on the program and if you would please extrapolate the process of conceiving a social contract that addresses the concerns of all interest groups whilst at the sometime protecting the power of the federal government to execute and act decisively in order to advance the collective interest of all constituents..

 

Extrapolate that process to the one Somalis are going through and see how nomads in our side of the globe might devise something along those lines that acknowledges the grievances Somalis have against each other and devise a similar contract between all these competing interest groups while at the sometime preserving the effectiveness of the state in a rough neighborhood.

 

So far folks came up with Federalism! Will it work? Does it address the concerns of all interest groups? Are there other practical ideas out there?

 

Mintid,

 

awoowe you are stating the obvious. The two societies, cultures, circumstances and experiences are different. Agreed! But the yearning for justice, for benevolent and effective government is universal.

[Mintid Farayar]

Baashi,

I did catch your theme of learning from the U.S. experience (of an evolving constitution balancing competing regional interests as well as regional vs. federal interests).

 

However, I'm simply pointing out these same experiments of superimposing the American experience to vastly different societies was recently tried in both Iraq and Afghanistan (with the full intellectual, financial, and military might of the American empire, along with their E.U. cousins) and the results are there for all to see. ....Let alone the Somalia situation where the usual pledges of international support are made by the international community simply to be repeated without implementation at the next Somalia Conference ....(the only reason 'regional Heads of State' go to these Somalia Conferences is to, simply, get some face-time with Western leaders to discuss matters of far higher priority than the Somali portfolio).

 

It simply doesn't work in 'tribal' societies with no history of functioning institutions backed by a solid social covenant with the 'governed'. An 'indigenous' solution is warranted, not a 'dreamy-eyed' hallucination of Jeffersonian democracy.

 

.........your average militiaman in Somalia doesn't care whether an article in some 'intellectual' constitution has been broken or not, but rather whether the situation threatens his immediate sub-clan interests.

[Illyria]

Baashi, Will do time permitting, and am looking forward to watching it.

[Baashi]

Episode II -- It's Free Country was aired tonight. It featured Somalis in Minneapolis to showcase that point. Love it. The Somali lady Peter conversed with was fariidad.

 

PS.- the local Somali community are somehow prominent in the media (for all the wrong reasons) but this time it was lil bit different.

[Baashi]

Episode III and the final one aired last night.

 

http://video.pbs.org/program/constitution-usa-peter-sagal/

[Illyria]

Thanks Baashi,

Good stuff. Highly informative. I had a chance to watch episode I, and shall be watching II and III in the next few days.