A REBUTTAL TO A MISGUIDED COLONIAL ANTHROPOLOGIST

December 9, 2021

By Deeq Yusuf & Adan Makina

Recently, we came across a widely circulated YouTube video that was on the concept of federalism by the Laureate Professor Emeritus Prof. Cheryl Saunders of Melbourne University Law School on Federalism, wherein she objects that federalism will not work in Somalia while giving Ethiopia the upper hand. Why Federalism Failed in Somalia is a long video (Prof Saunders of Melb Uni Law school on Federalism) that is worth watching for students of political science, anthropology and sociology. Having watched the video again and again, we felt befuddled by the deceitful way she tried to convince her spectators or listeners.

Prof. Cheryl Saunders of Melbourne University Law School on Federalism. Photo credit / IDEA

We watched the video and there is no doubt in our minds that this Professor’s false assumptions are informed by ignorance and premised on shallow Eurocentric thought.  She is basically arguing that Somalis cannot build a Federal or modern state simply because they are a “tribal” society. She sounds more like those ignorant colonial anthropologists of the past than an informed contemporary legal scholar. However, Mr. Makina of WardheerNews,  who has been a keen follower of foreigners who have negative agendas about Somalis, instead, describes her as a Racialist Anthropologist.

She lays bare her ignorance right from the outset when she labels Somalis as “tribes.” Like foreign and Somali scholars who got stuck to the ideology of referring Somalis as “pastoral-nomadic” that was first sounded by the first President of Somalia Aden Adde (July 1, 1960 to July 6, 1967) at the 1963 Organization of African Union (OAU) in defense of Somali unity, the lady professor has strayed from academic and scholarly identification of groups that is social generalization which is unacceptable and nonacademic. Somalis are only one ethnic group comprised of clans, and so any Eurocentric scholar who refers to Somalis as a tribe is just an ignorant lot.

Anthropologically, the term “tribe” is no longer given preference or significance in contemporary research and that “clan” is preferred instead. The Professor Emeritus’ superfluous application of “Why Federalism Failed in Somalia” seems to be a plagiaristic medley of a book that was written by three distinguished professors having 135-years of experience in African governance. Thus, her video presentation is nothing but simply a chameleonic display of the academically scandalous book whose topic was “The Nation State: A Wrong Model for the Horn of Africa.” The aforementioned book was written by John, Schlee and Young (2021) and is one meant to instill social anxiety and social stratification among the people of the Horn of Africa.  

Secondly, she argues Somalis cannot build a federal state because they are loyal to their tribe, not their representatives. Where did she get this one?  Does she have empirical evidence to back this misplaced claim? Can she point to a study, or a report of some sort conducted by competent researchers attesting to this claim? How can a so-called scholar in law use unproven anecdotal evidence to make such a blatantly false claim? Also, in every Federal system identity and loyalty to a region or state are actually important and this does not in any way negate the foundation of Federalism.

In Germany, the Bavarians are known to be fiercely loyal to their regional identity and so are Canada’s Quebecois to whom French identity, culture and language are critically important to their survival in Canada, and yet no one has argued Canada or Germany can’t function as a Federation. In the case of Quebec, they even went into referendum twice to determine their future and in the second instance came within a whisker of breaking up Canada. In fact, the separatists in Quebec call themselves Sovereigntists, and yet with all this open Quebecois nationalism, no one has put into question the very nature of Canadian Federalism, which remains vibrant.

Further, Federalism cannot be measured on a misplaced analogy that emphasizes loyalty to a specific group vs allegiance to an elected representative. This is way too simplistic and ignorantly casual. Also, her claim that you must demonstrate unity or else you cannot build a Federal system is laughable. Many Federal countries, even in advanced democracies struggle with unity but work hard to make things function.

The US is a deeply divided, polarized society, but are we going to claim US Federalism has failed on account of its pervasive societal polarization? Absolutely not. What this lady doesn’t get is that the basis upon which a Federal system is built is “cooperation,” not perceived “unity.” Federal and state entities need not unite on everything, but they must fundamentally cooperate to make Federalism work.  In the lexicon of Federalism, the magic word is “cooperated” not “unite,” because essentially, Federalism, especially in the South, is meant to bring together “deeply divided” societies to “cooperate” and work together in a federated state. Even in the US, Federalism has evolved through the decades, from cooperative federalism, to dual federalism and finally new federalism.

It is totally absurd to claim that Federalism in Somalia has failed, given its nascent and evolving stage. It was only 2016, when Somalia transitioned to Federalism after going through a transitional period. You cannot pass judgement on an ongoing 5-year nascent experience, in a post-conflict environment where the country is still governed by a provisional constitution. Anyone who makes such a reckless statement needs a crash course in Politics 101, even if they hold some law degree from somewhere. She said it took Australia 10 good years to agree on a federal constitution before they could even settle for a federal system. I think she needs to appreciate Somalia’s maturity where from the outset, and in just few short years, they already have a provisional federal constitution with nascent federal structures in place, and all this built from the ashes of civil war.

Going back to the history of post-federalism in Europe, even Switzerland experienced the Sonderbund War for cessation in 1848. A nation that avoided federalism for fear of unintentional fall into the “slippery slope” of federalism is Sri Lanka that was involved in multicultural and multilingual war for 15 years.[i] Unlike Indonesia–a predominantly Muslim nation of 200 million that rejected federalism after the fall of Suharto, had the Professor Emeritus been given the chance and will to lay her hands on Somalia, she would have fragmented Somalia into a federacy that would have created the likes of Aceh and Irian Jaya. But such adventures would never happen in Somalia because, Somalis, when it comes to land or territorial issues, immediately mobilize and unite to safeguard their territorial rights.

The learned Professor Emeritus has failed to focus on what we refer to as post-federated states that have territorial based semasiological break-ups like the case of Ethiopia that has over 80 ethnic groups and almost 90 languages while Somalia is almost homogenous and monocultural unlike Ethiopia and Kenya that are heterogenous and multicultural. Even before the proclamation of independence, Somalis have been pastoral democrats. In terms of democratic governance, Somalia was the first in global Africa to produce the first democrats in Africa as noted by the two distinguished Somali professors and brothers Ahmed & Abdi Ismail Samatar.[ii] Since democracy and federalism are inseparable, unlike some countries that remain reluctant to grasp federalism, Somalia, regardless of having tribal divisions, has already abandoned the old method of centralization.

The political schisms in Somalia that the Professor Emeritus assumes will continue forever is nothing but exaggerated imaginations lacking political substances. She needs to re-study the host of negative linguistic proliferations written in the past by scholars of her caliber who wasted their time and energy maligning the good name and reputation of Somalis and Somalia and how at last they got misguided academically and scholarly after being set on the right track by people endowed with reasoning power. Lack of critical thinking is a recipe for disaster for researchers who fail to pick up the pieces after going astray. In modern times, the rise of literary braggadocios has become common and it is no wonder human pomposity has become the norm. The use of terminologies and phrases like “stateless”, “disassembled state”, “in search of a state” and “state and identity” etc. have become meaningless since Somalia has already recovered from the ashes of destruction.

Currently, every regional state in Somalia is experiencing formidable growth politically, socially and economically while her two neighbors, Kenya and Ethiopia are immersed in ethnic imbroglios. In the meantime, the major factor that is dragging Somalia backwards is foreign interference. Had Somalis been left to manage their affairs with the help of a non-partisan nation like Turkey, it would have prospered meritoriously in all aspects of federal governance. The Somali Federal Government (SFG) in collaboration with friendly military and economic powers, helped create a military force to reckon with, such that, the presence of African forces is totally unnecessary.

The city of Mogadishu is now the fastest growing in Africa while other states are experiencing tremendous overall growth. Somalia prides to have the fastest and cheapest mobile and internet connectivity, while, it still has the fastest money transfer remittance system in Africa, if not globally. Piracy and religious fundamentalism that have been foreign-funded inventions are now dwindling. Foreign aid meant for humanitarian purposes surreptitiously ended up in the accounts of foreigners and their Somali counterparts.

In a well-crafted video that we watched together where an Indian scholar is a guest, we were shocked to learn that between 1765 and 1938, the British Isles stole 23 trillion pounds from India. Likewise, they stole all the coal and other natural resources using Indian labor to help build their country. There is no doubt that colonial mentality among Western powers is still in progression. When 2.7 billion people have no food on the table, Western powers keep on lecturing developing countries to reduce consumption. In a nutshell, the lady Professor Emeritus has a hidden strategic agenda to demonize Somalis and Somalia and rest assured, regardless of her preparation for other denigrating speeches in the future, whatever she’ll come up with, will be discarded and regarded as inconsequential.

With regard to Ethiopia, it is also wrong to pass judgement on Ethnic–Federalism, because it only existed on paper as the Tigrayan elites of the day reigned over a highly centralized state that subjugated the rest of Ethiopians. So, you cannot reach a conclusion on a system that was illogical syllogism and imbecilic. It is the same Tigrayan predaceous centralized hooliganism that is the cause of the current political conflagration in Ethiopia. Despite all the challenges Somalia has been through, we think Somalis have done a great job in building a nascent Federal system that is worth celebrating.

The plethora of inconsistent resentment that have become common with foreign tergiversators should be discarded and thrown into the trash bags without any remorse. Somalia is for Somalis and they are the once deserving of choosing their political desiderata and as well, correcting what goes wrong within their historical peninsula. Finally, we have to defy all Eurocentric nullifidians and continue to deconstruct their negative narratives that are borne out of naked ignorance.

Deeq Yusuf
Email: Deeqsyusuf05@gmail.com
Adan Makina
Email: adan.makina@gmail.com

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[i] Stepan, A.C. (1999). Federalism and Democracy: Beyond the U.S Model. Journal of Democracy. John Hopkins University Press.

[ii]Samatar, A. I., & Samatar, A. I. (2002). Somalis as Africa’s First Democrats: Premier Abdirazak H. Hussein and President Aden A. Osman. Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, 2(4), 1-64.

Poverty and Social Variables By Jamal Osman

1.      What role does the individual play in the fight against poverty?

Poverty has been a problem to human lives for so many years. Some factors of poverty are human-made while others are not. There are two kinds of poverty: deserved poverty and non-deserved poverty (Hartford, 2013). Hartford, the writer of “Roots of Poverty” says, “The deserving poor include orphans, accident victims, those with a debilitating illness, etc. for whom we should provide some ameliorative charity.”

The least thing you can do to curb poverty is not you to be a burden to society. Instead, you have to strive to work harder.  Just depending on someone else, due to laziness, alcoholism and drug abuse can cause you to be a poor person. In that circumstance, the person falls into the category of the undeserving poverty. In other words, if the person works hard, he/she can become a self-sufficient person.

2.    How do different social variables (e.g., race, class, and gender) impact poverty rates?

Discrimination and oppression against some races, religion or gender play a pivotal role in creating poverty in the society.

According to T.J. Sullivan (2016), "after the abolition of slavery, for example, African Americans experienced decades of severe oppression during which it was difficult for black families to advance from poverty." This, however, shows that some form of poverty in society is human-made and can be overcome with struggle and support from the whole community, regardless of race, gender, and ethnicity.

Works cited:

Hartford, B. (2013, February 13). The Roots of Poverty. Retrieved March 15, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-hartford/the-roots-of-poverty_b_2625943.html

Sullivan, T. J. (2016). Introduction to Social Problems, 10th Edition. [MBS Direct]. Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780134054612/ 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Problems By JamalOsman

This letter is to raise the issue of drug and alcohol abuse among our society which has been a social problem for a long time. In modern societies, drug and alcohol abuse have become very common, such that it has become an epidemic that affects the community as a whole. It all starts when the person uses overdose drugs or consumes a lot of alcohol every day. If measures are not put in place, it could cause a lot of health problems.

There are many factors that influence people in the drug and alcohol abuse. These factors include the biological make-up of the person (genetics), conditions at home, school or neighborhood influences and a person's developmental stage (CDC, 2017).  Also, the environment can be a major factor in influencing drug and alcohol abuse. For example, if the child grows up in an environment where elderly people have no limits in using drugs and alcohol, then the child can see this as a normal thing and start using it. Many people believe that stress, depression, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, neglect, accidents, natural disasters, and terrorism are also major factors that contribute to alcohol and drug abuse. These events can leave marks in their mind, and in time, people who are exposed to issues like this might be tempted to soothe their distress by leaning to addictive drugs (Futures).

Many of these problems can be handled and eliminated if the adequate procedures are followed. These problems can lead to the person to suffer severe conditions including serious illnesses like HIV/AIDS and sometimes, deaths. Drinking alcohol, particularly binge drinking, and using drugs like methamphetamine or cocaine can alter the abuser’s judgment, lower inhibitions, and impair decisions about sex or other drug use (HIV.gov, 2017). This social problem is also preventable.

There have been a lot of unsuccessful attempts to curb these social problems. In 1956, the American Medical Association declared alcoholism an illness that can, and should, be treated within the medical profession, and in 1989, it declared addiction involving other drugs, including nicotine, to be a disease (Kean, 2013). According to Kean, the root of the problem is twofold. First, most medical professionals who are being sought out to provide treatment are not sufficiently trained or experienced to diagnose or treat addiction. That was the leading cause of the failure of this attempt. 

To curb this problem, the medical professionals should have been given the resources they wanted and should have been well equipped. Embarking on such actions could have made their medical attempts successful. Meanwhile, there are other successful attempts that can reduce drug and alcohol abuse. Criminal justice can have a significant impact in reducing illicit drug and alcohol abuse. Law enforcement initiatives addressing substance abuse and related crime are now working more intimately with communities to solve local problems (DOJ, 2000). In other words, the law enforcement can play significant role in combating the drug and alcohol abuse

.

In some cultures and religions, drugs and alcohol are prohibited, and if people are found using them, they can be disconnected from the rest of society. That can lead the person to be isolated and commit other bad things, including crimes. In some traditions, some people assume drinking alcohol is also addiction, while the fact is different. People with such mindset do not know more about the ramifications of alcohol abuse. To them, whoever drinks liquor or other types of alcoholic beverages, could end up an addict. It is a typical stereotype of a distinct society.

This is an epidemic and is costing us financially and physically. My personal assumption is that people who use any overdose of drug and alcohol lag behind other people in many social aspects. When someone gets addicted to drugs/alcohol, he/she will end up being ineffective. The end result will be negative contribution to society.

To deal with this stereotype, I’d suggest people should be educated and get the awareness they deserve. They also should know this is a social problem. For example, if people are educated about this social problem, that can reduce the rate of the drug and alcohol abusers.

To prevent this epidemic, I would suggest that there must be a full drug and alcohol abuse awareness to the public. This can be advertised on TVs, and the other media outlets since many of us use the social media which can be used to give awareness to the public. Since prevention is better than cure, strategies must be implemented to overcome the menace of drug and alcohol abuse. To those already addicted to drug and alcohol abuse, they can be given proper rehabilitation. This can be lessons about the bad behaviors, its causes, and the way out. These people must also be shown there is another right path that they can rebuild their lives. To do ensure that procedure materializes, there must be financial assistance involved. Therefore, my organization is requesting if there are any available financial resources to curtail this overwhelming epidemic.

America Housing Subsidy By Jamal Osman

For a long time, America has been describe by the media and researchers as a “Consumer Republic” mainly due to society’s massive consumption that catapulted after World War II.  To overcome the horrors of the Great Depression in the 1930s and rejuvenate the economy, the US Government embarked on tremendous efforts to encourage society to consume more by boosting industrial production (Cohen, 2004). According to Cohen, beginning 1965, the government initiated a program that gave preference to Veteran soldiers low mortgage rates. Male Veterans benefited more than their fellow women veterans, whites were given preferential treatment over blacks, while those in the middle-class status enjoyed better purchasing opportunities than the working-class. This unparalleled inequitable distribution of housing created social division by elevating one group of law abiding citizens over others.

While it is worth privatizing the housing industry, the absence of government involvement could set-off protracted inefficiency and inequity (Rosen, 1985). Efficiency implies better infrastructure that meets the required habitable standards while equity is relevant to fairness of land allocation among the diverse races that create communities in urban and suburban areas. Excluding the government in the housing market could be a harbinger for uncontrolled mortgage rates, racial divide, marginalization of the disadvantaged, and higher rental rates imposed by landowners or the banking industry that is the major financier of the American housing industry.

Since the United States is a nation of immigrants and one committed to alleviating poverty, the Subsidized Housing or the Section 8 Voucher Program that was initiated by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (US Senate 1974) has benefited millions of families especially the low-income and newly-arriving refugees from war-torn countries. Philanthropic and religious organizations took the mantle to prepare low-income housing for the millions of refugees and their families streaming into the country on a given time frame.

The Subsidized Housing and Section 8 Program substantially benefited many private housing developers. However, not every Section 8 Voucher holder got the type of dwelling befitting their preferences since whites became Suburbanites while the low-income fell under the Urban category. This systematic development ushered in racial subjugation and the lack of human integration. The concept of equality and equitable distribution of housing turned out unattainable. Government laxity to control privatization of housing could be blamed on such disparities among the heterogeneous communities that make greater America.

Without government regulatory constraints or involvement in the development of the private housing sector, private housing enterprises could set forth a recipe for busts and booms in a business that could eventually collapse due to inceasingly unnecessary supplies in the construction industry as happened in the 2001 bubble in IT bubble (Huang & Tang, 2012). While privatization of the housing market is vital as placing a cap on it would be tantamount to authoritarianism, underdevelopment, and a prescription for market failure, on the other hand, without government regulations, there could be unanticipated disasters such as overcrowding, landgrabbing, inhabitable infrastructure, discrimination, and other factors beyond human control.

References

Cohen, L. (2004). A consumers' republic: The politics of mass consumption in postwar America. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1), 236-239.

Huang, H., & Tang, Y. (2012). Residential land use regulation and the US housing price cycle between 2000 and 2009. Journal of Urban Economics, 71(1), 93-99.

Rosen, H. S. (1985). Housing subsidies: Effects on housing decisions, efficiency, and equity. In Handbook of public economics (Vol. 1, pp. 375-420). Elsevier.