Monday, November 15, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Modernization and Dependency
Psychobiographical observations of notable European leaders who participated in the dismemberment of the African continent identfy idiosyncratic personality traits in generally recognized neuroses and psychoses.
In explaining conflict and cooperation, admirers of international relations, take a glimpse of three levels of analysis: the individual level, the state level, and the system level. At the individual level political scientists endeavor to dissect the material and moral character of the person in charge of the state while observing the nature of state operations as well as the international structure and system. Named after the fourteenth-century philosopher William of Occam, the rule of parsimony or Occam's razor is the ability to explain a lot with a little.
In economics, monopoly implies one seller; duopoly denotes two big sellers; and oligopoly is when there are several big sellers. Thus, paradigms and theories evolve when studying power and politics. A paradigm is a toolkit or handbook for deciphering structures of knowledge. Key features of paradigms in politics include realism, liberalism, constructivism/idealism, and marxism. States, nonstate actors, and economics constitute the basic assumptions, concepts, and propositions employed by political theorists. In the study of world politics, dominant paradigms each begin with unanswered questions called axioms.
Some political theories are older than others; others trace their roots to ancient Greece. Liberalism which entails desire to live well, seeking justice and welfare in addition to security, military power, trade, investment, negotiation, and persuasion, competition and cooperation, neoliberal institutionalism and democratic peace, and non-Hobbesian anarchy has its roots in the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.
Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda is a constructivist/idealist and a nonstate actor. His dominant instrument depends on historical period and social context. His interests are socially constructed through interaction. His dominant human drives include need for an orderly, meaningful social life. Constructivism/idealism is a tender, theoritical thought requiring more modest and continuous research.
The dynamics that led to the resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism (or revivalism) in Afghanistan, Iran, and other parts of the Muslim world are multifaceted in outlook. Armed and unarmed radicals believed that they were duty-bound to conduct “holy war” or jihad against corrupt forces that threatened to tarnish the image of their essential religious principles. Radicals feel it is their divine duty to liberate their lands from invaders and imperialists. They tend to shield unwanted outsiders from imposing on them practices alien to their morals, religion, customs, and convictions.
Often radicals become disillusioned with so-called “imposed leaders” who fail to marshal in sweeping changes to disgruntled and afflicted societies lacking basic social services. Inequalities in education, health care, and other social aspects often led to armed insurrections, violent confrontations, and abrupt changes in government. Resentment of foreign domination and domestic enemies brought about popular uprisings in Iran and Afghanistan. The rise of the Taliban came as a result of the Mujahedeen’s dissatisfaction with the Marxist government and the Soviets who supported it. Recurring, aggravating, and unsolvable radicalization may continue for generations to come.
Since 9/11 there has been tremendous increase in the number of people admiring Osama bin Laden-the spiritual leader Al Qaeda. Supporters of bin Laden view his struggle against the mighty United States, Israel, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a moral jihad. Followers of bin Laden believe it is a moral conviction to wage holy war against the Zionist-Crusader alliance and their collaborators-a reference to the United States’ support of Israel in its occupation of Palestine and support for corrupt Muslim regimes in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan.
A country’s transition to democracy may increase ethnic tensions in some cases and decrease in others. As in the case of Brazil, relative ethnic harmony exists despite persistence of ethnic discrimination. The predomination of one ethnic group over another is at times recipe for uneasy balance.
Irregularities in Kenya’s presidential election in 2008 resulted in the Kikuyu and Luo tribes slaughtering each other. The Kikuyu dominated Kenya’s government bureaucracy and the private sector from the time the nation attained independence from England in 1963. Kenya’s first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta (deceased 1978 and buried in a golden mausoleum in Nairobi), was a Kikuyu. There has been a lull in imposed hierarchy during the 24-year uninterrupted rule of Daniel Arap Moi who was from the Kalenjin tribe. Anthropologically, the Luo and Kalenjin are classified as Nilotes or Nilotic (meaning those who reside along the Nile River) while the Kikuyu are Bantus.
The beating of the drums of democracy by Smith Hempstone (deceased), the United States ambassador to Kenya at that time, Kenya’s opposition, and the efforts of the European Union (EU) and the U.S., led to the demise of singularism and the birth of multiparty democracy. Jomo Kenyatta may be remembered for his famous saying: “every dog has its day”. He meant that it was the time for his Kikuyu tribe to enjoy the fruits of independence and that other tribes had to wait their turn or time.
Likewise, the slaughter of almost a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994 has its roots in the unequal distribution of power and natural resources. Systematic violence was overcome in Kenya with the involvement of the international community. But that was not the case in Rwanda. It was the current president, General Paul Kagame, who installed law and order after vanquishing Hutu rebellion and ultimately pursuing the rebels into the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The resulting violence in Kenya led to the deaths of over 2,000 and the displacement of over 300,000 persons.
Similarly, the collapse of Somalia’s central government in 1991 may be attributed to the consolidation of power by the former president’s clan or tribe-the Darod. Despite the Hawiye (a major Somali clan) dominating the private sector, the military government’s monopoly of the economy left the Hawiye and other major clans/tribes bitter and angry. The sudden collapse of the military junta allowed aggrieved clans/tribes to fight over power and dwindling resources.
In the case of Malaysia, ethnic Malays dominate government bureaucracy while the Chinese minority dominates the private sector. When both forms of power (political arena and the economy) fall into the hands of one ethnic group, tensions evolve leading to the breakup of democratic institutions of governance.
Enforced hierarchy (ethnic dominance) remained prevalent in South Africa in the zeniths of apartheid. During the heydays of apartheid, white South Africans dominated the government and the private sector such that uprisings became common.
It was U.S. President Woodrow Wilson who advocated the theory of African self-determination and self-government. Also known as decolonization, Wilson's thoughtful insights led to armed struggles in many parts of Africa under European imperial rule. Wilson did not realize that colonial powers would resist decolonization. The superior fire power of European powers cut short the lives of millions of Africans whose only crime was freedom from colonial rule. During Wilson's leadership an estimated thirty million souls died worldwide as a result of his blemished and foggy theoritical thoughts.
Ironically, at the time of slicing the African continent, many European leaders suffered from a variety of phsiological, neurological, and psychological afflictions most notably self-loathing, sexual frustration, lack of confidence and self-esteem, subconcious fears, gluttony, broken marriages, and a concoction of unsolvable needs and desires.
Modernization Theory
The greatest contributions of modernization theory had been the injection of contemporary political and economic institutions of governance that was alien to Third World nations. Despite the biting effects of colonialism on Third World Nations, economic growth, political democracy, the creation of trained bureaucracies, enhancement of education, proliferation of urbanization, creation of specialized institutions, and the spread of mass media introduced by developed nations opened new avenues for newly-evolved nations.
The current spate of modernization visible in Japan may be attributed to Japan’s initial encounter with Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry who fired the first shots of modernization into Japanese waters. Amazed by the devastating effects of the volleys of gunfire from Commodore Perry’s ships anchored off Japanese waters, imperial Japan thereafter embarked on inspiring modernization efforts that came to be the envoy of many western nations-including the United States. For decades, Japan has been an undisputed leader in computer technology, industries, and car manufacturing.
Likewise, the United States may be credited for marshaling novel cultural traditions that remain a force to reckon with. From Cape Town to Cairo in Africa and from Seoul in South Korea to Puerto Baquerizo Moreno in the Galapagos (part of Ecuador), the scrumptious tastes of McDonald’s burgers and fries, Hollywood movies, rock music, modern military hardware, advanced educational systems and meticulous curricula, printed T-shirts, faded or stone-washed Jeans, and a plethora of innovations exported from the United States remain a hallmark in every hemispheric projection.
However, many downward trends came with Modernization theory. Many nations that had previously developed economically and industrially under the banner of modernization, experienced drastic collapse of democratic institutions and the birth of repressive military dictatorships.
Despite commendable industrial growth and greater income, the most economically developed nations like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay experienced a bitter clash of social classes resulting from unequal distribution of resources and paving way for the evolvement of a new insightful study that came to be known as conflict theory.
Dependency Theory
Some of the main contributions of dependency theory include the spread of western influence like modern values, technology, and institutions. However, dependency theory comes with many flaws that include exploitation of developing nations’ resources, military intervention in former African colonies, support of corrupt regimes as in Saudi Arabia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, and Cuba (before Castro) by the United States. As a result of colonialism, Third World countries nurtured their former colonial masters by providing cheap food and raw materials.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Superfluously Unrefined Political Theories That Brought Somalia to Her Knees
After decades of horrendous struggle with the forces of European colonialism, Somalia became a sovereign republic in 1960. Former colonial masters England and Italy left Somalia in haste leaving behind a potpourri of baffling and undecipherable political condiments that instantaneously generated ripple effect in a society used to pastoral and nomadic lifestyles. Somalia may have been the first African country to grasp the values of liberal democracy albeit the redundancy of its improvised political elite, clan configuration, and the explosion of nomenklatura retarding the propagation of an inflexible political philosophy that would serve as the structural foundation for the immature and fragile emerging nation-state.
From its inception, Somali leadership was reminiscent of a kindergarten without a guardian. Of the thirteen founders of the Somali Youth League (SYL), only three had college degrees. Shortage of educational institutions made governance a recipe for disaster as emulsification of tribalism and preferential treatment widely practiced by the authorities eroded cultural homogeneity and social cohesion. Instead of embarking on streamlining the values of social equality and economic emancipation, the nation’s leaders sought to engage in unnecessary quandaries of political irredentism by igniting a regional confrontation with neighboring Kenya and creating restlessness for the regime in power in Ethiopia. Lack of guiding philosophical thoughts, inherently aggressive behaviors, and the application of unworkable approaches and obsession with the fundamentals of defensive realism brought about an overarching security dilemma for the entire Horn of Africa region.
The assassination of President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke in 1969 shepherded contention and strife among a pastoral and orally effusive nation. On October 21, 1969, a day after Shermarke’s funeral, Somalia’s hybrid democracy was thrown overboard when a group of military officers headed by Major General Mohamed Siyad Barre, took over the reins of power in a bloodless coup. Drawing heavily from the traditions of China, the military junta adapted scientific socialism for the governing of the nation. Theoretically pioneered by Karl Marx, the term scientific socialism was used by Friedrich Engels to refer to social-political-economic developments and is largely determined by material (economic) conditions. The military junta under Barre nationalized almost all industries, banks, insurance companies, oil distribution firms, and businesses while cooperative farming received a big boost.
Akin to the communist system of volunteer work, unpaid laborers built roads and hospitals and planted and harvested crops. As he predicted during the early years of his presidency, Barre was forced to exit the political spectrum in 1991 by a ragtag militia using the barrel of the gun thus bringing to an end a repulsive political theory not in agreement with Islam. Barre passed away peacefully in Nigeria in 1995. His remains were buried in Garbaharey-the same town he claimed to have been born during his early quest for enlistment into the Italian administered Carabiniere (Carabineer).
Despite holding elections, the initial republic lacked fairness and equal justice. The few registered electors voted along tribal lines. Barre was the type of leader who, despite embracing scientific socialism, applied wise sayings to win the hearts and minds of his fellow citizens. A form of rule entailing the use of words and known as logocracy could best describe Barre’s governance from a broader perspective.
After Barre’s departure Somalia descended into chaos and civil disobedience. The line-up of notable figures that ascended the throne include Ali Mahdi Mohamed (January 1991 – 15 June 1995), General Mohamed Farah Aideed (15 June 1995 – 1 August 1996), Hussein Mohamed Farah Aideed (2 August 1996 – 22 December 1997) Abdiqasin Salad Hassan (27 August 2000 – 14 October 2004), Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (14 October 2004 – 29 December 2008), Adan Mohamed Nur Madobe (interim) (29 December 2008 – 31 January 2009), and the incumbent Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (31 January 2009 – Present). From 22 December 1997 to 27 August 2000, the post of president remained vacant.
From July 1, 1960 until 21 October, 1969 Somalia was officially known as Somali Republic and that the governing party was the Somali Youth League or SYL. From 21 October, 1969 until 27 August, 2000 the official name for Somalia was Somali Democratic Republic and that the succession of ruling parties included the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP), the United Somali Congress (USC), and the Somali National Alliance (SNA). Somalia changed name again on 27 August, 2000 with the rise of Abdiqasin Salad Hassan when it was baptized Republic of Somalia. Abdiqasin, Abdullahi Yusuf, and interim president Adan Madobe were not affiliated with any party and that the official name of the government was the Transitional Federal Government or TFG. The current president, Sheikh Sharif, belongs to the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).
A thorough and accurate research on the metamorphosis of government types and governing styles Somalia has been through from the day the flag of independence was hoisted on July 1, 1960 could fill volumes. From 1960 to 1969 a flawed form of democracy devoid of conventional representation existed in name only. Even to this day, many countries exist that claim to espouse real democracy. But that is not the case; in fact they are defective democracies because they lack the right attributes of democracy. These are nations that lack social and economic modernization; they do not have class culture; and there is the absence of a political culture that is the embodiment of cultural beliefs, norms, and values relating to politics.
Economic giants Brazil and India are partial democracies because ethnic inequalities and social prejudice exist. Brazil is home to the largest population of the blacks outside Africa yet the minority white population control almost all of the economy. On the other hand, India has millions of Harijans (god’s Child) who lack basic social amenities. Nations like Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, Chile, and Indonesia are partial-democracies.
World War One instigated the implosion of World War Two. Likewise, the end of World War Two set pace for what became known as the Cold War. The tremors of the Cold War made many African nations incline to communism and thus began the explosion of authoritarianism. A greater percentage of the nations that adapted democracy as their preferred mode of governance ended up resorting to communism after successions of coups engineered by disgruntled military cadres imposed Leninist-Marxist forms of governance that retarded their forward match to economic developments. The rule by central committees, collectivization, militarization, and nationalization of economies resulted in a backward match to despondency, poverty, and general decline.
The taking of hard to digest counterfeit political prescriptions has been the major cause of Somalia’s current statelessness and disintegration. A complete democracy requires the hallmarks of liberalism and constructivism/idealism to advance forward to a brighter future. And for a democracy to succeed, it has to be substantive in general context. All citizens must have equal access to education, healthcare, and other available social amenities without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, gender or national origin. Liberal democracy leads to substantive democracy. Nations that exercise ostracization and marginalization of minorities, suppress the press (media), arbitrarily arrest opponents, and harass the opposition are doomed to fail. And that is how Somalia measured in the Democracy Index in its heydays. It was a nation with too many conflicting theories and superfluous governing styles.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Pirates Struggle for Survival
According to Ecoterra International, over two-hundred sailors of various nationalities and over a dozen merchant ships flying assortments of flags of convenience remain in pirate hands along Somalia’s dreaded and ungovernable coastline. Somalia has a coastline measuring 3,333 km that is impossible to police.
Piracy has made many poor and disheveled men millionaires overnight. Men who once lived on the fringes of beggary now enjoy national limelight as they crisscross lawless Somalia with ease by riding in exotic luxurious cars protected by militias armed to the teeth. On the international level, they have the convenience of executive suits and arranged valets. They dine around manicured lawns while chuckling with men of like caliber.
Piracy masterminds are intellectually brainy; they keep low profile; and they are known to keep with the times. Pirate executives own fishing trawlers; they are worth millions of dollars; and they own shares in stocks and fishing factories. Many are polygamous, live in palatial homes, and send their children to expensive schools, colleges, and universities.
The piracy business employs over ten-thousand people ranging from those who maintain the dangerous deep-sea operations to those who guard and feed the sailors while ransom negotiations continue. An intricate operation exists between the bookkeepers, accountants, restaurateurs and shop-owners responsible for the provision of daily supplies.
The abundance of mind-altering drugs like qaad (Catha educlis) and amphetamines make the continuation of piracy a straightforward adventure. As long as the lawlessness in Somalia continues and as long as these two drugs are available for pirate consumption, endurance in long-distance travel, energy and drive, speed and aggression, sleeplessness and loquacity, will remain the driving factors in future piracy-related activities.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Garissa: The Largest City Between Nairobi and Mogadishu
However, according to Kenya government figures, Garissa District has continuously for years recorded the highest concentration of livestock in East and Central Africa. Traders in Garissa get their surplus livestock from Somalia’s southern regions consequently making Garissa a haven for livestock merchants primarily between the months of January and April when the volume of cattle substantially increases. Cattle trading in Garissa attract traders from as far as Machakos, Nairobi, Nyeri, Mombasa and other coastal towns during this time of the year consequently transforming the city into a beehive of activity. Despite generating enough revenue from the taxation of cattle sales, Garissa city has lagged behind other cities of Kenya in all aspects of development. The district’s markets in southern Somalia include Baidoa, Dinsor, Qorioley, Jowhar, Afgoi, Salagle, Bardhere and Afmadow, among others. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that 60-80% of livestock in Garissa originate from the Somali region in Ethiopia, Somalia, and other divisions with NEP.
In the past, the district experienced remarkable government involvement after health concerns related to the epidemiological outbreaks of Rinderpest (cattle plague or steppe murrain) and other devastating foot and mouth diseases necessitated in the enforcement of veterinary regulations, consequently and at times, leading to closure of cattle markets.
Despite being the major supplier of beef to major cities in Kenya and to as far as Tanzania and despite being the largest city between Nairobi and Mogadishu, Garissa greets its visitors with grim reality. With the exception of a teachers’ training college and one Islamic school founded by mindful businessmen and overseas-based organizations, the city has no university; it has no feasible infrastructure; the only visible tarmac located in the city center measures a few kilometers; its dusty potholed streets transform into lakes during rainy seasons; the municipality and the city council have no refuse collection systems in place thus making inhabitants susceptible to waterborne and airborne diseases; it has no manufacturing industries; unemployment is rife; drug addiction among the youth continues to skyrocket; poverty, beggary, and street children remain an eyesore and a social menace, and worst of all poor land allocation strategies riddled with corruption has been the major cause of civil skirmishes among the tribal-minded inhabitants resulting in government application of emergency laws such as extended curfews and deployment of the dreaded General Service Unit (GSU) together with the rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) to quell disturbances.
The city has a long history of election rigging; harassment of electors and opposition groups is common-dirty tricks and techniques inherited from past fallen autocratic regimes. Just like their cousins across the border, Somalis in Garissa and other parts of NEP have over and over again championed clan domineering approaches by unconventional means especially by rampant warring and ethnic animosities. Reminiscent of Somalia’s “Guulwadeyaasha” or revolutionary youth during the military junta, Kenyatta and Moi era governments relied on a force that recklessly represented the Kenya African National Union (KANU) Party-a consortium of embellished, underfunded youth wingers whose arguments rested on the just war doctrine of “kill or be killed”. Such political plunders ensured the uninterrupted reclamation of political structure and extension of inheritance for the old guards.
The trouncing of Moi’s single-party regime and the birth of multiparty democracy in 1992 did little to alter the pervasiveness of past odious events. In fact it exacerbated the political scenario when new contestants found their ambitions obstructed by the same old guards who jumped on the bandwagon using the same old tricks inherited from their past masters of deception.
The district has suffered poor county and parliamentary representation since Kenya’s attainment of independence in 1963. The reason the region is underperforming is due to the government's discriminatory practices of allocating resources, unfair distribution of wealth, outright marginalization of the people who inhabit the land, and diversion of funds earmarked for the region to other more prosperous regions.
Ironically, because of their adroitness at accumulating wealth, majority of the region’s uneducated councilors and parliamentarians have promoted their self-esteem and thus harbor elitist mentality such that even those who bowed out of politics remain a force to reckon with. These men have the power to imprison, kill or regain one’s freedom. While the poor suffer dental decay due to unhygienic eating habits coupled with shortage of dentists, the uneducated honorable parliamentarian or councilor displays sparkling white teeth because of abundance of money at his disposal. For a long time, stealing from state treasury has been a hallmark of African politics and Kenya, because of its corruption ranking profile, is no exception.
The Offspring of a Snake is a Snake
The above phrase is a translation of the Kiswahili saying “mtoto wa nyoka ni nyoka”. It has been used by corrupt Kenya leaders as a rallying cry to provoke non-Somalis to hate and oppress Kenya-Somalis. The saying inspired Kenya leaders after the succession of past Somali governments instigated political irredentism and supported the repossession of what used to be the Northern Frontier District (NFD) from the Republic of Kenya. This idiomatic expression and phraseologically provocative aphorism applied to almost every Kenyan-Somali and that its widespread use slackened only after the collapse of the Somali central government in 1991. The bitter territorial dispute that kicked-off between Kenya and Somalia in the 60s has gone down in history as the “Shifta War”. The word Shifta (or “shufta”) implies a bandit, outlaw, or rebel. The name became an allusion and nom de guerre for every Kenyan-Somali regardless of whether one was a law-abiding citizen or a contextually sadistic law-breaking criminal.
Thus, Kenya-Somalis saw themselves wedged between two diametrically opposed forces with profound conflicting ideologies-one a civilian authoritarian government (Kenya) with western inclinations and a dictatorial regime (Somalia) -espousing a plethora of political dimensions.
Thousands of families lacking guidance or controlling force or influence crossed the border into Somalia to escape rampant hostilities on the Kenya side. Leaders of the Northern Province People’s Progressive Party (NPPP) incorporated Somalis of diverse clans, Borana, Rendille, and others.
For decades, Garissa had been under the radar of Kenya security and intelligence agencies primarily because the region was under martial law decreed immediately after Kenya’s proclamation of independence. Besides the insecurity that came with the shifta menace, widespread illegal poaching by Somalis scavenging for better living conditions decimated-if not-drastically reduced wildlife concentration in Kenya’s internationally-acclaimed national parks and game reserves. Besides the hazards of wildlife plundering, poachers stealthily brought with them dangerous small arms that endangered the lives of government game wardens whose task implied the protection of wild game and the preservation of Kenya’s vigorous tourist industry. Since independence and till this day, tourism has been a cornerstone and sustainer of Kenya’s economy. The best the Kenya government can do for the moment and in the future is to fully integrate Kenya-Somalis and give them a share of the national cake.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Ethiopia’s Black Colonialism
A case in point is the oil and natural resources rich Niger Delta of Nigeria inhabited by the Ogoni people who have been denied a share of the national cake. The Government of Nigeria has underdeveloped the Ogoni people by denying them their inalienable rights. This part of Nigeria has become a forgotten region yet it is where Nigeria's 'Black Gold' is extracted. Discuss in-depth with Ogonis in the Diaspora and you will be amazed by the strange stories they narrate. Followers of Nigeria’s political events will recall the hanging of the academic, writer, poet, politician, and a businessman Ken Saro Wiwa by Sani Abacha's regime on a trumped up crime in the morning of November 10, 1995. "The blood of Ken Saro Wiwa will stain the name of Shell..." was a statement given by Greenpeace on learning the death of this great man. He was a man who fought for ecological and social justice for his people. Surprisingly, there is no armed struggle in Ogoni land except a few armed groups who wish to highlight their plight to the world through abductions and blowing up of pipelines that cause adverse effects on the economy of Nigeria and other fuel-dependent nations.
Now let's come back to the beautiful Horn of Africa and have a quick look at the Western Somali region in Ethiopia. The Western Somali region or the Ogaden region predominantly occupied by Somalis was given to Ethiopia by the European colonial powers in the aftermath of the Scramble for Africa and has remained underdeveloped ever since. The region has been an issue of contention between Somalia and Ethiopia for many years yet the international community has never bothered to intervene for the sake of saving the suffering masses. The inhabitants of this region have been victims of successive Ethiopian expansionist emperors and dictators with killings and imprisonment, rape and abductions, burning of villages and towns, underdevelopment and isolation and other inhuman means of torture being the methods used by the state machinery to silence dissent.
Somalia and Ethiopia went to war over this territory several times; the most recent being the 1977-1978 war that saw Ethiopia getting material and moral support from the former USSR, Cuba, and communist Yemen while Somalia stood alone in her endeavors to reclaim it.
Ethiopia has always denied committing human rights violations against the people of this region yet satellite images taken from razed villages and towns reveal the contrary. Towns and villages that have been intact and thriving in the past have been found leveled to the ground, thanks to modern human technological advances in the space sciences. This region of Ethiopia has been intermittently experiencing the worst natural disasters including flooding of rivers and drought that devastated crops and livestock-the only means of survival for the region’s impoverished pastoralist society. The region lacks schools, hospitals, roads, and visible infrastructure. The Ethiopian Government employs stooges from the region to advance its propaganda and political constipation.
A quick search for the region on the internet search engines reveals tons of information on the cultural, historical, and political struggle of the people of this region. Some document daily atrocities and incidents as they evolve. International organizations carrying out humanitarian activities in this region have been suppressed by successive Ethiopian governments with some facing expulsions for voicing their concerns. The government is using relief supplies as a tool to garner support from its oppressed inhabitants.
The discovery of oil in this region has increased tension and competition among energy-starved powers most notably China that has a big stake in Ethiopia's oil drilling and mineral exploration. The storming of an oil installation manned by a Chinese firm by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the subsequent killing of many of its workers contracted to the drilling and extraction of oil a few years ago brought the world media to attention. This incident made the world aware of the prevailing inhuman conditions and the treasures in the region.
Despite the huddles of getting access to the region because of government restrictions on travel and stringent visa procedures coupled with media censorship, several media houses were able to penetrate the region's most affected parts relaying convincing information that could be used to indict those suspected of committing human rights violations and genocide. Al Jazeera television, often referred to as the 'CNN of the Middle East', in an exclusive documentary on the region, showed harrowing images of destitution and suffering that was visible on the faces of many it was able to interview.
Ironically, successive Ethiopian governments have used inhuman methods to underdevelop this region including:
1.Unequal distribution of wealth
2.Misuse of donor funds meant for the impoverished region
3.Use of Tigreyan cadres to represent the community
4.Diversion of relief aid for military use
5.High illiteracy, high unemployment, and high mortality rate
6.Amharic language forced on to the people
7.Lack of veterinary services
8.Denial of farming technology
9.Biased state media
10.Conscription of civilians in to Ethiopian army to fight foreign wars
11.Print and electronic media in Amharic
12.Censorship of Somali-speaking media
Razor-Sharp-Mouthed Globetrotting Troglodytes
From the time Meles Zenawi was declared the overall winner of the pseudo-democratic elections held in Ethiopia last May, a retinue of Tigreyan troglodytes from Ethiopia’s Somali region have been circumnavigating the globe extending an olive branch to the Ethiopian-Somali Diaspora with a message of peace and reconciliation from the headquarters of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
Delegations led by razor-sharp-mouthed representatives relaying unconventional wisdom converged on major cities in the western hemisphere with a view to selling their distorted ideologies to predominantly unsuspecting and uninformed onlookers and sightseers. Shuttling between Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Diego, and Minneapolis, and several other European cities, these uncompromising impostors driven by party zealotry unleashed well-rehearsed ideologies and revolutionary desiderata by calling on participants to grab offers of democratic values of inclusivity-perhaps referring to variants like freedom, equality, equity, cooperation, peaceful resolution of disputes, the rule of law, popular sovereignty, representative democracy, economic well-being, equality of opportunity, equality of condition, and other democratic factors-aspects that are beyond reach in “Cruel Ethiopia”.
Led by tribal-minded political neophytes with past records of corruption and freewheeling lifestyles, EPRDF party apparatchiks gave conflicting imaginary statements aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian-Somali Diaspora. Do these so-called representatives of the EPRDF who are in essence Somalis themselves reflect the atrocities, repression, arbitrary arrests, denial of basic services, and the host of inhuman measures inflicted on their people by the current and past regimes seated in Addis Ababa? Without an iota of doubt the regime in Addis Ababa has committed heinous crimes including genocide against Somalis of Ethiopia.
Satirically, what these subjects fail to realize is that even fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini claimed to have been a democracy one time and that the same applies to Germany under Adolf Hitler. Where on earth is the democracy they are preaching when demonstrations are suppressed and the opposition jailed or killed?
In this era of communication and globalization, it is absolutely impossible for oppressive governments to conceal deliberate inhuman acts from the glare of publicity. The election irregularities that led to the subsequent arrest and extra-judicial killings of opposition figures and university students in the streets of Addis Ababa, the capital city, in 2005, still echo in the minds of Ethiopia's bitterly enraged multi-cultural societies seeking abrupt regime change.
For now, the international community is well aware of the human rights violations being committed by Meles Zenawi's regime in Ethiopia’s Somali-inhabited region and in other parts of Ethiopia, though, to the surprise of the people of the region and their sympathizers, none among the world powers in the forefront for universal suffrage, not even the UN, the world governing body, is willing to see further fragmentation of landlocked Ethiopia since Eritrea's legal divorce in 1991.
This article appeared on www.wardheernews.com
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Factors That Hastened Somalia’s Perdition and Destruction
Recall to mind how Somalia was at one time a haven of peace and the city of Mogadishu the cleanest in Africa; recollect the role Somalia played in international affairs in the past; and picture to yourself how Somalis of the eighties rejoiced as a nation. Remember the abundance of fruits and vegetables that was available in the markets and the millions of wildlife and livestock that roamed the countryside.
Reflect the beautiful beaches we had and the vast untouched forests scattered north and south of the country producing nutritious fruits, medicated roots and tubers and the glistening and encasing toxic-free environment solely created to benefit every Somali-sane and insane. That is why the Pharaohs referred Somalia to as the "Land of Aroma" or the “Land of Gods” not because of the abundance of Myrrh or Frankincense but because of the diverse creatures that emitted entertaining aroma acceptable to every living thing that inhabited it.
In Somalia, before the advent of modern war machines and before the eruption of the civil war in 1990, the scent of rain could be felt from a far because nature remained in complete obeisance to the environment regardless of regional geography or landscape. Unfortunately, with the erosion of law and order, cantankerous warlords and the Mafiosi discovered ways of dumping nuclear wastes along the coastlines and in to the interior of the country ultimately increasing child mortality rates, depriving the soil of its vital nutrients, and wrecking havoc to all kinds of life.
In the absence of putrid and nauseating smell of petrochemicals, hazardous wastes, and noxious emissions from cars and factories, in the olden days in Somalia, one could inhale nature's true scent as the fecundating winds majestically dispersed heavenly aroma known in Somali as saxansaxo-a nourishing element that resuscitates living organisms.
Now, from Islamic perspective, let's deeply explore together Somalia's past and figure out the exact causes of the twenty years of indiscriminate killings, displacements, failed reconciliation conferences, deliberately imposed imperialism and occupation, warlordism, plunder, and exodus of our people from their land.
It is common for humans to point fingers at others for their own quandaries and ridiculous disappointments. Was Somalia's failure as a state engineered by foreign powers and malodorously cantankerous Somali individuals whose aim was to impose hegemony and create discord for selfish gains? If that is what you believe, then, it is my strongest conviction that you are wrong beyond reasonable doubt.
When a nation disobeys Almighty Allah by employing decadence to speed up its immaterial selfish aims and objectives, then, the resultant expectations as admonished in the Glorious Qur'an and scriptures that preceded it, is divine destruction that does not differentiate the pious from the sinner.
Somalis have harmoniously copied the evil doings of the people of Ad, Thamud, Iram; Aikat etc. to an extent sermon from mosque pulpits fell on deaf ears as majority became engrossed in un-Islamic acts and Satanic exploits that incessantly seeped through all sectors of society.
How often have you reflected the negative practices of our nomads selling milk in the streets of our major towns and villages? One thing I've noted is that the steatopygous pastoral Somali girl or woman whose day started at dawn to venture out into the milk selling business strolled backbreaking kilometers loaded with heavy milk containers with one thing in mind: to lure and cheat town dwelling customers with contaminated milk diluted with water or powdered milk. The deceits they applied were so intricately rehearsed to the detriment of the unsuspecting customer and herself. With two milk containers by her sides, the unsuspecting customer was given pure milk from a container reserved for tasting only while the ultimate transaction implied a separate container with diluted milk. These garrulous milk sellers were known to swear until they exhausted their energies. Likewise, canteens known as bibitos and restaurants played a great role selling diluted milk.
The most destructive business ventures that brought Somalia to her heals could be found among shops and butcheries that manipulated the scale and the balance. Butchers sold meat with tremendous speed and drive simply because their lack of refrigerators meant disaster for their business undertakings as meat is known to perish within hours without preservation. They unprofessionally and deceitfully sold ligaments, tendons, glands, and bones instead of steak to their unsuspecting customers.
The speed at how shop owners dislodged the weight before it came to its right position and the removal of some vital parts from the balance meant customers were getting poor service. Another debilitating anecdote was how farmers sold their products. Sesame sellers splashed water on to sesame seeds so they could add more weight to their products and generate cash money during retail or wholesale transactions. Sesame seeds are visibly lighter and absorb water profusely. By soaking the sesame seeds in water, farmers felt assured that they would strike hefty profits. Grains sellers employed scoops with bulging bases for purchases, whereas, when selling, the scoops had upward-punched bottoms.
Remember, Allah destroyed the people of Madyan after they betrayed Prophet Shu’ayb. Despite being good at business, the people of Madyan were so selfish that they manipulated the weight or measure. In the olden days when Somalia had an effective central government, businesspeople preferred or entrusted their daughters to running their businesses, perhaps, because they were adept at attracting customers.
Prostitution is the second oldest tradition so goes the saying. The proliferation of prostitution conglomerates in the city of Mogadishu saw sprouting of brothels flourish in all suburbs with girls as young as fifteen becoming targets for officials and business magnates stashed with cash meant to lure them. Government officials emptied state coffers through malpractices; military officers hoarded provisions meant for their juniors, promotions were not based on merit but on favoritisms and tribal affiliations; foreigners played seek and hide games in attempts to fulfill their sexual desires; qaad sessions bloomed with middle-aged women known as xusul baruur acting as go-betweens or playing the pimping mistress roles; the consumption of marijuana and alcohol became unregulated and uninterrupted; for women to attract men they resorted to outfits known as iga-dhex-arag or see-me-through while others went about their businesses in western outfits including skirts, trousers, T-shirts and shorts; women wore make-ups, heads were uncovered; barbers welcomed all sexes into their evil haircut adventures; cinema-goers watched explicit movies while video dens played pornographic contents even for school children. Minority clans felt the excruciating pain of stratification and marginalization. A fraction of women dressed in gareys-a kind of gown exclusive to nomadic women-where one breast remained exposed for all to see.
Somalia of old experienced tremendous proliferation of boarding and lodgings that readily accepted unmarried partners consequently indulging in fetishism, fornication and adultery. Asxaabul-Zio, smooth-talking parasites constituting high school drop-outs, social rejects, contumaciously malevolent youth whose source of income was shaxaad-a meticulous method of begging without attracting resentment-kept night vigils along streets, around corridors, beneath verandahs, and in patios obstructing pedestrians while rehearsing the same old chorus: “abbaayo, muraayad aan kaa dhex arkay, no” to every passing by female they found appealing. Assumingly, these armies of youthful social rejects broke the virginity of many young girls and could also shoulder the blame of impregnating many others. On the other hand, they might have had a hand in the implosion of uncontrolled sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like gonorrhea and HIV/AIDS.
A famous distillery in Jowhar produced a kind of rum that was awarded “international Africa Award”. Perhaps, many apathetic alcoholics may have met their sudden deaths or suffered cirrhosis of the liver after consuming Somalia’s “Kill Me Quick” concoctions. Bear in mind the assortments of western brands of beer sold at Lido Beach, Baar Gember, al-Uruba, Juba, and Taleex hotels and the host of barefaced alcoholics who scrambled for a bitter taste of “elephant urine” known among locals as “kaadi maroodi”-the likes of Budweiser, Carlsberg, Breda, and Heineken. Budweiser was known in Somalia as “Badda Weysa” which literally translates to oceanic ablution. Rewind yourself to the slapdash deals in Ceelgaab that included distribution of marijuana and alcoholic beverages. Sinai, an accursed market in Mogadishu served as a melting pot and an epicenter for seekers of gerasheys-informal qaad-chewing sessions involving runaway wives, Mademoiselles, calamites, and pederasts engaged in adult plays often kicking-off their satanic practices after midnight and running up to the wee hours of the morning without feeling any sense of trepidation or reprehension.
Poets used poetry to relay imprecations, deliver messages of discontent to the ruling elites, and as a crying call to rally the mass. With Somalis being a nation of poets and “a fierce and turbulent race”, a few hate-filled and antagonistic elements acting as successors to the ancestors of old British explorer and orientalist Sir Richard Burton referred to as poetasters, poetitos, and poetaccios in his 1854 visit to Somalia, grasped the opportunity to disseminate tribal hatred, fallacious propaganda and deceptive nationalistic aspirations that transformed into an inferno engulfing their own abodes, the Somali nation, and the entire Horn of Africa region.
Consequently, the few remaining adherents and religious leaders entrusted to the propagation of Islam became thunderstruck after noticing the abrupt reduction of devotees, abandonment of mosques, and desertion of religious centers.
What followed next became history. Somalia's predominantly Muslim nation was headed for destruction. The formation of guerilla movements up north led to the overthrow of the corrupt government. Driven by revenge, greed, and power, these guerilla movements further plunged the already morally corrupt and bankrupt nation in to tribal divisions and cantons. The ensuing two-decade civil strife accelerated genocide whose victims include the elderly, women, and children. The strong stuck to their guns; academia left the country enmasse, and nations with a stake in Somalia’s fragmentation jostled for influence and occupation.
Anyhow, having unearthed some of Somalia's past wrongdoings and premeditated transgressions, I beseech the reader to dissuade pointing fingers at others and kindly reflect the propensity of immorality that was Somalia before its initial collapse.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
The Rise of India and China
With the United States remaining the only global hegemon, India and China jumped on the bandwagon not necessarily on military platforms but on economic empowerment. This brought an end to the era of the single global policeman. The world transformed from unilateralism to multilateralism. All general disputes became the prerogative of the international community with the United Nations serving as the master jury.
However, in East Asia-two nations, India and China made great strides in the fields of scientific and military technology, in economic prosperity through global partnerships and globalization, enhanced industrialization, and international political engagements. Through increased exports and educational advancement, these two Asian tigers tremendously increased their Gross Domestic Products (GDP) within a short period of time.
India is reputedly the largest democracy in the world while China, despite espousing authoritarian form of government, enjoys a business culture that is absolutely capitalistic in outlook. With the blessings of George W. Bush, the United States saw the flight of innumerable American companies moving out of the country and settling in India and China respectively. In the name of globalization, American companies settled in Indian soil with ease. American companies settling in India found cheap labor and well-educated middle-class workers like doctors, engineers, lawyers, researchers, and computer technicians who did the perfect job.
Likewise, the Chinese took over the job of filling American shelves with cheap consumer products without which could see American business enterprises stagnated. The Chinese secured contracts in oil and mineral explorations in Africa and as far as Australia; Chinese engineering companies secured concessions in many impoverished countries building schools, constructing massive ports; the Chinese government gave out millions of dollars to poor countries hoping to secure contractual rights in return.
Meanwhile, the EU expanded its borders by attracting poor Eastern European countries in the hope of expanding its sphere of influence. Through mutual cooperation, the EU has also increased its dealings with India and China. This continued reciprocal friendship will see India and China becoming future super powers to reckon with.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Presidents without Ties
The skirt is said to have originated from people of Gaelic or Celtic origin. But the truth of the matter is, the skirt remains the oldest human fashion. In ancient history skirts were made from animal skin or from tree leaves. The skirt is worn in many modern cultures like in Scotland where it is worn by men on special occassions like festivals. It is worn in Yemen, in Indonesia, and even in Somalia where men's "macawis" has the shape of a skirt.
We learn from the history of fashion that the skirt worn by women was first discovered by a very clever Englishman who was a tailor by profession. He created the skirt after seeing the streets of London full of women who lost their husbands in brutal wars. He wanted the few remaining men to be attracted to the multitudes of widowed women. This clever art increased the number of girlfriends and boyfriends. So, every woman had at least a boyfriend.
When a Muslim president representing an entire nation wears suit without tie in front of hundreds of delegates converged on an international arena, one is made to think that the president in question is improperly dressed. How about wearing shoes without socks in the same arena? It wouldn't make sense, isn't it?
We know the suit originated in Europe, most probably in England and that it is the most internationally accepted attire in any international setting. If one can wear a scarf around the neck, then, what is wrong with a neck tie?
For sure there is an unsubstantiated and suspicious religious ethic or edict behind shunning the tie. Some attribute the tie to have been created by an ancient Christian monk who wanted a universal fashion for the adherents of Christianity. If that is the case, then why wear the suit that came from a European land dominated by Christians? I'm sure doubting Tom has no credible answer for the above question.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Nomad Diaries Rekindles Old Memories
Undoubtedly, such inhuman and belligerent literary blockades riddled with explosively unwarranted hate towards our female partners by cynical males contribute to gender segregation. However, for many optimistic and fortunate female Somali writers in the Diaspora, female abhorrence and negative perceptions have become tales of the ancients as many have found literary succor in distant lands-lands whose governing styles repudiate male domineering, authoritarianism, and insensate jungle laws.
Shockingly, freedom of press has opened the gates for tarantula of controversial male and female writers who unabashedly and publicly denigrate African and Islamic values, renounce the Islamic faith, and proclaim atheism. Hateful utterances jotted down in the lines of a book will never change concerted societal political resolve nor deter steadfast adherents from following their religious beliefs nor dissuade committed aspirants from plotting their ambitions.
Unlike writers driven by Islamophobia, ethno-nationalism and ethnocentrism, color bar, and malevolent speechifying propaganda, Nomad diaries (NomadHouse, 2009), a new book that gracefully and radiantly towers above other publications in major bookstands and internet sites, is a contemporary novel detailing incredible social, political, and economical events in clangorous pre and post-Somalia. The author, Yasmeen Maxamuud- a Somali- is an erudite essayists and editor of the portal WardheerNews. Yasmeen spent four painstakingly concrete years with one thing in mind: the final delivery of a captivatingly fine-tuned and well-rehearsed fictional narrative full of drama, euphoria, and absolute tribulation that jolts the nerves of the reader. It is a book full of ordeals depicting characters primarily overwhelmed by a potpourri of conditions that include violence and drug abuse, despondency and illegitimacy, rejection and consanguinity, pessimism and optimism, circumlocution and loquaciousness, magnetism and vivacity in war-ravaged Somalia, in cross border jungles teeming with beasts, in the hostile and inhospitable refugee camps of Kenya, and in cosmopolitan America.
From the 1960s to the present day, African scholars belonging to the literary world-whether writers of fiction or nonfiction, journalists, poets, dramatists, essayists, children’s writers, or novelists-have been in the forefront producing a plethora of literary works related to various genres: particularly on topics related to culture, gender, dictatorship, colonialism, and neocolonialism. Some novels have been written prior to any African country gaining independence. Others came rolling out of print immediately after 1957 when Ghana and Libya proclaimed independence from England and Italy respectively. Chinua Achebe’s celebrated novel, Things Fall Apart was first published in 1958 while his other novel Arrow of God came out of print in 1964. Things Fall Apart has been adapted into a novel and so is The Concubine by Nigerian writer Elechi Amadi. Peter Abrahams, the South African born (but of Ethiopian father and a colored South African mother) whose novel Mine Boy rekindled the old sores of apartheid remains on the shelves of many libraries and bookstores worldwide despite coming out of print in 1946. His other works include the story collection Dark Testament (1942) and the novels The Path of Thunder (1948), A Wreath for Udomo (1956), A Night of Their Own (1965), the Jamaica-set This Island Now (1966, the only one of his novels not set in Africa) and The View from Coyaba (1985).
Our own Nuruddin Farah had his first novel, From a Crooked Rib, written in 1970 followed by a succession of wide-ranging scholarly publications, anthology of poems, trilogies, and novels. Africa has produced some of the best writers in the world with Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, and Nuruddin Farah capturing internationally acclaimed awards.
Besides being a novelist, Soyinka is known as a recipient of the acclaimed Nobel Prize in literature. When a pro-democracy political rally by angry demonstrators denouncing Olusegun Obasanjo’s rigging of elections turned violent in Lagos in 2004, Nobelist and literary doyen Soyinka found himself teargased and then thrown behind bars by Nigeria’s police. Some of Africa’s novelists never trained in literature. A case in point is Elechi Amadi of Nigeria who majored in Physics and Mathematics and was at one time a member of the armed forces of his country. Guinean novelist Camara Laye trained as a motor mechanic.
Some novelists departed the world young while others continue to live at advanced ages viewing political events of their nations from the sidelines; some remain in academia as distinguished professors for the sake of serving humanity.
West Africa has produced many inspiring and talented writers with Nigeria dominating the scene. Depending on a nation’s inclination toward colonial rule, most works by West Africans have either been written in French or in English. A prominent novel written in French recounting the youthful voyage of novelist Camara Laye is L’Enfant noir (1953; Dark Child). With the advancement of contemporary printing techniques, modern novelists have conscientiously taken to writing in local languages in order to educate their underserved mass reeling under autocratic leaderships.
Growing up in Africa when the level of secondary education was in par with either the British or American systems of education-in an era when kindergartners sang “twinkle, twinkle little star” and when high school students voraciously devoured novels consisting of hundreds of pages within a matter of days-regardless of whether they were written by Charles Dickens-the English novelist of the Victorian-era or by an African, the most fortunate in Africa’s post colonial educational establishments have been those who benefited from a curriculum untouched by post-independence African dictators. Surprisingly, post-colonial African academics have been the first to off-set the current trend known as “brain drain” where the most educated left the continent in large numbers in search of greener pastures. The most enticing destination for African academics was in the western hemisphere. Since most African dictators did not entertain criticism of their new administrations, writers and novelists who felt dismay at how their governments operated produced poems, plays, and critical publications denouncing specific leaders. In retaliation, authorities embarked on confiscation of literature, banning of plays, closure of theaters, and conviction of suspects without representation of attorney. Those writers fortunate enough to escape the terrifying dragnets chose self-exile.
Ugandan novelist and former university lecturer Okot P’Bitek may be remembered for his hair-raising novels written in the truest African taste. Song of Lawino (1966), originally written in Acholi was later rendered into English. It is about a tediously long and uninterrupted speech by a wife lamenting her husband’s adoption of western ideals and manners. In response to his wife’s dramatic monologue, Okot P’Bitek wrote Song of Ocol (1970) in support of his wife’s predictions.
With the shortage of African-owned printing presses, nations that emerged out of colonialism relied heavily on curriculums and printing presses of their colonial masters for educational instructions. Assumingly, in English-speaking Africa, from kindergarten to college, school equipment schemes had their textbooks printed by either McMillan, Heinemann or by Oxford University Press. These publishers remained pioneers in the provision of books, multimedia, and classroom materials until the emergence of government-owned printing presses.
Several post-colonial African leaders like Jomo Kenyatta and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga of Kenya wrote books during their lifetimes. Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, father to the current prime minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga, may be remembered for his book Not Yet Uhuru (Heinemann, 1967), a 340-page autobiography of Oginga Odinga and published by Heinemann in 1968. Jomo Kenya, Kenya’s first post-colonial president, wrote the anthropological book Facing Mount Kenya (Vintage Books, 1962) with introduction by Bronislaw Malinowski-his mentor at the London School of Economics. A Long Walk to Freedom (Little, Brown & Co., 1995) by Nelson Mandela is an autobiography relating the life and times of one of the world’s longest serving political prisoner. Mandela spent seventeen years of his twenty-seven years behind bars in the notorious Robben Island Prison in South Africa. A recipient of the Nobel Prize, Mandela became South Africa’s first post-apartheid president and served just one-term (1994-1999).
Undoubtedly, Léopold Sédar Senghor of Senegal remains Africa’s most prolific writer and president. Some of his celebrated works written in French include:
• Prière aux masques (Circa 1935 - Published in collected works during the 1940s).
• Chants d'ombre (1945)
• Hosties noires (1948)
• Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie nègre et malgache (1948)
• Éthiopiques (1956)
• Nocturnes (1961)
• Nation et voie africaine du socialisme (1961)
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin et la politique africaine (1962)
• Lettres de d'hivernage (1973)
• Élégies majeures (1979)
• La poésie de l'action : conversation avec Mohamed Aziza (1980)
• Ce que je crois (1988)
Surely, Nomad Diaries has rekindled old memories. Without it, recollecting the line-up of books published by Heinemann and written by literary behemoths like Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Steve Biko, Ama Ata Aidoo, Nadine Gordimer, Buchi Emecheta, Okot p'Bitek and others, would have been impossible.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Colorful Stripes of a Totalitarian Ruler
Colonialism gave birth to the legacies of neocolonialism and economic slavery, scientific socialism and communism. Africa’s totalitarian rulers finally embraced pseudo-democracy or hybrid democracy which came about as a result of Western pressure and the want of economic aid-aid that gradually trickled in with many strings attached.
Post colonial Africa was ruled with the barrel of the gun; African dictators preferred to rule while in military uniform-an irregular fear-instilling dress that belonged to the barracks. Almost every African head of state preferred to be called “His Excellency” or “Mheshimiwa” in Kiswahili. Others were conferred on with the title of “Sir” by Her Majesty, the colonial master queen at-large. Former African colonies still remain orphans of their colonial masters. Calling an African president “Mr. President” was, in some countries, until recently, punishable by death by hanging until pronounced death. Some leaders admired the terms “Father of the Nation” or “Baba wa Taifa”, “Mzee” or “Victory Bearer”. Wives of head of state-regardless of health condition and physical appearance-took the title of "Mama” or “Mother of the Nation”. The title “First Lady” is a recent creation.
In preparation for a ceremonial event or delivery of address to the nation by the president, the national security apparatus embarked on wide-ranging skirmishes of executions and arbitrary arrests of innocent civilians days before the occassion. Suspects were shot at point blank range; people gathered around ramshackle diases hours before commencement of ceremonies; others lined-up along pot-holed roads waving olive branches in the scorching sun of the equator without food and water; expectant mothers, children, and the elderly got flushed out of their grass-thatched houses by dreaded security forces in riot gear.
School children rehearsed school choir choruses in praise of the president while drenched in perspiration, dehydrated and on empty stomachs. After thunderous applause, those heads of states who happened to be illiterate issued diktats or communiqués signed with their thumb prints.
Human Rights Abuses under Scrutiny in Somalia
Thursday, September 9, 2010
EID MUBARAK
Sunday, September 5, 2010
HIV/AIDS Sufferers Told to Partake in Suicide Missions
This sad news saw many of the victims vacate the premises of Sterling Center for HIV/AIDS- a sad action that prompted the administrators to keep the center under lock and key until further notice.
A New Era for Kenya-Somalis
After the subsequent death of Jomo Kenyatta in 1978, the reins of power fell on the hands of Dictator Daniel Arap Moi who imposed similar sweeping measures while ruling over a single party government dominated by his henchmen and party stalwarts. He introduced a form of leadership style analogous to that of his predecessor by pioneering a ruling establishment that came to be known as ‘Nyayo’-a slogan implying ‘footsteps’ where he boisterously and meticulously put to profound use without the least deviation whatsoever.
A failed coup engineered by junior ranking members of the Kenya Air Force (now 82 Air Force) in 1982 made Daniel Moi more ravenous, authoritarian, and perhaps more rabble-rousing in dealing with opposition. Moi was shown the door and sent packing in 1992 after the birth of multiparty democracy-a fight organized by courageous opposition figures and Smith Hempstone-the fiery U.S. Ambassador to Kenya at that time together with strenuous pressure from the democratic world. Thus, Moi’s successor, Kenya’s current head of state, Mwai Kibaki, became the nation’s first leader in democratic Kenya .
Even with the implementation of political pluralism, political tensions flared-up in 2008 after a dispute arose between the two major political parties in a fraudulent election that saw opposing sides slaughter each other in the glare of television cameras leaving approximately two-thousand civilians dead and over three-hundred thousand displaced mainly in the agriculturally productive Rift Valley region. This ugly scenario between the forces of Raila Odinga who is the current prime minister and Mwai Kibaki led to an international intervention that brought in acclaimed dignitaries like Bishop Desmond Tutu, Graca Machel (widow of former Mozambican president Samora Machel and current wife of Nelson Mandela, former president of the Republic of South Africa), Kofi Anan (former Secretary General of the U.N.), John Kufuor (former president of Ghana), and Benjamin Mkapa (former president of Tanzania) among others. This international intervention led to sharing of power between the Nilotic Luo and Bantu Kikuyu respectively.
Consequently, Kenya’s newly promulgated constitution will replace the old one inherited from Kenya’s colonial master-Britain. It is a constitution that will equally apply to all Kenyans regardless of religion, race, gender, political affiliation, color, and sex. Provincial administrators will be replaced by elected governors; the nation will have upper and lower houses to be elected through the ballot; parliamentarians will be replaced by senators, and the law will apply equally to all in due course. Muslims and minority tribes who suffered for decades under former regimes will now have a say in the governing of the nation. Undoubtedly, the long neglected eastern and northeastern provinces dominated by Somalis will rise from the ashes of destruction and see dramatic rise in their levels of education, health, sanitation, infrastructure, and marketability. What was once the prerogative of the majority and the wealthy will finally and for the foreseeable future change hands and elevate the ranks of the downtrodden.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Razor-Sharp-Mouthed EPRDF Party Troglodytes Globetrotting With Deception and Unconventional Wisdom
Delegations led by razor-sharp-mouthed representatives relaying unconventional wisdom converged on major cities in the western hemisphere with a view to selling their distorted ideologies to unsuspecting and predominantly uninformed onlookers and sightseers who were not part of the initial decision-making processes or originally intended political pundits.
Shuttling between Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Diego, and Minneapolis, and several other European cities, these uncompromising impostors driven by party zealotry unleashed well-rehearsed ideologies and revolutionary desiderata by calling on participants to grab offers of democratic values of inclusivity-perhaps referring to variants like freedom, equality, equity, cooperation, peaceful resolution of disputes, the rule of law, popular sovereignty, representative democracy, economic well-being, equality of opportunity, equality of condition, and other democratic factors-aspects that are absolutely unattainable in majoritarian, heterogeneous and “Cruel Ethiopia”.
Led by the youthful fire-spitting Abdifatah Sheikh Abdullahi, a tribal-minded political neophyte with past records of corruption and freewheeling lifestyle, EPRDF party apparatchiks gave conflicting imaginary statements aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian-Somali Diaspora.
Do these so-called representatives of the EPRDF who are in essence Somalis themselves reflect the atrocities, repression, arbitrary arrests, denial of basic services, and the host of inhuman measures inflicted on their people by the current and past regimes seated in Addis Ababa? Without an iota of doubt the regime in Addis Ababa has committed heinous crimes including genocide against Somalis of Ethiopia.
Ironically, what these subjects fail to realize is that even fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini claimed to have been a democracy one time and that the same applies to Germany under Adolf Hitler. Where on earth is the democracy they are preaching when demonstrations are suppressed and the opposition jailed or killed? An election where the ruling party garners majority of the votes is not a democracy. Do they know that modern democracy is generally of three types: (1) Presidentialism where the president and the Congress are elected separately, lawmaking depends on a balance of Congressional and presidential powers, the Supreme Court may strike down laws as unconstitutional, and that the president, the Congress, and the states can together override decisions of the Supreme Court. This kind of government is practiced by the United States. (2) Parliamentary System also known as parliamentary government where the people elect the national legislature; the national legislature (usually the lower house in bicameral legislatures) elects or approves the government as in United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Jamaica, Norway, Netherlands, Slovenia and others. Parliamentary Government is the most widely used form of democracy in the world. A Single-Party Majoritarian Government is where one party wins an absolute majority of seats in the national legislature and forms the government (an absolute majority means 50 percent plus one). This kind of government was the British House of Commons elections of 1997 when the Labor Party won 419 of the 659 seats in the House or 63.6% of the total. The final type of modern democracy is the mixed presidential-parliamentary system also known as semi-presidentialism where a president or prime minister can each have significant decision-making powers as in Russia, Sri Lanka, South Korea, France, Portugal, Finland and others.[1]
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Nin Insi ahaa ayaa wuxuu qabay labo haween ah oo mid ay aheyd Insi, ta kalena, Jinni. Haweeneeyda Inisiga ah waxay u dhashay saddex wiil, ...
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Introduction First and foremost, I would like to inform our ardent reader that I started writing this book on the 23rd of August, 2024. The...
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Qaad or Chat (pronounced cot), scientifically known as catha Edulis, is an evergreen perennial plant popular in East Africa and some parts...