The Mumbai attacks call for a collective Muslim outrage
By Bashir Goth
As I watched terrorists attacking Mumbai, India’s business capital, and playing havoc with the city’s famous landmarks, on November 26, I immediately remembered Hargeisa, capital of my country Somaliland, where almost a month before suicide bombers caused chaos by driving SUVs laden with explosives to the presidential palace, UNDP headquarters and the office of the Ethiopian Political Representative, killing scores of people and injuring many others. Just like India dubbed November 26 as their 9/11, my people in Somaliland have also dubbed their tragedy on 29/11 as Somaliland’s 9/11.
My first reaction to both tragedies was outrage. It is impossible to stay indifferent before such wanton killing of hundreds of innocent lives and destroying a country’s symbols of history and civilization. The terrorists’ choice of targets also says a lot about the venomous hate and the blind hostility that they have for human innovation, beauty and progress. Targeting Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel and the Trident-Oberoi was to hit India where it hurts most, the country’s sense of pride, just like their comrades did when they attacked New York’s Twin Towers.
Targeting western tourists, religious centers and public transport is also their way of maximizing the pain and delivering fear onto every world citizen’s doorstep. The reaction to this plague until now has been feeble and scattered on the world stage and almost indifferent at best and shameless schadenfreude at the worst in the main Muslim street.
The latest attacks in Mumbai should signal the end of world silence and inaction. It should stir a sense of outrage and anger in every peace loving human being. Any attempt to search for plausible justifications and motives just flies in one’s face when one finds that India is home to 150 million Muslims, representing the second-largest Muslim population in the world, after Indonesia's 200 million Muslims and larger than the entire population of Arab Muslims, which numbers around 140 million. So what kind of Muslim cause do these people claim to fight for when they endanger the lives of 150 million fellow Muslims and put them on the defensive to clear their name and that of their religion from the mess they have created.
READ MORE Awdalnews, onlineopinion
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Dark Continent’s Colourful Fantasies After Obama
By Bashir Goth
Obama’s election as the 44th President of the United States has resounded throughout the African continent as it did in many other parts of the world.
It was a definitive moment in history, an incredible dream come true for millions of African Americans, a shattering of a psychological Bastille for white Americans and indeed a triumph for all humanity. It was also a day of recognition for tens of thousands of American biracial people like my son, an offspring of an African father and a white American mother.
Young people and families in different time zones around the world stayed awake all night as the election results started trickling from state to state. As my wife and I went to bed, we left our son glued to CNN and devotedly following up the results on his laptop, adorned with Obama’s campaign wear. Briefing me on the results when I woke up Wednesday morning in Abu Dhabi, still Tuesday night in America, I could see how fired up he was. This is when I realised that this was something the world had never seen the like of it in living memory.
In Africa this was equal to the 1960s when the wind of change for freedom was blowing over the continent and Africans were breaking the chains of colonialism. Obama’s victory was embraced throughout the world as a victory of character over colour as was dreamt by Martin Luther King, a victory of human equality over bigotry and a success story that could only be written in America.
After arriving at work, I received a call from my son telling me that Obama had won. Thinking about it I had to call him back immediately after I put down the phone in order to share the moment with him in the way it deserved and listen to his voice as he narrated the numbers and developments to me in heightened enthusiasm. Soon after I ended his call, I kept receiving messages from friends all over the world. An African Ambassador and a friend in Abu Dhabi couldn’t hold back his emotions and pride. “Africa is at the top of the world,” he told me.
READ MORE in Khaleej Times
By Bashir Goth
Obama’s election as the 44th President of the United States has resounded throughout the African continent as it did in many other parts of the world.
It was a definitive moment in history, an incredible dream come true for millions of African Americans, a shattering of a psychological Bastille for white Americans and indeed a triumph for all humanity. It was also a day of recognition for tens of thousands of American biracial people like my son, an offspring of an African father and a white American mother.
Young people and families in different time zones around the world stayed awake all night as the election results started trickling from state to state. As my wife and I went to bed, we left our son glued to CNN and devotedly following up the results on his laptop, adorned with Obama’s campaign wear. Briefing me on the results when I woke up Wednesday morning in Abu Dhabi, still Tuesday night in America, I could see how fired up he was. This is when I realised that this was something the world had never seen the like of it in living memory.
In Africa this was equal to the 1960s when the wind of change for freedom was blowing over the continent and Africans were breaking the chains of colonialism. Obama’s victory was embraced throughout the world as a victory of character over colour as was dreamt by Martin Luther King, a victory of human equality over bigotry and a success story that could only be written in America.
After arriving at work, I received a call from my son telling me that Obama had won. Thinking about it I had to call him back immediately after I put down the phone in order to share the moment with him in the way it deserved and listen to his voice as he narrated the numbers and developments to me in heightened enthusiasm. Soon after I ended his call, I kept receiving messages from friends all over the world. An African Ambassador and a friend in Abu Dhabi couldn’t hold back his emotions and pride. “Africa is at the top of the world,” he told me.
READ MORE in Khaleej Times
Friday, November 07, 2008
Obama Should Turn His Eyes Toward Cuba
By Bashir Goth
With the election of Barack Obama, America has set the record straight. The American people have said it loud and clear that they want a change of direction. They believed and supported Obamaʼs message of change. The American people have delivered and it is now Obamaʼs turn to deliver. He has to show that he can walk the walk; that he is not only a man of words but a man of action as well.
The first obvious task for Mr. Obama should be to heal the divisions and wounds created by the toxic campaign discourse; he should reach across the aisle and form a bipartisan cabinet.
No doubt a top priority will be to address the financial crisis at home and on the global level, but equally important is for Obama to send a strong message to the world that he is ready to mend Americaʼs tattered image and restore its leadership role. And there is no quicker way to improve Americaʼs image than bring a speedy end to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Another equally important step would be to redefine the erroneous concept of the War on Terror without compromising on the security of the American people and the world at large. Mr. Obama should show the world that America is great because of its values and its unwavering support for human freedom; the values and freedom that brought him, a biracial child of an African father and an American mother, to the countryʼs presidency.
READ MORENewsweek/WashingtonPost.com/Postglobal
By Bashir Goth
With the election of Barack Obama, America has set the record straight. The American people have said it loud and clear that they want a change of direction. They believed and supported Obamaʼs message of change. The American people have delivered and it is now Obamaʼs turn to deliver. He has to show that he can walk the walk; that he is not only a man of words but a man of action as well.
The first obvious task for Mr. Obama should be to heal the divisions and wounds created by the toxic campaign discourse; he should reach across the aisle and form a bipartisan cabinet.
No doubt a top priority will be to address the financial crisis at home and on the global level, but equally important is for Obama to send a strong message to the world that he is ready to mend Americaʼs tattered image and restore its leadership role. And there is no quicker way to improve Americaʼs image than bring a speedy end to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Another equally important step would be to redefine the erroneous concept of the War on Terror without compromising on the security of the American people and the world at large. Mr. Obama should show the world that America is great because of its values and its unwavering support for human freedom; the values and freedom that brought him, a biracial child of an African father and an American mother, to the countryʼs presidency.
READ MORENewsweek/WashingtonPost.com/Postglobal
Editorial: Bombs will not subdue the resolve of Africa’s Cinderella
By Bashir Goth
Eighteen long years and Somaliland has been the beacon of hope in a turbulent region. Eighteen years during which Somaliland has written a success story of peace, stability, democratization and building of government institutions. Eighteen years of looking into the abyss but skirting all terrorist threats with its wisdom and community cohesion. Eighteen years of sending a May Day call after May Day call to the international community for help and support that went mainly unheeded to the detriment of regional stability and global security.
While the world was focused on the mayhem and fratricide taking place in Mogadishu, Somaliland was slowly and silently piecing itself life together away from the international limelight. Immediately after the collapse of the central Somali government in January 1991, Somaliland, which bore the brunt of the Military regime’s brutality, had disassociated itself from the defunct union that it had created with Italian Somalia in July 1960. Since then Somaliland has through a process of homegrown and bottom-up reconciliation conferences managed to heal the wounds of the civil war and embarked on building bridges among its various clans.
In the first of these conferences held in Burao, Somaliland declared its sovereignty as a separate state and soon solidified this with a national referendum on 31 May 2001 supported by more than 90% of the local population. It was, however, at the inclusive and holistic conference of Borama February-May 1993, that Somaliland laid the unshakable foundation for its constitution on the basis of a unique amalgam of customary law and western democracy.
READ MORE Awdalnews,TheMediaLine.org,
By Bashir Goth
Eighteen long years and Somaliland has been the beacon of hope in a turbulent region. Eighteen years during which Somaliland has written a success story of peace, stability, democratization and building of government institutions. Eighteen years of looking into the abyss but skirting all terrorist threats with its wisdom and community cohesion. Eighteen years of sending a May Day call after May Day call to the international community for help and support that went mainly unheeded to the detriment of regional stability and global security.
While the world was focused on the mayhem and fratricide taking place in Mogadishu, Somaliland was slowly and silently piecing itself life together away from the international limelight. Immediately after the collapse of the central Somali government in January 1991, Somaliland, which bore the brunt of the Military regime’s brutality, had disassociated itself from the defunct union that it had created with Italian Somalia in July 1960. Since then Somaliland has through a process of homegrown and bottom-up reconciliation conferences managed to heal the wounds of the civil war and embarked on building bridges among its various clans.
In the first of these conferences held in Burao, Somaliland declared its sovereignty as a separate state and soon solidified this with a national referendum on 31 May 2001 supported by more than 90% of the local population. It was, however, at the inclusive and holistic conference of Borama February-May 1993, that Somaliland laid the unshakable foundation for its constitution on the basis of a unique amalgam of customary law and western democracy.
READ MORE Awdalnews,TheMediaLine.org,
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Mr. Kipkorir: Annexing and dividing Somalia is a call for balkanization of Horn of Africa
By Bashir Goth
As the piracy of the Somali coast took a new and dangerous turn with the hijacking of a ship carrying T-72 Tanks, rocket-propelled grenades and other ammunition destined for Southern Sudan, a Kenyan lawyer had the audacity to call neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia to annex the hapless country and divide it between them as a final solution for the Somali problem.
In his opinion article carried by Kenya’s Daily Nation, Mr. Donald Kipkorir, who is an advocate of the Kenyan High Court, argued annexing Somalia was the strategic interest for Kenya, viewing it as the only way to stop Kenya’s tourism industry from teetering towards destruction.
But what Mr.Kipkorir sees as a strategic interest is a strategic miscalculation for disaster which will not only bring the destruction of Kenya and Ethiopia but will usher in an era of balkanization in the entire region of the Horn of Africa.
Mr.Kipkorir forgets that Kenya and Ethiopia are tribal mine fields that are waiting to be triggered and his call for the annexation of Somalia is only what it needs to start genocides in Kenya and Ethiopia. One has to remember the recent election crisis in Kenya and how the country stood on the brink of ethnic fragmentation. Kenya has more than 42 ethnic groups, speaking more than 62 languages and adhering to various religious affiliations while Ethiopia has about 118 ethnic groups with almost similar number of languages and different religions. The summer 2008 ethnic strife resulting from the Presidential election crisis had exposed the fragility of the Kenyan peace and stability and the degree of hatred and hostility among the Kenyan tribes. The scenes of machete-wielding mobs slaughtering their neighbors and looting shops reminded the world of the horrors of Ruwanda. These were just symbolic of how ugly a tribal strife can turn in Kenya if something disturbs the elusive patchwork of loose tribal confederation called Kenya.
Mr.Kipkorir also seems to have forgotten that despite its current problems, Somalia is the only homogenous country in Africa. Somalis are one ethnic group who speak the same language and adhere to the same religion. They may look divisive and anarchic in their internal skirmishes on the country’s meager resources but they have history of quickly clinging together when they face a common foreign threat.
Remember Mr.Kipkorir, it is these people that you call rag-tag army of semi naked men that stood against the British and Italian armies for 20 years in one of the longest drawn out African rebellions against foreign occupation. It was the dervish movement led by the Somali hero Mohammed Abdulla Hassan, known in history as the Mad Mulla, the derogative name given to him by the British, that the Royal army failed to defeat until it used military aircraft against them in the first aerial bombardment ever used by a European power in Africa, even before the Italian air bombardment of Libya.
READ MORE in Awdalnews
By Bashir Goth
As the piracy of the Somali coast took a new and dangerous turn with the hijacking of a ship carrying T-72 Tanks, rocket-propelled grenades and other ammunition destined for Southern Sudan, a Kenyan lawyer had the audacity to call neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia to annex the hapless country and divide it between them as a final solution for the Somali problem.
In his opinion article carried by Kenya’s Daily Nation, Mr. Donald Kipkorir, who is an advocate of the Kenyan High Court, argued annexing Somalia was the strategic interest for Kenya, viewing it as the only way to stop Kenya’s tourism industry from teetering towards destruction.
But what Mr.Kipkorir sees as a strategic interest is a strategic miscalculation for disaster which will not only bring the destruction of Kenya and Ethiopia but will usher in an era of balkanization in the entire region of the Horn of Africa.
Mr.Kipkorir forgets that Kenya and Ethiopia are tribal mine fields that are waiting to be triggered and his call for the annexation of Somalia is only what it needs to start genocides in Kenya and Ethiopia. One has to remember the recent election crisis in Kenya and how the country stood on the brink of ethnic fragmentation. Kenya has more than 42 ethnic groups, speaking more than 62 languages and adhering to various religious affiliations while Ethiopia has about 118 ethnic groups with almost similar number of languages and different religions. The summer 2008 ethnic strife resulting from the Presidential election crisis had exposed the fragility of the Kenyan peace and stability and the degree of hatred and hostility among the Kenyan tribes. The scenes of machete-wielding mobs slaughtering their neighbors and looting shops reminded the world of the horrors of Ruwanda. These were just symbolic of how ugly a tribal strife can turn in Kenya if something disturbs the elusive patchwork of loose tribal confederation called Kenya.
Mr.Kipkorir also seems to have forgotten that despite its current problems, Somalia is the only homogenous country in Africa. Somalis are one ethnic group who speak the same language and adhere to the same religion. They may look divisive and anarchic in their internal skirmishes on the country’s meager resources but they have history of quickly clinging together when they face a common foreign threat.
Remember Mr.Kipkorir, it is these people that you call rag-tag army of semi naked men that stood against the British and Italian armies for 20 years in one of the longest drawn out African rebellions against foreign occupation. It was the dervish movement led by the Somali hero Mohammed Abdulla Hassan, known in history as the Mad Mulla, the derogative name given to him by the British, that the Royal army failed to defeat until it used military aircraft against them in the first aerial bombardment ever used by a European power in Africa, even before the Italian air bombardment of Libya.
READ MORE in Awdalnews
Time to Share the Top Spot, America
By Bashir Goth
There is no doubt that this financial meltdown marks a defining moment for America's global influence. My guess is that America will weather this crisis, partly due to the government rescue plan and partly due to the ingenuity of the American people. But it is also my guess that the rest of the world may not be ready to undergo the same fear again and may opt to build shock absorbers against any similar future eventualities.
It is natural for a country to reassess its socio-economic situation and draw plans to guarantee healthy future trade with the outside world. We have precedents in the Great Depression and how it brought in big government role into the U.S. economy, the Marshall Plan after WWII and how it created a new world economic order and the 1973 Oil Shock that brought the issue of energy security to the fore.
It was in the aftermath of the Oil Shock that US created the strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) founded the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 1974, and launched a vigorous push for the search of alternative energy.
In the same way, it is obvious that the U.S. financial crisis will herald a kind of a "New Deal" for world economic cooperation. Many African, Caribbean and Pacific leaders currently meeting in Ghana have realized that their trade with the so-called emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa as well as Australia has cushioned their economies against the impact of the U.S. financial crisis. That's an indication that the U.S. is losing its world trade dominance. That should invigorate trade between regional blocks such as Africa, Asia and Europe.
Yes, with its economic and military might, America will continue to have a great influence on world affairs. But one may wonder whether America will still dictate the terms as usual, or whether it will find itself in a new territory. The U.S. may need to readjust its bearings, sharing space and influence with newcomers.
Newsweek/Washingtonpost.com/PostGlobal
By Bashir Goth
There is no doubt that this financial meltdown marks a defining moment for America's global influence. My guess is that America will weather this crisis, partly due to the government rescue plan and partly due to the ingenuity of the American people. But it is also my guess that the rest of the world may not be ready to undergo the same fear again and may opt to build shock absorbers against any similar future eventualities.
It is natural for a country to reassess its socio-economic situation and draw plans to guarantee healthy future trade with the outside world. We have precedents in the Great Depression and how it brought in big government role into the U.S. economy, the Marshall Plan after WWII and how it created a new world economic order and the 1973 Oil Shock that brought the issue of energy security to the fore.
It was in the aftermath of the Oil Shock that US created the strategic Petroleum Reserve in 1975, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) founded the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 1974, and launched a vigorous push for the search of alternative energy.
In the same way, it is obvious that the U.S. financial crisis will herald a kind of a "New Deal" for world economic cooperation. Many African, Caribbean and Pacific leaders currently meeting in Ghana have realized that their trade with the so-called emerging economies such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa as well as Australia has cushioned their economies against the impact of the U.S. financial crisis. That's an indication that the U.S. is losing its world trade dominance. That should invigorate trade between regional blocks such as Africa, Asia and Europe.
Yes, with its economic and military might, America will continue to have a great influence on world affairs. But one may wonder whether America will still dictate the terms as usual, or whether it will find itself in a new territory. The U.S. may need to readjust its bearings, sharing space and influence with newcomers.
Newsweek/Washingtonpost.com/PostGlobal
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Today's Capitalism Has Run Its Course
By Bashir Goth
As the free market economy makes a free fall, all kinds of prescriptions will come to mind, including socialism. A Somali proverb says: "Nin buka boql u talisay" (a sick man gets 100 advisers). Socialist-minded gurus and those who feel left behind by capitalism's unprecedented generation of wealth may need to shout "gotcha," but one thing that could be unanimously agreed by at least uninitiated armchair observers like me is that capitalism in its current free reign and globalized fit for all structure has run its course. Just like we need and preach biodiversity in the field of ecology we need eco-diversity in the economic world.
The Scandinavian countries have for many years practiced a blend of popular socialism and capitalism and as a result they have attained educational excellence, economic prosperity and guaranteed government healthcare for every citizen. In many of the developing economies and the Third World, the public sector played a major role in cushioning the poor sectors from economic hardships. But since the explosion of information technology, the emergence of the Internet, the dot.com bubble trading, the behemoth multinational companies that swallow everything in their path, the hurricane of speculative market that pops up money like pop corn machine, every country in the world was hard pressed to toe the line and accept global standards of American free trade including the privatization of public institutions that provided a semblance of security to the local masses and enabled governments to maintain some sort of peace and stability.
Globalization demanded uniformity in free markets and exported the concepts of ultra-modern Wild West banking systems, hedge funds, dubious corporate debt rating companies, putative mortgage systems and layers above layers of "Après moi le deluge" mobile companies have taken over the world.
Newsweek/Washington Post/Postglobal.
By Bashir Goth
As the free market economy makes a free fall, all kinds of prescriptions will come to mind, including socialism. A Somali proverb says: "Nin buka boql u talisay" (a sick man gets 100 advisers). Socialist-minded gurus and those who feel left behind by capitalism's unprecedented generation of wealth may need to shout "gotcha," but one thing that could be unanimously agreed by at least uninitiated armchair observers like me is that capitalism in its current free reign and globalized fit for all structure has run its course. Just like we need and preach biodiversity in the field of ecology we need eco-diversity in the economic world.
The Scandinavian countries have for many years practiced a blend of popular socialism and capitalism and as a result they have attained educational excellence, economic prosperity and guaranteed government healthcare for every citizen. In many of the developing economies and the Third World, the public sector played a major role in cushioning the poor sectors from economic hardships. But since the explosion of information technology, the emergence of the Internet, the dot.com bubble trading, the behemoth multinational companies that swallow everything in their path, the hurricane of speculative market that pops up money like pop corn machine, every country in the world was hard pressed to toe the line and accept global standards of American free trade including the privatization of public institutions that provided a semblance of security to the local masses and enabled governments to maintain some sort of peace and stability.
Globalization demanded uniformity in free markets and exported the concepts of ultra-modern Wild West banking systems, hedge funds, dubious corporate debt rating companies, putative mortgage systems and layers above layers of "Après moi le deluge" mobile companies have taken over the world.
Newsweek/Washington Post/Postglobal.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Bush Could Score Points in Africa
By Bashir Goth
The Current Discussion: The G-8 summit is Bush's last hurrah as a world leader. What's one thing he can do to strengthen his legacy?
If there is one thing that President Bush can achieve in the dying days of his presidency, it should involve Africa. Everything else seems to be complex and too messed up to even think of fixing in the time available. Regarding the Arab-Israeli issue, it is obvious that Bush cannot undo in six months a problem that is sixty years old. He must have encountered the insurmountable walls of the Middle East peace during his two-term presidency. His trusted State Secretary’s frequent visits and proverbial skills couldn’t put the Middle East’s Humpty Dumpty together again.
The situation in Afghanistan and Iraq could also be added to the Humpty basket although history may treat the situation of these two countries differently long after the Bush era is gone.
One place however that Bush can score highly and pragmatically is Africa. As food and fuel prices spiral and the worry about impending and continent-wide hunger adds more burden on the already stretched economies of Africa, Bush can initiate an African agricultural revolution by initiating a Marshall Plan to provide necessary equipment and expertise to African farmers to increase both the quality and quantity of their produce and their competitiveness in world markets.
READ MORE Newsweek/Washington Post/PostGlobal
By Bashir Goth
The Current Discussion: The G-8 summit is Bush's last hurrah as a world leader. What's one thing he can do to strengthen his legacy?
If there is one thing that President Bush can achieve in the dying days of his presidency, it should involve Africa. Everything else seems to be complex and too messed up to even think of fixing in the time available. Regarding the Arab-Israeli issue, it is obvious that Bush cannot undo in six months a problem that is sixty years old. He must have encountered the insurmountable walls of the Middle East peace during his two-term presidency. His trusted State Secretary’s frequent visits and proverbial skills couldn’t put the Middle East’s Humpty Dumpty together again.
The situation in Afghanistan and Iraq could also be added to the Humpty basket although history may treat the situation of these two countries differently long after the Bush era is gone.
One place however that Bush can score highly and pragmatically is Africa. As food and fuel prices spiral and the worry about impending and continent-wide hunger adds more burden on the already stretched economies of Africa, Bush can initiate an African agricultural revolution by initiating a Marshall Plan to provide necessary equipment and expertise to African farmers to increase both the quality and quantity of their produce and their competitiveness in world markets.
READ MORE Newsweek/Washington Post/PostGlobal
Thursday, July 03, 2008
UN Condemnation Too Little, Too Late
By Bashir Goth
Although one has to be delighted about this unprecedented unanimous condemnation of Robert Mugabe, one cannot also ignore that this has come too little too late. The world has been watching this African tyrant rob his people of their last dignity and turn a country that was once described as Africa’s bread basket into destitution. As I had stated in an earlier piece on Zimbabwe, the world knew that Zimbabwe was deteriorating into another African tragedy.
Since he came to political prominence in the 1960s, Mugabe was always concerned about Mugabe. Relying on the majority force of his Shona tribe, he eliminated the late Joshua Nkomo, a man known as Father Zimbabwe and the founder of the first freedom movement. In the 1980s he massacred 20,000 Ndebele civilians, Nkomo’s tribe, to declare himself as an autocrat. Mugabe considers himself a divine ruler who only God can remove from rule; he cannot allow a novice politician from his own Shona tribe to challenge him when he has subdued the independence heroes from the Ndebele.
Newsweek/Washington Post/PostGlobal
By Bashir Goth
Although one has to be delighted about this unprecedented unanimous condemnation of Robert Mugabe, one cannot also ignore that this has come too little too late. The world has been watching this African tyrant rob his people of their last dignity and turn a country that was once described as Africa’s bread basket into destitution. As I had stated in an earlier piece on Zimbabwe, the world knew that Zimbabwe was deteriorating into another African tragedy.
Since he came to political prominence in the 1960s, Mugabe was always concerned about Mugabe. Relying on the majority force of his Shona tribe, he eliminated the late Joshua Nkomo, a man known as Father Zimbabwe and the founder of the first freedom movement. In the 1980s he massacred 20,000 Ndebele civilians, Nkomo’s tribe, to declare himself as an autocrat. Mugabe considers himself a divine ruler who only God can remove from rule; he cannot allow a novice politician from his own Shona tribe to challenge him when he has subdued the independence heroes from the Ndebele.
Newsweek/Washington Post/PostGlobal
Sunday, June 15, 2008
PostGlobal Takes the World's Pulse
By Bashir Goth
The Current Discussion:PostGlobal celebrates its second birthday this week. Is there a growing global agenda -- that is, an agenda of issues being discussed that affects the world rather than individual countries? Or are local concerns still paramount?
PostGlobal has tackled local issues with global perspective. Realizing the need for a common understanding of world issues, this international debate forum has ushered in a new genre of innovative popular journalism. A kind of a unified voice in diversity, a media outlet where writers of different cultural backgrounds find a level playing field to express the anger, the frustration, the suffering, the development, the thinking, the cultural misconceptions and the stifled political views of their communities as well as shared human desires for justice, freedom and understanding.
PostGlobal has become a forum to air the voice of the silent majority; to reach out to readers across the cultural divide and to give them the opportunity to know the mind of the Other; to help them understand that the common desire for universal justice, freedom and respect for human dignity makes the notion of Us versus Them obsolete.
READ MORE in Washington Post's PostGlobal.
By Bashir Goth
The Current Discussion:PostGlobal celebrates its second birthday this week. Is there a growing global agenda -- that is, an agenda of issues being discussed that affects the world rather than individual countries? Or are local concerns still paramount?
PostGlobal has tackled local issues with global perspective. Realizing the need for a common understanding of world issues, this international debate forum has ushered in a new genre of innovative popular journalism. A kind of a unified voice in diversity, a media outlet where writers of different cultural backgrounds find a level playing field to express the anger, the frustration, the suffering, the development, the thinking, the cultural misconceptions and the stifled political views of their communities as well as shared human desires for justice, freedom and understanding.
PostGlobal has become a forum to air the voice of the silent majority; to reach out to readers across the cultural divide and to give them the opportunity to know the mind of the Other; to help them understand that the common desire for universal justice, freedom and respect for human dignity makes the notion of Us versus Them obsolete.
READ MORE in Washington Post's PostGlobal.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Somaliland overrides 17 years of underestimation
By Bashir Goth
Come 15th of May and they have sworn on hell breaking lose; the naysayers. They trumpeted, with weird satisfaction, the imminent death of the Somaliland’s dream; the doom prophets. They misjudged our people’s wisdom, derided our nation’s resolve and underestimated their history; hired spin doctors. They used all kinds of scare tactics: tribal cards, myopic and jaundiced geopolitical theories, and marshaled all slander expletives in the book; the fifth columnists. They tried to rubbish our peace and stability and our homegrown democratic process as a child’s play before ensuing tantrums; blog pundits. They mistook our political debates as gathering death clouds over our skies; the hate mongers. They predicted doom, death and disarray; all Somaliland enemies.
But to their great disappointment 15th of May has come and gone and they saw Somaliland still standing as peaceful as ever, as stable as ever, as resolved as ever, as ambitious as ever and as wise as ever to put their house in order and to forge ahead with even greater tenacity to sustain their democracy, strengthen their institutions and maintain the international image they have earned as “Africa’s Best Kept Secret.”
With their government, their opposition leaders, their elders and the whole people, Somaliland has again proved wrong those who misread its democratic debate as political crisis and sang for the collapse of what they had sworn to be another myth of a much hyped bubble of an African success story.
Somaliland has once more set a brilliant example of how a small and unrecognized African country can resolve its conflicts; maintain its peace and stability and hold a robust democratic debate with all its labor pains without any foreign help, without Security Council decisions, without foreign mediation efforts, without regional reconciliation conferences and without expensive peacekeeping forces.
Read more Washington Post/PostGlobal.
By Bashir Goth
Come 15th of May and they have sworn on hell breaking lose; the naysayers. They trumpeted, with weird satisfaction, the imminent death of the Somaliland’s dream; the doom prophets. They misjudged our people’s wisdom, derided our nation’s resolve and underestimated their history; hired spin doctors. They used all kinds of scare tactics: tribal cards, myopic and jaundiced geopolitical theories, and marshaled all slander expletives in the book; the fifth columnists. They tried to rubbish our peace and stability and our homegrown democratic process as a child’s play before ensuing tantrums; blog pundits. They mistook our political debates as gathering death clouds over our skies; the hate mongers. They predicted doom, death and disarray; all Somaliland enemies.
But to their great disappointment 15th of May has come and gone and they saw Somaliland still standing as peaceful as ever, as stable as ever, as resolved as ever, as ambitious as ever and as wise as ever to put their house in order and to forge ahead with even greater tenacity to sustain their democracy, strengthen their institutions and maintain the international image they have earned as “Africa’s Best Kept Secret.”
With their government, their opposition leaders, their elders and the whole people, Somaliland has again proved wrong those who misread its democratic debate as political crisis and sang for the collapse of what they had sworn to be another myth of a much hyped bubble of an African success story.
Somaliland has once more set a brilliant example of how a small and unrecognized African country can resolve its conflicts; maintain its peace and stability and hold a robust democratic debate with all its labor pains without any foreign help, without Security Council decisions, without foreign mediation efforts, without regional reconciliation conferences and without expensive peacekeeping forces.
Read more Washington Post/PostGlobal.
The Affordable Chinese
By Bashir Goth
China makes into way to the hearts and minds of developing countries by building roads, sports stadiums, national theatres and water wells. Chinese businessmen come to Africa, for example, with a spade, hammer and cash in one hand and their cheap merchandise and business deals in the other. Mention America, and people will immediately think of its firepower; mention China, and people will point at everything they use in their homes, offices and farms.
Read More in Washington Post/PostGlobal.
By Bashir Goth
China makes into way to the hearts and minds of developing countries by building roads, sports stadiums, national theatres and water wells. Chinese businessmen come to Africa, for example, with a spade, hammer and cash in one hand and their cheap merchandise and business deals in the other. Mention America, and people will immediately think of its firepower; mention China, and people will point at everything they use in their homes, offices and farms.
Read More in Washington Post/PostGlobal.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Welcome winds of change across the dark continent
BY BASHIR GOTH (Inside Africa
FROM Darfur to Zimbabwe and from Somalia to the Great Lakes, there is a new wind of change blowing over Africa. Looking at the map of the continent, one may conclude that Africa is destined to bleed.
If not by foreign powers pillaging its wealth and robbing its future workforce, it is home grown tyrants that suck its blood and derive pleasure in teasing the hungry populace with the bare bones. If not by natural disasters, it is by inter-clan fratricides stoked by power thirsty sycophants and clans fighting over meagre resources.
Yes, it is a continent whose own leaders turn into its tormentors. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is one of a long line of African dictators who refused to leave power until they saw their countries turn to ashes. Among them were Siyad Barre of Somalia, Mubuto Sese Seko of Zaire, Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, and Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African, Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia and others.
These dictators have been removed in violent revolutions. Not revolutions based on noble ideologies and mesmerising slogans, but revolutions built on years of hunger, dashed dreams, prolonged frustrations and people deprived of every shred of a decent life.
As soon as the euphoria of independence ended, the African masses realised how they traded a foreign occupier with a less urbane and more ruthless native occupier. But most of the continent’s people had to wait another generation to find the right atmosphere to stage another struggle of liberation; this time not against a white coloniser but a brutal local squatter cloaked in a hero’s uniform.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall, African dictators have lost their benefactors of the Cold War and the continent was destined for a new wind of change. Inspired by the people’s revolt against the communist tyrants in Eastern Europe and empowered by the freedom ushered in by globalisation and the Internet, the African people moved to reclaim their due rights for a decent living.
Like all dictators in history, it was only through force that African dictators who drew their staying power from the Cold War and ran their countries through repressive regimes based on a policy of divide and rule, favouritism and massive corruption could have been removed from power.
READ MORE in Khaleej Times
BY BASHIR GOTH (Inside Africa
FROM Darfur to Zimbabwe and from Somalia to the Great Lakes, there is a new wind of change blowing over Africa. Looking at the map of the continent, one may conclude that Africa is destined to bleed.
If not by foreign powers pillaging its wealth and robbing its future workforce, it is home grown tyrants that suck its blood and derive pleasure in teasing the hungry populace with the bare bones. If not by natural disasters, it is by inter-clan fratricides stoked by power thirsty sycophants and clans fighting over meagre resources.
Yes, it is a continent whose own leaders turn into its tormentors. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe is one of a long line of African dictators who refused to leave power until they saw their countries turn to ashes. Among them were Siyad Barre of Somalia, Mubuto Sese Seko of Zaire, Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, and Jean-Bédel Bokassa of the Central African, Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia and others.
These dictators have been removed in violent revolutions. Not revolutions based on noble ideologies and mesmerising slogans, but revolutions built on years of hunger, dashed dreams, prolonged frustrations and people deprived of every shred of a decent life.
As soon as the euphoria of independence ended, the African masses realised how they traded a foreign occupier with a less urbane and more ruthless native occupier. But most of the continent’s people had to wait another generation to find the right atmosphere to stage another struggle of liberation; this time not against a white coloniser but a brutal local squatter cloaked in a hero’s uniform.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall, African dictators have lost their benefactors of the Cold War and the continent was destined for a new wind of change. Inspired by the people’s revolt against the communist tyrants in Eastern Europe and empowered by the freedom ushered in by globalisation and the Internet, the African people moved to reclaim their due rights for a decent living.
Like all dictators in history, it was only through force that African dictators who drew their staying power from the Cold War and ran their countries through repressive regimes based on a policy of divide and rule, favouritism and massive corruption could have been removed from power.
READ MORE in Khaleej Times
An open letter to Somaliland
By Bashir Goth
An open letter to:
- President Dahir Rayale Kahin, President of Somaliland
- Chairman Ahmed Mohammed Silanyo, Chairman of Kulmiye party
- Chairman Faisal Ali Waraabe, Chairman of UCID party
- Speakers of the houses and Members of the two houses
- Somaliland Election Commission
- People of Somaliland
In Somaliland, peace is our home. Our people have realized this 18 years ago when they reclaimed their sovereignty in the conference of Burao. Emerging from a bloody and disastrous war, the wise men who met in Burao came to the conclusion that only by shaking hands with each other, by forgetting and forgiving each other in keeping with the resourceful norms and values of our culture that they could move forward to build a nation. And a nation they built that is the envy of many African states; a nation that has been deservedly known as the “Africa’s Best Kept Secret.”
Our people have put peace first, peace second and peace third. They realized that one can sleep on an empty stomach at a place he calls home but one cannot call home a place where he cannot sleep in peace. It was the people, not politicians who made this peace, and it is again the people and not politicians who will safeguard it.
So beware,
The people are watching you. They tolerate your squabbles, your petty barbs, your internal bickering and your exchange of insults. They know that you are still taking your first childhood steps in the process of democracy and they give you allowance to make mistakes.
So beware,
But you must not test the people’s patience. Try not to stretch your childish tantrums beyond the tolerable boundaries. The great offence that any politician can commit is to insult the intelligence of the people. You may insult each other, rip each other to pieces, and smear each other’s reputations if you wish, but don’t dare you involve our people in your personal mudslinging campaigns.
So beware,
READ MORE in Awdalnews Network
By Bashir Goth
An open letter to:
- President Dahir Rayale Kahin, President of Somaliland
- Chairman Ahmed Mohammed Silanyo, Chairman of Kulmiye party
- Chairman Faisal Ali Waraabe, Chairman of UCID party
- Speakers of the houses and Members of the two houses
- Somaliland Election Commission
- People of Somaliland
In Somaliland, peace is our home. Our people have realized this 18 years ago when they reclaimed their sovereignty in the conference of Burao. Emerging from a bloody and disastrous war, the wise men who met in Burao came to the conclusion that only by shaking hands with each other, by forgetting and forgiving each other in keeping with the resourceful norms and values of our culture that they could move forward to build a nation. And a nation they built that is the envy of many African states; a nation that has been deservedly known as the “Africa’s Best Kept Secret.”
Our people have put peace first, peace second and peace third. They realized that one can sleep on an empty stomach at a place he calls home but one cannot call home a place where he cannot sleep in peace. It was the people, not politicians who made this peace, and it is again the people and not politicians who will safeguard it.
So beware,
The people are watching you. They tolerate your squabbles, your petty barbs, your internal bickering and your exchange of insults. They know that you are still taking your first childhood steps in the process of democracy and they give you allowance to make mistakes.
So beware,
But you must not test the people’s patience. Try not to stretch your childish tantrums beyond the tolerable boundaries. The great offence that any politician can commit is to insult the intelligence of the people. You may insult each other, rip each other to pieces, and smear each other’s reputations if you wish, but don’t dare you involve our people in your personal mudslinging campaigns.
So beware,
READ MORE in Awdalnews Network
Thursday, March 20, 2008
A veiled Muslim view of art
by Bashir Goth
18 March 2008
The reappearance in the media of the Danish cartoons featuring the Prophet Muhammad, following the arrest of three Muslims accused of planning to kill one of the cartoonists, has re-opened the debate on art and freedom of expression between the West and the Muslim world.
It is unfortunate that violent demonstrations in different parts of the Muslim world in response to such types of artistic expression have often overshadowed the opinion of the silent majority of Muslims who do not adhere to such a limited perception of Islam.
Danish newspapers described their publication of the cartoons as a sign of protest against the attempt by Muslims to gag their freedom of expression through fear tactics. Many people in the Muslim world, however, viewed the cartoons as an affront to their religious beliefs and expressed their anger through emotional outbursts and mob demonstrations.
READ MORE in Commongroundnews
by Bashir Goth
18 March 2008
The reappearance in the media of the Danish cartoons featuring the Prophet Muhammad, following the arrest of three Muslims accused of planning to kill one of the cartoonists, has re-opened the debate on art and freedom of expression between the West and the Muslim world.
It is unfortunate that violent demonstrations in different parts of the Muslim world in response to such types of artistic expression have often overshadowed the opinion of the silent majority of Muslims who do not adhere to such a limited perception of Islam.
Danish newspapers described their publication of the cartoons as a sign of protest against the attempt by Muslims to gag their freedom of expression through fear tactics. Many people in the Muslim world, however, viewed the cartoons as an affront to their religious beliefs and expressed their anger through emotional outbursts and mob demonstrations.
READ MORE in Commongroundnews
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
U.S. All Talk and No Action on Human Rights
By Bashir Goth
The Current Discussion: The U.S. State Dept. says China's no longer one of the world's worst human rights offenders. Are they right?
Does it matter, one might ask, whether the U.S spills tons of ink accusing China of all kinds of human rights violations or absolves China of any wrongdoing at all? For many years, the U.S. State Dept. was criticizing many countries, including China, for their human rights records. Most of these countries, however, knew that the U.S. human rights reports were just like the boy who cried wolf. Leveling criticism without accompanying it with punitive action makes such reports meaningless.
The U.S. had listed China as one of the worst human rights offenders due to China’s oppression of the Tibetans and Uyghurs, its shackling of the will of the Taiwanese for 60 years, its torture of political dissidents and its degradation of human dignity in child labor and sweatshops. Despite all that, America still continued all these years to renew China’s most-favored-nation trading status. Now China has launched its worst repression campaign against the Tibetan people just after America dropped it from the human rights offenders list. That appears to be a divine ritribution for the U.S. issuing such an unwarranted clean bill.
The U.S. State Dept. also repeatedly criticizes many of its Middle Eastern friends for their dismal human rights records. But some of these countries remain as major recipients of U.S. aid.
READ MORE in Newsweek/WashingtonPost-Postglobal.
By Bashir Goth
The Current Discussion: The U.S. State Dept. says China's no longer one of the world's worst human rights offenders. Are they right?
Does it matter, one might ask, whether the U.S spills tons of ink accusing China of all kinds of human rights violations or absolves China of any wrongdoing at all? For many years, the U.S. State Dept. was criticizing many countries, including China, for their human rights records. Most of these countries, however, knew that the U.S. human rights reports were just like the boy who cried wolf. Leveling criticism without accompanying it with punitive action makes such reports meaningless.
The U.S. had listed China as one of the worst human rights offenders due to China’s oppression of the Tibetans and Uyghurs, its shackling of the will of the Taiwanese for 60 years, its torture of political dissidents and its degradation of human dignity in child labor and sweatshops. Despite all that, America still continued all these years to renew China’s most-favored-nation trading status. Now China has launched its worst repression campaign against the Tibetan people just after America dropped it from the human rights offenders list. That appears to be a divine ritribution for the U.S. issuing such an unwarranted clean bill.
The U.S. State Dept. also repeatedly criticizes many of its Middle Eastern friends for their dismal human rights records. But some of these countries remain as major recipients of U.S. aid.
READ MORE in Newsweek/WashingtonPost-Postglobal.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Wake up, Mr. President. Wake up!
By Bashir Goth
Wake up, Mr. President. Wake up! Don’t be deceived by your cozy palace, the luxurious sofas and the glorification by your lackeys. No Mr. President, if your cronies tell you everything is fine and people are enjoying their life, it is not true. Sometimes, Mr. President you need to stretch your legs and go out walking in the countryside. It is not only good for your health, but it is good for your governance. Because, Mr. President, you will find the truth, the naked truth. The truth that thousands of nomadic people, living from Jidhi to Cali Xaydh, have lost their entire herds in devastating rains and cold waves of weather that hit the area. Tens of people have lost their sight, while many others are suffering from hypothermia. These people, Mr. President, are still in the mercy of nature. Just like sitting ducks, they are waiting nature to decide their fate. They have no clothes, no shelter, nowhere to seek refugee. Their children, suckling mothers and elderly people have nothing to eat and nothing to protect them from the biting cold and torrential rains.
READ MORE In Awdalnews
By Bashir Goth
Wake up, Mr. President. Wake up! Don’t be deceived by your cozy palace, the luxurious sofas and the glorification by your lackeys. No Mr. President, if your cronies tell you everything is fine and people are enjoying their life, it is not true. Sometimes, Mr. President you need to stretch your legs and go out walking in the countryside. It is not only good for your health, but it is good for your governance. Because, Mr. President, you will find the truth, the naked truth. The truth that thousands of nomadic people, living from Jidhi to Cali Xaydh, have lost their entire herds in devastating rains and cold waves of weather that hit the area. Tens of people have lost their sight, while many others are suffering from hypothermia. These people, Mr. President, are still in the mercy of nature. Just like sitting ducks, they are waiting nature to decide their fate. They have no clothes, no shelter, nowhere to seek refugee. Their children, suckling mothers and elderly people have nothing to eat and nothing to protect them from the biting cold and torrential rains.
READ MORE In Awdalnews
Qudbigii Suugaanta: A tribute to Hassan Sheikh Mumin by Bashir Goth
Language fails me in trying to write a tribute to an eminent and enigmatic playwright like Hassan Sheikh Mumin. A man of unfathomable and versatile philosophy, a superbly creative and lucid style, a prophetic vision and cultural connoisseur who dived to the deepest depths of the language and adorned words with different hues and layers of meaning.
But instead of trying to capture the essence of his works and his personality in prose, a risk that I will engage in sometime in the future, I found it easier now to resort to Somali poetry, which comes as natural as drinking milk as Hassan has brilliantly expressed in his “…Afkii Qalaad ha moodin, Carrabku qaldi maayee, sidii caanaha qudhqudhiyaay.”
It is therefore, by turning to the beauty of the Somali language, a language that Hassan has fashioned and enriched through his brilliant dramas, mesmerizing melodies and masterly knowledge that I will try to describe the literary void that his departure has created.
***
Tixdan oo aan ka tiriyey geeridii Abwaan Xasan Sheekh Muumin waxay taataabanaysaa kaalintii suugaaneed ee uu abwaanku kaga jiray halabuurka Soomaaliyeed. Xasan wuxu ahaa tiirarka ugu waaweyn ee riwaayadyahanka Soomaaliyeed, isaga oo si gaara ugu tilmaanaa doorka uu ka qaato wacyigelinta, gaar ahaan dhiirri gelinta tacliinta iyo naqdiga aafooyinka bulshada. Wuxu ahaa nin afka ku xarragooda oo sarbeebtiisu xambaarsan tahay falsafad gundheer oo uu si farshaxanimo leh uu uga soo mullaaxdo suugaanta hiddaha iyo dhaqanka. Xasan wuxu ku geeriyooday magaalada Oslo, Norway, 16 January 2008, waxana lagu aasay magaalada Boorama, Somaliland, 26 January 2008.
Qudbigii suugaanta
Duniyeey qadaraleey
Qabar xumi ma oolee
Maantana qab baa dhacay
Qaylaa habeen timid
Ababshihii qoraalkiyo
Qodinkii aqoontiyo
Qudbigii suugaantiyo
Gorod baa la qaadoo
Qaddarkii haleeloo
Qalinkiisi joogsaday
Qaxootiga madaw iyo
Qorfuhuu ku lee’daa
Qalbigay maroorshoo
Hiygaan ka qawdhamay
***
Allaylehe qod baa dhacay
Qaran baa habeensaday
Afka qiimihiisiyo
Suugaantu qurux iyo
Waxay qara lahayd iyo
Qudbigeedii baa tegey
Qalinkiyo tawaadii
Quudinaayey baa lumay
***
Af Soomali qurux badan
Oo qaayo loo dhilay
Far xariira lagu qoray
Qudbigii hadduu tegay
Ayaa soo qormaynoo
Sidii qayli darartiyo
Qaabil caanaheedii
Waayeel qulbaayiyo
Qudhqudhsiin dhallaankii
***
Murtideena qaniga ah
Sheekooyin qaydhiin
Sida aale qadaw iyo
Qooqaani roobi iyo
Qodaalkii dhulkeenii
Ku quwaystay oo baxay
Yaa qaniini oo jabin
Oo quud macaan iyo
Qumbo malab ka fuuqsani
***
Quruumaha wixii dhacay
Ilaa qaafo soo jiray
Taariikhda qaabka ah
Qasnadeeda yaa furi
Oo luul ka soo qubi
Ayaa dheeman qaaliyaa
Kolba meel ka soo qodi
Kuul qubatay caynkeed
Qawyada habeenkii
Kolba qaar ka soo heli
***
Ayaa qaaxo iyo cudur
Huuryo iyo qaniiniyo
Xumihii qarsoonee
Nin dantii quminayaa
Ku qadhaabanaayiyo
Wixii qooma aadmiga
Ee qabkiisa dhaawaca
Ayaa qeexi oo dhili
Oo sarbeeb ku kala qali
***
Yaa jacayl ku qaydaran
Buuraha qarkoodiyo
Qod laalay ku yaaliyo
Hulo qaabo-qawsayn
Dabayluhu qulqulayaan
Tixa loo qiyaasiyo
Qormo macallin weyn iyo
Liishaan ku soo qaban
Sida kuul qardhaasa leh
Qalanjooyin loo bogay
Qoortooda soo sudhi
Qalbigooga soo luli
***
Inta uu Qurbaankiyo
Quraan ruuggu ducadiyo
Qaadkiyo lubaankiyo
Meerinaayo quulada
***
Inaguna qushuuc iyo
Hawraar u qalantiyo
Gaby qiimo weyn iyo
Aan qasiido goynoo
Dikri aan u qaadnee
***
Qummanow saciidiyo
Xaddiyo qalweeyoo
Beylow qaraamida
Soo qabo halkeedoo
***
Qalabkuu jecelaa iyo
Kamankii ha quustoo
Muusigu ha qululoo
Qaaliyada dhulkeeniyoo
Oslo qoorigeediyo
Qoomka soo koraayiyo
Qaaradaha ha gaadhoo
***
Codkii qaaligiiyuu
Qururxdiisa joojuu
Qajeel soo gardaadshiyo
Hibo ha ugu qaadee
***
Mawliidow qormeeyoo
Xadhig bilan ka qaadoo
***
Qabnadii warkiisiyo
Sheekadiisa qubantii
Xertii gaacidaydaay
Kaalayoo ila qalindara.
- By Bashir Goth, 23 Jan. 2008.
- Email: bsogoth@yahoo.com
-----------------------------
Fiiro Gaara: Halabuuurka iyo fanaaniinta aan magacdooda tixda ku xusay waa dad saaxiibaday ah oo aan murti-wadaag hore lahayn iyo qaar jacaylka suugaanta iyo fanku na kulmiyey. Waxaanay kala yihiin:
But instead of trying to capture the essence of his works and his personality in prose, a risk that I will engage in sometime in the future, I found it easier now to resort to Somali poetry, which comes as natural as drinking milk as Hassan has brilliantly expressed in his “…Afkii Qalaad ha moodin, Carrabku qaldi maayee, sidii caanaha qudhqudhiyaay.”
It is therefore, by turning to the beauty of the Somali language, a language that Hassan has fashioned and enriched through his brilliant dramas, mesmerizing melodies and masterly knowledge that I will try to describe the literary void that his departure has created.
***
Tixdan oo aan ka tiriyey geeridii Abwaan Xasan Sheekh Muumin waxay taataabanaysaa kaalintii suugaaneed ee uu abwaanku kaga jiray halabuurka Soomaaliyeed. Xasan wuxu ahaa tiirarka ugu waaweyn ee riwaayadyahanka Soomaaliyeed, isaga oo si gaara ugu tilmaanaa doorka uu ka qaato wacyigelinta, gaar ahaan dhiirri gelinta tacliinta iyo naqdiga aafooyinka bulshada. Wuxu ahaa nin afka ku xarragooda oo sarbeebtiisu xambaarsan tahay falsafad gundheer oo uu si farshaxanimo leh uu uga soo mullaaxdo suugaanta hiddaha iyo dhaqanka. Xasan wuxu ku geeriyooday magaalada Oslo, Norway, 16 January 2008, waxana lagu aasay magaalada Boorama, Somaliland, 26 January 2008.
Qudbigii suugaanta
Duniyeey qadaraleey
Qabar xumi ma oolee
Maantana qab baa dhacay
Qaylaa habeen timid
Ababshihii qoraalkiyo
Qodinkii aqoontiyo
Qudbigii suugaantiyo
Gorod baa la qaadoo
Qaddarkii haleeloo
Qalinkiisi joogsaday
***
Qorraxduu
ahaa iyo Qaxootiga madaw iyo
Qorfuhuu ku lee’daa
Qalbigay maroorshoo
Hiygaan ka qawdhamay
***
Allaylehe qod baa dhacay
Qaran baa habeensaday
Afka qiimihiisiyo
Suugaantu qurux iyo
Waxay qara lahayd iyo
Qudbigeedii baa tegey
Qalinkiyo tawaadii
Quudinaayey baa lumay
***
Af Soomali qurux badan
Oo qaayo loo dhilay
Far xariira lagu qoray
Qudbigii hadduu tegay
Ayaa soo qormaynoo
Sidii qayli darartiyo
Qaabil caanaheedii
Waayeel qulbaayiyo
Qudhqudhsiin dhallaankii
***
Murtideena qaniga ah
Sheekooyin qaydhiin
Sida aale qadaw iyo
Qooqaani roobi iyo
Qodaalkii dhulkeenii
Ku quwaystay oo baxay
Yaa qaniini oo jabin
Oo quud macaan iyo
Qumbo malab ka fuuqsani
***
Quruumaha wixii dhacay
Ilaa qaafo soo jiray
Taariikhda qaabka ah
Qasnadeeda yaa furi
Oo luul ka soo qubi
Ayaa dheeman qaaliyaa
Kolba meel ka soo qodi
Kuul qubatay caynkeed
Qawyada habeenkii
Kolba qaar ka soo heli
***
Ayaa qaaxo iyo cudur
Huuryo iyo qaniiniyo
Xumihii qarsoonee
Nin dantii quminayaa
Ku qadhaabanaayiyo
Wixii qooma aadmiga
Ee qabkiisa dhaawaca
Ayaa qeexi oo dhili
Oo sarbeeb ku kala qali
***
Yaa jacayl ku qaydaran
Buuraha qarkoodiyo
Qod laalay ku yaaliyo
Hulo qaabo-qawsayn
Dabayluhu qulqulayaan
Tixa loo qiyaasiyo
Qormo macallin weyn iyo
Liishaan ku soo qaban
Sida kuul qardhaasa leh
Qalanjooyin loo bogay
Qoortooda soo sudhi
Qalbigooga soo luli
***
Inta uu Qurbaankiyo
Quraan ruuggu ducadiyo
Qaadkiyo lubaankiyo
Meerinaayo quulada
***
Inaguna qushuuc iyo
Hawraar u qalantiyo
Gaby qiimo weyn iyo
Aan qasiido goynoo
Dikri aan u qaadnee
***
Qummanow saciidiyo
Xaddiyo qalweeyoo
Beylow qaraamida
Soo qabo halkeedoo
***
Qalabkuu jecelaa iyo
Kamankii ha quustoo
Muusigu ha qululoo
Qaaliyada dhulkeeniyoo
Oslo qoorigeediyo
Qoomka soo koraayiyo
Qaaradaha ha gaadhoo
***
Codkii qaaligiiyuu
Qururxdiisa joojuu
Qajeel soo gardaadshiyo
Hibo ha ugu qaadee
***
Mawliidow qormeeyoo
Xadhig bilan ka qaadoo
***
Qabnadii warkiisiyo
Sheekadiisa qubantii
Xertii gaacidaydaay
Kaalayoo ila qalindara.
- By Bashir Goth, 23 Jan. 2008.
- Email: bsogoth@yahoo.com
-----------------------------
Fiiro Gaara: Halabuuurka iyo fanaaniinta aan magacdooda tixda ku xusay waa dad saaxiibaday ah oo aan murti-wadaag hore lahayn iyo qaar jacaylka suugaanta iyo fanku na kulmiyey. Waxaanay kala yihiin:
1. Siciid Cabdillaahi Iimaan: Waa Abwaan ku nool dalka Imaaraadka Carabta horena
aan uga wada qayb galay silsiladdii Xaamiim.
2. Daahir Maxamuud Xaddi: waa Abwaan ku nool Somaliland ahna Guddoomiyaha
Waxbarashada Gobolka Awdal, horena aan uga wada qayb galay silsiladdii Xaamiim.
3. Dr. Cabdiraxmaan Bayle: waa nin aan jeclayn in lagu tilmaamo Abwaan laakiin
suugaanta curiya, ururiya oo jecel, waana dhaqaale yahan ka shaqeeya Bangiga
Afrika, dhawaana wuxu tiriyey heesta Qaylo Dhaan ee uu u tiriyey tiiraanyada
Calanka Soomaaliyeed haysata.
4. Axmed Xasan Caynaan (Mawliid):
waa fanaan ku xeel dheer tumista kamanka, waana ninka uu Xudaydi yidhi waxan ku
wareejay dhaxalkii kamanka, wuxuna ku nool yahay Imaaraadka Carabta.
5. Hibo Maxamed Hoddoon (Hibo
Nuura): waa fanaanada caanka ee ku soo baxday riwaayaddii Shabeel Naagood ee
Xasan Sheekh Muumin sameeyey. Hibo iyada ayaa qaaday heesaha ugu badan ee Xasan
tiriyey, waxaanay ku soo kortay guriga Abwaanka yaraanteedii.
© 2008 Awdalnews Network
Book review: Whose World Is It Anyway? The Fallacy of Islamophobia
Author: Shamis Hussein
Reviewed by: Bashir GothGiven the deluge of writings prompted by the war on terrorism or the Clash of Civilizations as some may like to believe, I could have easily dismissed the above title as another cliché of one of the countless hordes of Muslim apologetics and Al-Qaeda sympathizers who see light in every crime committed by Muslim extremists and evil intention in every action that comes from the West.
But one thing that enticed me to flip through the pages of the book before I even committed myself to seriously reading it let alone reviewing it was the author’s name: Shamis Hussein, a Somali woman’s name. It is therefore the idea of a Somali woman taking on the neo-conservative heavyweight thinkers and modern scholarly connoisseurs such as Bernard Lewis, Samuel Huntington, Francis Fukuyama and Charles Krauthammer to mention only a few that raised my curiosity.
Another catching point was the author’s claim of objectivity in an innovative way by describing herself as being a daughter of a judge imbued with an egalitarian background and a strong sense of law and justice. Equally appealing also was the way she set the tone for her ensuing argument with a classical Somali poem that vividly describes the disastrous results of arrogance, which in the author’s eyes is symbolized by Bush-Blair alliance against the Muslim world.
READ MORE in Awdalnews, Radiohadhwanaag
Author: Shamis Hussein
Reviewed by: Bashir GothGiven the deluge of writings prompted by the war on terrorism or the Clash of Civilizations as some may like to believe, I could have easily dismissed the above title as another cliché of one of the countless hordes of Muslim apologetics and Al-Qaeda sympathizers who see light in every crime committed by Muslim extremists and evil intention in every action that comes from the West.
But one thing that enticed me to flip through the pages of the book before I even committed myself to seriously reading it let alone reviewing it was the author’s name: Shamis Hussein, a Somali woman’s name. It is therefore the idea of a Somali woman taking on the neo-conservative heavyweight thinkers and modern scholarly connoisseurs such as Bernard Lewis, Samuel Huntington, Francis Fukuyama and Charles Krauthammer to mention only a few that raised my curiosity.
Another catching point was the author’s claim of objectivity in an innovative way by describing herself as being a daughter of a judge imbued with an egalitarian background and a strong sense of law and justice. Equally appealing also was the way she set the tone for her ensuing argument with a classical Somali poem that vividly describes the disastrous results of arrogance, which in the author’s eyes is symbolized by Bush-Blair alliance against the Muslim world.
READ MORE in Awdalnews, Radiohadhwanaag
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Not Just Pakistan's Problem
By Bashir Goth
The Question: After Benazir Bhutto's assassination on Thursday, what's next for Pakistan?Benazir Bhutto was Pakistan’s strongest voice against terrorism and military dictatorship in Pakistan. After her assassination, the country’s fate has been thrown into the unknown.
A look at Benazir’s latest statements gave us a glimpse of just how much of a threat she was to the extremists. She didn’t mince words in stating loudly and clearly her intention of cleansing Pakistan of Islamic extremists and terrorists.
Ann Curry of The Today Show wondered aloud why Bhutto was risking her life by returning to Pakistan. She told the former Prime Minister, “You're a mother of three. You could be living in London fine. You don't have to do this.”
Benazir replied, “Look into the eyes of the people who came to receive me at the airport, the joy, the happiness, the singing, the dancing, before the terrorists struck. They were celebrating my return because they want hope. If I don't come back, the 160 million people of Pakistan won't have hope of a future free from terrorism, a future in which there will be democracy.”
She didn’t hide behind euphemism in her objection to Pakistan falling into the hands of Islamists:
“The militants want an Islamist takeover of Pakistan,” she said in the same interview. “They have to be stopped. I have a choice to keep silent and to allow the extremists to do what they're doing, or have a choice to stand up and say, ‘This is wrong. And I'm going to try to save my country.’ And I have taken the second choice.”
READ MORE in Washington Post
By Bashir Goth
The Question: After Benazir Bhutto's assassination on Thursday, what's next for Pakistan?Benazir Bhutto was Pakistan’s strongest voice against terrorism and military dictatorship in Pakistan. After her assassination, the country’s fate has been thrown into the unknown.
A look at Benazir’s latest statements gave us a glimpse of just how much of a threat she was to the extremists. She didn’t mince words in stating loudly and clearly her intention of cleansing Pakistan of Islamic extremists and terrorists.
Ann Curry of The Today Show wondered aloud why Bhutto was risking her life by returning to Pakistan. She told the former Prime Minister, “You're a mother of three. You could be living in London fine. You don't have to do this.”
Benazir replied, “Look into the eyes of the people who came to receive me at the airport, the joy, the happiness, the singing, the dancing, before the terrorists struck. They were celebrating my return because they want hope. If I don't come back, the 160 million people of Pakistan won't have hope of a future free from terrorism, a future in which there will be democracy.”
She didn’t hide behind euphemism in her objection to Pakistan falling into the hands of Islamists:
“The militants want an Islamist takeover of Pakistan,” she said in the same interview. “They have to be stopped. I have a choice to keep silent and to allow the extremists to do what they're doing, or have a choice to stand up and say, ‘This is wrong. And I'm going to try to save my country.’ And I have taken the second choice.”
READ MORE in Washington Post
Occu-beration
By Bashir Goth
The Current Discussion: Australians are voting online for a "Word of the Year" from a list of new words to be included in the dictionary: among the frontrunners, "Chindia", "globesity," and "password fatigue." Create your favorite new word of the year that tells us something about trends in your country.
Somalilandracy: A self-declared independent country that establishes peace and security within its borders without much international help; abides by all rules of democracy and international law but not recognized by the international community. The name is derived from the case of , known by academics as Africa’s best kept secret.
Occuberation: when foreign forces occupy a country under the pretext of liberating it from the ruling regime with the consent or silence of the international community while the natives of the country see themselves as an occupied nation. Examples are Iraq and Somalia.
Hillaries (Hillary’s tears): when a politician, or anyone else for that matte,r breaks into tears to attract sympathy from voters or audience.
Noneoliday: when a country, usually a developing one, declares a holiday for security reasons due to the arrival of important foreign leaders. This happened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the OPEC Summit in November and it again happened in Dubai during the visit of President Bush on January 14, 2008.
Kenyan way: when a sitting president rigs and officiates his victory in a hastily arranged ceremony to deny the other party any room to maneuver.
Nullmuslim (nullmuslims) Regular Muslims who have been disfranchised by the Islamist extremists who commit heinous crimes in the name of their religion, crimes that Nullmuslims are unable to do anything about. Nullmuslims have been declared null and void by the extremists who have hijacked their religion and made them voiceless.
Climatedoomer (climatedoomers): Those who see global warming as a human-caused doomsday that will bring life on earth to an end.
READ MORE in Washington Post
By Bashir Goth
The Current Discussion: Australians are voting online for a "Word of the Year" from a list of new words to be included in the dictionary: among the frontrunners, "Chindia", "globesity," and "password fatigue." Create your favorite new word of the year that tells us something about trends in your country.
Somalilandracy: A self-declared independent country that establishes peace and security within its borders without much international help; abides by all rules of democracy and international law but not recognized by the international community. The name is derived from the case of , known by academics as Africa’s best kept secret.
Occuberation: when foreign forces occupy a country under the pretext of liberating it from the ruling regime with the consent or silence of the international community while the natives of the country see themselves as an occupied nation. Examples are Iraq and Somalia.
Hillaries (Hillary’s tears): when a politician, or anyone else for that matte,r breaks into tears to attract sympathy from voters or audience.
Noneoliday: when a country, usually a developing one, declares a holiday for security reasons due to the arrival of important foreign leaders. This happened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the OPEC Summit in November and it again happened in Dubai during the visit of President Bush on January 14, 2008.
Kenyan way: when a sitting president rigs and officiates his victory in a hastily arranged ceremony to deny the other party any room to maneuver.
Nullmuslim (nullmuslims) Regular Muslims who have been disfranchised by the Islamist extremists who commit heinous crimes in the name of their religion, crimes that Nullmuslims are unable to do anything about. Nullmuslims have been declared null and void by the extremists who have hijacked their religion and made them voiceless.
Climatedoomer (climatedoomers): Those who see global warming as a human-caused doomsday that will bring life on earth to an end.
READ MORE in Washington Post
Dear Candidates: Lead, Don't Loot
By Bashir Goth
The Question: The U.S. starts to choose a president this week. If you could send the candidates one message, what would it be?
My message would be simple and clear: Use the great American values of liberty, equality, and human dignity for all that are enshrined in the American Constitution. This is what attracts the world to America. It is the illusion of realizing this dream that appeals to people all over the world and makes America the land of opportunity. America defeated the Communist world not by force but by propagating these ideals through its powerful media, through its corporate culture and its liberal trade.
In Africa, it was the Peace Corps teachers that left the greatest impression on the minds of the generation that grow up in the 1960s and 70s. They not only taught the youth, but they intermingled with them, they learned their culture, some of them even married local people and a number of them became scholars in the cultural areas in which they worked.
America is at its best when it crosses oceans through its corporate power and not through its military hardware; when it sends its fast food chains, its Starbucks, its Hollywood movies and its freedom culture, and not when it sends its cruise missiles, its bombers and its marine fleets. I would like to tell the coming president, take heed of history; all known powers of the world, from the ancient civilizations to 20th century dictatorships, have started to crumple when they relied on military muscle. Force is the choice of the desperate.
Let the civilized, cultured and sophisticated and humane face of America obliterate the brutal, savage and inhumane images that the world has seen in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. There is no doubt that the whole world will follow America if America chooses to be a leader and not a looter.
READ MORE in Washington Post
By Bashir Goth
The Question: The U.S. starts to choose a president this week. If you could send the candidates one message, what would it be?
My message would be simple and clear: Use the great American values of liberty, equality, and human dignity for all that are enshrined in the American Constitution. This is what attracts the world to America. It is the illusion of realizing this dream that appeals to people all over the world and makes America the land of opportunity. America defeated the Communist world not by force but by propagating these ideals through its powerful media, through its corporate culture and its liberal trade.
In Africa, it was the Peace Corps teachers that left the greatest impression on the minds of the generation that grow up in the 1960s and 70s. They not only taught the youth, but they intermingled with them, they learned their culture, some of them even married local people and a number of them became scholars in the cultural areas in which they worked.
America is at its best when it crosses oceans through its corporate power and not through its military hardware; when it sends its fast food chains, its Starbucks, its Hollywood movies and its freedom culture, and not when it sends its cruise missiles, its bombers and its marine fleets. I would like to tell the coming president, take heed of history; all known powers of the world, from the ancient civilizations to 20th century dictatorships, have started to crumple when they relied on military muscle. Force is the choice of the desperate.
Let the civilized, cultured and sophisticated and humane face of America obliterate the brutal, savage and inhumane images that the world has seen in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. There is no doubt that the whole world will follow America if America chooses to be a leader and not a looter.
READ MORE in Washington Post
Dear Candidates: Lead, Don't Loot
By Bashir Goth
The Question: The U.S. starts to choose a president this week. If you could send the candidates one message, what would it be?
My message would be simple and clear: Use the great American values of liberty, equality, and human dignity for all that are enshrined in the American Constitution. This is what attracts the world to America. It is the illusion of realizing this dream that appeals to people all over the world and makes America the land of opportunity. America defeated the Communist world not by force but by propagating these ideals through its powerful media, through its corporate culture and its liberal trade.
In Africa, it was the Peace Corps teachers that left the greatest impression on the minds of the generation that grow up in the 1960s and 70s. They not only taught the youth, but they intermingled with them, they learned their culture, some of them even married local people and a number of them became scholars in the cultural areas in which they worked.
America is at its best when it crosses oceans through its corporate power and not through its military hardware; when it sends its fast food chains, its Starbucks, its Hollywood movies and its freedom culture, and not when it sends its cruise missiles, its bombers and its marine fleets. I would like to tell the coming president, take heed of history; all known powers of the world, from the ancient civilizations to 20th century dictatorships, have started to crumple when they relied on military muscle. Force is the choice of the desperate.
Let the civilized, cultured and sophisticated and humane face of America obliterate the brutal, savage and inhumane images that the world has seen in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. There is no doubt that the whole world will follow America if America chooses to be a leader and not a looter.
READ MORE Washington Post
By Bashir Goth
The Question: The U.S. starts to choose a president this week. If you could send the candidates one message, what would it be?
My message would be simple and clear: Use the great American values of liberty, equality, and human dignity for all that are enshrined in the American Constitution. This is what attracts the world to America. It is the illusion of realizing this dream that appeals to people all over the world and makes America the land of opportunity. America defeated the Communist world not by force but by propagating these ideals through its powerful media, through its corporate culture and its liberal trade.
In Africa, it was the Peace Corps teachers that left the greatest impression on the minds of the generation that grow up in the 1960s and 70s. They not only taught the youth, but they intermingled with them, they learned their culture, some of them even married local people and a number of them became scholars in the cultural areas in which they worked.
America is at its best when it crosses oceans through its corporate power and not through its military hardware; when it sends its fast food chains, its Starbucks, its Hollywood movies and its freedom culture, and not when it sends its cruise missiles, its bombers and its marine fleets. I would like to tell the coming president, take heed of history; all known powers of the world, from the ancient civilizations to 20th century dictatorships, have started to crumple when they relied on military muscle. Force is the choice of the desperate.
Let the civilized, cultured and sophisticated and humane face of America obliterate the brutal, savage and inhumane images that the world has seen in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. There is no doubt that the whole world will follow America if America chooses to be a leader and not a looter.
READ MORE Washington Post
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