Islamism Rode Democracy's Wave
By Bashir Goth
Somalia/UAE - The Muslim world heeded Washington's call for democratic change, and ushered Islamists in. This may be leaving a bitter taste in Bush's mouth.
It all started with Egypt where the Muslim Brotherhood won a record number of seats in the Egyptian parliament, followed by the landslide victory of Hamas in the first Palestinian free and fair elections.
The surprise rise of the Iranian firebrand president Ahmedinajad also came as another blow to any of Washington's hopes of having a reasonable counterpart to talk to in Tehran. With Islamic parties taking control of the democratically elected parliaments of America's traditional friends in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, the Bush administration must have experienced change in Arabia's shifting sands long before the democrats won the latest American elections. MORE Washington Post
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
The Khat and the Caliphate
By Bashir Goth
Somaliland Times
"A word of truth used with an ill intention" is a maxim attributed to Imam Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam. This was the first thing that came to mind when I read about the Mogadishu Islamists' decision to ban Khat, the narcotic stimulant, that millions of Somalis use as a pastime and for generating income to feed millions of children in a country where more than 43 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.
Yes, Khat is a curse on the economy, health and family fabric of the Somali people. It props the economies of Somalia's neighboring countries; with Kenyaexporting $250 millions worth of Khat to Somalia annually and Ethiopia earning $60 million a year from Somaliland alone. Most of this money is the remittances sent by overseas Somalis to feed their loved ones back home. In addition to its financial burden, the Khat causes numerous health problems; causes family break ups, wastes people's time and energy and increases the ranks of the country's unemployed as addiction forces millions of productive countryside people to quit their farms and livestock to khat markets, towns and villages. MORE, Qarannews,Wardheernews,Radiosanaag,
By Bashir Goth
Somaliland Times
"A word of truth used with an ill intention" is a maxim attributed to Imam Ali, the fourth Caliph of Islam. This was the first thing that came to mind when I read about the Mogadishu Islamists' decision to ban Khat, the narcotic stimulant, that millions of Somalis use as a pastime and for generating income to feed millions of children in a country where more than 43 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.
Yes, Khat is a curse on the economy, health and family fabric of the Somali people. It props the economies of Somalia's neighboring countries; with Kenyaexporting $250 millions worth of Khat to Somalia annually and Ethiopia earning $60 million a year from Somaliland alone. Most of this money is the remittances sent by overseas Somalis to feed their loved ones back home. In addition to its financial burden, the Khat causes numerous health problems; causes family break ups, wastes people's time and energy and increases the ranks of the country's unemployed as addiction forces millions of productive countryside people to quit their farms and livestock to khat markets, towns and villages. MORE, Qarannews,Wardheernews,Radiosanaag,
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Adopt villages, not pet children
By Bashir Goth
Just as the Europeans justified the scramble for Africa in the19th century and the slave trade before it that it was the white man’s burden to civilise the “Half-devil and half-child,” the celebrities of today justify their child poaching for being in the name of philanthropy and altruism, saving poor children from the heart of darkness and bringing them to the world of light. Anyone who thinks my argument to be unfair or hostile, may convince me how could a person go to an orphanage in a foreign poor country, ask the children to be paraded for them, pick up “a lucky” one, pay cash and get away with their prey.
Adoption by itself is a genuine human need and a noble action that gives a child to a childless person and a good home, comfort and a future to an orphan or poverty stricken child. Needy children however are everywhere; they are in America as they are in Africa and Asia. But why do the celebrities not adopt American children instead of going overseas to adopt African or Asian children. The answer is that there are no children for sale in America. Anyone who wants to adopt goes through years of gruelling procedure to qualify for child adoption. Over there, children are human beings and cannot be bought as toys, playmates or pets for celebrities’ children. But in Africa people are still sold in exchange for beads, tobacco and petty cash. And as a Malawian journalist said: “We are showing to the world that our poverty has extended to the brain.” Read more on Khaleej Times
By Bashir Goth
Just as the Europeans justified the scramble for Africa in the19th century and the slave trade before it that it was the white man’s burden to civilise the “Half-devil and half-child,” the celebrities of today justify their child poaching for being in the name of philanthropy and altruism, saving poor children from the heart of darkness and bringing them to the world of light. Anyone who thinks my argument to be unfair or hostile, may convince me how could a person go to an orphanage in a foreign poor country, ask the children to be paraded for them, pick up “a lucky” one, pay cash and get away with their prey.
Adoption by itself is a genuine human need and a noble action that gives a child to a childless person and a good home, comfort and a future to an orphan or poverty stricken child. Needy children however are everywhere; they are in America as they are in Africa and Asia. But why do the celebrities not adopt American children instead of going overseas to adopt African or Asian children. The answer is that there are no children for sale in America. Anyone who wants to adopt goes through years of gruelling procedure to qualify for child adoption. Over there, children are human beings and cannot be bought as toys, playmates or pets for celebrities’ children. But in Africa people are still sold in exchange for beads, tobacco and petty cash. And as a Malawian journalist said: “We are showing to the world that our poverty has extended to the brain.” Read more on Khaleej Times
Adopt villages, not pet children
By Bashir Goth
Just as the Europeans justified the scramble for Africa in the19th century and the slave trade before it that it was the white man’s burden to civilise the “Half-devil and half-child,” the celebrities of today justify their child poaching for being in the name of philanthropy and altruism, saving poor children from the heart of darkness and bringing them to the world of light. Anyone who thinks my argument to be unfair or hostile, may convince me how could a person go to an orphanage in a foreign poor country, ask the children to be paraded for them, pick up “a lucky” one, pay cash and get away with their prey.
Adoption by itself is a genuine human need and a noble action that gives a child to a childless person and a good home, comfort and a future to an orphan or poverty stricken child. Needy children however are everywhere; they are in America as they are in Africa and Asia. But why do the celebrities not adopt American children instead of going overseas to adopt African or Asian children. The answer is that there are no children for sale in America. Anyone who wants to adopt goes through years of gruelling procedure to qualify for child adoption. Over there, children are human beings and cannot be bought as toys, playmates or pets for celebrities’ children. But in Africa people are still sold in exchange for beads, tobacco and petty cash. And as a Malawian journalist said: “We are showing to the world that our poverty has extended to the brain.” Read more on Khaleej Times
By Bashir Goth
Just as the Europeans justified the scramble for Africa in the19th century and the slave trade before it that it was the white man’s burden to civilise the “Half-devil and half-child,” the celebrities of today justify their child poaching for being in the name of philanthropy and altruism, saving poor children from the heart of darkness and bringing them to the world of light. Anyone who thinks my argument to be unfair or hostile, may convince me how could a person go to an orphanage in a foreign poor country, ask the children to be paraded for them, pick up “a lucky” one, pay cash and get away with their prey.
Adoption by itself is a genuine human need and a noble action that gives a child to a childless person and a good home, comfort and a future to an orphan or poverty stricken child. Needy children however are everywhere; they are in America as they are in Africa and Asia. But why do the celebrities not adopt American children instead of going overseas to adopt African or Asian children. The answer is that there are no children for sale in America. Anyone who wants to adopt goes through years of gruelling procedure to qualify for child adoption. Over there, children are human beings and cannot be bought as toys, playmates or pets for celebrities’ children. But in Africa people are still sold in exchange for beads, tobacco and petty cash. And as a Malawian journalist said: “We are showing to the world that our poverty has extended to the brain.” Read more on Khaleej Times
Monday, October 23, 2006
Editorial: Newspaper burning immortalizes media defiance
Bashir Goth
True to the superstition of the day, Friday the 13th of October 2006 was a day of bad luck for Somaliland press freedom. On this day, mobs of people, led by religious fanatics assembled in a public square in the second Somaliland city of Buroa, and burned editions of Haatuf newspaper, Somaliland's leading paper. This was the first time in Somaliland's living memory that forces of darkness tried to kill enlightenment.
The newspaper burners also threatened that the paper 's offices will be their next target if it did not stop its critical reporting on Islamists. But what they did not say out loud is that it will be the reporters themselves that would be burning next time. They don't have to say it because we know they are capable of doing it. We have seen it in Iraq, in Sudan, in Pakistan, in Somalia and in other places.
READ MORE at Awdalnews Network
Bashir Goth
True to the superstition of the day, Friday the 13th of October 2006 was a day of bad luck for Somaliland press freedom. On this day, mobs of people, led by religious fanatics assembled in a public square in the second Somaliland city of Buroa, and burned editions of Haatuf newspaper, Somaliland's leading paper. This was the first time in Somaliland's living memory that forces of darkness tried to kill enlightenment.
The newspaper burners also threatened that the paper 's offices will be their next target if it did not stop its critical reporting on Islamists. But what they did not say out loud is that it will be the reporters themselves that would be burning next time. They don't have to say it because we know they are capable of doing it. We have seen it in Iraq, in Sudan, in Pakistan, in Somalia and in other places.
READ MORE at Awdalnews Network
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Editorial - Silencing the watchdog
By Bashir Goth
After banning music, concerts, cinemas, home videos, mixed gender singing in wedding ceremonies and even watching international sports on satellite television, the Islamist clerics in Mogadishu have now decided to deprive the Somali people of their last window of freedom, the free press.
In an attempt to create a supine media that applauds their onslaught on the freedoms of the people, the Wahhabist-oriented Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) have proposed draconian regulations aimed at purging the press of telling the truth. The war-weary and famine ravaged Somali people could not help but to turn a blind eye to the Islamists initial encroachments on their personal freedoms. Well, yes, singing is the nemesis of hunger in Africa, it alleys fear at times of war and entertains the hungry at times of famine, but the Somali people may have thought that relinquishing their right to sing might not be that disastrous if the Islamists were going to bring them real peace and real food. READ MORE On Awdalnews Network.
By Bashir Goth
After banning music, concerts, cinemas, home videos, mixed gender singing in wedding ceremonies and even watching international sports on satellite television, the Islamist clerics in Mogadishu have now decided to deprive the Somali people of their last window of freedom, the free press.
In an attempt to create a supine media that applauds their onslaught on the freedoms of the people, the Wahhabist-oriented Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) have proposed draconian regulations aimed at purging the press of telling the truth. The war-weary and famine ravaged Somali people could not help but to turn a blind eye to the Islamists initial encroachments on their personal freedoms. Well, yes, singing is the nemesis of hunger in Africa, it alleys fear at times of war and entertains the hungry at times of famine, but the Somali people may have thought that relinquishing their right to sing might not be that disastrous if the Islamists were going to bring them real peace and real food. READ MORE On Awdalnews Network.
Sex is a Massive U.S. Industry
By Bashir Goth
Somalia/United Arab Emirates - Americans are not the only ones obsessed with sex and politics. Sex has forever been the bane and blessing of humankind. It is the cause of man's fall. Kingdoms have been turned to dust because of sex. There have been epic conflicts and thousands of ship launched for the sake of a woman. Both female and male sexual organs have been worshipped at times. Holy places often bear the structure of female reproductive organs or are decorated with representations of them. Great works of literature such as Shehrazade's Thousand Nights and the Kama Sutra have been woven around sexual escapades. READ MORE on Washington Post/Postglobal
By Bashir Goth
Somalia/United Arab Emirates - Americans are not the only ones obsessed with sex and politics. Sex has forever been the bane and blessing of humankind. It is the cause of man's fall. Kingdoms have been turned to dust because of sex. There have been epic conflicts and thousands of ship launched for the sake of a woman. Both female and male sexual organs have been worshipped at times. Holy places often bear the structure of female reproductive organs or are decorated with representations of them. Great works of literature such as Shehrazade's Thousand Nights and the Kama Sutra have been woven around sexual escapades. READ MORE on Washington Post/Postglobal
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