A Globalised Somali, A Tolerant Somali

For the past 7 years or so that I have been involved in youth activism I have tried to comprehend how we could best resurrect our Somali nation. I’ve sat down and debated with those who call themselves or hold the views of liberals, religious, sectionists, nationalists, Marxists and more. I have attempted to understand the break-down of our nation – politically, socially, economically and culturally.

With no central government, Somalia became a fertile ground for various ideologies to compete and take root. In reality, this should’ve made us a very diverse society. Practically, however it has meant a bitter feud over power and domination.

The Liberalist will insist the only way to go forward is to create a liberal Somali society – what they tend to refer to there is to “de-Arabise Somalia” socially and culturally. S/he wants to see a Somalia where a woman does not have to dress similar to women in Gulf countries and Iran. They will show you pictures from our parent’s generation depicting how our mothers and fathers wore their Afros and jazz-influenced fashion proudly. I love looking at these pictures and I can understand why they would praise the Somali social values then. But that is the point – it was THEN! Why should a girl have to look EXACTLY like her mother did 20 years ago?.

You sit down with a Somali who hold Marxist views and s/he will tell you that salvation can only be found in establishing socialist/Marxist system. “It has worked before”, they insist, “everything we build as a nation then was built because we had the iska-wax-u-qabso system in place”. I fully agree here too. But yet again I say – it was THEN! Even hard-core Marxist nations, such as China, are accepting other economic system/values, albeit on their own terms. Why would I want to live and work exactly like my parents did?

The nationalists are the most vocal ones politically – they have great heroes to prove their points too! What we need, they will tell you, is to produce leaders such as SYL, Sayyid Abdullah and so on. Those were great individuals and greater nationalists who gave their sweat, blood and tears to free the Somali nation from imperialist powers. I adore them too; I read about them and learn from them. But they were heroes of THEIR time. The Sayyid, a great warrior he was, but he would not be able to do what he did with the complex warfare in place today. SYL, the fathers of our nation, will not have the skills to tackle political challenges of our times. Why can we not just learn from the lessons and create new heroes of our own?

Lastly, you have my favourites, the so called Islamists. They dominate Somalia – politically, socially and culturally. Unfortunately, this has made them the number one target for anything that is wrong in Somalia today with many disregarding the great social good they have brought about particularly in education sector. They will insist that the only way to bring Somalia out of the turmoil it is in is to establish Islamic rule and governance. When you ask them HOW exactly this can be done, however, you will get caught up in a never-ending drama. I was raised in a religious household and value my faith greatly. But I fail to understand is why when discussing an Islamic society we wish to re-create Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran or Turkey in Somalia? Why can we not find anindigenous way of infusing Islam and Somalia?

My main point is this. I am from Somalia – a country located right in the middle of the world. Thus, should I not then be as globalised as the strategic location of my country? Yes, we will have Arab, Indian, African, Western and Eastern influences in our cultural practices. We will also see them influencing our politics and social norms. But why should this be a negative thing? Why do I have to choose to either be one or the other? Can we not have a Somalia where the Marxist, the Islamist, the nationalist and the Liberalist feel safe and have a sense of ownership of the country? Though these may ideologically differ from one another they should all uphold one major principle, the one principle that each of their ideologies actually adhere to and preach for. And that is tolerance. I believe the only way we can create a tolerant Somalia is to accept and be a globalised Somali – a Somali that has enough confidence and self-respect to be able to befriend and engage with a fellow Somali that may be ideologically very different. A Somali that takes pride in his/her nomad lineage and travels the world to learn from others. A Somali that can have a “Shaah-and-Sheeko” session with just about anybody, find a common ground and go away a more learned and mature individual.

Somalis for centuries were tolerant and pragmatic society that created social systems to suit the political and geographical environment that existed then. Even the tribal system changed according to need. If blood lineage can be altered why a mind-set cannot be changed too?

Choose the middle ground. We have already been placed there geographically; let’s work on becoming that personally,

Zakia Hussein Mogadishu , Somalia
Somalia