A plea for Somali Intelligentsia to Salvage their dying Nation

A plea for Somali Intelligentsia to Salvage their dying Nation 

By Abdiaziz M. Abdi 

Dear Somali Intelligentsia,

Somalis are perishing.  This minute you are reading these lines now, a vast number of them are perishing by bullets and bombs which are down-pouring on their heads, by pestilences and paucity which have become of their homelands. Sprawled, their bodies are mounding every pitch and every terrain, making great feast for the roaming wolfs and dogs.

Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia once described  by Ibnu Batuta ( 1304-1369) as glittering  gem at the Indian Ocean;  a city famous in manufacturing woven fabrics unrivalled by  Baghdad and  Beirut, has been reduced to a pile of grinned chunks.  Today it looks like Troy in the Homeric epic, sacked by incalculable never-ending Achilles descending from afar filthy planet!

Those few which fate helped to escape from the carnage are gobbled by oceans, gulped by wilderness, and hounded by frontier guards---amidst their flight from the fright. The fortunate ones who have made to the western safe-havens are not --alas healthy and sound! They are derided in every corner; they survive on meager provisions granted by pitied welfare provinces. Some have menial jobs in ghastly working conditions with a minimum wages and nil benefits, where work is hard, bosses are harsh, breaks are short, and days are long. Some already have lost hope, and fallen on antidepressant and tranquilizers for solace! 

It is not fair only to grumble and whine; there are---thanks heavens---- (although they are few in number) some unflinching Somalis in the arena who are tenacious to triumph. Would these not many valiant champions be capable of coming out of the battle triumphant and rescue the sinking nation? Or would tumble in the middle before the mission is accomplished? That is still unknown. What is known, however, is that Somalis indeed need knights in shining armors?
Dear Somali Intelligentsia, 

The term, Somalia has become synonym for anarchy, chaos, and pandemonium.  Somalia is dubbed as the most dangerous place in the world, the most corrupted place in world, the long failed state in modern history. In the Foreign Policy magazines annual Failed States Index published this year, Somalia and for the third year ranks No. 1.  In short, Somalia is a country which is at the backwaters of human civilization.  Every informed observer familiar with Somalia's affairs would consent the fact that Somalia is country committing national suicide; the bleak pictures which float up from that country attest the grim reality that the country is barren from true leaders; it attest that the country is in the hands of an elite concerned to a sheer pillage and plunder rather than to save, serve, and sooth.

In Somalia, more than 20 years of limbo have elapsed   with so many people killed, with so many maimed, with so many infants orphaned, with so many wives widowed, with so many powerless beings casted out, with so many gun bearing teens rising up, with so many dope-faith crazed fanatics rampaging around, and with so many iatrogenic ideologies in succession; and alas, the question how we did get into this loop in the first place and how to sail through is not seriously raised yet! 

Dear Somali Intelligentsia 

Somalia is a nation going to Gehenna in hand basket. Maybe you are asking yourselves at this point these questions: "should we care? And if we care, is there anything useful that we can actually do to stop the looming doom?" The first question is the easiest one of the two questions raised to answer.  Given that you are Somalis--- Somali gene runs in your blood--- who hailed from that country, have families and extended families suffering due to the prevailing tragedy, you have no choice.  There are moral and humanitarian reasons that compel you to care too:  there are more than 3 million people who relate to you by blood and flesh in Somalia, who did not get the blessing   that God bestowed upon you (I mean the blessing of schooling), more than half of them illiterate, some of them living in slavery-like conditions, and most of them poor. You are in a position---because you are minority privileged by wisdom, knowledge, and acumen----   to edify and enlighten them, expose and ward-off the manipulation of the internal and external manipulators from them, to guide them to the path which leads to peace, brotherhood, and prosperity. Unless you are opting to align yourselves with those heathens mentioned in the Quran who accrued the woes and curses of God because they drove away the orphans and did not encourage the feeding of the poor, (surah al-Ma'un 107), you need to take heed.

To answer the question pertaining to "is there anything useful that we can actually do?" I am inclined to say a thousand times yes.  "Never doubt that small group of thoughtful people committed citizens [individuals] can change the world" as Anthropologist Margret Mead had said once. In that sense, Somalis indeed are in dire need for thoughtful committed reformers in shining armors. Alas, according to history and to our Quran, reformers in shining armors   are not celestial beings who would come down from the sky to salvage agonized mortals. "Indeed Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves" (surah ar-Ra'd 13).  In other word, in order a change to materialize a given people should birth their reformers who would initiate a profound reformation. 

The great Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote" I only believe in my leading idea that men are in general divided by a law of nature into two categories, ordinary [ and extraordinary; the former group persevere the world and people it, the latter move the world and lead it to its heights".  Intellectuals belong to the latter group; thus you need to stand up embracing your roles--- that is fending off Somalis from this open inferno they are falling in hordes. 

Dear Somali Intelligentsia,

My eyes are bulging because the harrowing calamity paraded in front of me, my heart is bleeding because I feel abandoned by my able brethren, my stomach is growling because I am starving, my children are dying because they are malnourished,   my old parents are moldering because they are ailing, my brothers are falling like Fall's leaves jingled by heavy winds, and my sisters are raped and slashed on my home's aisle.  My whole kin are driven to the Gallows in manacles. While every bird capable of flying flew high in the sky, I am standing here in shackles waiting my turn to be lynched!  Dear Somali Intelligentsia, May God bless your souls, are you forthcoming to set me free and spare my life?

Today my whole kin are the stage of churning, and yet the broadest wondrous things are opening up for our century. We are at the stage stark naked butchering each other by old daggers and outdated klaniskoves, while the world is progressing in the speed of transonic jets. The same day, the media prints and portrays the dreadful stories of our tribal-based squabbles, the world announces a discovery of new planet, a panacea to prolong life, and scheme to eradicate poverty.  If only you can come to an internal agreement and vow one for all, all for one, floods of riches, brotherhood, and harmony   will cover the country. Your unison will make our predicament out of date, and our hatreds null and void!   
    
 Dear Somali Intelligentsia,

It is true that the immense tragedies that we Somalis are living in now often create in gifted men with approaching horror. Paralyzed, they cannot make up their minds to do anything but to run and save only their lives. So they run, and one day while in the run, the Gorgon catches them and feasts on them after the banquet made of the feeble creatures left behind comes to an end! 

I would like here to convince you that the run amok Gorgon can be slaughtered; the spell can be broken, and the runaway Jinn can be put in the bottle:  strength of heart, intelligence, and courage are namely enough to kill the rampaging beast, to cage the feral demon, and to restore the vanquished angel.  You merely need to will this, not blindly, but with a firm and reasoned will.  

You are all familiar with stories of great and unflinching intellectuals who rescued their people from immense dangers. You are familiar with brand names like Moses, Joshua, Mohamed, Martin Luther King, the senior and the junior, and Mahatma Gandhi who heralded their people to the heights of prosperity and opulence.  
      
I beseech you to adjoin your physical and mental talents, proceed with joint minds and hearts to salvage your dying nation; and by the willpower and the assistance of God Almighty, you prevail--- God-willing.

Dear Somali Intelligentsia, 

You may say what our guiding principles are? I would say; it is to denounce all sorts of tribalism: Clan tribalism, ethnicity tribalism, culture tribalism, ideology tribalism, and theology tribalism. Your guiding principle is to promote human cohesion, righteous morals, tolerance, and love of wisdom.  Your guiding principle is to vie for a system based around equality, liberty, transparency, accountability,   and the pursuit of happiness, and denounce   the systems based around unfair legal system, corruption in the delivery of public goods, and superstition. Those are your guiding principles. 

You may ask what we aspire for. I answer in one word: success; success at all costs, success in spite of all the hurdles, success, however long and hard the voyage may be; for without success, any venture is doomed to fail. You may ask what ingredients we need in order to attain success. And I would say in one word: unity; because God's divine providence is brought forth by the unification of minds, souls. It is a time to put a giant mirror in front of you …It is time to sound off the alarm to awaken your sleeping scruples, so that you become catalysts of positive change to rewrite  Somali history.  And I cannot conclude without mentioning the name of one through whom this vision of building a new model of Somalia based on unity, brotherhood and love has already articulated with beauty and power---- Abukar Arman. 

Abdiaziz Abdi is a spokesperson for a Somali Situation Herald--- an NGO committed to serving Somali community through networking, creating awareness, narrowing the current gap which polarizes Somali community world over --- based in Rochester, MN, USA. He can be reached at: cabdicasis45@hotmail.com

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