Somalis and Social Class

[Demure]

One good thing that came out of the civil war is, we are all the same in the diaspora. No more minority upper class and majority lower class among Somalis. Unlike the pre-war era, everybody in qurbo is the same. Regardless of your gobol/or tuulo of origin in Somalia, today we all have the same means and opportunities. It’s entirely up to you to succeed.

So my question is; Do you still believe that being from Xamar escalates your social status? and automatically makes you more sophisticated, better off in every aspect, than those not from Xamar?

[Demure]

PS. Cawar’s subtle attempt in the other topic, to score a point against Qansa made me think about this.

[Babygirl-]

Xamar has nothing to do with it!! there are parts in Somalia were xamar is Look down on!!

[Advo]

I dont think there was ever a specific group or people who enjoyed special privileges, it's just that, everything was based in Muqdisho, The government invested everything there and people had higher chances of succeeding Xamar than anywhere else. One thing the war taught was people should invest in their hometowns aka deegaans, because after muqdisho was destroyed, people who immigrated back to their ancestorial land, had to start from scratch and build there way up, now if Muqdisho ever becomes stable again, I believe people will not make the mistake of just investing in one place.

[Shilka Jr.]

Your first part, I believe is a lame excuse in justifying the civil war like hundreds of other Somalis who had some sort of enmity towards Siad Barre's government. He wasn't perfect but the country was more than just one man.

And I don't understand when Xamar ever = wealth, class, etc. I never heard that one.

The fact that 95% of diaspora Somali families (minus UK for obvious reasons) had a foothold in Xamar would leave a very tiny minority of "barbaric/non-Xamarite" Somalis, thus making it pointless to divide people by Reer-Xamar and Non Reer-Xamar brackets.

...and Babygirl is right, Reer Waamo, Reer Mudug, and Reer Waqoyi looked down upon Xamar. And I'm sure Reer Xamar feel the same way in reverse. And retracting to my old statement, all Somalis, even working class Somalis had property or family in Xamar, its not a special title. Its like trying to separate the Reer Twin Cities from Reer Minnesota when Reer Twin Cities are over 70% of that hick state.

[Demure]

Baby,

So what does it have to do with?

Btw, I was specifically refering to Somalis in dibada. A lot of them think being from Xamar is status lifting.

[Mataan_Ciideed]

demure

i don't know what u talking about!. one of our best attributes is that we don't have this class bullshit and as a nomadic society, even a bare foot geeljire with a tshirt full of holes has a high self esteem and confidence in himself and tolkiisa.

about this whole xamar vs ciyaal goboleed thing, well i noticed it's mostly perpetuated by the daaroodka xamar ku soo koray!. what they don't realize is haday maanta xamar tagaan, hutuking oo miidhaan oo "unukaa leh" haya baa ku sugaya!.

[Mataan_Ciideed]

demure

laakin there's some truth to what you're saying. many somalis in the west who had nothing to do with xamar try to put on a xamari accent. walaahi i know couple of rageedis who were geeljire few years ago oo hada maraykanka "abaayo ani ma kasaayi nooh" ku qaraabta!.

[Voltage]

I can say this with some objectivity because I wasn't even raised in Africa but to be honest the most bacaac (and by bacaac I mean the most ignorant in the West, the most lost, least cultured, and least able to adapt) are the Somalis from big cities like Xamar and Kismaayo.

Not everyone from there, but the people that were born there in the 70's and very, very early 80's.

I get very surprised sometimes because I would see a person I know for a fact was just taken from their village and brought here and I would see them working with zeal, driving nice car, laying down foundation, have blackberries,etc and are even better with their families in terms of how they provide for them as well as how they keep up with their kids. And pay attention I am talking about Somalis who were in villages as late as 2001-2003.

The majority of the people I have seen that are from Xamar or Kismaayo, even if they were born there in the late 60's are bacaac. They are lazy, unwilling to adapt, are 100% the guys that loiter around in cafe shops not working or getting educated, and the mothers who only care about what gold she is going to get from Dubai while her kids are headed down the wrong way.

I know this is coming off to strong but I am glad you opened this topic. There is NOTHING that irritates me more then 35-50 year old men calling themselves "ciyaalka xaafada". Dude grow the fock up.

Now hypothesis why this is the case.

The thing is I think Somalis, like most other third-worlders, had negative perceptions of WESTERNIZATION in the 70's and 80's. They attempted to acculturate themselves to a deviant and largely non-existent form of Westernization and so when they came to the real thing it was hard to rewire themselves and catch up to the reality. The Somali taken from the village is not hardwired with negative perceptions of Westernization so when he comes here and is challenged he expects it. The Somali from Xamar and Kismaayo, especially Xamar since it was the capital and this is where that deviant culture took root, his perceptions of fitting in as a "Reer magaal" is outstripped by his lack of will; which is something he did not arm himself with as a young man in carefree third world capital and finds it hard to cultivate willpower right now. So the Somali from Xamar just drifts...

Trust this is 100% my observation and I am talking about the Somali crew that were born in Xamar from the 70's to early 80's, roughly what I call the "lost generation".

p.s. I have never seen any status accorded to somebody being from Xamar or the big cities. Usually such things are always delegated by clan membership, which is my observation.

[Cawar]

PS. Cawar’s subtle attempt in the other topic, to score a point against Qansa made me think about this.

Lol. Dhar magaalo waa la gashan karaa, but dhal magaalo mala noqon karaa.??

[Voltage]

And I don't understand when Xamar ever = wealth, class, etc. I never heard that one.

Yeah me either.

[Voltage]

i don't know what u talking about!. one of our best attributes is that we don't have this class bullshit and as a nomadic society, even a bare foot geeljire with a tshirt full of holes has a high self esteem and confidence in himself and tolkiisa

Yeah one of my older's brother's professors was an Iranian econ professor who was actually an advisor to Siad Barre at one point. He told my brother I have never been surprised as the day I saw a man in "indigenous rags" (this is what he called it) straight from the interior come to straight to the minister of interior's office and knock and just go in.

I don't know where Demure gets her thing, Somalis have no class system.

[Mataan_Ciideed]

cawar

ariboowe balo majidho ee you're better off claiming bari instead of xamar.

[Demure]

Advo, I agree with you, investing in different towns/cities as opposed to just one main is one good lesson learned.

Shilka, I'm not justifying the war or attempting to divide ppl here. Merely, stating an observation I made about the Somalis I know here.

Mataan, tab biyi3milo kida lee ya sidi?

[Voltage]

cawar

ariboowe balo majidho ee you're better off claiming bari instead of xamar.

haday jidhana ma budhno