Let us abandon the camel!!!
Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 3:50 am
Waa idin salaamay dhamaantiina; It feels good to be on holiday!
“Marauding gangs”, “pirates”, “religious zealots” “ unhygienic” and “welfare” parasites are some of the words that are probably used by non-somalis to describe us. In Toronto, London, Stockholm, Minneapolis, perhaps the widely held view is that we somalis, are perhaps the missing link between ape and mankind.
On the other hand, when we look at ourselves through our own sham mirror, we illusively see handsome/beautiful, super brainy, mighty human beings with immense love for culture, people and identity.
The discrepancy between our self-made mirror and how others view us is of mammoth proportion.
Try to reason about the causes and underlying rationale for this discrepancy to a brethren and the conventional answer you will get is “maxaa iga galay dad kale sidaay ii arkaan?”
History and traditions are the discourses that drive the sinking ship navigated by religious, cultural and political hypocrites, nostalgic narratives about a once beloved nation; dream of utopia (dib baa loo noqonayaa), undisputed chronicles on our greatness and artificial love of kin and pseudo nationalism have become our remedy to stay sane in an otherwise insane mind that accompany us.
The fake love for our country mutates into love for elusive regions, cities and then village. It is like a malign tumour that metastases to our thought processes, our faith, our actions and unfortunately our existence is underpinned by the existence of a reptilian brain which does not seem to understand the root causes of our glitches.
An illuminating example is the embracement of primitive tribalism which blinds our ability to think and function as a human being. We are intellectuality corrupt, morally deficient and lack absorptive capacity to gain knowledge that could be disseminated to overcome the degeneration that has befallen our people.
We exaggerate every ounce of truth that we can find; we call dusty inhospitable places cities, tribal enclaves ---lands, sketchily coloured houses a progress.
We claim to have a regional and national army when what we have are i thugs, brainless bastards, rapists, tribal militia and what have you.
We are a nation of politicians where news is the highlight of our pass time. We are all political entrepreneurs who view political office as the ultimate career to purse.
We are all actors in a soap opera and are on audition for the play “ kaalay i arka!” on TV screens.
We are on a journey of self-destruction that does not have a destination.
The notion that our plight is a temporary sojourn and that things will eventually improve induces a temporary Prozac – feel good effect on TV screens and websites.
Nationhood, institutions and long-term thinking eludes us.
We evoke “inaa lilaahi” “allaha ha u naxriisto” intonations when we read about the plights in the diaspora but we express joy at the killings of those in Somalia. The only question we ask is “ waa qolomaa”?
We are the characters in HC Andersen’s play“ "The Emperor's New Clothes". Some of us play the role of the naked emperor who does not care for anything other than the clothes he wears. Some of us are the swindlers in the same play who sew invisible cloths. There is unfortunately no one to tell us that we are naked.
We are into the feel-good-mentality that we engage in epic abuses of modern tools of communications. The Internet provides us with numerous opportunities including mechanisms to learn, forums to better our people and websites to keep us informed. What do we do with it? The somali websites have become online “isbaroos” for village talk, tribal heaves are spewed, every dusty village has a website to its name which gossips on a superficially created milieu.
Paltalk and facebook have become gossiping grounds where we spend our precious time instead of studying, learning and exchange ideas.
Face book and paltalk has become the hunting for horny people. Even the cajuuso and the cajuus act like teenage kacsi la boods. Vice and keyboard warlordism are what characterises us online.
We boast about a non-existent nation and brag about being nationalists, patriots etc when in fact we are village parrots.
In short, information technology from a Somali context is disinformation technology.
So, what has contributed to this quandary?
There are millions of reasons that range from having reptile brains to being poor. Dwelling on the causes, diagnosis and prognosis of our sick nation and people will take a trillion years.
After years of discerning I could come up with one main cause; the love for camel. In mainstream somali oral tradition, the camel is the most precious creature. Numerous poems have been composed about this mighty animal. It has also found itself in our proverbs, sayings and urban legends.
“Niman geel lahayn, aakhiro lama amaaneeynin” ( You stand no chance of going to heaven if you do not have camels” is a saying that has permeated in our oratory.
We identify ourselves as a nation of camel owners although this is not the case. Even those of us who have never owned a camel boast about it. We giggle when someone innocently says “ cimraaga raagey geel dhalaa aas ku tusaa” ( you know you are old when you see a camel giving birth) and deem that person as stupid, brainless and out of bounds on socially and culturally acceptable norms.
Yet, a closer scrutiny reveals that we express odium to this animal: We call our rednecks geeljire, we use geeljire mentality to describe the unsophisticated.
But there is deep love for this small brain animal.
Even nursery/ kindergarten kids who have never seen a camel (except maybe on TV and storytelling) love the camel. While their friends may draw utensils, cars etc they draw camels. It is very likely that even their parents never owned a camel!
Other ways of making a living e.g. farming, poultry, engineering and fishing are viewed as inferior to camel herding.
Being a blacksmith, a poultry farmer or a shoemaker warrants laughter to cement an elusive superiority complex; who wouldn’t recall the many Banaadiri genre that drew laughter at the mention of the cock and the hen? ( diiq maxaas iri ? kuuku; dooro maxaay tiri “ Kaaka”. Waxaasi murti ma aha !
The camel is omnipresent in our culture; it is ubiquitous in our songs, poems and intellectual capital.
In the same token, engineering professions such as blacksmithing, shoemaking and animalhusbandry are viewed as inferior profession. We have created a caste system using the yardstick of camel ownership. If you do not have a camel then you belong to the untouchable clan; you will be confined to doldrums of being stamped a pariah.
We forget that the lever of richness of many nations could be deduced to farming, fishing, poultry and other domesticated animals. They made these countries rich.
European, Asian and North American policies are based on providing subsidies to the agro-sector. Food security is viewed as an important element of a nation’s competitiveness. The EU spends nearly 60% of its budget on supporting agriculture. The same applies to the US where farmers benefit from enticement schemes.
Our people on the other hand, love imported food; they will rather eat imported sorghum, millet and maize than homegrown foods. Eating cambuulo (beans) and masago (millet) are viewed as being grisly to our superior folks.
You may find a somali conceit about eating camel meat or drinking camel milk but the mere mention of “canbuulo” and “soor” is laughed at.
I propose that we abandon our fascination with the camel and instead embrace agriculture for several reasons;
1) It will lead to peace;Farming societies are generally peace loving and are domiciled in the same place. Camel herding is an obstinate endeavour which entails a nomadic life filled with conflicts for grazing lands.
2) Embracing farming will contribute to food safety for our starving people
3) It will lead to innovations
4) It will help our state coffers because farmers could easily be taxed
5) It will reduce our imports
6) It will reduce our dependency on foreign aid.
“Marauding gangs”, “pirates”, “religious zealots” “ unhygienic” and “welfare” parasites are some of the words that are probably used by non-somalis to describe us. In Toronto, London, Stockholm, Minneapolis, perhaps the widely held view is that we somalis, are perhaps the missing link between ape and mankind.
On the other hand, when we look at ourselves through our own sham mirror, we illusively see handsome/beautiful, super brainy, mighty human beings with immense love for culture, people and identity.
The discrepancy between our self-made mirror and how others view us is of mammoth proportion.
Try to reason about the causes and underlying rationale for this discrepancy to a brethren and the conventional answer you will get is “maxaa iga galay dad kale sidaay ii arkaan?”
History and traditions are the discourses that drive the sinking ship navigated by religious, cultural and political hypocrites, nostalgic narratives about a once beloved nation; dream of utopia (dib baa loo noqonayaa), undisputed chronicles on our greatness and artificial love of kin and pseudo nationalism have become our remedy to stay sane in an otherwise insane mind that accompany us.
The fake love for our country mutates into love for elusive regions, cities and then village. It is like a malign tumour that metastases to our thought processes, our faith, our actions and unfortunately our existence is underpinned by the existence of a reptilian brain which does not seem to understand the root causes of our glitches.
An illuminating example is the embracement of primitive tribalism which blinds our ability to think and function as a human being. We are intellectuality corrupt, morally deficient and lack absorptive capacity to gain knowledge that could be disseminated to overcome the degeneration that has befallen our people.
We exaggerate every ounce of truth that we can find; we call dusty inhospitable places cities, tribal enclaves ---lands, sketchily coloured houses a progress.
We claim to have a regional and national army when what we have are i thugs, brainless bastards, rapists, tribal militia and what have you.
We are a nation of politicians where news is the highlight of our pass time. We are all political entrepreneurs who view political office as the ultimate career to purse.
We are all actors in a soap opera and are on audition for the play “ kaalay i arka!” on TV screens.
We are on a journey of self-destruction that does not have a destination.
The notion that our plight is a temporary sojourn and that things will eventually improve induces a temporary Prozac – feel good effect on TV screens and websites.
Nationhood, institutions and long-term thinking eludes us.
We evoke “inaa lilaahi” “allaha ha u naxriisto” intonations when we read about the plights in the diaspora but we express joy at the killings of those in Somalia. The only question we ask is “ waa qolomaa”?
We are the characters in HC Andersen’s play“ "The Emperor's New Clothes". Some of us play the role of the naked emperor who does not care for anything other than the clothes he wears. Some of us are the swindlers in the same play who sew invisible cloths. There is unfortunately no one to tell us that we are naked.
We are into the feel-good-mentality that we engage in epic abuses of modern tools of communications. The Internet provides us with numerous opportunities including mechanisms to learn, forums to better our people and websites to keep us informed. What do we do with it? The somali websites have become online “isbaroos” for village talk, tribal heaves are spewed, every dusty village has a website to its name which gossips on a superficially created milieu.
Paltalk and facebook have become gossiping grounds where we spend our precious time instead of studying, learning and exchange ideas.
Face book and paltalk has become the hunting for horny people. Even the cajuuso and the cajuus act like teenage kacsi la boods. Vice and keyboard warlordism are what characterises us online.
We boast about a non-existent nation and brag about being nationalists, patriots etc when in fact we are village parrots.
In short, information technology from a Somali context is disinformation technology.
So, what has contributed to this quandary?
There are millions of reasons that range from having reptile brains to being poor. Dwelling on the causes, diagnosis and prognosis of our sick nation and people will take a trillion years.
After years of discerning I could come up with one main cause; the love for camel. In mainstream somali oral tradition, the camel is the most precious creature. Numerous poems have been composed about this mighty animal. It has also found itself in our proverbs, sayings and urban legends.
“Niman geel lahayn, aakhiro lama amaaneeynin” ( You stand no chance of going to heaven if you do not have camels” is a saying that has permeated in our oratory.
We identify ourselves as a nation of camel owners although this is not the case. Even those of us who have never owned a camel boast about it. We giggle when someone innocently says “ cimraaga raagey geel dhalaa aas ku tusaa” ( you know you are old when you see a camel giving birth) and deem that person as stupid, brainless and out of bounds on socially and culturally acceptable norms.
Yet, a closer scrutiny reveals that we express odium to this animal: We call our rednecks geeljire, we use geeljire mentality to describe the unsophisticated.
But there is deep love for this small brain animal.
Even nursery/ kindergarten kids who have never seen a camel (except maybe on TV and storytelling) love the camel. While their friends may draw utensils, cars etc they draw camels. It is very likely that even their parents never owned a camel!
Other ways of making a living e.g. farming, poultry, engineering and fishing are viewed as inferior to camel herding.
Being a blacksmith, a poultry farmer or a shoemaker warrants laughter to cement an elusive superiority complex; who wouldn’t recall the many Banaadiri genre that drew laughter at the mention of the cock and the hen? ( diiq maxaas iri ? kuuku; dooro maxaay tiri “ Kaaka”. Waxaasi murti ma aha !
The camel is omnipresent in our culture; it is ubiquitous in our songs, poems and intellectual capital.
In the same token, engineering professions such as blacksmithing, shoemaking and animalhusbandry are viewed as inferior profession. We have created a caste system using the yardstick of camel ownership. If you do not have a camel then you belong to the untouchable clan; you will be confined to doldrums of being stamped a pariah.
We forget that the lever of richness of many nations could be deduced to farming, fishing, poultry and other domesticated animals. They made these countries rich.
European, Asian and North American policies are based on providing subsidies to the agro-sector. Food security is viewed as an important element of a nation’s competitiveness. The EU spends nearly 60% of its budget on supporting agriculture. The same applies to the US where farmers benefit from enticement schemes.
Our people on the other hand, love imported food; they will rather eat imported sorghum, millet and maize than homegrown foods. Eating cambuulo (beans) and masago (millet) are viewed as being grisly to our superior folks.
You may find a somali conceit about eating camel meat or drinking camel milk but the mere mention of “canbuulo” and “soor” is laughed at.
I propose that we abandon our fascination with the camel and instead embrace agriculture for several reasons;
1) It will lead to peace;Farming societies are generally peace loving and are domiciled in the same place. Camel herding is an obstinate endeavour which entails a nomadic life filled with conflicts for grazing lands.
2) Embracing farming will contribute to food safety for our starving people
3) It will lead to innovations
4) It will help our state coffers because farmers could easily be taxed
5) It will reduce our imports
6) It will reduce our dependency on foreign aid.
will comment later Insha Allah.
