Celebrating Somalia Days in Difficult Times

"Kanna Siib, Kanna Saar" Cabdullahi Suldaan (Timacadde) 

 

 by Ali H. Abdulla
Sunday, June 22, 2008

In less than 2 weeks an important day in the history of Somalia will have come to pass. The day is June 26th^th, the day when the Northern part of the 5 Somali territories threw off the yoke of colonialism and kicked the British out of their midst. It is a glorious day that gives me goose pimples whenever I live through it another day in the tumultuous history of our nation. It is the day when the legendary Timadde recited his famous epic poem “Kanna siib, Kanna Saar” – Lower theirs and raise ours”.

 

I cannot help but digress a bit from my main topic and talk about another brave Somali who hated British colonialism and fought against it in his way. His name is Maxamed Nuur Laangadhe and he stood up to the British with his powerful words. When the British and its allies achieved important victories in World War II, he was asked to compose a poem in celebration of these victories. Maxamed resented being asked to celebrate events that did not mean much to him and recited a poem contrary to what the British colonizers wanted to hear. Following are selected passages from that poem:

 

“….

Mar hadaan gurigayga
gidhligaanka gariiriyo
Garnayl loola tagaynin
Iglan baa gubanaysa
Maxaa iiga gidhiisha

…..

Bal maxaa laba gaal
oo abtirsiimo gudboon
Midkood aan u gumayn
Midna guusha u siin”

 

“Why should I care about the burning of England?

When no bombs are falling on my own country

Why Should I support one infidel against another?

When they both share the same ancestry”

 

Maxamed ended in jail for reciting the poem. Isn’t it appropriate to celebrate 26^th June as a day when the British left and the dreams of our great poets and warriors, such as Sayid Maxamed, Shiikh Bashiir , Tima Adde and Maxamed Nuur, were achieved.

 

Unfortunately the day Timadde witnessed and celebrated with great jubilation has been neglected by most Somalis and passes by without any noticeable enthusiasm. Such an important day for Somalia deserves to be celebrated with fanfare and jubilation and should not pass by unnoticed by us. Even the sons of the North remember it in a very lukewarm and half-hearted fashion. 

 

This glorious day in our history has been supplanted by other days such as 18 May, the day when parts of the North unilaterally declared their independence from the so-called shackles of Somali Unity. This day gets celebrated every year by Somalis from the North wherever they live in this world.

 

While I am not against sections of the Somali community celebrating a day they feel important for them, I am disappointed by the lack of Enthusiasm for another day that commemorates the martyrs lost by Somalia in the battles waged against the colonialists since the Sayid and his valiant dervishes fired the first shot.

 

Some may argue that it is inappropriate to celebrate in the current sad times being experienced by the Somali nation, especially when a lot of Somali blood is being spilt and the county is going through difficult and challenging times. While this may be true, I would like to remind ourselves of the brave words of President Sharmarke  “We will fight the Ethiopian colonialists with one hand, and vote with the other” in response to a question asked to the possibility of going to war and holding an election at the same time. We can celebrate important days in our lives and tackle difficult issues at the same time. C'est la Vie 

This 26^th June will come in the wake of very important events unfolding on the Somali scene. The most important being the recent agreement reached in Djibouti between the two warring Somali sides to bury the hatchet and stem the flow of Somali blood. So let us all celebrate it and look forward to brighter days that wash away the bloodshed, hatred and animosities we suffered from for the last 17 years. A few days later, we should also celebrate the 1^st of July, the day that the second missing piece in our map came home after evicting the Italian colonialists. The other three missing pieces will, God willing, come home as well and we shall feel whole again. This is a dream worth keeping alive and passing on to the future generations.

---

Ali H. Abdulla

E-mail: [email protected]