by Abdullahi Jama
Sunday, December 27, 2009
It struck me hard and, thus, motivated me to write this article when I recollected Jason Mac Lure’s interview with Meles Zenawi (Newsweek, April 21, 2008).The most interesting question, that prompted a rather debatable answer from Mr Zenawi was the following.
Jason. Some say Ethiopian troops have helped the TFG by providing security assistance but hurt it in the long term by fomenting Somali nationalism and Islamism?
Meles: An oversupply of national sentiment is not the problem in Somalia. The problem is a lack of it. The problem is an oversupply of sub-sub-clannish attitude. Our efforts, together with the TFG, have been focused on bridging the gaps [between these] clans. As far as Islamist fervour is concerned, Ethiopia was not in Somalia when the Shabaab took control. Ethiopia was not in Somalia when the Shabaab declared jihad on Ethiopia. What Ethiopia did is [burst] the bubble of this Shabaab phenomenon.
My biggest pre-occupation is to know whether the Ethiopian leader’s accounts hold some truth. In order to ascertain the facts and reach some conclusion, my mind harks back to some usual, but often overlooked, historical points of the Horn of Africa.
Concept of nationalism.
From theoretical perspectives, the concept of nationalism does not have an agreed definition.However, if we take Merriam Webster’s definition, it can be described as a theory that promotes “loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially: a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups”.
Conventionally, such a concept is categorised into two core groups: The first, considers nationalism as an old and antiquated spur-of-the-moment progression deriving from a “naturally given sense of nationhood”. This concept is built on basic assumptions that, humans exist in natural groups; have innate and emotional sense of attachment to these groups which they share culture, language and religion, which create strong bonds between the individual members of the group. Then, the group becomes an ethnic group which historians and anthropologists in this area of study agree that this category offers the basis of genuine sense of nationalism. The second, however, portrays nationalism as a product of modernization generally related to the rise of modern nation-states developed right after the treaty of Westphalia, which ended 30 years of war in Europe in 1648.
This type of nationalism which is driven by the state, without shared values and culture, is believed to be based on fictitious and fabricated claims.
Somali nationalism versus Ethiopian nationalism.
Somalia and its people may fit well with the first category of nationalism, which is a rare occurrence in many parts of the world especially in Sub-Sahara Africa. With the exception of the trauma the Somali people has undergone during the colonial era-the partition of their territory and the consequential hardship that resulted from the infamous scramble for africa in 1884- they have in the past successfully defended their territories from predatory Abyssinian empires and occasionally elbowed their fellow Cushites further south and/west over several hundred years (Farer, Tom 1976).
Indeed, Islam remarkably strengthened the identity of the Somali people without which a major setback that inflicted on their fellow Cushites such as Oromos, Beja and Afar, may not have been avoided. The very reason Oromos and Beja peoples have been partially absorbed by the Abyssinians is that some of their notables have been converted to Christianity and later Amaharised through inter-marriage and deceitful manner of assimilation. The policy of Amharisation moved into high gear during the reign of Menelik II and continued during Haile Selassie-the main purpose was to annex land and people, sapping people’s culture and heritage. Only Somalis, have been privileged to escape such an intrigue, thanks to the combination of Islamic faith and Somali nationalism led by heroic leaders such as Ahmed Gurey and Mohamed Abdille Hassan a.k.a. “Mad Mullah” and others. The latter, Indeed, even his enemies knew that he was neither mad nor mullah, as British scholar Louis FitzGibbon rightly opined.
Ethiopia (a Greek word for black people) is without doubt one of the oldest civilisations in the world, however, that civilisation has long predated the dramatized history of Aksum (400 BC). The oldest civilisation which historians have recorded is the Cushites Dynasty which dominated the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea,Djbouti, Sudan) and parts of North Africa ; reaching its peak between 1750 and 1500 B.C.E. and even conquered and ruled ancient Egypt from 750-650 B.C.E)-long before the Semitic people of Aksum permeated from southern Arabia (Drusilla D Houston,1926).
Somalia’s modern nation-state have survived against long odds of intersection of Western and Eastern pressures between 1960 and 1991, however, the accumulating effects of state failure have negatively added up and pushed the country toward disintegration. These pressures ranged from military intervention to conspiracies of perpetuating state failure and the latest exposure of the ongoing `war on terror`.
Meles may be partially right as he discredited the contemporary Somali leadership and their silly social blunders. During the last 20 odd years, negative trend of nationalism have evolved into unbearable and shameful stage, from recruits of enemy intelligence (Jaasuus) in different stratum of our society, to mere vassals succumbing to the Ethiopian pressures. The plague has struck many, from waranle to wadads, even Sheikhs and Sheriffs have not been spared.
Indeed, it was nationalism that has ended the dreadful Ethiopian occupation in Somalia after 2 years of agony. Unfortunately, they (the Ethiopians) and their friends in the West knew that, we had some bogus freedom fighters, bereft of talent and vision, in our midst; they bought them and eventually secured their support. But, the problem did not stop.The political cleavage is growing bigger and, some unknown actors entered the game including extremist groups of all sorts, criminals and pirates. The whole country has gone adrift because anybody who tries to build Somalia on Ethiopian agenda is destined to fail.
The current TFG has toed to the political line of its predecessor, ministers are deposed and appointed at the behest of Ethiopian government, the security apparatus and the intelligence gathering of the TFG is still highly influenced by the Ethiopian regime. Ethiopian military conduct military operation in central regions of Somalia, yet this TFG, like its predecessor, denies their presence.
Recently, Congressman Donald Payne criticised Puntland for their treatment of ONLF officials in their region. This is not, however, something that occasionally happens; it is a policy current administrations of Puntland and Somaliland have been pursuing for long time, in breach of international human rights law and basic tenets of Islamic faith.
In the south as well as in the north, a new habit has developed i.e., to pledge an allegiance to Ethiopian leaders for political survival or to gain a political position in Somalia. What a shame!
Despite all these unfortunate episodes, can we categorically rule out the revival of Somali nationalism? My answer is a resounding NO.
Nationalism never dies but, the bonds that hold people together rise and fall over time, and there is no doubt that Somali nationalism is now at lowest ebb. However, only when you hit the rock bottom you have high chances of rising again.
Having said that, we should note that the gears of Somali nationalism evolve first and foremost, from the Islamic faith, shared language and cultural traditions. As Samuel Huntington predicted, even in the 21st century “the most pervasive, and dangerous conflicts will not be between social classes, rich and poor, but between peoples belonging to different cultural entities”.
The Ethiopian leaders who invaded Somalia and tried to subdue its people have dismally failed but, make no mistake. The leaders of Abyssinia will never give up until Somalis demonstrate their capacity of good governance, rule of law and unite their forces to defend their country from all kind of predators.
As to juxtapose Ethiopian nationalism and Somali nationalism-one can easily tell that Ethiopian nationalism falls into the second category of nationalism.Therefore, it will remain state-centric as there is nothing shared between major segments of Ethiopian population except the two wings of Abyssinian ethnic foes (i.e.,Amhara and Tigray).
However, no one can deny that the Abyssinians (not Ethiopians) have strong sense of nationalism- though they wrestle for supremacy between them, they have one thing in common: the relentless quest to subordinate the peoples of the Horn.
Finally, I would like to launch an appeal for the Somali intellectuals, whom I hope will be reading this article, to consider seriously a national movement with aim to rekindle Somali nationalism and restore love, loyalty and devotion to our country, as suggested by M M Ulussow in his eloquent article” Quest for peace and effective State in Somalia”.
[SOOMAALIYEY TOOSOO, TOOSOO ISKUTIIRSADEE, HADBA KIINNII TAAGDARANEE TAAGEERA WELIGIINNEE.
TULUD GEELA OO DHACANTAA TOBAN-TOBAN U LAYSAANNEE,MA DALKIINNII OO TAGAYBAAN NINNA DHAGAX U TUUREYNNEE.}
Abdullahi Jama, Somali Peace Activist
[email protected]