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Following is a short personal note to “Limits to Submission
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a) part 1 and
b) part 2.
For me, the documentary presents some of the most powerful words I have heard in recent times. In the words of Hussein Tanzania, here is an abridged excerpt:
These are my people and we are known as the Irish of Africa for our tenacity to fight colonial invaders that attempted to colonize our people. My name is Hussein Adam and my father was born in the Haud region of Ethiopian Somaliland. “And I am a Somali.” We are one people united by a single culture, language and religion (Islam) that we all deeply hold. It is in the power of these deeply personal beliefs in belonging to the Somali nation handed down from father to a son … that help us fight and endure defeat again and again. Somali people are known for their wish and resolve to persevere and preserve their independence and their way of life.
The narratives in this documentary are in line with what Dr. Hussein and I.M. Lewis wrote elsewhere:
“Unlike so many other cases, Somali cultural nationalism is a centuries old phenomenon and not something which has been recently drummed up to give credence to political claims,” writes Lewis. Moreover, Hussein Adam adds that “clan and lineage antagonisms do not preclude a will to unite or a feeling of common destiny.”
The documentary prominently features the late Dr. AbdulMajid Hussein Barre, who, at the time of the documentary production, was an uncompromising crusader for the self-determination of the people of Ethiopian Somaliland. Dr. Majid gives a historical context and first-hand knowledge about what is often referred to Ethiopia’s feudal colonialism over Somalis. The symbolism of Dr. Majid wearing semi-revolutionary fatigues is seamlessly telling of his position at the time. Similarly, Silanyo’s patriotism at the time for a united and free Somalia visa-a-vi his current run-away sectarianism is all the more noteworthy.
As is often said “history repeats itself,” powerful historical notes can be gleaned from the circumstances under which the documentary was produced that could shed light to the current invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia. As far back as 1980, the fear of Ethiopia invading Somalia was eminent. And that eminency became a reality in that fateful Christmas Eve of December, 25, 2006.
It does not escape the listener that Dr. Hussein puts the question of eminent invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia to the then US Ambassador in Somalia, Mr. Donald Peterson. Equally important is the ambassador’s cold reception and the total absence of diplomatic sympathy to the need for protecting Somalia’s territorial integrity.
It is not much of a surprise that 20 years later (since this documentary was aired) Ethiopia officially invaded Somalia (at its weakest moment so to speak) with a full and official support by the US of Bush-Cheney administration.
Of course this documentary has expressive and immediate urgency for all Somalis, especially for those who seem to have forgotten the essence of their history! At a personal level, though, it narrates my deepest feelings and that of my people. I came to Somalia in 1976, as a mere high school kid, not to go to school but to join the then fledgling Western Somali Liberation Front. After a year and a half of suffering in the hands of less patriotic nominal leaders of the front, which was still in training camp at Qabri Baxar in Lughaya (a subject I will tell some future date), I came to Mogadishu in 1977 and joined Lafole. It was there that I came to know of Dr. Hussein Adam and his work on behalf of a national effort to help liberate Western Somalia (Somali Galbeed). That is the Hussein I knew! Also, so is true with the Dr. Majid that I met in 1979.
Of course, since then a lot have changed, thanks to the late dictator’s destructive policies which eventually precipitated the destruction of Somalia and Somali nationalism too as we knew them!
After listening to “Limits to Submission,” I could only conclude that there is still such a thing called “Somalinimo,” its current detractors notwithstanding. Despite the abundance of naysayers (like Faisal Caliwarab, who claims that a child born in Hargaisa has more affinity with that in Addis Ababa than with his counterpart in Mogadishu; or Abdullahi Yusuf’s futile insistence that Ethiopia came to Somalia to liberate it), Somalis would one day succeed in their search for their existential rights to a safe and sound nation-state.
One leaves the documentary wishing that our people are not after all bad, but they have been beaten down and defeated numerous times, and as such are suffering from deafest pathologies.
If anything, this documentary is a catalog of history and the insurmountable challenges that Somalis have faced to fend off foreigner invaders, particularly Ethiopia which arguably denied us so far the realization of our existential rights to a nation-sate.
In these trying times, the documentary must be availed to all sectors of our society, particularly to the younger generation who are in the present time inundated by clannish and run-away tribalism. I hope we take a serious note of the weight of this rare material. In that regard, it is worth translating it into Somali for a wider circulation.
I thank Dr. Hussein and his family for sharing with us this valuable material. I also like to take this opportunity to thank Bartamaha.com studio by availing this two-part documentary.
Faisal A. Roble
Email:
fabroble@aol.com
WardheerNews
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