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Now the question becomes, if that is the case and all humans have similar values and capabilities, why are certain nations advanced and prosperous, while others are poor and backward? What differentiates the fate of nations and determines whether they will be advanced or backward is not the creed the people in that nation follow or the colour of its people. Rather it is the culture of the people that determines whether the nation would be advanced or backward. In addition, positive culture is similar to positive study habits. That is, any student who studies long hours after school, everyday, will generally do well in his or her school. On the other hand, any student who never studies or barely studies would not do as well as the diligent student. A positive study habit, just like a positive culture, has no creed, and it is colour blind. It does not discriminate against the diligent student regardless of his creed or colour. It does not help the lazy student regardless of his background. Therefore nations who adopt positive cultures of hard work, innovation, accountability, transparency, and political stability will, like the diligent student, achieve technological advances and prosperity for their peoples. On the other hand, nations whose peoples adopt negative cultural practices of political instability, corruption, nepotism, and dictatorship will, like the lazy student, fail to make the cut, and keep their peoples in misery, poverty and backwardness. The interesting thing about culture, be it positive or negative, is that it is not static, rather it is dynamic: it continuously moves among peoples and nations. That is, there is no one particular people on earth that maintained the traits of cultural advancement forever. If that were the case, that nation or its people would have dominated the world forever. That did not happen in the past. And it is not going to happen in the future. Instead, nations and peoples who today follow culturally advanced rules and practices will eventually get lazy, greedy, corrupt, politically unstable, nepotistic, stagnant, economically backward, and in the end hit rock bottom. On the other hand, nations and peoples who have been following negative cultural practices could be infected with the virus of the cultural advancement and become dedicated, stable, innovative, democratic, tolerant, transparent and economically prosperous. This is what we have seen from the rise and fall of empires throughout human history. Empires rose because their leaders and the peoples of those empires adopted advanced cultural practices that made those empires great. Then latter generations of those empires became lethargic and fell into negative cultural practices, and, hence, those empires, one by one, declined and fell to the ground. The clearest and most effective measurement of nation’s cultural advancement can be seen from the attention paid to knowledge gathering, educational excellence, and the level of the standard of living of the people of that nation. The best example of a nation and people that adopted culturally advanced practices and rose to great heights, and then fell to the lethargy and hit rock bottom can be seen from the history of the Muslim World. When Muslims followed culturally advanced practices and valued knowledge, and innovation, and were relatively stable, they were the most powerful empire on earth. However when Muslims succumbed to negative cultural practices of corruption, ignorance, instability, greed, nepotism, rigidity and stagnation, their power and prosperity were gone, and their empire declined and fell to the ground! One of the amazing things about cultural advancement is that it is not only dynamic, but it is also contagious! When a certain country, in a lethargic region, is bitten by the bug of cultural advancement, and its people embark on the journey of upward mobility, they tend to awaken their closest neighbours and infect them with the cultural advancement syndrome! When European Renaissance and its ideas started in Italy, those ideas quickly influenced and uplifted the rest of European countries. When the Japanese started their own cultural advancement and attained prosperity, their success had awakened and inspired Japan’s closest neighbours, the Koreans and the Chinese. And because of enormous success achieved by Japan after the After World War II, Japan’s Asian neighbours were inspired and uplifted so much so that East Asia’s upward mobility is today going on full speed! Like Asia, the Muslim World has been waiting for a country that would lead the way for its own cultural advancement. But that waiting is now over, for Malaysia has decisively and deservedly filled that role. With the ground swelling political change on the horizon, the Muslim World will get the opportunity to ditch its corrupt and incompetent leaders, adopt comprehensive cultural advancement that would completely transform the Muslim world from poor, stagnant, and powerless, into one of the most dynamic regions in the world for decades to come. (Interestingly, of all the Somali students abroad, as a group, it seems our students in Malaysia are the ones most in touch with the pulse and the plight of the Somali people back home. Is it because they live in a region where people are alive, forward looking, and daring; after all, they live in the land of Mahathirs and Al-atas(es), I wonder?) What About Africa….? Africa’s progress is hindered by three problems: 1—Corrupt and incompetent leaders 2—Underestimation of Africa’s capabilities 3—Misplaced Priorities The issue of corrupt and incompetent leaders that Africa is cursed with is well known, and it does not need much elaboration. However since Africa is overwhelmingly a Muslim continent, the problems of corrupt, incompetent, dictatorial leadership is something Africa shares with the rest of the Muslim World. Therefore as the Muslim World transforms from instability, corruption and dictatorship into stability, democracy and transparency, most of African countries will transform along with it. But the two issues that pose the biggest problems for Africa, in my view, are underestimation of African capabilities and misplacement of its priorities. Underestimation of African Capabilities… Underestimation is at best a sign of not being taken seriously and at worst a revelation of deep contempt for the object of the underestimation. The underestimation of African person or the capabilities of African nations manifests itself in various forms. But one of the apparent ones is the overblown celebration of trivial achievements as ‘African success stories’! Some African country, or an African organization or African individual may attain certain achievement that if compared with other countries, or other organizations or other individuals may not be that unusual. But since it relates to Africa and to the Africans such rather ordinary accomplishment would be greeted as an African Success Story! The said African country may not have tangibly improved the lot of its people, its education system, or health care, or seriously fought corruption, or achieved any technological breakthrough. But the mere fact that an African leader pocketed 2/10 of the foreign aid that his country receives instead of stealing the whole amount is cheered and celebrated! What does that mean and what is the message behind the celebration of trivial achievements? The message implied in celebration of mediocre achievements and trivial accomplishments is this: These are Africans, and they were not expected to achieve anything in the first place. And the fact that they got some semblance of stability even in a short period of time, or held a relatively free and fair election even once is truly miraculous! “African Success Story…” I hate that stupid phrase! Don’t get me wrong. I am all for encouraging success and African progress. But I want real progress to be celebrated not trivial ones. If any African country achieves tangible progress in the critical fields of political stability, of education, health care, transparency, and attains a level of economic development that is similar or close to that of say Malaysia, I will be the first to sing the praise of that African country and its leaders. However when a country is in shambles in nearly every measurable standard, an overblown celebration of incremental achievements is unwarranted, because, in truth, such is not a genuine celebration, but rather manifestation of a low opinion about African capabilities. Therefore when we hear these misguided overblown celebrations of the so-called ‘African Success Stories” we Africans should be the farthest from gratification and we should understand the insult! Misplaced Priorities…… Another problem that is cursed with Africa stems not only from the neglect of utilizing its human potential, but great many capable African minds drifted into fruitless fields such as European languages and European Literature that, in practical terms, contribute little or nothing to Africa’s quest for social and economic advancement (no offence to European languages and classics specialists). One of the great things about Lee Kwan Yew, the Singaporean Statesman, is that as far as Africa is concerned not only his empathy is genuine, but also his observations are accurate and to the point. Early in his political career, as he detailed in his biography the Singapore Story, Lee Kwan Yew visited 19 African countries in East, North and West Africa. During that visit Mr. Lee met many African head of states including Kwami Knakruma, the legendary African nationalist. While in Ghana as a guest of President Nkrumah, Mr. Lee also met a young Ghanaian scholar who received the highest possible score on European Classics and whom according to Mr. Lee, President Nkrumah was so proud of. By introducing the young scholar to Mr. Lee and to his other guests, Mr. Nkrumah was apparently trying to impress them, however, Lee Kwan Yew was far from impressed: “Ghana is an agricultural country. And if their best and brightest waste their time on European Classics, who is going to develop the country?!” The Singaporean Statesman wondered. A sad truth expressed without any malice or pretension is a classic Lee Kwan Yew style! Because of the incompetence of our leaders, the underestimation of our capabilities and misdirection of our capacities, Africa drifted backwards while the rest of the humanity moved forward. Decades later when the whole of Africa moved from bad to worse, and Singapore, the tiny, resource less city state, established herself as one of the true successes of the modern world, Lee Kwan Yew met a former Ghanaian minister from the Nkrumah era that Mr. Lee became acquainted with in those days, and was apparently impressed with the Ghanaian Minister’s dignified way of carrying himself. After they cached up with happenings of the last few decades, Mr. Lee asked the former Ghanaian Minster whatever had become of the young European Classics buff that President Nkrumah was so proud of ? The Ghanaian Minster told Mr. Lee that the former classics scholar was now living in a monastery in Southern California! Now there is nothing wrong with the European languages or literature, and certainly there is nothing wrong with the monasteries in Southern California, but when we Africans undervalue our capabilities and misdirect the energies of our best and the brightest, we will never get anywhere! The Leading Pack…… Having said all of that, incompetent African leaders will, eventually, be replaced by competent ones. In addition, satisfaction with mediocrity, underestimation of our capabilities and misdirection of our energy will stop. African intellectuals will abandon fruitless fields and start focussing on productive ones that benefit not only themselves but also their societies as well. Thus, Africans like the rest of the people around the world will wake up, put their houses in order, develop their economies, educational system, health care, and contribute the betterment of the entire humanity. But the awakening and the positive development of Africans will not occur overnight, nor will these developments and transformations take place in all of African countries at the same time. Instead this awakening and these developments will start in one particular African country, and then will spread to rest of African nations and peoples. Just like the European Renaissance started with Italy, and Asian Empowerment started with Japan, and Muslim Ascendancy started with Malaysia, African Renaissance will start in one specific African country, then will spread throughout Africa. Now the question is, which African country will lead the African Renaissance? Will it be Mozambique or Algeria? Mali or Nigeria? Sudan or Ivory Coast? Egypt or South Africa? No one really knows the name of the African country that will lead the African Renaissance. But there is one, unlikely, country that will be among the leading pack of Africa’s quest for development, stability and prosperity. That country is Somalia! This is no joke. Nor is it a mere bias by the author for his motherland, though, certain bias is clearly obvious here, because if the author were not a Somali he would have hardly recognized that Somalia, with the dubious distinction of not having a government for almost two decades, would have much hope to rebuild, much less to be among the leading nations of African Renaissance. One thing that is going for Somalia and is making its efforts to rebuild and prosper a bit easier is neither its history nor its geographic location, but its people. Now Somalis have certain shortcomings. For one thing their discipline is wanting. They are natural nomads who find it difficult to stay in one place for very long. They are impatient and at times resort to shortcuts. Still, as critical as these are, both discipline and patience are learned virtues that with determination can be ameliorated and mastered. And aside from these modifiable shortcomings, Somalis are endowed with some of the most fundamental characteristics that are necessary for any nation’s advancement or people’s upward mobility. For instance, Somalis are highly intelligent and entrepreneurial. They are daring and risk taking, with inner confidence and boundless self-esteem! While much of Africa’s misery, including Somalia’s, is clearly home grown , the destructive legacy of the European colonialism cannot be overlooked. And all of African countries, few have suffered the destructive legacy of the European colonialism as did Somalia. In the aftermath of the Scramble for Africa, the Somali nation was dismembered and chopped into five separate limbs, and each limb was grabbed by different colonial master: French Somali Coast(Djibouti) was grabbed and colonized by France. British Somaliland(North Somalia) was colonized by Britain. South -West Somalia that is known as N.F.D (north frontier District) was also grabbed by Britain, which later on illegally transferred the region to Kenya. Southern Somalia was grabbed by Italy. And with the help of Britain, Ethiopia grabbed the Ogaden region. In 1960 British Somaliland (north Somalia) and the Italian Somaliland(southern Somalia) became independent, formed a union and established the Somali Republic. From day one, the Somali nation’s energy and resources were consumed by the irredentist wars and efforts to reclaim the Somali territories still under the Ethiopian and Kenyan occupation, Ogaden and N.F.D respectively, the most significant war of these being the Ogaden war of 1977, in which Somalia and the Western Somali Liberation Front(WSLF) liberated over 95% of the Somali territory occupied by Ethiopia. In the end, however, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw partners fully supported Ethiopia, while Jimmy Carter’s administration in the US refused to help Somalia under the pretext “of not wanting to add fuel into the fire”. Therefore without any help and facing the most powerful military pact in the world, all alone, Somalia was forced to withdraw her forces from Ogaden, and Somalia as a nation never recovered from such military and psychological defeats! As we all know, in the aftermath of the Ogaden war, some officers in the Somali armed forces plotted a coup against Mr. Barre’s regime. The coup failed, but the regime from that day on resorted to destructive policy of collective punishment against certain groups. And hence, the repercussions of that irredentist war directly led to the collapse of the Somali State in 1991, and civil war ensued. The Re-Emergence of The Somali Republic….. As destructive as the Somali Civil War had been, still there had been a silver lining in the tragedy: Over one million Somalis fled the country and are now scattered throughout the world. And while the exodus of Somalis from their country is far from being positive, still thousands upon thousands of Somalis got opportunities for higher learning, specialized in various fields and got exposed to modern ideas. In addition there are thousands upon thousands of Somali businessmen and businesswomen who established and today own thriving businesses throughout the world from Canada and the US, to South Africa and Eastern African countries throughout continental Europe and the Middle East. One good example underlining the brilliancy of Somali entrepreneurs is their establishment of the Somali Hawala or money transferring System. This Somali Money Transferring System is one the fastest, most efficient, and most competitive money transferring system in the world, so much so that international money transferring systems such as Western Union are in comparison costly and inefficient, and can never compete in an environment where the Somali Money Transferring System exists and people are aware of it. The Somali money transferring system is safe, extremely reliable, and very competitive because for every dollar the Western Union charges as service fee, the Somali money transferring system charges only $0.25 cents! Moreover the Somali money transferring system can deliver remittance to their destination within 24 hours in anywhere in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Pakistan, India and most of African countries. Mohamed Hebaan ______________________________________________________________ We welcome the submission of all articles for possible publication on WardheerNews.com |
