By Abdiwahab M. Ali
“The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history, Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long the nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was. The world around it will forget even faster……THE STRUGGLE OF THE MAN AGAINST POWER IS THE STRUGGLE OF MEMORY AGAINST FORGETTING.” Milan Kundera
Time is almost ticking into months, if not a year, since I have gotten back to Somalia, a country not exactly known for positive headlines, and I am worried that I may too have been sucked into that cycle of negativity.
In the same breadth, let truth be told; I only got to see good headlines about our country once in blue moon, thanks to the western media’s negligence and lack of interest coupled with the local media’s bias, tribal zealotry, and gross incompetence.
The more you look deeply into the country’s status quo, the more you realize that we are between hope and despair, calamity and good fortune, and defeat and recovery.
That is the crisis we have as Somalis: every a few steps of going forward is met with a few more steps of going backward. It is an endless and, indeed, a vicious cycle.
WAR FOR MINDS; THE NEW COLONY
What drove me to write this article was—not into the country’s political landscape but instead—to show and share with you this thrilling story of the picture above. Think about it!
On a recent Thursday at Garowe, a city in the northeast of Somalia, someone called and informed me that I should come and participate a workshop. I did not know the caller nor could I trace the call but the caller had basic information about me and some of my colleagues. That is the nature of Somali cities; no discussions of scholarly debates but instead loads of rumors and innuendos.
Then, out of the blue, a long-lost, ex-school teammate surfaced. We hugged each other and started exchanging tight-hugs and warm greetings. He prompted me to reflect on issues gripping the country.
Casualness, notwithstanding though, I profited considerably from the reflection as a self-tuition exercise of sorts, excited was my feeling when the present memory collides with the past, giving nice and optimistic future.
It was delightful to reconnect with someone who had been once a fellow teenager back to old days, but as we chatted while strolling on the walkways of a street, my attention was drawn to a university billboard (the Picture above) and something odd emerged from that introspection that pissed me off. I hemmed and hawed for a while, almost losing speech (a normal reflex I have when I am shocked and annoyed).
What astounded me was the fact the absence of our beloved Somali script on commercial billboards in favor of the non-Latin asymmetrical Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. The image, to me, was gruesome, shocking and an ugly indictment of the Somali language. Something needs to be done about this campaign of marginalizing our native tongue before it becomes an endangered language.
This was very disappointing; and upsetting display of a picture for the following reasons:
1- The Amharic language is neither an international language nor a major regional language such as Swahili. I would have been less offended if the language on the billboard was say Italian or Arabic. The Amharic script, in essence, outdid our second official language: Arabic, the language of the Qur’an.
2- Advertising in Amharic, the language of Somalia’s centuries’ old rival, is the essence of self-defeat.
Common sense is not common
Tackling with such scenarios, needs neither Harvard- Graduate nor it needs former Chief Executive Officers of any Org. It is all about- Common sense- to make a distinction between the rights and wrongs, to paraphrase Indian philosopher’s words “there is a higher court than court of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts”
Don’t get me wrong, I should agree with Anthony Onyemachi’s scholarly article “Globalization, dying languages and the futility of saving them,” which aptly states that “Globalization is inevitable and it devastates minor languages.” the fact is, Amharic and Somali simply do not mix the same way, as former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi once said, “gas and alcohol don’t mix.”
Honestly, this shows the failure of our institutions, and myopic leaders whose greed and selfishness would even shame even the vilest hyena. These are Leaders who can’t stay put and instead shuttle between Somalia and Addis Ababa for political consultations. Addis Ababa, to them, has become like a holy land being visited, very regularly, to get blessings. Leaders blinded by hubris and unbridled arrogance; the less said about them the better.
Let us not hesitate to admit that we are heading into bottomless pit, but, as people say, at the end of every tunnel, however long it is, there is light.
Allow me to finish the story with the words of Confucius, “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
Eid MUBARAK to all MUSLIMS
Abdiwahab M. Ali
Email:[email protected]
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Abdiwahab is freelance writer and social commentator, follow his twitter @Waberijr.
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