Quit Pasturalism, Embrace Agriculture for Development.

[NGONGE]

What a long and complicated debate you have on here, man!

 

In reply to the original question about moving on from a nomadic culture to a farming one! I’m not really sure this is something that can be planned or forced on a population. It’s more to do with necessity and opportunities. I suspect that nomads are what they are because that’s the only way for them to make a living. We already know that not all Somalis are nomads or lead a nomadic lifestyle. But, we also know that many of those who don’t lead a nomadic lifestyle now were nomads in the past (or their ancestors were). This leads me to conclude that those who still lead a nomadic way of living only do so because of the lack of opportunities to do something else.

 

To move from our nomadic way of life into an urban/agricultural way of life would result in the disintegration of most nomadic values and dilution of its foundations. Nomadic life relies on the group and how each person fits in within its dynamics. The tribe and clan culture is a prominent part of nomadic life; to abandon our nomadic ways would sooner or later result in the abandonment of that culture (tribe & clan culture). I can only assume that this was what the original poster was aiming for here. For if we relegate nomadisim (does this word exist?) into becoming nothing more than folklore or a historical tradition that we look back on fondly but don’t practice anymore, we will also rid ourselves of the main reasons for our current predicament (War Lords using tribalism to get their way). I’m not talking about the herding of camels, goats and other life stock here; I’m talking about the rules, values and principles of the nomadic life.

 

Is it ever going to happen though? Well, for it to really happen, there must be some huge incentives to convince people to abandon their way of life and embrace the new way. One of these incentives is to convince and demonstrate to individuals that they can survive on their own without the need to rely on a tribe or clan (unfortunately, I don’t think many can right now).

 

 

Hmmmm, I seem to be rambling on now. I’ll stop.

[Paragon]

I’m not really sure this is something that can be planned or forced on a population. It’s more to do with necessity and opportunities. I suspect that nomads are what they are because that’s the only way for them to make a living.

NGONGE, well said sxb. But we can't be nostalgic about what Nomadism stood for or means to us now. To develop, we have to adapt different economic strategies. Instead of 'necessity' forcing us into it, its better if we plan it before hand.

[Coloow]

Assalamu calaykum,

 

Zaylici, the percentages saying nothing. Of course 40 percent of somali territory is good for grazing, 50 percents of camels live in somalia etc...but what does that really saying? The 10 percent of fertile land for agriculture is densely populated compared to the 40 percent grazing land.

 

The truth of the matter is that most somalis dwell in cities , followed by farmers and pastrolism comes a good third.

 

The notion that somalis are nomads is a social construction that was fuelled by successive governments in somalia and the pseudo intellectuals westerners who belived them.

[Paragon]

Originally posted by Caaqil:

Assalamu calaykum,

 

The notion that somalis are nomads is a social construction that was fuelled by successive governments in somalia and the pseudo intellectuals westerners who belived them.

Sxb, I guess you could argue that the 'Nomad' syndrome is programmed into the framework of Somali Social thought. Many things have become part and percel of Somali social thought. When i say Somali social thought, i mean the thought of those politically empowered nomadic 'Bilis' class (its an ugly division). The reason why Nomadism is prefered most, it seems, is because of its association with the ''Bilis' class and not the 'Boon' class. This is a mindset that needs altering and re-engineering.

 

Disturbingly, the association of farming/fishing and craftmanship to the 'Boon' class and not to the 'Bilis'class is conceptual hurdle that makes difficult the attempts of transition - from Nomadism to Agriculturalism. In the last few weeks, I have been doing abit of reading regarding Somali artisan clans and the causal factor for their seclusion from power politics and poetic activities. I have found out that the reason for this seclusion has been facilitated by a so-called 'Nomadic Moral codes'.As legend has it, Somali Nomads didn't become craftmen or farmers due to the belief that the Artisan clans are immoral in their economic dealings, and to avoid such immorality, some sort of moral code has to be maintained. The mo money the mo problems-like philosophy.

 

The farmer or the artisan's easy access to valued materials and possessions (capitalism of a sort), they claim, increases the greed and negative aspects of the individual and undermines his/her sense of community or attatchment to others, thus weaking the clan in general. After pondering their 'Nomadic' reasoning deeply, I realised that the formation of clan allegiances was nothing but the 'Dependency Theory' of Latin America's academics.

 

PS: I have posted this message in a hurry. Insha-Allaah forgive any spelling or grammatical errors.

[Alle-ubaahne]

An interesting debate, Masha-Allah.

 

I remember reading a paper discussing about the strategical vast space of farming available in somalia. It read, the 700 million hectars of farming land in Somalia can cover the agricultural needs of the entire african continent. I don't know exactly how 700 million hectars of farming land looks like, but I think tells us something worth discovering so as to overcome the struggle to sustain our people in terms of food amenities.

 

I think the best instrument to use for changing the mindset of our people and the misconceptions relating to the farming lifestyles, is to encourage people through understanding the significance of Islam and the obligation for the Muslim person to become always a productive member of the community. I believe without sticking to the western social engineering skills, we can create a productive culture where our people can set a constructive objectives that are compatible with Islam.

 

There must be numerious ways in Islam that can empower our people for understanding the value of agricultural practices and the dependancy of farming at home. Yes, with the meaningful course of action to prepare our people as farm-oriented sociaty, we need to embark something that can skilfully change the mindset of our people. Therefore, Islam can surely play that role effectively if the given objective was to steer our people to the agricultural direction.

[Coloow]

J11, Good points!

 

Nomadism has become the trademark of somalis although any sound scrutiny tells us the vast majority of those who call themselves nomads were born in urbanised areas. The demographic situation

in somalia is 1) The densely populated south is inhabited by small scale farmers and trade. 2) The north too (with arabsiyo and the fertile belts are home to many farmers).

 

The reason why Africa in general and somalia in particular is lagging behind in terms of economic development is the nomenculture of ilbaxnimo. Through this pseudoculture of immitation, many of us have a negative attitude to consuming products that endogenous to our region. For ex; the consumtion of maize, millet and other kinds of crops are viewed as inferior. In their place the geeljire turned urban would prefer rice and pasta.

 

The camel, which many somalis are fond of is becoming a rare animal on the landscape of several regions. The somali camel is today found in the NFD (where I hailed from- my dad has a few of them), western somalia, the bakool and bay regions and the haud. But many of the camelherding is combined with some kind of farming or city life.

 

The somali economy has for decades being driven by agriculture, small scale production and entrepreunship. As you clearly stated, many of those who do that kind of businesses are given names/titles etc and in the process induced to change profession.

 

Most of the developed nations of the world have attained their competitive strengths due to active policy of encouraging what we somalis feel are inferior professions: Handcraft, farming and small scale business development.

 

The subject of somali nomadism is one of the reasons why we have the mess in somalia. It has apart from discoursal reasons, led to somalis embracing the notion of uniformity in terms of culture. The camel and nomadic life has/was the source of what is generally termed as somali culture. Thus, we have a camelisation of somali culture.

 

Unfortunately, many educated somalis in the west and at home are not daring to discuss what sector of the somali economy is the largest. You'd find them write somalis are nomads, how sacred the camel is and create this social construction.

 

p.s the same disclaimer applies.

 

By the way did you people read this article?

 

The politics of MALAAY & KALLUUN

(Unity in diversity makes the stronger bond.)

 

Let me start with the preface that the main aim of this sensitive article is to pinpoint the past mistakes of all of us- Somali communities and regimes- committed and we should learn from mistakes. We will never forget the mistakes but we forgive so that the same mistakes will not be repeated.

 

Revenge is also worse than the mistake because it multiplies the magnitude of the mistake.

 

Forgiving while pinpointing the mistake is the best solution to prevent a repetition of a mistake.

 

In every country , there are several communities that differ from each other in certain ways of life – let it be the dialects of the language , the physical gestures , attitudes , characters and ways of thinking that gave each community its special identity.

 

What makes a nation stable and progressive is the unanimous generalization of the freedom to practice these identities by its community and the respect for each community to the other.

 

Part of the problems in our country came from lack of every community to recognize and respect for other communities’ identities and the wish to dominate them in many ways. It is a social disaster when the president utilizes his political powers to subjugate the identities of certain community and propagate those of others and to the worst of it if he makes it a national duty.

 

Words are formed naturally out of certain cultures and interactions and if they have to be fabricated, it should not serve short term objectives only.

 

The word “ HANTIGOOSAD†which means capitalism has a negative impression on every Somali speaking at the mere spell of it because its creators were at the time solid followers of the socialist ideology and were in high esteem for it.

 

It also compelled them to give a decorated name “HANTIWADAAG†to its adversary rival “The Socialismâ€; If the Somali government was a strong ally of the WEST and the capitalist ideology was adopted in the country, we would end up having a beautiful name for the capitalism and an ugly one for the socialism.

 

While the phrases like “ MALAAYAAN CUNOOYAA “ and “ KALLUUN BAAN CUNAHAYAA†both have same meaning unfortunately those who speak the latter phrase were considered as better Somali speaking citizens.

 

Does it harm if the teacher of an elementary school in Mogadishu uses the word “MALAAY’ while the one in the northern part of the county keeps the word “KALLUUN†and pupils of both sides would enjoy the language. In India there are fifteen principal languages and different dialects and each region uses its regional language in school teaching, newspapers, radio broadcasts while the Hindi language is the main official language. In Italy and other European countries , there are various dialects and languages with in each nation.

 

I would consider it a progressive step if the communities of D&M were allowed to teach MAAY MAAY dialects in schools , have regional MAAY language radio broadcast and create arts and music of MAAY MAAY origin while the Somali official language which was not purely based on any regional dialect would be their official language.

 

The new government should respect each and every small and big community in Somalia and allow them to practice their identities freely and fully in their regions..

 

The word “JAALLE†was never heard in the southern part of the country before the 1969 revolution that came along with new prevailing words.

 

We have had enough lessons from the 15 years of difficult times and what lessons we learn should not only be the great losses of life without government but also the urgent need to recognize the special identities of every community that are the pillars of our nation.

 

Should we have to expect the words like AREE , BOOWE , ARIIROW to be equally filling the Somali national newspapers and radios when the communities that use these words respectively become the ruling giants.

 

If we call it MALAAY , KALAAY OR TALAAY , the importance is that people recognize it for something called FISH but unfortunately very precious words that were originally fluently used in the BENADIR region have vanished because they were made into a shameful whispers instead of proud language that emanated from ancient history and culture.

 

I wonder if any reader from the northern regions of Somalia ever heard of the following words :

 

FUUQ, FASHAQ, KURTA , SHARUUR , MOXOGGO, DHANGALOW , CAANABARAAWE, BEYDAAN, SHALIMAANTALAHAAN,BARJIN,

 

and I would also like to know if some of the southerners themselves ever heard of the following:

 

ALKUN , GAFAR , MANJEERO , URUG, MAAYADA WAA MAAJISAY, BAFTO, UKUR , DHAARAAN,

 

Let Qawdhan proudly keep in his lips words like “ HEEDHE†while Macaani will always happily use “ SAAS MAAHINOO†with his own people and when Macaani and Qawdhan meet occasionally , we let them find a neutral way of communication , each learning what the other means and the official language of the country will have the full features of this neutral way.

 

Every community in Somalia has traditions and dialects special to its identity and we have to admit to be learning from each tradition and letting each to promote its values and by that way we let the democratic principles in our social lives prevail and lead us into a progressive society.

 

I personally feel at ease whenever I utter the phrases like “ SAAS MAAHINOO “ instead of “ MIYAANU CEYNKAA AHEYN†Which my body , brain and mouth all consume a potential energy equal to ten liters of petrol .

 

Awes A.Osman

 

thenewsomaliagroup@hotmail.com

[Paragon]

Alle-ubaahne, Caaqil iyo Warya-Dude,

 

Saaxiibayaal - aad baad u mahadsantihiin. I enjoyed every line you guys wrote. Thanks indeed!

 

Gentlemen, debate or discusion is on-going...

[Paragon]

Caaqil: I know you are an Economics student, so sxb, can you suggest an economic development programme (Model) for a country like Somalia? A country that has to start literary from the scratch?

 

I would also like to ask the same of all other thoughful nomads.

 

PS: Maybe a platform for progressive Somali thought would be needed. A platform that acknowledges genuine thinkers and helps anyone who comes out with plausible approaches, theories and breakthroughs. Instead of objecting each other's thoughts and opinions, maybe it would be worthwhile to explore them and if possible give a helping hand to each other's in buidling on these thoughts to kickstart a wealth of knowledge. It is good to read foreign books only if they assist one to develop his/her own views and thoughts.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Coloow]

Jamaal1,

 

Ciid mubarak,

 

Eeg boggagan:

 

http://www.somalishir.org/economy/economy_of_somalia.htm

 

http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/africa/publications/africa_notes/1999/december.pdf

[Coloow]

Jamaal11, Join this discussion on how to capitalise on entrepreneurship in failed states and leave your 50 cents bro.

 

http://rru.worldbank.org/Discussions/topics/topic56.aspx

[Paragon]

Gladly Brother, Caaqil. Shukran!

 

Sxb I am a registered member in somalishir since 2002. Its one of the best sites around about Somalia's economy development.

 

PS: I read your working paper for the third time. Thats how good I thought of it though still a draft.

[Coloow]

Jamaal, 11... Actually, I am editing it and insha allah waan kuu soo dirayaa markii aan dhameeyo (after 6th of december)

[Paragon]

Insha-allah bro. Good luck with it bro, hope it fetches high marks, aamiin.

[Paragon]

revive it

[Paragon]

To be discussed.