Day: May 13, 2021

HOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IS ALTERNATIVE REALITY?

When European colonial racists said black people are inferior intellectually to the white people, does the matter require fact-check? Strangely, some blacks began to believe in this big lie. Any person of any race is inferior in intellect, when not given an opportunity in education and other blessings of life. Similarly, when some Somalis claim that existing Somali federalism is clannish or clan-based federalism, is that a fact-based reality or “alternative reality?” Could you establish a federal state with regions having not shared borders, for example, Mudugh and Lower Shabelle Regions? Or Hiiraan and Nugaal Regions? Could you create a viable federal state with communities not so keen to have a common regional state, for their own reasons? Then, what are they talking about when they malign and denounce Somali federalism? In fact, they have re-birth of city-state of Mogadishu in mind. Unfortunately, some people started to believe in this fallacy and deception after surviving through the mayhem of civil war caused by tyranny and police state in Mogadishu.

Alternative reality is a fancy phrase for a lie. There is no alternative fact, but a fact. The phrase “fake news” used by Trump and Trumpers is a denial of truth and defence tools against exposure of truth.

The phrase “Nabad and Nolool” now used by Farmajo Administration has nothing to do with peace and people’s lives. It is an empty phrase to smokescreen reality with false image of better life to come. It is truly a fake attempt to mislead gullible citizens as a tool for a demogogue. Take Farmajo’s Somali National Army, SNA. It is a collection of Civil War clan militias of South-Central Somalia. SNA is just euphemism for the remnants of clan militias of warlords, Union of Islamic Courts, Al-Shabab and predatory Mogadishu business community. It is a fake national army – an alternative reality.

The people of the world thought the era of Hitler’s propaganda Minister, Paul Joseph Goebbels (photo above), who said that repeating lies often enough would make them true, would never happen again. This has been proven to be not the case. It is happening now.

Because Somalis aren’t equipped with the tools of fact-checking in terms of education in the absence of accepted neutral think-tanks and opportunities for independent research assistance, they are susceptible to misleading misinformation and deception by unscrupulous individuals and entities, including partisan politicians and interest groups.

Watch “The GOP LIES Liz Cheney Was JUST FINE With” on YouTube

THE COMPETING SERMONS OF RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS ROCK GAROWE TODAY.

Editor’s Note. Religious sects of Sunni teaching in Somalia are no longer interested in confronting extremists among their ranks. That is because they have become the new political, religious and business elites of Somalia. Now they aren’t limited anymore to religious scholarship and conveying the message of Allah. They are now more inclined to mind their worldly business. You won’t see taarigas (sects) fighting or bashing each other anymore in this country. The question is who would confront Al-Shabab or other extremists ideologically when the New Religious Elites of Somalia aren’t ready to sponsor God’s good message on earth? The article to follow is drawn from WDM archives. Take a read.

It sounds like a fresh victory day of Islam in Garowe today, modeling Bilal in the dawn of the religion. Unsynchronized refrains of “Allah The Great” rocks the City from every corner. The local mosque imams seem to compete with better sermons and religious knowledge. Some recite the Qur’anic verses in traditional Somali fashion. They call themselves “Sunna Wal Jamaaca” religious scholars. They are bent on making the religion user- friendly with a blend of suffism and references to cult of religious personalities in Somalia and beyond. Others read out the verses in typical arabic accent, sounding even better than native Arabs in their deliberations. They consider themselves more scholarly than the untravelled home-grown traditional Sheikhs. They practise more fundamental approach to Islam and strict adherence to the Book. Some people accuse them of pursuing hardline position in a Sunni society with liberal religious views, while the fundamentalists allege others of not strictly following the proper teachings of Islam. These sectarian religious groups avoid each others’ mosques or places of worship, a clear indication of how far they are irreconcilable, and how deep their contradictions run. In general, these religious rivalries aren’t new developments. Divisions and subdivisions of sectarian nature in Islam have been existing since the death of Prophet Mohamed (SCWS). Our current concern is that this country is too fragile to handle these destabilizing religious contradictions.

The various styles of reciting Qur’anic verses coming from every city in Somalia’s mosques sound amplifiers are microcosm of internal struggle and religious sectarianism that has been growing steadily in Somalia for the past four-five decades. This fact is one of the most crucial dimensions in Somalia’s body politics today. The fact that it is overlooked and underestimated when deliberating on Somalia’s national and regional issues is a fatal academic and political miscalculation. Resolving Somalia’s political conflicts along the path to national reconciliation must take into account the religious factor, societal problems posed by religious sectarianism or “Tariqa” conflicts.

Eid Mubarak to you all!

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