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Have they no shame? |
By Geeljire
Oct 10, 2007
I've always been told that self-hate is the
worst form of vice. However I came to
realize that there is a worse form of vice.
Hate toward your brother is the worst kind
and is one that leads you to disavow his
pain. As all of us know there are several
websites that discuss different Somali
interest. Now I use the word Somali as a
definition of people and not the country.
The opinions on these sites vary as much as
there are websites, and really at the end of
the day that isn’t such a bad thing.
However, as is the case for most, a friend
forwarded me some sites that are blatantly
designed to hurt Somalis and more
particularly sites that attack fellow
Somalis that hail from the Ogaden.
Now their motivation is difficult to measure
since I am not the Almighty and can’t look
into their hearts, however it seems that
some of these sites embrace ideas that are
counter to what simple logic should lead one
to conclude. For example there are sites
that are in Somali that have not only posted
Mr. Peter Pham’s full testimony at the U.S.
Congressional hearing last week, but have
actually defended his positions.
I am not sure if most of you know this
gentleman, but suffice it to say he IS NO
friend of the Somali people. Neither is he a
buddy to those from the Ogaden. Using a
“Somali” platform to present his point of
view, his writings and defending his
assertions tells me there is more to these
sitesthan just people with an opposing view.
This man blamed the plight of the nearly
half a million internally displaced refugees
in Mogadishu on the Somalis themselves
instead of the real culprits i.e. the
Ethiopian forces that have been shelling
indiscriminately into homes and markets.
As if hired by the devil himself, this
Woyane agent is what he is, a poor excuse
for an academic on the subject of the Horn
of Africa. His commentary, filled with
a bunch of heresy and Ethiopian propaganda,
is incoherent, and an incomplete assertion,
which is coupled with a complete lack of
basic understanding of the very people he
claims to be an expert on. It is clear his
expertise is on blurring the facts on the
ground with
half-truths and tainted conclusions, which
makes one wonder “Is he getting
paid for this?”
He further continues his assault on the
Ogaden people’s cry for help with his
uneducated analysis that says that Ogaden
people are all some kind of Islamic
militants. Without presenting a shred of
evidence, he attempts, but fails
horrendously, to link the Ogaden issue to
the global war on terror. Imagine what Mr.
Pham wants you to believe in his
presentations. That poor woman who has to
burry her husband; watch her son hide in the
bushes for his safety and then is witness to
the defiling of her daughter
–is somehow a terrorist!
In the same breath, he forcefully defends
this Woyane regime’s legitimacy to attack
civilians as he paints the victims as some
kind of militant bandits. Thus minimizing
the Ogaden issue as an "insurrection" akin
to some bygone era of a colonizer and of
indigenous people’s unwillingness to be
tamed, as opposed to what the world has
recognized as GROSS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS.
It is my humble opinion that any Somali that
gives this person a platform is in serious
need of psychiatric examination, as this man
only blames Somalis when the blame clearly
belongs elsewhere.
Sites that are giving a platform to the very
people like Mr. Pham who are blaming the
Somali victims rather than their aggressors,
I believe are shameful reminders of
the depth that we must go to "rescue" our
own people from the ignorance caused by
generations of oppression. The most
effective oppressor was the one that made
the oppressed people turn against themselves
with intent to cause bloodshed. Today we
don’t have to look very far to see silly
conflicts within various Somali communities,
so one must ask him/her self – Who is to
gain?
While we are focusing on educating the world
about the plight and the misery of the
people of Ogaden, we mustn't forget about
those that are of the Ogaden Somalis who
find the fault from within and not without.
It occurs to me that we don't all see the
solution the same way and shouldn't, but
what do you say about those that don't see
the problem at all.
Are they blind, made to be blind, or merely
shielding their eyes from reality? Perhaps
they are living in an imaginary world with
an alternative history and indeed an
alternative present as they dissect facts,
yet come up with conclusions that are
clearly not logical. I don't feel anger at
these people but only pity them. I feel
sorry for these kinsmen of mine who easily
find fault with their own kin, while giving
a pass to the true culprit of the crimes
that are waged against the poor people of
the Ogaden. The very same poor people
that they instantly will profess their
allegiance, yet they lack the heart or soul
to defend their people's right to speak up
about their horrors!
The realities dictate that it is obvious to
have civil servants, teachers and the like
to work for the Ethiopian government. And I
don’t profess to paint all of them as
unworthy. Indeed the various reasons that
those that live in Ogaden who work for the
Ethiopian regime can be understandable to a
point – except the one that fights for the
Woyane to kill and maim his own people.
But I digress; what I am pointing at here
are those that are unflinching in their full
disregard for the desperate situation of the
people while living outside in the West. So
much so, that they are unwilling to call a
spade what it is - a spade.
Politics alone cannot explain it, nor can
logic as one watch purported Ogaden Somalis
professing that Human Rights abuses aren’t
occurring. It can’t be politics that makes
Ogaden Somalis turn their guns, figurative
or real, on their own while they completely
give a pass to the Woyane.
Although feeling shame is an element of
consciousness, one must wonder the darkness
in the poor soul that prevents the mere
reality of his brother’s pain. The question
"have they no shame" falls flat on its face
- as they clearly don’t have any shame when
it comes to acknowledging that poor young
girls are raped and an entire nation is
being held captive on the barrel of a gun.
Have they no shame?
OG Geeljire
OG.Geeljire@gmail.com
Oct 10, 2007 |
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