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[SW Column] (Awale Ali Kulane ) I M Lewis “Ethnocentrism” and Mogadishu scrap worthwhile - “Ethnocentrism is the natural condition of man kind” I. M. Lewis :Posted on 3 Nov 2002

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I M Lewis “Ethnocentrism” and Mogadishu scrap worthwhile

“Ethnocentrism is the natural condition of man kind” I. M. Lewis

By Awale Ali Kullane, awale@yahoo.com

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The term Ethnocentrism is used to describe prejudicial attitudes between in-groups and out-groups by which our attitude, customs and behavior are unquestionably and uncertainly treated as superior to their social arrangements. It’s also demonstrated that professor often knowingly, import narrow, parochial assumption; drown from his forty and so year’s bias observation into the lecture in YMCA.

The lecture (The Scrap Merchants of Mogadishu By I. M. Lewis) of the well famous professor, concurred with what was a simple overrated, prejudice-spreading professor, who even in his statement contradicted himself, generalized and most importantly fueled the clan barriers that already crippled the Somali people.

The Professor employed the clan names as the same approach that a scrap-merchant (a term he so unnecessarily coined to group in the south) would employ it, since his qualitative observation could not have been a quantitative result or a census study. The professor had no right to name clans and blame some, without a direct measurable study to the clans and all of them. The out come he provided was one of prejudice in a golden plate.

Although the professor fails to mention that, the population in Puntland and Somaliland put together are a lot less then the population in Mogadishu alone. In addition to Mogadishu being built by all Somalis, and an approximate of 2 million people in Mogadishu the capital city. Probably it’s the only place in Somalia where you have a scrap worthwhile.

The professor marveled on attacking the warlords or should I say specially selected the group in the south, without genuinely considering of what gives rise to the current leaders, warlords or mini-clan nations (qabiil-lands)? The answer is in holistic point of view, clanism or (qabyaalad), the sole factor that blurred any Somali progress, because of its luck of measurement and accountability within, clanism has multi definitions in multi stages and for multi groups. Since the classification of the professor Lewis has been one of nominal scale which is the lowest level of measurement (A scale with data classified by names of clans), it is not reliable nor valid to provide some sort of ordinal scale by gazing at the nominal scale, it is one of highly misrepresentation, The professor had been no different then the scrap-merchants he accuses, since he classifies the clans the same way a warlord does. Mr. Lewis judges without scientific and empirical quantifiable measurements, regardless of how much of a professor one is, or what university he directed on, not a soul has the right to judge, claim and accuse a clan, through observation of parts of Somalia and information from well known friends.

Prof: Lewis remedy to the Somali sticky situations

Once more the professor recommended that, the Somali regional states should be what other Somalis should follow (e.g. Somaliland, Puntland and Qabiil-Land). The qabiil based regional states or Qabiil-lands are far from a federal state or federalism, the poor professor even overlook to mention that the same underlying principle that allows people to support Puntland and Somaliland, is the same reason that people support the scrap-merchants, which is clanism (Qabyaalad), So if we follow the Dr Lewis three steps to peace prescription, the scrap-merchants he so well named, prepared some quarters called members of their clans and inaugurated them as MPs and tagged the building a parliament, and assigned themselves as presidents, probably we would have progressed from warlords to regional states as prescribed by I. M. Lewis which again and simply said “turn the warlords into mini states” without thinking of the consequences, Mr. Lewis what would you gain by a long lasting hostility within the Somali people?

Warlords à Qabiil-land = Qabyo

The warlords are becoming more understanding and political then the famous professors because some of them actually advice against mini states, The professor states that it’s a progress and Somaliland should be a state of its own because Peace which is relative and the havoc in the south of Somalia, constitutes a Somaliland state or a Puntland state, May god keep Somaliland in peace, conversely if hypothetically, there was an internal civil-war within Somaliland, and that the most forceful sub-clan in Hargeysa decided to became a state of its own (Hargeysa-Land). How would a Somali Lander feel? Then probably one would imagine how a Somali unity seeking person would feel.

The irony is the same rule that divides clan from a nation divides a sub-clan from a clan, and since this rule has been a certain possibility, isn't it time for every Somali to discard clan before it discards what’s left of Somalia.

The most important issue the professor failed to mention is the fear factor and selected memories among Somalis or (the clan costumed history) that provokes and turns every Somali to his own, is the idea we have to reverse as Somalis, I was expecting from the professor a reverse formula but not a speedy one to destruction and fragmentations. Its time we took responsibility of our action instead of moving the virus and renaming it from a warlord to mini-states or qabiil-land, and since it’s the people that instigate the existence of a warlord due to fear they have from each other. Since it’s the Somalis that create these qabiil-land and warlords, isn’t it time we educated the mass, so that they can select leaders that will take Somali to the world instead of half a mile away.

I often said we need leaders that can see the world in its true colors, rather then the Somali so called politics that only have spectacles with clan colors.

It’s a proof that the professor is producing such spectacles for Somali politicians to see in clan colors. Why he does it, is the question?

The professor cracked a joke that was “How many final reconciliation meetings will we have” not knowing that for us Somalis we all hope that each one is the last one, because while he writes about the results in his books, a Somali child somewhere is dying for the barriers the professor is building and fear its creating among the Somali people.

I M Lewis “Ethnocentrism” = prejudice professional

Awale Ali Kullane, Awale@yahoo.com

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