This is a touchy subject but it is something that must be tackled. It is extremely unavoidable to discuss clan in Somalia. It is part of everyday life and it is used differently by different groups.
In Somalia you see how negatively clan has been used. People used it to cause harm to one another. If you want to get rid-off someone and they are in a place where they are minority clan, you could point to everyone who they are and before you know it they are leaving the city and going to another city where their clan is the majority (this is an extreme case but it can happen and I am SURE it did happened before).
Anyways, the people that use clan for the right reasons are the nomads (nomadism is actually endangered but this is another topic). If you are in a minority clan and you come to a nomadic household, they will welcome you and treat you better then their children or their clansmen because you are a guest and far from your own clan. Today, if you come to a city that doesn’t belong to your clan, you will not be welcomed, but be treated quite the opposite although no one will come to you directly and make you feel uncomfortable.
Another way the nomads use tribe positively or the way it is suppose to be used, is that if your clan lives with them but you are a minority they offer you their protection. They usually adopt minority groups into their tribe so that no one can mess with them. This has great implications. For example, here in Somalia, someone will think twice before they try to kill me because I have a clan. Why is this important? Well if I have a clan they will avenge my death and make sure that my killer is brought into justice (basically killed unless they pay an amount my family states). This is the main reason why I am able to freely walk around the streets of Bososo and a foreigner can not. It is easier to kill a foreigner then a Somali because there is no government to hold you accountable and no clan to offer them protection.
Another positive aspect of clan is that it gives you a protection. As some of you know, if you don’t have a clan basically you can not call yourself a Somali. Your clan makes you a Somali and distinct from other nationality. Right now, if someone wants to find me, it will take them a very long time if they don’t know my clan. But if they know my clan and my sub-clan, they can easily within about an hour or so find out where I am exactly (I am not sure if this is a good or bad things yet, I like some privacy you know).
In addition, although many people claim that the civil war in Somalia was about clan, in reality, it had nothing to do with clan. Clan was the mobilizing factor used to get people’s blood boiling. The real issue was about power. Few men wanted to get on the seat from the time of independence but were not given the chance. Clan was not really a factor. But because the majority of the populations were uneducated and vulnerable to external influence, they were easily led to believe that the warlords were acting on the interest of their clan. Clan wars did occur even before independence but it never got out of hand. The elders from each clan resolved the issue after some time of fighting. In a matter of a year or so, the two clans were back to friendly relation and they grazed their animals in the same lands. IT IS EXTREMELY SICK HOW TODAY BLOOD IS SHED IN THE NAME OF CLAN.
In Somalia you see how negatively clan has been used. People used it to cause harm to one another. If you want to get rid-off someone and they are in a place where they are minority clan, you could point to everyone who they are and before you know it they are leaving the city and going to another city where their clan is the majority (this is an extreme case but it can happen and I am SURE it did happened before).
Anyways, the people that use clan for the right reasons are the nomads (nomadism is actually endangered but this is another topic). If you are in a minority clan and you come to a nomadic household, they will welcome you and treat you better then their children or their clansmen because you are a guest and far from your own clan. Today, if you come to a city that doesn’t belong to your clan, you will not be welcomed, but be treated quite the opposite although no one will come to you directly and make you feel uncomfortable.
Another way the nomads use tribe positively or the way it is suppose to be used, is that if your clan lives with them but you are a minority they offer you their protection. They usually adopt minority groups into their tribe so that no one can mess with them. This has great implications. For example, here in Somalia, someone will think twice before they try to kill me because I have a clan. Why is this important? Well if I have a clan they will avenge my death and make sure that my killer is brought into justice (basically killed unless they pay an amount my family states). This is the main reason why I am able to freely walk around the streets of Bososo and a foreigner can not. It is easier to kill a foreigner then a Somali because there is no government to hold you accountable and no clan to offer them protection.
Another positive aspect of clan is that it gives you a protection. As some of you know, if you don’t have a clan basically you can not call yourself a Somali. Your clan makes you a Somali and distinct from other nationality. Right now, if someone wants to find me, it will take them a very long time if they don’t know my clan. But if they know my clan and my sub-clan, they can easily within about an hour or so find out where I am exactly (I am not sure if this is a good or bad things yet, I like some privacy you know).
In addition, although many people claim that the civil war in Somalia was about clan, in reality, it had nothing to do with clan. Clan was the mobilizing factor used to get people’s blood boiling. The real issue was about power. Few men wanted to get on the seat from the time of independence but were not given the chance. Clan was not really a factor. But because the majority of the populations were uneducated and vulnerable to external influence, they were easily led to believe that the warlords were acting on the interest of their clan. Clan wars did occur even before independence but it never got out of hand. The elders from each clan resolved the issue after some time of fighting. In a matter of a year or so, the two clans were back to friendly relation and they grazed their animals in the same lands. IT IS EXTREMELY SICK HOW TODAY BLOOD IS SHED IN THE NAME OF CLAN.
1 comment:
a touchin subject, i think the current somali youth are sick and tired of the qabiil, it makes me sick to the stomache when i hear it mis-used to seek harm on another. but theres alot we can do....."silence is the best suicide", we all have to talk about it before WE destroy ourselves.
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