by Abdi-Noor Mohamed
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
In this short write and the subsequent poem I wish to highlight the need of the UN and International Community to reconsider their policy on refugees with particular emphasis on Somalis around the world. We are people without a state and we request them not to lump the Somalis with other people who have come from other countries with viable state institutions.
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The immigrant communities from other countries have diplomatic missions such as ambassadors and cultural centers in their new nations. Even Iraq and Afghanistan, two war-torn nations, have representations all over the world, so the asylum seekers fleeing from these countries have something to claim as a piece of their nation. They feel connected to their motherlands as a single united community and not divided into segments hailing from different tribal lands like us. We do not possess anything that can link us up or anything we can show as being our heritage such as museums and diplomatic missions. All the factors that could unite a Diaspora community are missing from us though we cannot use this as an excuse of not being having our space in the wider community of the host nation. We must create a new center of our own while collectively seeking ways and means of re-instating our lost state.
Our children are growing up without knowing anything about our past and they have no future of their own unless they become part of their new society. The situation is not the same with other immigrant communities who live in the Diaspora. They are communities who preserve and retain their culture and language and the legacy they leave behind shall be passed to their next generations. Between them and us, the difference is glaringly visible: One comes from a nation with a state while the other comes from a nation without a state. Because of the facilitations they obtain from their above-mentioned institutions, there is a thread of unity that holds them together. But we Somalis, we are scattered all over the world like a Tusbax go´ay. Please share this poem with me:
At personal level
Family and friends are my centre
They are the source of my stability
At community level
My culture and language is my centre
It is where I defend my social space
At spirituality level
Religion is the centre of my morality
It is where my entire faith converges
At national level
The state is the centre of my existence
It is where my pride emanates from
But
None of the above is in my possession
My people are is scattered everywhere
In the sweltering desert of the Horn
My culture and language are bleeding
I have my country buried in its own rubble
With no hope to have it back anytime soon
My religion is torn into pieces of interpretations
We are displaced we are refugees
We are a people without a center
We are vanishing in a spot of wonder
Disintegration is our tool to integrate
The longer we stay without a state
The deeper we sink into pits of agony
Who is a Somali?
Who can be our hope?
Answer my question please!.
Abdi-Noor Mohamed
writer and Film maker
Kulturparken,
Växjö, Sweden
[email protected]